Today I will give you a tip for speaking Spanish emergency words and phrases. It's the kind of tip that may come in handy in an emergency situation. I have a story to tell you that clearly illustrates the tip that I want you to grasp.
I remember a conversation that I had in Spanish with a cab driver in New York City from the Dominican Republic when I first started learning Spanish. I'll never forget that day because the weather was awful. There was an "aguacero" (downpour of rain). And my clothes were drenched as I stood on a corner trying to flag down a cab.
Finally, an unoccupied cab pulled up. After I got in the cab and realized that the driver is a native Spanish speaker I began to practice my Spanish with him. He was very impressed.
I am not sure if he was impressed with my Spanish speaking skills or impressed with the fact that an American had taken the time to learn his language.
At some point in our conversation I wanted to say that it was raining like cats and dogs. I was able to remember how to say cats and dogs. But I couldn't remember how to say or conjugate the Spanish verb for "rain."
But like most people learning Spanish (or even people that aren't learning Spanish) I knew how to say the noun for water in Spanish: "agua"
For some reason, I was also able to remember the Spanish verb for "to go down" or "to come down" -- which is "bajar."
So I said to him "el aqua está bajando." A closer translation of that would have been "the water is coming down." His response to that was "Sí, está lloviendo" (Its raining).
Even though I could not remember the Spanish verb "llover" (to rain), I was still able to make myself understood and get my point across.
When the cab driver finally reached my destination, I wanted to say "at the traffic light." But for some reason the word for traffic light (semáforo) just seemed to escape me. No matter how hard I tried, I could not think of the word for traffic light (semáforo).
He must have passed 3 or 4 traffic lights as I sat there speechless trying to find the word for traffic light. And the rain was still pouring outside.
And he was a typical New York cab driver, driving like a maniac even in the rain. And at the rate I was going (and at the speed that he was going) I was going to be about 10 miles from my destination by the time I figured out the word for traffic light. And my clothes were already soaked.
Then he passed another traffic light or two, and I finally realized that if I cannot think of the correct Spanish word for traffic light, then I should just say the word or phrase for traffic light another way.
I knew the word for light (luz) and the word for traffic (tráfico).
That's when I shouted "la luz de tráfico." And the cab driver stopped at the traffic light.
Speaking Spanish in this manner may not score you any points with your Spanish speaking friends, customers, clients, co-workers, or employees, but it will help you get your point across and make yourself understood.
And that may be all that's required in an emergency situation. Maybe in an emergency with a Spanish-speaker in the U.S. or maybe in an emergency situation while traveling abroad as a tourist in Latin America or Spain.
I hope that you'll never find yourself in an emergency situation where you must speak Spanish and cannot think of the vocabulary word phrase that is correct, but if you do, then just say it another way.
Pat Jackson is the Founder of Learning Spanish Like Crazy - the only learning Spanish method that teaches real authentic everyday conversational Latin American Spanish. Pat presently lives in Medellín, Colombia - the City of Eternal Spring. If you would like to get FREE Instant access to the first 2 MP3 audio lessons of Learning Spanish Like Crazy and get FREE instant access to 10 learning Spanish videos from one of our BEAUTIFUL native-Spanish speaking Latina instructors, then go here now: Learn Spanish online That's http://www.LearningSpanishLikeCrazy.com/
