Speaking Spanish

[Mr Mitts]

Speaking Spanish is something I barely do, but I keep a lookout for tips, shortcuts and tricks. My own words in Spanish for: "you must speak very slowly for me to understand," would come out about like: "tu neccessista hablar muy lento para ami a comprende." Excuse my Spanish spelling.

How bad is that? I know it is bad, I assume it is pretty thickly pidgin. Could a good speaker of Spanish (not Google Translator) even figure out what I was trying to say? Is it an understandable pidgin? Can you translate what a Spanish speaker just heard me say?

A many-in-one vocabulary tip seems to be that English words ending in the suffix t-i-o-n are often, if not always, recognizable to the English speaker and reader because the base word is nearly identically spelled. Constitution is constitucion, etc.

Can consti tution in Spanish also refer both to a man's fitness and a document? Enough questions.

[Hector Enrique]

I taught myself it to a fairly high level (not perfect but no non native is) I can understand what you wrote but you would need to use subjunctive which is quite advanced spanish, the last bit would be 'para que yo te entienda' I believe

[Boxfan83]

I'm a Chicano, I know I make some Mexican Nationals cringe sometimes with my Spanish but you/that sounds a bit robotic. I'd simply say, "�puedes (informal) hablar mas lento, por favor?

Like English, Spanish uses a lot of abbreviations and paraphrases. Sometimes jokes fly right over my head and Mexicans are always clowning around. Then I get laughed at because 30 seconds later I laugh.

Lastly, for Spanish to flow easier off the tongue and to be able to understand without having to translate in your head, you have to be speaking and listening to it a few times a week.

[Mr Mitts]

Very good reflections by both responders.

[!! AI-Holmes!!]

Just tell them, "Habla mas lento hijo de tu pinche madre que no estas en tu rancho cabron."
That's a polite way of saying it.