Lost in Translation

He conseguido un nickle atascó en la nariz. This is what, in Spanish, I said to a women in Spain when I thought I was asking if she knew where the men room was. Her reply was just to stare at me for a second and walked away shaking her head. Instead of where is the men's room I had said that I had a nickle stuck in my nose. But these things happen. There are problems in knowing just a little Spanish. And the problem is, the answer you are given for your questions.

To make my point, my wife and I and our friends were vacationing in Spain a couple of years ago. We were staying in the Costa Del Sol area and decided to venture out into the surrounding area. So we rented a car for the day, and off we go . It was one of those beautiful bright days with perfect weather, not to hot and not to cold, just right. One of the first stop was a little village with these narrow streets that have just enough room for 2 very small cars to pass one a other. What attracted us to this little town was this church at the top of the highest point in this town. We made our way up to the church to have a look. When we arrived we found that the church was closed that day so we couldn't see the inside. We all made the best of it by walking around the perimeter to take many pictures. We were there for about a hour and was about to leave, when we were called over,by two women, who were inside the gate at the entrance to the church yard. They are going on and on in Spanish about something and our group just kept saying that we did not understand. I tyred the little Spanish that I knew, "I have a nickle stuck in my nose " but that was not getting us anywhere. Eventually with hand gestures and the one Spanish word that I did know,llave or key. We figured out that they where cleaning people and that they had been locked in. With hand gestures we said that we would go and get some help. We jumped in the car and headed for the town square. We spotted a policeman and we made him understand about what had happen to the people who were locked in the church yard. And it only took about 1 hour 45 minutes, and by then the cleaning people were all dead. Just kidding.

The point about knowing a few Spanish words really hit home on one of our quest to find this discount shop that sells leather coats. We had the town and the name of the store, so all we needed was to stop and ask directions. It must have been one of those times when the planets are all aligned ,but I asked for directions, in Spanish, and the person I asked went on and on telling me in Spanish and with hand gestures where the store was. Needless to say we did not understand one word and never found the store. So that's why I say a little Spanish is OK for saying hello and goodbye but don't start asking for more than that. Unless you want to tell someone you have a nickle stuck up your nose.