A sure way to make friends in any Latin American country.
actually, even if what you are trying to say in whatevr language is old fasshioned, or in a different dialect, invariably the people you are trying to talk to laugh, and relax because you are not the typical ugly american who figures that if you shout or anda funny ending to the english word makes you more understandable …
Even if all you can say in the language is please, i’m sorry and do you speak english, it breaks the ice and makes people more amenable to helping you.
I wonder what you would principally be doing in Guadalajara, and for how long? That will have a lot to do with the availability of English, their acceptance of your Spanish, your ability to adapt to either, and so on. Additionally, do you really mean Guadalajara, or was that just an example of a city that you know the name of (because Mexico is culturally diverse, and the attitudes of people change greatly from region to region)?
Lo siento, no vendemos musica aqui.
I heard a RS radio commercial today, in which the guy said something like, “My friends laughed at me when I said I could order in French, but when the waiter came, I just smiled and said je voudrais le poulet y les frites.”
Leaving aside the fact that he ordered chicken and fries in a restaurant where the waiters spoke French, he definitely said y, not et.
The above may work if the speaker is short and female.
I say that often to anyone who thinks I’m not Hispanic. 
With a few other words added.
I’m pleased to say that I’ve made a few friends after that. 
I’d be surprised if it really teaches you any slang. Latin America is huge, does it distinguish between which countries use certain verbs or words or not? Because I bet what is common speak in Guadalajara, Mexico, may not be the same as in Cali, Colombia, Ponce, Puerto Rico, or Mendoza, Argentina.
But if it teaches you standard Spanish, although you’d be speaking more correct than the natives, I’m sure they would appreciate your efforts. And if they laugh, they’ll also be glad you’re trying.
I found an odd Google Translations quirk with this one.
After viewing it in English, I was curious if the words were the same in Portuguese as they are in Spanish.
I went back to Google Translations and selected Spanish -> Portuguese, and this is what I got:
My hovercraft está cheio de enguias
Of course, not knowing the Portuguese word for “hovercraft”, I imagine it could be something like “software” or “shopping” - words borrowed from English. But then why does it start with “My”?
I figured they did Spanish => English => Portuguese, and this seems like a pretty poor way of getting the job done with any degree of accuracy. I then did an experiment where I copied a paragraph from Jornal do Brasil, translating P=>S, and P=>E=>S, and they were identical.
It makes me wonder just how crappy the non-English-to-non-English translations are if they use English as a middle man.
My understanding was that the bilabial fricative alternates with the bilabial plosive depending on position within a word.
Tengo un gato en los pantalones.
I kept hearing good things about Rosetta Stone. I guess it’s back to the old-fashioned way of learning a new language – via television!
One that I would recommend would be this one:
For basic English, try Smart Start. It’s interactive and everything is contextualized. For more advanced English, try the Syracuse series. It’s promoted as a “business English” course, but it actually includes a variety of contexts that are not strictly business-oriented.
Even the CD for Oxford Picture English dictionary is better than Rosetta. Rosetta just throws out a bunch of random words.
Mi aerodeslizador está lleno de anguilas
Careful with simple words like **cachar **(**catch **in Mexico, **fuck **in Perú) or **coger **(**pick up **in Perú, **fuck **in Argentina)
Only in Chilean Spanish does “v” (and “b”) sounds sound like an English “v”.
In Spanish a “b” or “v” between vowels is an approximant [β̞]with undertack.
[hijack]Note to Hollywood: People in South America do not sound like Mexicans, or even worse, US-born grandchildren of Mexicans. [/hijack]
(Note to self: Don’t kid around. Don’t even bother. All of the “good” bad jokes will be made at least one day before you even see the thread.)
I see your point. You’re saying that the program used the labio-dental fricative. It wasn’t clear to me what you meant by “hard labial fricative.”
Please, not the “v” vs “b” thing in Spanish again. They are different and they sound different. When I was in third grade, we took dictation and from then on we learned to differentiate them. I don’t know where this stupid meme came from.
Back in Texas, whenever we learned someone was going to Mexico, we tried to teach him that Chinga tu madre meant “Two more beers, please.” I wonder if anyone ever fell for that.
It came from being true. I’ll trust the Stanford Spanish PhD I learned from and every native Spanish speaker I’ve ever talked to over your 3rd grade class.
I agree. People appreciate the effort. When I (attempt) to communicate in Spanish I sound like a dimwitted 4 year old (“donde esta la gasolina para le ATV?”* was one of my better efforts). But people were very nice about it.
Then there was the time I didn’t know the word for “eggs” in Czech (tried English, French, Russian and German to no avail) and ended up flapping my arms and clucking like a chicken, to the enormous amusement of the grocery staff. I wanted those eggs, damnit. And I got them, by gum.
- I was trying to find the gas station and was driving an ATV, so there was a certain context.
Certainly a lot of native speakers don’t differentiate them. It’s probably one of the most common misspellings I see in Spanish here (substituting b for v and vice versa).
Some years ago I suggested a “Spanish for Factory Workers” that included “Speaking Spanish Like a Texan.” To be honest, I hoped “Speaking Spanish Like a Midwesterner” might gain more traction, as either would give one enough command of the language to ask for a monkey wrench in mangled Spanish, but thought the Texan version would be more inclusive.
C’mon, kids! We don’t ask for much better than mangled from speakers of other tongues. Why do we assume they would not both find our manglings both comprehensible and cute?