I don't have a nice translation for you, but I can tell you that it's wasted breath.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.
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.
Chiporelly, if I am NOT mistaken, there's no such thing as "AL" in the Spanish dictionary.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.
I hope you don't think that of all Dominicans.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.
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"."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..."
I guess I forgot to write "it doesn't exists the way he was trying to use it"...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).
I even had one lady ask me if I was Dominican!
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!
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.
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.
I wish I could take credit for that, unfortunately, I heard it on other people's tapes and never took lessons.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.