New listeners Tom & Mai got in touch and asked us an important question:
What are the cultural norms, things to avoid, and things that surprised you when living in Spain?
So over the next 2 episodes, we talk about everything that caught us out in Spain, from culture to food & drink, to travel and finally weather & language.
Look out for part 2 coming next week!
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NOTE: This is following our new format of podcast episodes that are either about:
- WHY you want to live & work abroad
- HOW to live and work abroad
- WHERE to live & work abroad
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The roadmap we mention can guide you through the questions you need to ask before starting your own adventure.
Want to get involved? It’s completely free – just go to ASidewaysLife.com/roadmap.
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As ever, get in touch on Instagram (@asidewayslife) or email asidewayslife@gmail.com. We genuinely would be thrilled to hear from you.
The Transcription
As ever this is an automated transcription so there may be some mistakes!
Lea
They’re just going to look at you like you’re a bit weird and they’ll just be a bit awkward until your drinks are ready and they’ll still carry your drinks to the table while you walk behind them. Hello, and welcome to episode 80 of a sideways live podcast, the Honest Guide to Living and Working Abroad. I’m Liam.
Al
And I’m Al.
Lea
And welcome back.
Al
Hello.
Lea
Hi, how are you?
Al
So this is a bit of a strange episode. We’re not a strange episode, but this is the first time I think we’ve had a listener request for an episode. Is that right?
Lea
We have, yes.
Al
So we’ve got Mayan tom.
Lea
Yes.
Al
And they’re kind of relatively new listeners, and they’ve asked us they’re off to Spain, where we are currently, and they’ve asked us about what are the cultural norms of living in Spain? Well, I’m guessing they’re going to be working a little bit, but they’re mainly, like, working freelancing, aren’t they? Or with their own business, I think. So we thought, what an interesting episode we’re going to do. So we spent a few hours the other night when we were sitting in Spain. In fact, it was the hottest night, I think, of the last 20 days, wasn’t it?
Lea
Yeah, it was warm. It was 09:00 and still about 38. Yes, it was a lot, but we spent some time, we made some notes and actually, we had so many different things to share about our experience of living in Spain that we’re actually splitting this into two episodes. So tomorrow you asked for one episode. We’re giving you Two Lucky Devils, two.
Al
For The Price one that’ll be in episode 81, which will be released next week. So we’ve got a lot to get through. So should we just crack on?
Lea
I think we should, and I think before we start, we should preface this by saying this is our experience as Brits being in Spain. We have lived here for four and a half years, spent about six months in Spain after we stopped living here. We’ve mainly been based in andalusia that might skew some of the things we chat about. So if you are Spanish and listening one, this is just our perspective, just our opinion, just what we think. This isn’t to say it’s right or wrong, it’s just our experience of it. Please correct us if you think we’ve misinterpreted anything and educated further. What have we missed out that you think is a particular quirk of life in Spain?
Al
Yes. You can email us a sidewayslife@gmail.com or you can just search for us sidewayslife on Instagram and your message and Leanne will be taking care of those DMs. So just give you a bit of context. There’s kind of eight categories that we’ve split it up into. I’ll give you the categories so you know what’s coming up. So the first we’re going to talk about is basically Culture of Spain. Then we’re going to talk about eating and drinking in Spain? Of course we are, because that’s mainly about 80% of what we do is eating and drinking in Spain. Then we’re going to talk about the language, then we’re going to talk about transport. Finally, weather and living. Weather and living, then shopping. And then there’s two sort of bonus rounds here, which is things we cana get ahead around as British people coming to Spain. Again, no criticism, just stuff that just was very foreign, literally and figuratively to us. And then things to avoid, specifically as a brick, but probably as any kind of tourist or guest of I think.
Lea
That’S exactly it, isn’t it? Regardless of what we share today, we are very aware that we are guests in any country that we visit. It isn’t our native home and therefore we try to exercise the right amount of respect for that. So, yeah, remember that if you are going to a new country, either on holiday or to live and work abroad, you are a guest. So be respectful, be open to Leanne and just don’t be a dick.
Al
Don’t be a dick is great advice.
Lea
First rule, don’t be a dick of life, actually, let alone travelling.
Al
So should we go through quickly these things that we’ve thought about in terms of culture?
