To mean what you say.....

granca

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Can somebody who speaks and understands Spanish better than me please tell me how to say:
?To mean what you say?....and
?To say what you mean?.

Thanks in advance.
 

Rocky

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Can somebody who speaks and understands Spanish better than me please tell me how to say:
?To mean what you say?....and
?To say what you mean?.

Thanks in advance.
I don't have a nice translation for you, but I can tell you that it's wasted breath.
I have been attempting to get "the result" for as long as I have lived here, and I have had virtually no success.
Those who are bright and educated enough to know what I mean, already say what they mean and mean what they say, and those who are not quite so bright and/or educated, just don't get it, or could care less.
One way or another, it's a waste of time, trying..
 

DrChrisHE

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ROFLOL REALLY! Too true Rocky!!! I told our housekeeper that I was her employer, not her mother or her friend (she is constantly bringing personal problems to me) and she BURST out in tears. My dh (a long time successful manager of customer service employees) said "Oh, you can do that in the US, but BOY did you ever screw up by saying that here! You have to pretend to be her friend or else you are her enemy."

Which brings me to a follow-up? What is the REAL word (Dominican--not Spanish) for an acquaintance--not friend, not stranger and not enemy?) I've been told it doesn't mean anything here.
 

Chip

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Jul 25, 2007
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Can somebody who speaks and understands Spanish better than me please tell me how to say:
?To mean what you say?....and
?To say what you mean?.

Thanks in advance.

There really isn't any direct translation as far as I know. Also, for the most part witty and or subtle phrases aren't really vogue in Spanish among most of the population. This may not the case for the well traveled highly educated Dom but for the rest of the popluation it is imo.

Therefore, if you are having a problem with understanding someone because they seem to be talking in circles you can say the following.

Al favor de explicarme bien lo que quieres.

Al favor de explicarme de otra manera porque no entiendo.

Al favor de decirme exactamente lo que quieres decir.
 

miguel

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Jul 2, 2003
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Buscalo....

There really isn't any direct translation as far as I know. Also, for the most part witty and or subtle phrases aren't really vogue in Spanish among most of the population. This may not the case for the well traveled highly educated Dom but for the rest of the popluation it is imo.

Therefore, if you are having a problem with understanding someone because they seem to be talking in circles you can say the following.

Al favor de explicarme bien lo que quieres.

Al favor de explicarme de otra manera porque no entiendo.

Al favor de decirme exactamente lo que quieres decir.
Chiporelly, if I am NOT mistaken, there's no such thing as "AL" in the Spanish dictionary.

Perhaps you meant to say "HAZ"....As in "HAZME el favor de...". (But I know it exists in the "Dominican Dictionary").

Granted, A LOT of people say "ame el favol" or "al favol"..Wahahahahaha!!.
 

Chirimoya

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Dec 9, 2002
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"Al" exists as a contraction of "A el", ("Vamos al colegio") but in this sense he must mean "hazme" (familiar) or "hagame" (polite) el favor - "do me a favour..."
 

Berzin

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Whatever a dominican says it is to benefit them.

You can be their friend, but that does not mean they are going to be yours.

And you need to understand this without it having to be explained to you, because it won't.

What they pretend not to understand is meant to be ignored until they get what they want or they just leave.

Or they cry like little children like the DrChrisHes' housekeeper.
 

Rocky

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Whatever a dominican says it is to benefit them.

You can be their friend, but that does not mean they are going to be yours.

And you need to understand this without it having to be explained to you, because it won't.

What they pretend not to understand is meant to be ignored until they get what they want or they just leave.

Or they cry like little children like the DrChrisHes' housekeeper.
I hope you don't think that of all Dominicans.
If you do, you could never be happy in the DR.
I do understand what you mean, assuming you are referring to tourist town street rifraf, as they all just trying to extract something from you, but this does not apply to the Dominican majority. IMHO.
 

miguel

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Si.....

"Al" exists as a contraction of "A el", ("Vamos al colegio") but in this sense he must mean "hazme" (familiar) or "hagame" (polite) el favor - "do me a favour..."
But it does NOT exists in the way he was trying to say.....Unless he wanted to say "a el favor de explicarme bien lo que quieres".

