Thursday, July 26, 2007
Hah-ree Poe-tur
Ironically enough, the biggest chink in my Spanish armor (aside from the subjunctive, of course) is using English words. When a conversation includes an English word, you've got to put a Spanish twist on it or people won't understand. I remember when I first realized this - a friend and I were at a party discussing American TV with some guys. They kept referring to "Chungo," as best we could make out. It took us a good 10 minutes to realize they meant Chuck Norris (don't ask). I've more or less mastered my most commonly used words, like Red Hot Chili Peppers, George Bush, etc. But occasionally a new one pops up. This past weekend I went to buy the new Harry Potter and it happened again. "Harry Potter." "Qué??" "Hah-ree Poe-tur." "Ahh, sí." It's all in the pronunciation.
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3 comments:
This reminds me of when I was the Spanish "speaking" guide (vocabulary of 27 words) on a visit to Toledo. I kept asking "Donde esta cathedral" (American pronunciation on the last word). Surely it had to be close. Finally an old woman looked puzzled and then said "Ka-tee-drahl?"
I'm sure we Americans are the same way with our foreign guests!
Mum
you're soooo right about this! i think that about the only time i don't understand spaniards is when they pronounce the names of anglo celebrities--and then they ridicule my pronunciation! my italian roommate backed me up on this one, saying that in italy at least they try to approximate the appropriate pronunciation...
Ha,ha! I recognise myself in this. And yes Americans sometimes have problems understanding British english (at least in the US).
Erod-de Stew-arte i elose rolling-eston-es... :-)
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