Comments on: Are you one of those “Habla” people?

By: froto

froto — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 19:01:07 +0000

i am still gonna call her cholita. until she stops calling me cholito. funny how a word changes in meaning depending on where you are in the world. i am not one of those habla people. one of my biggest shames sense i have some descendants who most certainly did.

By: Nuke

Nuke — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:41:02 +0000

“I just love beans.”
buahahahaha

By: logtar

logtar — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:59:59 +0000

How did she make a postcard louder and slower?

By: Mark M

Mark M — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:48:03 +0000

Yeah, I don’t know why people do it, but it seems to be a natural response for a lot of people to talk LOUDER and SLOWER when trying to communicate with someone who doesn’t speak their language. My wife did exactly that when trying to send a postcard while she was in Brazil =)

By: logtar

logtar — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 21:48:03 +0000

If someone is trying to speak a language I know I am never offended. However, if you can accomplish communication with another language why try to murder one you don’t really even have minimal grasp on?

I was not even offended by the “one of those people” type of comment because, well, I am one of them. I don’t even get offended by being called a beaner, but it has nothing to do with my heritage, I just love beans.

I find it all pretty amusing in many levels. What I find offensive is when I walk into a gas station in the middle of nowhere and the attendant is yelling WHAAAAT? (Foreigners are not deaf, and no language becomes more understandable when you speak louder… slower, maybe, but never louder) before I even say a sentence. Its happened more than I care to tally up.

By: Mark M

Mark M — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:36:51 +0000

I made the mistake of saying “Hola” to a kid when the world softball championship was in town, after I had taken a year of Spanish in high school. He rattled off a long stream of Spanish which the only word I understood was “mama”. I promptly replied with “no se” and got the hell out of there!

So, do you think it is just a Spanish stereotype thing? I’ve had some Brazilians try out their English on me when they didn’t speak fluent English but I was amused and wanted to help them rather than being offended.

By: Nuke

Nuke — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:32:43 +0000

If I had some level of immersion after High School, I might be fluent(ish). But hell I can’t even remember a lot of basic vocabulary in Spanish.

When it comes down to a necessity to communicate with a Spanish only speaker, I explain “Yo hablo Espanol, pero solo un poco.” and hope I am close enough to what I think it means.

I have to say I know some people who like to throw Spanish slang around, and it amuses and annoys me in equal parts. These same people would not react well to people “kidding around” about their heritage. I know YOU have a good sense of humor about these things Logtar, but I still think it is kinda rude.

I will sign off saying I recall enough of my 4 years of HS Spanish to be comfortable calling you “Mi Hermano.”