Lea
Yes, the first one. And again, I mean no disrespect to the men of Spain, it might just be my experience, maybe particularly in the country, and it’s certainly not a unique thing to Spain. There are many other countries been to where we’ve experienced this, I’ve experienced this. It can be fairly traditional in the views, I guess, of kind of roles or status of men and women. And we have experience in Spain, me asking a question and then the answer being directed to Al, which is a little bit odd. I know we have other expert friends that experience this in other places as well. And you do have to kind of do what you can respectfully to challenge that type of behaviour. But it cana be a bit weird initially.
Al
Yeah. And you often find that if Leanne is asking a question, then you might find that someone’s going to talk over her directly at me. I mean, the other thing which confuses the hell out of people is that I drink, tend to drink sort of medium white wine and drinks a really heavy Ryocha. They bring it off the table, they put the reoccur next to me and the sweet white wine for the lady and obviously we just swap it around. That blows the minds. And also, when we come to pay, often Leanne uses our joint card, but she has the card with us, so they give the bill to me and Leanne pays.
Lea
They do tend to give the bills to the man, which I’m not complaining about, but he’s on the joint card, so you know exactly.
Al
So the second thing is that fans, as in like those andaluseum dotted fans, you see, they’re real thing that’s it the hand fans, the ones that I don’t know how to describe it, you flick it out. The hands is really good at doing it. You can do it in one hand and flick it out and go so those are definitely a real thing, which kind of was a bit strange, but then we realised, of course it is, because people are hot and the older ladies need to cool down.
Lea
You imagine it to be the smartest, just see our movies or just for flamenco dances, but no genuine lies. Every woman has a fan in a handbag.
Al
And quite often some of the older ladies I think I’m right in thinking that traditionally the older ladies dressed in black for mourning for a few years after their husband’s die. So you cana imagine being in black, a full long black length dress when it’s 38 degrees outside. You definitely need a fan.
Lea
Yes. And I think the next one is religion is big in Spain, and that might not be too much of a surprise. It is dominantly a Catholic country and has lots of history with the Catholic church, but it is still a big thing, and not even necessarily in terms of everyone you see will go to church on a Sunday. But religion plays a big role in the way of life, in the festivals that happen in everything. It is a big part of life. And with that as well comes a level of respect that you have to show if you’re going to a church or a cathedral, and there are lots of church and cathedrals that are open to tourists just to have a look around. Our advice would be be respectful. There will be people in there worshipping. Bear that in mind. Stay quiet. Don’t take photographs if you absolutely have to, certainly don’t do it the flash. And if you are dressed for summer, bear in mind that it is respectful to cover up. So being covered your knees and shoulders well, particularly for women, definitely.
Al
This next one is beautifully, wonderfully, lovely. And that is that people still say hello to you. So often you’ll go into a lift and someone say, we’ll say, by the way, in terms of language, and we will come into language properly, but generally, buenos dias. Is anything up to about sort of 01:00 in the afternoon, then Buenos TARDIS is kind of up to about 08:00 in the evening. And that’s good afternoon up to 08:00 in the evening. And Buenos Notches is usually from eight, nine onwards, isn’t it?
Lea
Yeah. And even then, Buenos Notches is really more to say good night, but there isn’t really an equivalent of good evening. And I don’t think I heard people say even later into the thing, but yeah, but it’s not just more late evening, or if you are saying goodbye.
Al
And you’ll find we have a dog, as you probably know by now you walk along with the dog and a fellow dog walker, just say hello to you. And it’s lovely. It just feels very traditional and very cool.
Lea
Absolutely. And then the opposite of tradition from a British perspective, did you know, listen, is that if you’re invited to somebody’s birthday in Spain, they pay the person whose birthday the person whose birthday is blew our mind. We got invited probably when we were in Granada. So we’re talking, what, 2016 is? 15 even maybe got invited by somebody we’d met for their birthday. We offered to buy him a drink and he honestly looked at us as if we had two heads. I was like, what are you talking about? The drinks from me, it’s my birthday. We were like, no, friend, that’s not how it works in the UK. And he was like, well, that’s a much better way of doing it. Why am I vinyl a drink? I know.