Oh well, mas se perdio en la guerra!.
 

Chirimoya

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Well, not to split hairs, but you did say AL did not exist in the Spanish dictionary and I didn't want people to get confused.
 

miguel

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Claro...

Well, not to split hairs, but you did say AL did not exist in the Spanish dictionary and I didn't want people to get confused.
I guess I forgot to write "it doesn't exists the way he was trying to use it"...

But you are right, me dummy, you smart....You Jane, me Tarzan (or the monkey, Cheetah).
 

Chip

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Jul 25, 2007
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I guess I forgot to write "it doesn't exists the way he was trying to use it"...

But you are right, me dummy, you smart....You Jane, me Tarzan (or the monkey, Cheetah).

I could be that they are saying "A favor". I may be a contraction of "Hazme el favor" but it certainly doesn't sound anything like it - geesh my Spanish isn't that bad. Heck, so far I've been pretending to be Dominican here in the States among the Hispanics and I'm like 3-3 for without anybody doubting me. I even had one lady ask me if I was Dominican!
 

A.Hidalgo

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Apr 28, 2006
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I could be that they are saying "A favor". I may be a contraction of "Hazme el favor" but it certainly doesn't sound anything like it - geesh my Spanish isn't that bad. Heck, so far I've been pretending to be Dominican here in the States among the Hispanics and I'm like 3-3 for without anybody doubting me. I even had one lady ask me if I was Dominican!

Primo please get some formal Spanish lessons.;)
 

Rocky

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Sidetracked as we are, I might as well put my 2 cents worth in.
I believe that Chip's "al por favor" is the Dominican version of "haga el favor" that I hear on Spanish lesson tapes from Spain, where they make it sound like "haguel favor". and sounds more like "hael favor" in this country.
 

Berzin

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I hope you don't think that of all Dominicans.
If you do, you could never be happy in the DR.
I do understand what you mean, assuming you are referring to tourist town street rifraf, as they all just trying to extract something from you, but this does not apply to the Dominican majority. IMHO.

I have made this mistake before, and I've made it again. I meant SOME. Not most, and certainly not all.
 

A.Hidalgo

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Sidetracked as we are, I might as well put my 2 cents worth in.
I believe that Chip's "al por favor" is the Dominican version of "haga el favor" that I hear on Spanish lesson tapes from Spain, where they make it sound like "haguel favor". and sounds more like "hael favor" in this country.

You are doing the right thing by taking lessons from tapes from Spain. Maybe you can also recommend them to him.

excuse me for staying off topic but for Chip to translate Spanish is beyond funny. Sorry primo.
 

Rocky

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You are doing the right thing by taking lessons from tapes from Spain. Maybe you can also recommend them to him.

excuse me for staying off topic but for Chip to translate Spanish is beyond funny. Sorry primo.
I wish I could take credit for that, unfortunately, I heard it on other people's tapes and never took lessons.
I, like Chip, also learned in the streets, but I decided a long time ago to make an attempt to speak the more proper Dominican Spanish that one hears from the educated populus.
I mostly use the TV as my teacher.
I find that translated shows, like Animal Planet for instance, are spoken by real professionals, speaking a very nice "international version" of the language.
This is where I rid myself of the crap I learned in the streets, polish up the mispronounced words, learn new vocabulary and phraseology.
I find it much more difficult to change something I have learned to mispronounce, than to simply learn something new.
I do have the advantage of having worked with Dominicans for over 15 years, as well as being multilingual before starting to learn Spanish.
It appears to be a lot more difficult for unilingual people to learn a second language, than for those who already speak more than one.
 

granca

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Aug 20, 2007
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Well, it would appear that I really have set the cat among the pigeons with my question! Still a lot of your advice or interpretations were appreciated. Despite to ?Al? or not to ?Al? I shall try them out on my Dominican friends. My ebanista turned up this morning, Sunday !, at 10 am having said he would be here at 9 am. He worked darned hard so I will wait until later to tease him when he comes again later in the week. I agree with Rocky , however, that if you already know other languages it helps with your spanish, mind you my italian has gone to pot, I can still understand almost everything but when I speak spanish comes out of my mouth!!