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When I'm angry at my boyfriend but too scared to say it to his face I shout at him in another language.
Reply 61
You use your foreign language when writing notes for a completely different subject, because it just makes more sense (I tend to use selon and à cause de in my politics notes a lot for some reason).

You can read something in your foreign language and know exactly what it means in your head, but when someone asks you to translate you go blank, stutter for a while and then say, "Look, I know what it means, ok?"
You try and watch pirated copies of the latest films dubbed into a foreign language online instead of watching them in the cinema/buying the DVD in english like normal :p:
Reply 63
theciz
You can read something in your foreign language and know exactly what it means in your head, but when someone asks you to translate you go blank, stutter for a while and then say, "Look, I know what it means, ok?"


THIS SO MUCH!

Which means that translation classes are bloody annoying.
You start talking to people but you flit between the two languages at will. Other language students just talk to you as normal and join in whilst everyone looks around weirdly
Reply 65
Here is a list:

You know you lived in spain when:-

1) You think adding lemonade, fanta or even coke to red wine is perfectly acceptable. Especially at lunch time.

2) You can't get over how early bars & clubs shut back home - surely they're shutting just as you should be going out?

3) You aren't just surprised that the plumber/decorator has turned up on time, you're surprised he turned up at all.

4) You've been part of a botellon.

5) You think it's fine to comment on everyone's appearance.

6) Not giving every new acquaintance dos besos seems so rude.

7) You're shocked by people getting their legs out at the first hint of sun - surely they should wait until at least late June?

8) On msn you sometimes type 'jajaja' instead of 'hahaha'

9) You think the precious aceite is a vital part of every meal. And don't understand how anyone could think olive oil on toast is weird.

10) You're amazed when TV ad breaks last less than half an hour, especially right before the end of films.

11) You forget to say please when asking for things - you implied it in your tone of voice, right?

12) You love the phenomenon of giving 'toques' - but hate explaining it in English

14) You don't see sunflower seeds as a healthy snack - they're just what all the cool kids eat.

15) You know what a pijo is and how to spot one.

16) Every sentence you speak contains at least one of these words: 'bueno,' 'coño,' 'vale,' 'venga,' 'pues nada'...

17) You know what 'resaca' means. And you had one at least once a week when you lived in Spain.

18) You know how to eat boquerones.

19) A bull's head on the wall of a bar isn't a talking point for you, it's just a part of the decor.

20) You eat lunch after 2pm & would never even think of having your evening meal before 9.

21) You know that after 2pm there's no point in going shopping, you might as well just have a siesta until 5 when the shops re-open.

22) If anyone insults your mother, they better watch out...

23) You know how to change a bombona. And if you don't, you were either lazy or lucky enough to live somewhere nice.

24) You're either a Los Serrano person or an Aqui no hay quien viva person.

25) You don't accept beer that's anything less than ice-cold.

26) The fact that all the male (or female) members of a family have the same first name doesn't surprise you.

27) The sound of mopeds in the background is the soundtrack to your life.

28) You know that the mullet didn't just happen in the 80s. It is alive and well in Spain.

29) You know the differenc between cojones and cajones, tener calor and estar caliente, bacalao and bakalao...and maybe you learned the differences the hard way!

30) On a Sunday morning, you have breakfast before going to bed, not after you get up.

31) You don't see anything wrong with having a couple of beers in the morning if you feel like it.

32) Floors in bars are an ideal dumping ground for your colillas, servilletas etc. Why use a bin?!

33) You see clapping as an art form, not just a way to express approval.

34) You know ensaladilla rusa has nothing to do with Russia.

35) When you burst out laughing every time you see a Mitsubishi Pajero (thanks Stuart Line for reminding me of that one!)

36) You have friends named Jesus, Jose Maria, Maria Jose, Angel, maybe even Inmaculada Concepcion...

you take off the silencer off your 50cc moped to make it louder and more sport-bike like

You refer to the language as "castellano" instead of "espanol".