Al
And I think one of the last things we want to talk about in the culture is that people are late. And it’s not a rudeness thing, it’s just that when we pointed out Spanish lessons, someone said, look, what you need to understand is someone says they’ll meet you at 01:00 in the afternoon. They probably mean 01:30 to two if they turn up at all. And it’s not a rudeness thing, it’s just the culture that, yes, you’ll make plans, but they’re very flexible because things come up.
Lea
They do. And that might be a bit more of a country thing, to be fair. But, yes, if you are in the country and expect to meet somebody a particular time, give them half an hour before you leave, they’re probably still on their way.
Al
Definitely.
Lea
One of the last things in culture, and I guess it’s kind of ties in with the birthday thing when it comes to staggers and hen dos, you do see them and it looks very much like they do in the UK. Everyone’s dressed up, matching T shirts, speakerphones, very energetic and lively. But it isn’t really about drinking, it’s more about eating and playing games or doing sports. And you’ll see a big group of lads there that will nurse a glass of water and a small beer for an hour. So, yeah, culture is very different, the old stag do.
Al
It is. We were in Malaga about two weeks ago, saw a stag do. The stag was dressed up as a unicorn, which seems to be a thing. And also quite funny when a stag do meets up with a Hendu. That’s quite fun when you see that happen. But I went in and I took out a photograph taken with them and looked like their dad as well, which is very embarrassing. And I said look, I said to the waiter, can I buy around for them? And he said, yeah. Was it una? Ronda, I think was plaster what the actual term was? And he said, yeah, no problem. Went round, got everyone a drink and it came to about €9. And he’s like, well, yeah, they’ve only had a third of a lager as a euro each, so it’s very different. The other thing is that this is going to come nine to twelve months after the stag due, is that it’s all about kids. Very big family, the family orientated a lot of people, younger people have kids quite early on and it’s very normal. And so therefore, most of the time everything is set up.
Al
So set up around kids. So you’ll be sitting having dinner at 11:00 at night. Don’t be surprised to see hundreds of kids running around, playing, shouting, screaming, which will come onto in a minute because of the weather. So don’t be too surprised if you see that. It’s not bad parenting, it’s just the fact that the kids have probably slept during the day.
Lea
And that indeed is our last point under culture. And again, this may be more of a Southern thing, more of a country thing, but siestas really are a real thing and it’s taken seriously. Shops close, people are quiet, the shops that do remain open, the biggest supermarkets, do enforce what they call a quiet hour, which is usually without kids, and quiet shopping, noisy groups. But that is the point. Things are closed usually between two and five or 230 and 530. Rest will be hard. It’s not necessarily about sleep, it might be about going paddleboarding or going to the beach for a few hours, but it is rest time. And that is because then, once half five hits, they’re back out, they’re doing activities, they’re having a late dinner, they’re going to be noisy until midnight. It’s not unusual to be sat in your house, particularly in a built up area, and hear lots of hustle and bustle until midnight on a Tuesday.
Al
Also, bear in mind, they do go back to work. A lot of people will go back to work at 530 till late. It’s not necessarily about what you say, it’s a different way of doing things that’s to avoid the heat. So onto category number two, which is eating and drinking. Our favourite thing, and the one thing I’m going to kick off with here, is that you’ll find that in cafes and bars, you’ll see lots of napkins on the floor. It’s not because they can’t be bothered to sweep up, it’s because that is apparently a sign that it’s a good meal. As you finish it, you wipe your face and then you throw the napkin on the floor. So the more napkins on the floor, the better the cafe or the bar is. Or the better the food is.
Lea
Yeah, which seems strange to us, but what a great side of respect that was. So good, I brought my napkin down to you. The next thing, I guess, sticking with kind of restaurant etiquette, the table service is excellent and the vast majority of places you go into, whether it’ll be a bar or a restaurant or a cafe, will be table service. You don’t need to go to the counter, the bar to order your drinks. You certainly don’t go up to pay. And if you do go up, they’re just going to look at you like you’re a bit weird and they’ll just be a bit awkward until your drinks are ready and then they’ll still carry your drinks to the table while you walk behind them. So, yeah, table service is a thing. You don’t really go to the counter of the bar.
