Juan Fuentes

Someone has mention false friends within different dialects on the same language. Some of them are very colorful. The expression "blow a fag" in british english is a good example. In spanish there are just too many, but I'll try to list some: - Concha: In most spanish speaking countries, it means "shell". In Argentina, it's also a slang for vagina. - Polla: In most spanish speaking countries, it means "chicken" (female, before turning into a hen, I guess). In spain, it's slang for penis. - Bicho: In most countries, it means "bug" (any bug, not one in particular). In Puerto Rico, it's a slang for penis. - Torta: In some spanish speaking countries, it means "cake". In others, particularly in Mexico, it means "patty". Curiously enough, "cake" in Mexico is called "pastel", yet in Venezuela, "pastel" means "patty". There are many more. Just remember to be careful with what you say and where you say it

In german I like "fräulein". I like how it's pronounced, and I like it better than miss, mademoiselle or señorita. In french, more than a word, I like the expression "s'il vous plait". First, because it took me a while learning how to pronounce it, and also because, while it's used as "please", its literal meaning is "if it pleases you". It reminds me of Game Of Thrones. While spanish is my native tongue, my favorite word is "diecisiete", the number "seventeen". There are many reasons for this, some are more personal. What I can tell you is that, when I'm exaggerating, I always use this number. For example "I told you to wash the dishes about seventeen thousand times!"

There are many related TV idioms, usually stay around while the TV show is present, and then slowly fade out when the TV show is cancelled. Lately, terms like "Bazinga!" or "Winter is coming" are commonly used on forums. But sometimes you can also find people saying "I pity the fool..." or "Holy ..., Batman!" When Friends was at its peak, you would find people saying "Unagi" or "How you doin'?" a lot. It drove me crazy. I never liked the show Friends that much.

"Ignorance is bliss", meaning that as long as you don't know something, you don't have to be worried about the implications of that something, which in the end means "happiness" for the one that doesn't know. I use it all the time. Another one I like is "A wolf in sheep's clothing", for people who pretend to have good intentions when they actually will try to harm you. For some reason, I have a very vivid image, from maybe a movie or a book, of a wolf disguised as a sheep.

- "A bird in a hand is worth two in the bush", meaning that is better to stick to the one thing you have than to get lost looking at things that you don't have. - "like a bat out of hell", meaning something going really, really fast. An then there are all the different types of animal droppings that are used with different meanings. For example "bulls..." or "horses..." to mean "lie", or "going apes..." to mean going really mad.

I always enjoy to read Edgar Allan Poe and H.P. Lovecraft. One of my first interests when learning how to speak english was to understand exactly what "The Raven" meant. Also, from Poe, one of my favorites is "The Murders in the Rue Morgue". Also, Salinger's "Catcher In The Rye" and Lee's "To Kill A Mockingbird" were previously mentioned here. You can't go wrong with either of those. As for tales, my favorite reading when I was a kid was Stevenson's "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde". I still read it every now and then.

It happened to me with French, as well. I believe in school (sometimes even college) you sometimes study just to get some grades, not to try to incorporate what you learn in real life. I have to say, though, that I'm starting to pick french up again (this time, I'm trying to do it my way, by self teaching) and at first it has been easy to pick up on those things that I had previously learned. Still a long way to go, though...

The problem is usually within particular expressions of that country. For example "concha" in Venezuela means "fruit peel". In Argentina it can also mean "vagina". But in a normal conversation you will understand most of the time. It happens in english as well. For example, I understand the expression "blow a fag" in England means "having a cigarette". In the US, though....

I don't agree with this. I live in a Latin American country, and "rolling the r's" is as difficult for us as for anyone else. However, since kids are practicing it since pre-school, they all end up learning very early in life. I, on the other hand, learned how to roll the r's properly on my mid 20s. I don't think it's a mouth structure thing related to your descent. While I'm sure different people have different mouth structures, I think it's more related to practice. Since you practice your native tongue since you're very young, you get accustomed to a certain pronunciation. When presented with a different pronunciation later in life, it's going to take some time to adapt.

I once read one of these "study guide books". It was the one for "Much Ado About Nothing" from William Shakespeare. I felt that it interrupted the flow of the play, so what I did was reading the play in its entirety first and then read it again using the study guide. I think they're good, though, specially if you're learning the language.

One of my favorite movies from all time is "Fight Club". It's an adaptation of a book written by Chuck Palahniuk. Another one I love is "into The Wild", which is an adaptation of a book written by Jon Krakauer, this one actually based on a real life story. Both are great movies that I highly recommend.

Well, my favorite quote of all time is: "Do. Or do not. There is no try"... Yoda It is, of course, a movie character. Yet it always comes back to me when I'm going to start doing something I'm not sure if I can manage to do. It helps me to keep positive.

Here is one that comes to mind, in english and what it's used in spanish to convey the same message: - "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree", which is sort of the same as "like father, like son". In spanish, we say "de tal palo, tal astilla".

I think if you're going to learn a language from scratch, it's best if you get a real life teacher. He/she can help you better with the basics of the language, can answer all the usual questions you will have, being new and all. After you're, let's say, intermediate, you could use the language learning apps to keep your language fresh, and as means to do some self assesment as well.

In my country, more than pick-up lines, men have this custom of using lines that, while they convey admiration for the female, will probably not get you anywhere. For example, when a beautiful girl is walking around with her mother, some guys would shout out to her mother "Suegra!" (mother-in-law). And also "si no tiene quien se la cuide, yo se la cuido con gusto" (if you have no one to take care of her, I will gladly do so). Most of them are actually kind of vulgar. The least one that I could share here is "si así es el camino como será el pueblo" (if that's how the road looks like, I wonder how the town is). It's not vulgar in itself, but it's used when a girl is showing her stomach, back or cleavage, and you want to mean that you wonder how her private parts look like.