"While driving, you think red lights are just fancy spot lights to enlighten your drive through the city"

when u see an indicator as really cool retro accesori not a turning aid


...you think it's normal that people sit on chairs outside their house in the street during summer, watching the telly brought up to the front door...

...you think that queueing in order-of-arrival to buy a cinema ticket is old-wordly quaint...

...you've been to concerts where the length of the speeches by local dignitaries is greater than the total length of the music performance itself...

You regard green olives or crisps as a bad choice of tapas!


the site of a mullet and "man purse" no longer causes you to look twice...

You think that yelling "Mariiiiiaaaaaaaa" or beeping your car's horn from the street to let someone know you've arrived at their flat (and they're on the 6th floor) is normal behaviour


When you get off the public bus, you realise that you have teribble headache. (specially here in Andalucia)


....... it is acceptable to sit next to an old sweaty hairy man by the name of Juan, while eating your lunch because tapas is always best where the taxi drivers eat!


when you get invited to lunch and your host insits on picking you up in their car with air con,because if you walk for even 30 seconds in the sun you will die a horrible death.....and you only live 20 metres away


..when you think putting on your hazard lights means you can ignore all driving laws.

At the airport you find yourself asking the customs officials if they can bend the rules a little and let you go through with 3 kilos of chorizo.


You've been sitting on a bus only for the driver to park and go for a cortado and a cigarette

You know that embarazada does NOT mean embarrassed!!


.... nor does it seem strange to see all the children in one family wearing matching clothes..... and even the parents!


When you start to think that Jamón is a cure-all remedy and all problems in life can be solved by eating it.......


- When you have been forced to agree that people from the south are much friendlier than people from the north.

...you aren't surprised when you see a 4 year old lighting and throwing a firework.

You know you have lived in Spain a long time when your non-Spanish friends think you shout and you think they whisper.

...you've listened the complete kiss FM's musical batch at least 50 times.


There are kids playing in the streets at 1am and nobdy goes looking for them as you know they are ok!


male Teenagers and men, shave their hair off their legs

Guys wearing earings are muy macho


You are perfecty fine with the fact that 99% of guys in the beach have got their chests perfecty shaved and moistured with a sunbathing oil, that gives this marvelous, shiny effect that leaves no girl ambivalent


you know you've lived in spain when you know the difference between jamon serrano and jamon iberico!


when you have a serious craving for horchata de chufa at 3 in the morning.

You realise that there were in fact several thousand Virgin Marys, and not just the one. You also have to pick a favourite.

When you go to a chiringuito and ask "¿qué tienen?" and the waiter takes a deep breath and starts to sing the whole menu out in 30 seconds and you only really catch the last thing he said... "y rosada frita, ¿qué desean?"...
rossp100
Here is a list:

You know you lived in spain when:-

1) You think adding lemonade, fanta or even coke to red wine is perfectly acceptable. Especially at lunch time.

2) You can't get over how early bars & clubs shut back home - surely they're shutting just as you should be going out?

3) You aren't just surprised that the plumber/decorator has turned up on time, you're surprised he turned up at all.

4) You've been part of a botellon.

5) You think it's fine to comment on everyone's appearance.

6) Not giving every new acquaintance dos besos seems so rude.

7) You're shocked by people getting their legs out at the first hint of sun - surely they should wait until at least late June?

8) On msn you sometimes type 'jajaja' instead of 'hahaha'

9) You think the precious aceite is a vital part of every meal. And don't understand how anyone could think olive oil on toast is weird.

10) You're amazed when TV ad breaks last less than half an hour, especially right before the end of films.

11) You forget to say please when asking for things - you implied it in your tone of voice, right?

12) You love the phenomenon of giving 'toques' - but hate explaining it in English

14) You don't see sunflower seeds as a healthy snack - they're just what all the cool kids eat.

15) You know what a pijo is and how to spot one.

16) Every sentence you speak contains at least one of these words: 'bueno,' 'coño,' 'vale,' 'venga,' 'pues nada'...

17) You know what 'resaca' means. And you had one at least once a week when you lived in Spain.