Al
Exactly. I know you know this, but don’t be clicking your fingers. Don’t be that person. They are professional waiters and waitresses over here. They are fantastic at their job when it comes down to it, then so you come to pay your bill. Excuse me? You come to pay your bill and you leave a tip. Well, the customary tip is if it’s just a coffee or a drink, then you can just round up by a few pennies, then maybe fifty cents a euro, something like that. If it’s a food, then 10% is generally acceptable. If you chop tip 15, you’ll get a hug, but 10% is acceptable. If you’ve had a great meal, then feel free to tip more. But I don’t feel like you have to tip 15%, 20% if you’re from America and cana, because that’s not necessarily a thing over here.
Lea
Yes, and going back to what you were saying earlier about good cafes and restaurants often have napkins on the floor. Well, a great washed restaurant won’t always look apart from the outside either. And the best restaurants we’ve been to look just quite average and a little bit, dare I say, run down from the outside. But we’ll serve some of the best food and drink that you will ever experience in Spain. So don’t judge your book by its cover. Go in, have a drink, have a tapas, and then make up your mind.
Al
Talking of having a drink, then in the UK, I don’t know if it’s the same in America, in Australia, but if you order a glass of wine, then it might be €3 for a glass of wine or €7 for the bottle, and then obviously trying to get you to buy the bottle. Over here, there is a much more relaxed outlook towards drinking. So a glass of wine will be exactly what the bottle cost, divided by, whatever, 175 over 750 years. So don’t feel like it’s cheaper to buy the bottle. And in fact, you’ll see, men just go in, women go in and have a glass of wine, that will be it. Or maybe have three or four glasses of wine, but they won’t bother necessarily buying the bottle because it’s not always cheaper.
Lea
Yes, and I think my only add on to that would be that typically there’s usually a really great wine selection by the glass, but the more expensive the bottles get, then that is when you’re going to pay for a bottle, not by the glass. But honestly, there are very few restaurants where that is even necessary. The quality of wine by the glass is great. Continuing on the theme of having lunch or dinner, food is for sharing and we leanne this the hard way by ordering what we thought traditionally. Now I start to remain in it and putting each it is far too much food simply because the tradition, the way of doing things in Spain is to share dishes, to share plato and I think we actually talked about this in the food and drink episode that we did in Spain. So go back and listen to that if you want to hear more. But yes, generally you’re ordering dishes for the table, not for yourself.
Al
And talking of eating, then your dinner, every meal is late, according to what most people eat in the UK, the US. I’m not sure about Australia, actually, but certainly that it’s unusual to go for dinner before 10:00 p.m.. Often people will be ordering the main courses, having the main course at 11:00 p.m. At night, that’s 11:00 p.m. At night. Everyone knows that lunch tends to be about two till four. And breakfast. Often people go to work, do an hour’s work and then go out for breakfast, maybe 10:00. And they’ll tend to have things like tostada, which comes with a little instead of having it does come with jam, but also quite common is to have a tomato. I think it’s called riado, where it’s basically just liquidised tomatoes that you spread on your toast, but of olive oil and a bit of salt. Sounds a bit weird, but it’s really nice. So you’re going to be eating a bit later than what you thought. But don’t go out for dinner at 07:00, because one, you’ll be on your own and two, people are looking and go, what the hell are you doing? Why are you here?
Lea
Speaking of delicious food, one of the things that we notice is how people describe good food. And you get the ones that you understand why are brienne mu buena, very good, very good. But some people describe it as moiriko, which directly translates as a very rich that direct translation in English. Sometimes you describe something that is tasty but too much to have in one dish, it’s too rich, or it’s very rich. In Spain, that is one of the best compliments you can give to the chef is the food is more illegal.
Al
Definitely. Another thing is when you order more drinks, then they’ll bring the drinks to you and they’ll take whatever is left in your glass, even if it’s like half full, they’ll take it away. So if you in the UK, you tend to pre order drinks. You go, Right, I’m a third of the way through my pint, so I’ll order third left. So I’ll order another one. Just bear in mind that if you leave your glass unattended, then it will be taken back and binned.
Lea
Yes, it will. I’m talking about drinks after dinner. Don’t be fooled into thinking you’re going to be a party animal if you’re up until 01:00 a.m. Having a drink after your marvellous food. The thing in Spain is, if you’re home by 02:00 a.m., you’ve only gone out for dinner. So if you are looking for a bit of nightlife, if you’re a bit younger than we are, or a bit more energetic than we are, and you’re looking for a night out, have that siesta friend, because you will be out until four, five a. M. At least.
