Motoring in Spanglish

Many expats wish that they spoke better Spanish but feel restricted by being surrounded by fellow English speakers. I count myself as very fortunate to be able to speak some Spanish borne about by living in a small town where English is rarely heard plus dealing daily with the natives.

Despite re-registering vehicles from all over the world, my clients have had one thing in common and that is the ability to speak English as of course we expect the whole world to do! However a call received last week regarded a client who spoke only French and Spanish so the whole explanation was in my second language. I was chuffed as you can imagine, but take me to a hospital and you may end up with having your appendix removed instead of an ingrowing toenail or ask me to explain the ingredients of paella and you could be eating chicken curry as the vocabulary is outside of my daily usage.

The ITV inspection can be bewildering as you are normally expected to stay with  your vehicle and assist in the process alongside inspectors who are not widely renowned for their tact and patience. A lesson learned a long time ago was when an inspector was looking for some data on a car being examined, so being a typical Brit I started to help. The look that I got and the words uttered are roughly translated as “back off dickhead, do you think that I don’t know my job?” Clearly he was a sensitive soul whose machismo had just been bruised by a guri

So a smattering of Spanish may be useful at the ITV. Buying parts can be made easier too; there is no shortage of motor factors normally with the word “recambios” in their title, so to be able to go in and ask for exactly what you want is handy; a useful tip here is to take your ITV card with you as this describes your vehicle exactly

So keep this list handy and have go. A great thing about the Spanish is that they appreciate you trying and will never mock your attempts

Hasta la proxima vez  Until the next time