18) You know how to eat boquerones.

19) A bull's head on the wall of a bar isn't a talking point for you, it's just a part of the decor.

20) You eat lunch after 2pm & would never even think of having your evening meal before 9.

21) You know that after 2pm there's no point in going shopping, you might as well just have a siesta until 5 when the shops re-open.

22) If anyone insults your mother, they better watch out...

23) You know how to change a bombona. And if you don't, you were either lazy or lucky enough to live somewhere nice.

24) You're either a Los Serrano person or an Aqui no hay quien viva person.

25) You don't accept beer that's anything less than ice-cold.

26) The fact that all the male (or female) members of a family have the same first name doesn't surprise you.

27) The sound of mopeds in the background is the soundtrack to your life.

28) You know that the mullet didn't just happen in the 80s. It is alive and well in Spain.

29) You know the differenc between cojones and cajones, tener calor and estar caliente, bacalao and bakalao...and maybe you learned the differences the hard way!

30) On a Sunday morning, you have breakfast before going to bed, not after you get up.

31) You don't see anything wrong with having a couple of beers in the morning if you feel like it.

32) Floors in bars are an ideal dumping ground for your colillas, servilletas etc. Why use a bin?!

33) You see clapping as an art form, not just a way to express approval.

34) You know ensaladilla rusa has nothing to do with Russia.

35) When you burst out laughing every time you see a Mitsubishi Pajero (thanks Stuart Line for reminding me of that one!)

36) You have friends named Jesus, Jose Maria, Maria Jose, Angel, maybe even Inmaculada Concepcion...

you take off the silencer off your 50cc moped to make it louder and more sport-bike like

You refer to the language as "castellano" instead of "espanol".


"While driving, you think red lights are just fancy spot lights to enlighten your drive through the city"

when u see an indicator as really cool retro accesori not a turning aid


...you think it's normal that people sit on chairs outside their house in the street during summer, watching the telly brought up to the front door...

...you think that queueing in order-of-arrival to buy a cinema ticket is old-wordly quaint...

...you've been to concerts where the length of the speeches by local dignitaries is greater than the total length of the music performance itself...

You regard green olives or crisps as a bad choice of tapas!


the site of a mullet and "man purse" no longer causes you to look twice...

You think that yelling "Mariiiiiaaaaaaaa" or beeping your car's horn from the street to let someone know you've arrived at their flat (and they're on the 6th floor) is normal behaviour


When you get off the public bus, you realise that you have teribble headache. (specially here in Andalucia)


....... it is acceptable to sit next to an old sweaty hairy man by the name of Juan, while eating your lunch because tapas is always best where the taxi drivers eat!


when you get invited to lunch and your host insits on picking you up in their car with air con,because if you walk for even 30 seconds in the sun you will die a horrible death.....and you only live 20 metres away


..when you think putting on your hazard lights means you can ignore all driving laws.

At the airport you find yourself asking the customs officials if they can bend the rules a little and let you go through with 3 kilos of chorizo.


You've been sitting on a bus only for the driver to park and go for a cortado and a cigarette

You know that embarazada does NOT mean embarrassed!!


.... nor does it seem strange to see all the children in one family wearing matching clothes..... and even the parents!


When you start to think that Jamón is a cure-all remedy and all problems in life can be solved by eating it.......


- When you have been forced to agree that people from the south are much friendlier than people from the north.

...you aren't surprised when you see a 4 year old lighting and throwing a firework.

You know you have lived in Spain a long time when your non-Spanish friends think you shout and you think they whisper.

...you've listened the complete kiss FM's musical batch at least 50 times.


There are kids playing in the streets at 1am and nobdy goes looking for them as you know they are ok!


male Teenagers and men, shave their hair off their legs

Guys wearing earings are muy macho


You are perfecty fine with the fact that 99% of guys in the beach have got their chests perfecty shaved and moistured with a sunbathing oil, that gives this marvelous, shiny effect that leaves no girl ambivalent


you know you've lived in spain when you know the difference between jamon serrano and jamon iberico!


when you have a serious craving for horchata de chufa at 3 in the morning.