Al
When I’m talking of going out and nipping around, it’s okay to stop in one place and have a little tapas or two tapas. It’s perfectly okay to do that. In the UK, you couldn’t imagine going to a restaurant saying, can I have two starters? Thanks. Can I have the bill and go to somewhere else and have two starters? But it’s perfectly okay over here. And certain places are very famous for a certain type of tapas, so that’s perfectly okay.
Lea
And then talking about things that aren’t perfectly okay, often in Spanish restaurants in the UK, and I’m sorry if there are any Spanish people listening, cover your ears because this one might hurt. But in a Spanish restaurant in the UK, typically you get a little pot of olive oil and a little pot of vinegar, sometimes together, and you get your bread and you dunk it in and you mix it around and then you eat it. That is not the purpose of bread. It’s not the purpose of oil and vinegar. And vinegar is for your salad. Your bread is for scooping your food up onto your fork or for mopping up the sauces of your dish.
Al
So, coming to the last couple on the food and drink, we need to talk about spirit measures. Now, what’s interesting is that there’s a Weights and Measures Act of 1968, I think it was, I used to be a pub landlord, so I should know this, but I’ve probably got the year wrong. And there’s a Weights and Measures Act, which means that in the UK, and I’m guessing most of the other parts of the west, if you want a shot of vodka, you’ll get exactly 25 ML and then you’ll get a multiple thereof, whereas in Spain there doesn’t seem to be that thing. So they’ll come over and they’ll bring a bottle and they’ll bring you your glass, your ice, and then the bottle of vodka, gin, whatever you’re drinking, and they’ll pour it from the bottle and they tend to count somewhere between seven and nine pores, which we work out roughly works out as a double to a triple.
Lea
Yes. For domestic spirits or non premium spirits.
Al
Yes. So if you’re asking for Hendrix, for example, that will be carefully measured out into 25 mil.
Lea
If you’re asking a four or five pour yeah.
Al
And then if you’re asking for domestic as the answers, like larios, which is a domestic gin from Spain yeah. They’ll just pour it and you can ask them to stop. Often they’ll look at you and laugh because they’re expecting you to say stop and they keep going. So there’s a bit less duty on alcohol in Spain, so they do tend to pour a bit more.
Lea
Yeah. And then we were told this fact, we believe it. Please, if you think it’s not true, tell us or please confirm it for us. Our understanding is, in Spain, you don’t need a licence to sell alcohol, but you do need a licence to sell coffee. Coffee is taken very seriously. There are many different types of Spanish coffee and we have talked about this in the previous episode, so I won’t go into it. But, yeah, if you’re going to order a coffee, just think about your preferred coffee to milk ratio. Once you’ve figured that out, you’ll know which coffee to order.
Al
Talking we’ve noticed that the coffees tend to be around about the same price in a village. So you won’t go to one place, it’ll be two pound 20, and other places be £1.50. Generally, it sort of feels like it’s set and they all agree that a cafecon leche is 160, that kind of thing, anyway. And so the other thing about different regions is that you cana have either the same name for a food or a drink that down south means one thing and then the north means another, or you can have the same food that one village, Morphia, for example, which is like a blood sausage, like black pudding. If you’re from the UK, then Morphia from Bogos, I think, is made with rice. And from where’s the other place layer, do you remember?
Lea
I think it’s mulla. Borgas is the specialist one because it’s made of rice. Generally, it’s made of onion.
Al
Made with onion. So you tend to find that and you’ll also tend to find that a region will have a nickname for a food that might not translate exactly as what you think it is. I can’t think of any examples of my head, but there’s lots of things. We’ve gone, what the hell is that translated?
Lea
For example, they have, like, Kanye de Sardo, which direct translates as a pipe of pork, which is basically a pork fillet because it looks like a pipe.
Al
That makes sense. That makes sense.
Lea
So, yeah, I’m talking about differences in food. Spain is no different to any other country in the world, I’m sure where you are staying, the region in which you are, is going to dictate the type of food that you’re eating. You’re going to have very different food in the north or the south. Very different food in Catalonia or Galicia or Basque country. The coast is all going to be about fresh fish and seafood. The country is going to be all about great meat. And if you’re a vegetarian, good luck to you, my friend.
