Yesterday I (Ben) had to take our car for the annual Inspección Técnica de Vehículos (ITV – a bit like the British MOT), where they check the brakes, lights, chasis, seat belts etc are all road-worthy.

It’s a job I dread, mostly because it’s one of the last bastions of ‘really difficult real-life Spanish’ that I still feel very nervous about!

If I fail to get the Spanish instructions right as I take the car through the test, then maybe the car won’t get ‘passed’ at the end, and that means big car headaches just before we take it on holiday!

Things didn’t go well from the moment I arrived.

There were two queues, one for turismos de gasolina (petrol engines) and one for turismos de diesel (diesel vehicles) – and I only discovered I was in the wrong queue after I’d been lined up for an hour already in the 36ºC sun!

If I tried to jump over to the other lane for the right queue, I was going to get in big trouble with everyone in that queue – the Spanish really hate people that push in!

So I went to the pay desk and was told to find la chica de seguridad con el chaleco amarillo – the security girl with the yellow jacket.

She was nowhere to be seen. I fretted and sweated in the sun for 10 minutes until finally she appeared, and I explained my predicament.

“Mira yo aviso a todo el mundo cuando llegan,” – I tell everyone when they arrive – she said (not true! she was nowhere to be seen when I got there), “tendrás que hablar con alguien a ver si te dejan cambiarte,” you’ll have to speak so someone to see if they let you change lane.

A gap appeared in front of a car in the other lane as someone else moved forwards, and I asked the driver behind the gap if I could cross over and get in front of him.

No, he said, “te toca dar la vuelta y hacer la cola desde el principio otra vez,” – you’ll have to turn round and start the queue from the beginning again.

Which would mean losing the whole hour I’d been in the wrong queue! There were already about 20 new cars behind us in both lanes!

I tried a friendly looking woman in a Smart car a few cars back in the other lane, “perdona, es que me he equivocado de cola y tengo que cambiarme a este carril,” – Excuse me, I got the wrong queue and I have to change to this lane…”

“Vale,” – OK – she said, “¡Muy amable!” I replied, totally relieved! Whenever you want a favour in Spanish, it really pays to start with “Perdona, es que…”

Finally I got to the head of the queue, and the terrifying exam started!

It works like this: you sit in your car, and the ITV technician barks orders at you as he walks around the car checking everything works.

The vocabulary is highly test/car-specific, the noise in the warehouse is unbearable, and it’s almost impossible to hear what he’s saying!

As I said, I’m terrified that if I misunderstand his instructions, the car will fail and my 2 hour wait in line will have been for nothing!

Here are a few of the orders that came flying at me from all sides as the test progressed:

abre el capo – open the bonnet
luces de posición…. largas – dipped headlights, full beam
antinieblas – fog lights
pisa el freno – step on the brake
quita el freno de mano – release the handbrake
dale un poco de agua – squirt some water…
toca la bocina – sound the horn (I’d never heard the word ‘bocina‘ before, so had to take a guess at that one – lucky I got it right!)

It went on and on like this until finally he sent me on to stage two – even worse!

This involved listening to a guy who was underneath the car, giving me orders via a tiny, hissing loud speaker next to my drivers window:

Darle con el volante de un lado para otro – swing the steering wheel from one side to the other. Etc!

So how did we do?

At last I made it to the end of the test, and got the piece of paper with the crucial test results:

The Car: Resultado de la inspección: Favorable con defecto leve – escobillas defectuosas – The car passed the test, but with a minor infraction, worn out wiper blades…

Ben: Hecho polvo – totally worn out as well! … But I guess I passed the test too!

What’s the hardest ‘real life’ Spanish exam you’ve ever been through?

Related To This Post:

- Ben’s Anatomical Spanish Simultaneous Translation Nightmare!

- Make sure you’re ready for these real life Spanish situations! Keep listening to our real-life Spanish conversations and jump to the next level materials in our store!

Context

In our latest Spanish learning video (with real Spanish conversation followed by analysis in English!) Ben and Marina discuss the heat in Madrid, summer holiday plans, and what challenges they have lined up for the summer.