You realise that there were in fact several thousand Virgin Marys, and not just the one. You also have to pick a favourite.

When you go to a chiringuito and ask "¿qué tienen?" and the waiter takes a deep breath and starts to sing the whole menu out in 30 seconds and you only really catch the last thing he said... "y rosada frita, ¿qué desean?"...


Oh man that made me laugh!! Muy bueno!
You have at some point made a list of hello/goodbye/please/thank you/I love you in as many different languages as you can lay your hands on then decided you now know the linguistic roots and connections between them all because of the amazing comprehensible list. :smile:
Reply 68
After I came back from living in Spain. The day I came back I went and got some petrol and after I paid I said "mucho Gracias".

OH MY GOD...embarressing!
You check the production country of food, and get excited if it's from the country of your chosen language. Eg- 'Why buy British yoghurt when this other one was made in Sweden?!?!?' :yep:
You finish watching Law of Desire trying to analyse Pablo's every word and end up nattering to yourself in Spanish all day. At least I did.
Pandabär
You check the production country of food, and get excited if it's from the country of your chosen language. Eg- 'Why buy British yoghurt when this other one was made in Sweden?!?!?' :yep:


Dunno if I'm a boring fart but I'd sooner buy British than Spanish strawberries.
Reply 72
When you do, indeed, use the first word that springs to your mind, no matter the language you should be using.

When you do not realise anymore that someone has switched from a language to another, when you can speak both fluently.

When you think in a language, and inadvertantly write in another one, and end up confusing yourself or someone else completely.

When you use a word that exists in two languages, doesn't have the same meaning at all, yet seems perfectly acceptable to be used in a sentence. This of course results in your mum asking why on earth you want to do a tableclothe. ("Je veux faire la sieste" = "I want to take a nap", except "nap" sounds like "nappe", which means "tableclothe).

When you can write in different alphabets, and that it doesn't matter whether it's from left to right or right to left, it's all the same. Eventually, you also end up using several alphabets in your notes, leaving your coursemate in a great disarray, for your greatest enjoyment.

When you own more grammar books than novels.

When your list of "languages to learn" exceed ten languages, and that half of them are "popular" and the rest is completely unknown to the majority of the population in the UK.

When you can hold a tiny conversation in a language you've never studied, just by having picked it up by listening to your coursemates doing a language you don't study.

When you think so much in another language you can't even notice anymore the mistakes that other people make in your mother tongue. It just all makes sense, now.

When new grammar points excites you more than free food.

When your walls are convered with tables of conjugations, case endings, lists of vocab.
Whilst not a language student, I tend to start counting in Arabic and end up in Hebrew (or vice versa).
Reply 74
When no matter how long you've been learning the language, you just cannot count in it. Russian numbers, PISS OFF, you damn pieces of crap. You also tend to count to yourself in your mother tongue rather than another one, even if you're abroad.

When you reach a mild degree of anger, you swear in the second language or another random one, but if it's minor or major, there's nothing better than your mother tongue.
theciz
You can read something in your foreign language and know exactly what it means in your head, but when someone asks you to translate you go blank, stutter for a while and then say, "Look, I know what it means, ok?"


This is so true esp the "Look, i know what it means, ok" bit
You amaze people with you knowledge of a country that your average eegit won't know where to point to find it on a globe/atlas.

It amazes me how thick people are about geography sometimes.
When instead of going to Glastonbury/Reading like everyone else you're going to Southside and Rock en Seine :woo:

And everything that's been said so far is so true, we're a sad bunch :p:
Reply 78
when eating out you always go for the foreign dish with the exotic name because it sounds interesting :o:
Reply 79
you have more foreign books than 'regular' books and you hardly ever read in your native language anymore. And when people ask you what you're reading and you reply, you always get that reaction: (*face freezes, big eyes, mouth wide open*) aaahhh....what? for some reason :dontknow:

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