Al
They do have something, they call it calamaris del campo, I think, which is onion rings and calamari. Obviously the rings around a calamari. So you cana have onion rings. There’s lots of potato dishes, potatoes. Podcast, I think is one of the most famous ones. As far as I know, it’s vegetarian, although they might use lard for it. I don’t know.
Lea
You probably have to. Cheque. They use olive oil instead of lard.
Al
Yeah, but there are lots of things that if you are a vegetarian and they’re also fantastic of things like the gluten free.
Lea
They are on the lactose free. Yeah, they’re really good at that.
Al
Really good at that. Okay. The final thing in eating and drinking is that if you go to certain cities, granada being one of them, is that your drinks will be slightly more expensive, but you’ll get a free tapas with it. So you cana sit down, get a pint. We wouldn’t get a pint in the UK. In Spain, you’ve listened to the last episode, but you’d get maybe a beer and with that would come some bit of food. Now, the trick we leanne, having been in Granada for a couple of months, was that the longer you stay in a bar, the better the tapas gets. So by time you’ve had four drinks, they’re bringing out pieces of steak and stuff for you, whereas the first one might just be one of those tortilla, the potato and egg tart things. So it is worthwhile sticking to one place for longer. And Grenada definitely does it. I’m pretty sure they do it some place to the north, but I can’t remember exactly where.
Lea
Granada is such a good place to do that, though. And as you say, the tapas gets better with each around. And then you’re going to get different places now for different tapas. And you cana just go on, just Google it. You always find a website that will kind of run down what it is that they specialise in and keep your eye out as well for different towns. I think Teresa does well. It’s like a tapas route where then each restaurant in the slight restaurants within the town will produce one great tapas dish. And the idea is you make your way through the route of restaurants until you’ve tried more.
Al
Another one that does that, just incidentally, is Via delete in, just north of Madrid, and that’s apparently where tapas was invented. And they have a rooted atapac, which is a very similar thing.
Lea
Yeah, I think that’s enough about food and drink. If you do want to go back and listen to that previous episode, or we talked a lot more about food in Spain, it’s episode 77 and 13 Ways of Spanish will Know You’re a tourist.
Al
Definitely worth a listen. Okay, so. We’re onto language next. So I think the first thing about language is that people will say goodbye when they see you. So astala wago, which is shortened to see you later or until later. Coffin people walk past the people friends in the street and they’ll just go taluego as they walk past. And what they’re saying is basically, literally until later. Which is what they tend to say, goodbye. But that’s what people will say as they walk past.
Lea
I guess it’s like a saying, all.
Al
Right, all right, see you later.
Lea
See you later.
Al
But it still sounds weird if you walked up to talk to your friend and they went and they said, See you later, you went, See you later.
Lea
Yeah. But then it’s like, who are we chatting to? Maybe it’s maybe one of our American friends that they couldn’t get their head around the fact that we go, you’re al right. And we’re not asking how you are. Don’t answer that question directly because that’s not what we’re asking. So it’s probably a similar thing saying, Tell her again.
Al
Definitely.
Lea
So I guess the other thing in terms of body language, perhaps the kisses, it cana be a minefield. Is it two? Is it three? Is it for some places in France apparently have five. From our experience, it is two kisses, typically between women and women or men and women, and the embrace gets more familiar as you become more familiar with the person. So typically it will start with a handshake and two kisses, then maybe a shoulder hold, and then maybe just a big old cuddle and two kisses on the side.
Al
Okay? So the next thing I’ve got is learn a little bit of Spanish and try it. You’re going to get it wrong a lot when you first start off, don’t be worried about someone repeating back to what you if you ask for una cana instead of Kenya, then don’t be afraid they might say back to you Kenya. They’re not correcting you, they’re just confirming they’ve understood. So just try it. Most people are brilliant weebly the further towards a tourist area you get, the more annoyed they’re going to be about you trying to speak Spanish to them because they’re busy, they haven’t got the time, and they’re going to speak English a million times better than probably you do. So certainly much better than what? You can speak Spanish.
