22
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Warning!In Spanish there are only five vowel sounds and, conversely to French or English, you should pronounce all the letters that you read as an independent sound. So say phonetically with a clear distinction of each sound "autopista" [ aw to 'pis ta ] (motorway), not ''ottopista'', or ''otpist'' . Other difficulties that foreigners usually face: the letter ''Ñ'' as in ''España'', which is the equivalent of the Portuguese digraph ''NH'' and Catalan ''NY''. If you struggle with it just pronounce it as an ''N'' and an ''I'' like when you say "Esto[[ni]]a" — it is not the actual sound, but it will work for a tourist.
no edit summary
Note: Althugh the trend is to translate into Spanish the signs on the road and other kinds of key information (i.e: restaurant menus), you will defenetely need help in small towns and non-touristy places in the Basque Country and Catalonia, especially because Basque is an isolated language that does not resemble anything you have heard before. Always ask the locals. [[User:Mariam|Mariam]] , who does not speak Basque, walked from a small town following a sign in Basque that she thought would guide her to the next town and ended up in a reciclyng plant.
== Spanish for the Hitchhiker ==
The Spanish phrase ''¡Hola! Vas a... ?'' (Hello, are you going to... ?) with a wide smile is an excellent starting point. Remember most Spaniards actually meet the stereotype of being loud and friendly, but aren't used to see hitchhikers on the road. Therefore, you'd better be extra framiliar and polite by saying things like "¡Gracias, buen viaje!" (Thank you, have a nice trip!) after your driver drops you off or when they make excuses to not pick you up (this way they will think twice the next time they bump into a hitchhiker). Check the Spanish section in the [[Western Europe phrasebook|phrasebook]] for more basic words.
== Sleeping ==
