Spanish Words Which Are Useful Or Useless - translations to write on a tee-shirt post 585 by Angela Lansbury

Learn Languages

How do you keep translations of greetings handy? So you remember them. Have them on photos of yourself and your holiday.


Greetings and Chat-up Lines

You could add greetings such as hello. 
The classic message used to be, If you're rich, I'm single.

Buyers' Messages

Or messages to sellers in tourist resorts, such as, 
Any free museums near here?
Can you recommend a good restaurant?
Do you have anything cheaper? 
Do you have anything in my size?
I'll buy anything in red.

Sales and Advertising yourself and your products

Buy a signed copy of my books. Only ten dollars.
Buy me lunch and get a free one hour English conversation lesson.

Warning Messages
Rottweiler in boot.
Don't touch me. My husband is a martial arts champion.
There's also a funny one in English for toddlers about beware of Grandma. You could translate something similar into three languages.
You can find translations of warning message in Wikivoyage phrase book Spanish, Italian and other languages.

Networking

Or show you are bilingual, or multilingual? And start conversations with friends and strangers in other countries? Or at home.

You  can buy or design a tee-shirt with words you are learning in a foreign language. Or bilingual greetings. Or multilingual greetings. Or trilingual for a trip to South America, with Spanish and Portuguese. 

Add a map or flag.
Here is what I am learning in Spanish. 

Hola - hello


 I am constantly learning.

The word quince in English means a sweet jam made from the fruit of the same name. But in Spanish it is ronounced quin-say and means fifteen.

Similar sounding or similar looking words are sometimes called false friends.

Sometimes similar soundin of similar looking words are helpful, easy to remember. For example

Some Similar words - Fine Friends

Spanish - English

fruito - fruit

hola - hello

mayo - May (the month, not mayonniase. The Americans say mayo when the British would say mayonnaise, which is egg yolk mixed with oil as a creamy, cream coloured savoury sauce)

musica - music (accent on the u in Spanish)

The Spanish and Italians write the months with small initial letters, unlike English.

English - Spanish

May - mayo

once - una vez

False Friends

Spanish - English

cafe - coffee (not a coffee shop, which is called a bar)

grandes - Large/big (ones - an adjective which is plural describing many objects. Not grand, important, wonderful)

once (pronounced on say) - eleven 

quince - fifteen

unas - some (not one. Think of it as more than one.)

en - in (not on)

Confusingly Close Spellings

Spanish - English
mi - me

English - Spanish

me - mi

Useful Websites

duolingo.com

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