Lea
Exactly, yes. Don’t be put off if you speak Spanish and someone speaks back to you in English, the fact is they understood. They’re just busy speaking of Spanish again. It’s like any country, I’m sure there are different dialects, there are different accents. Some are easier to understand than others. We spent a lot of our time in Andalusia, which is known for being one of the most difficult places to learn Spanish. So if you are heading down to Andalusia to live and work abroad or even for a holiday, just bear that in mind. One of the biggest things they do is they drop their s’s on the end of words and they’ll push words together. So instead of saying dos mass in terms of two more, they’ll say duma. And this kind of goes through you’ll hear gas into the gas. Yes. And it’s fine when you kind of you’re in that context, you know what they’re saying, but it can get really confusing if you think you’re hearing it a different word and you try to figure out what that is. Don’t be afraid to ask people to speak more slowly. We’ve done that and they are very willing to help.
Al
Lento eclairo porfivore is slowly or slower and clearer. And again, they won’t mind without and then if they don’t if they disagree with that, or if you just don’t want to say that you don’t understand, have a little guess of what they might say. So you’re picking up, you say, Can I have a bottle of water, please? And they look at you and go, Blah, blah. You might go, they’re probably asking me if I want glasses and ice, aren’t they? You can also guess a little bit rather than going, I have no idea what you just said, just hazard a guess. So in that case, you might go kappa and coppers.
Lea
Yes. Looking out for the nouns, isn’t it? Those words of vocab words that you probably leanne more of and picking up on them and trying to put it together. That said, one does have to be careful, because there are some words that sound very similar. For example, when we were in the police station at our residence here a few years ago, a policeman approached us and I’ll tell them that he was waiting for his Alabama gas, which means meatballs. What we actually wanted to say was that we’re waiting for our Abigail, our lawyer, so do you be careful? And there are some that could actually cause offence. I think you have an example on that one.
Al
Yeah. I don’t know quite what the nuances between actually saying this word, but if you want to have if you got a drink and you want a straw, then you’ll ask for una pacha. But if you chocolate already, apparently, Apache also means a little bit of manual stimulation for a man, or possibly a woman as well. I don’t want to say the word because it is quite crude, but yes. So asking for a parker could mean you get a straw or you get a lovely 20 minutes, I don’t know. Or another one is like bandecco, I think, which is tray. And I think there’s a very similar word. It might be bandecho, which means asshole. But generally, in the context, people, I think, will think that you’re trying to be polite.
Lea
They’ll giggle incorrectly, I’m sure. I’m talking about correction, as I’m sure you know, if you are starting to learn a bit of Spanish or you know some already. Masculine and feminine is a thing in Spanish, as it is in other romantic languages, such as French. So you will notice the ends of was changing depending on whether that word is masculine or feminine. If you are masculine or feminine, so you will hear una versus uno, aya versus L and so on. And then you also get into tricky conjugation of verbs if you really want to dive into it, where the ending will actually change. So rather than saying I want, she wants it’s, kiara, kiara, et cetera. But that’s further down the journey. If you just go for a holiday. Don’t worry about that too much for now, I think.
Al
What else is interesting, just to add to that, is that some words, like solo means only so solo Babida, so only drinks. And then solat means alone, which is obviously a similar meaning. But it’s interesting to see that you can change the end of it. Like Tratto is deal and tratta. I think it’s some kind of like horrible sex ring or something, I don’t really know. Someone once told me that, just be aware of that. Okay, so I think we’ve covered probably 50% of this. What we’ve got left is we need to talk a little bit about next week, about transport. We need to talk about the weather and living, going shopping, and then the things we can’t get our heads around in Spain, and the things to avoid, which we’ll be doing in episode 81, which will be coming next week. So you’re just going to have to sit tight and wait for it.
Lea
The suspense, the cliffhanger.
Al
It’s like when Helen Daniels went to the coma on Friday night and neighbours, you’re like, I can’t wait for the whole Monday to find out what happens with Helen Daniels. Well, that’s a reference from 40 years ago, isn’t it? Anything else to say before we knock this on the head?
Lea
No, I think again, if you have some of your own quirks that you’ve experienced or things that you think you might have got wrong, all right, get in touch, let us know. To recap, we’ve covered culture, eating and drinking and language. So, yeah, you can email us at asyrslife@gmail.com or on instagram asylumslife.
Al
Okay, we’ll see you next week for part two.
Lea
See you next week. Bye.