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Inspire Me

Essential Spanish phrases for every traveller

Presented with the choice of Spanish or French in high school, choosing French seemed like a no brainer. But having travelled through so many Latin-speaking countries, these are the essential Spanish phrases for travellers to know.

With French, I thought would come all the rest of the amazing benefits the people seemed to have: amazing fashion sense, mind-blowing sex and a perfect body whilst being able to shove down as much cheese and wine I wanted. If I were to have any foresight as a 14 year old, I would have seen that unfortunately learning French did not a French woman me make. Just as painful as it was that I did not miraculously gain better style back then, was that I was rendered pathetically useless when I recently embarked on a six month tour through Central and South America.

But I like to think of myself as crafty, and I was determined to learn the ropes as I went along so that I could have less painful interactions as *that* tourist as I traveled throughout the continent. Below is a roundup of some common keywords and phrases I picked up in my six months that may be of help for you, and more useful than those introductory Duolingo modules.

In a cab

Hola, que tal? Hi, how are you?

Cuanto cuesta? How much?

(A la) Derecho – (to the) right

A derecha  Straight

(A la) izquierda (to the) left

Acá, gracias Here, thank you

A cab driver, outside of asking you where you need to go, might ask you if you know any Spanish, which is: “hablas espanol?” You can respond how you like, but my standard answer was “poquito,” which is a bit, so they understand why our conversation is so hopelessly broken.

At a restaurant

When entering the restaurant, to the host:

Tengo (I have) or Tenemos (we have) un reservation – I/we have a reservation; or

Una mesa para uno/dos/tres/quatro….por fa* – A table for 1/2/3/4….please

*Note –  just like we abbreviate a lot of things, por favor is shortened to por fa in a lot of central/South America and it’s seen as normal or more typical to say por fa

You might hear from a waiter/waitress:

Quieres tomar algo? Would you like something to drink? Beber is to drink, but in a restaurant setting it’s almost always asked “tomar”

Listo? Ready?

Buen Provecho “Bon Appetit”

You can ask the waiter/waitress:

Tienes una Carla en inglés? Do you have a menu in English?

Listo  We’re ready (to order)

La cuenta por fa  The check please

At a store

You might hear a cashier ask:

Necesitas una bolsa? Do you need a bag?

Algo mas? Something/anything else?

Cuantos cuotas? How many payments? – When I first heard about this, I was really confused because it was for a $10 purchase. I thought, of course one payment, we’re not buying a car here. But this is something really standard in Colombia and neighbouring countries, so just let them known 1 payment, and they’ll charge it like usual.

At a café

Okay, so iced coffees/lattes are hard to come by, and they might be called a little something different everywhere, but generally you can either say:

Quiero cafe frio  I’d like a cold coffee, OR

Cafe con hielo* por fa Coffee with ice please

*the H in Spanish is not pronounced so this is kind of like ‘ello. It’s a little difficult for a native English speaker, but they will get your gist! 

Cafe con leche Coffee with milk

If all else fails, you can always say, “no entiendo” which means sorry, I don’t understand or simply, “no habla espanol,” which translates to “I don’t speak Spanish”. Most of the time, they pity us non-bilingual folk at this point and will help in English or make things much simpler to understand. But, I will say, it is fun to be able to navigate somewhat on your own and adapt to the language of the cultures and people you’re visiting. Feel free to keep these handy for your next trip to a Spanish-speaking country and go with confidence.

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