da igual? nope.

So, since I've been hanging out in Spain for a little over six months, I've realized that no matter how great of a teacher I am (the best), people are always making the same grammatical mistakes. Since learning a little Spanish, I've come to the conclusion that they really, really, really enjoy taking a common Spanish phrase, translating it directly to English and using it as often as humanly possible.

Por ejemplo: Nah, actually that's the first one. Los Españoles attempt to preface every sentence with "for example". Anything that they are talking always, always has an example. Even if its totally not applicable.

Their damn dudas: I never am asked questions about how to speak English or about American culture. Instead they have a "doubt". Hey, why don't you have a doubt about how to correctly ask a question?

What a pity. It's actually kind of hysterical that these punk-ass high school students shake their heads about the current weather situation and say "What a pity." In Spanish, they say "que pena" but no, they rely on antiquated English to convey this emotion. I tried to explain that maybe the closest thing in English was "That's too bad" or something along those lines, but they thought that sounded too negative.

Que mas? What more doubts do they have? Another habit that I just can't get them to quit. Instead of "what else?" its always, siempre "que mas?" For some reason this drives me insane. Its not the worst grammatical error they make or even the one they make the most, but its just fingernails-on-the-blackboard annoying.

Oh wait, that's actually not the worst. The absolute worst, is "si o no?" In Spanish, no can be either no or not. In English, we try and distinguish between the two, unless said person is illiterate. I have been asked in the past, "Jacqui, I always forget- is it no or not?... Okay. Now class, this is the answer, yes or not?" JODER.

Are you not listening to a word I'm saying? I know there's a language barrier or whatever, but come on people. I have some doubts about your learning abilities.