Vocab and phrases from the ‘Analysis’ section

¿Qué tal? – How are you?
…Muy bien – Fine
…Regular – So so/not great
…Estamos fatal - We are a complete mess
Todo el mundo tiene insomnio – Everyone has insomnia
El fin de semana que viene prometen 37 o 38 grados – This weekend we can expect 37 or 38 degrees
La fiesta de esta noche promete – I think it’s going to be a great party tonight
La fiesta promete – The party looks like it’s going to be really good
Vamos a viajar a la Selva Negra que me hace mucha ilusión – We are going to go down to the Black Forest which I’m really excited about
A mi me hace mucha ilusión pasar por Suiza – I’m really excited about going through Switzerland
Tienes algún reto para las vacaciones – Do you have any goals /challenges for the holidays?
Descansar y pasármelo bien – Relax and have a good time
Pásatelo bien – Have a good time
Bloc para esbozo – Sketch pad
Bloc – Notepad
Leeré a ratitos – I’m going to read in short bursts

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¡Hola!

Our latest project, Notes in Spanish Gold 2, is open NOW!

Click here to get it right now!

You’ll be getting instant access to the 24 Notes in Spanish Gold 2 episodes, featuring great new real Spanish conversations and the new invaluable analysis section, PLUS the Q and A sessions, which give you closer access to us than ever before!

Saludos desde Madrid,

Ben y Marina

P.S. As we’ve been saying all week, this is probably the best work we’ve ever produced, and we are tremendously excited to open it up to everyone.

We think it’ll make a huge, inspiring difference to your Spanish.

Click here to get Gold 2 now!

The Spanish verb llevar has many different meanings – we’ve covered the most important for you (over 30 uses!) in this special report… but don’t worry, you don’t have to learn them all at once!

Download the PDF now with this link, and add it to your special Spanish learning collection:

	Totally Understanding Llevar! Become a llevar expert now!

Remember, you can get more of our best reports here.

Context

Ben and Marina take a trip to one of their favourite spots in Madrid, the Museo de Sorolla, the green city home of one of Spain’s least known, but most loved painters. Like our video from Monday on Spanish table manners, the second half includes key analysis in English again!

Vocab and phrases from the ‘Analysis’ section

En pleno centro (de Madrid) – Right in the middle (of Madrid)
Se desnudó en plena calle – He took his clothes off right in the middle of the street
Qué gozada – How fantastic
Qué gozada bañarte en el mar – What a joy to swim in the sea
Están hechos en estilo arabesco – They are made in the Moorish style
Le gustaba retratar escenas cotidianas – He liked to paint everyday scenes
En mi vida cotidiana – In my everyday life
Retratos – Portraits
Voy a pintar un retrato – I’m going to paint a portrait
Su obra era caracteristica por la luz y lo llaman el luminismo – His body of work was characteristic for its use of light, they call it ‘luminismo’

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Context

More fun Spanish learning video from Ben and Marina! We look at the different customs at the Spanish dining table, and Spanish superstitions involving the salt! Do listen to the second half analysis in English to get the most from the video.

Vocab and phrases from the ‘Analysis’ section

No se usa la servilleta – Serviettes aren’t generally used (in the UK)
En España se come mucha ensalada – A lot of salad is eaten in Spain
Otra cosa que se suele ver en la mesa española es una aceitera – Another thing you tend to see on the Spanish table is an olive oil bottle
Me resulta un poco violento pedirles una servilleta – I feel a bit uncomfortable asking them for a serviette
Cuando yo pongo la mesa – When I set the table
Soy un chapuza(s) – I don’t do things properly/I do things in half measures
Hacer chapuzas – To do some DIY
Hacerlo de manera chapuza – To do it not very well

More Great Spanish Learning Resources…

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May 10, 2011

Here is a great email we got recently from a listener (when it was still cold here in Madrid!):

“Hola Ben, I’m a big fan of your website and podcasts. They definitely helped me make the leap and move to Madrid. I’ve been here for a year and am having a great time.

Some real Spanish for you that you might like to share with the other users. This morning, I left home at 7.30 and it was freezing cold. I saw my “portera” on the way out of my building and she said to me “¡Vaya mañana!”

I think this use of “vaya” is very common in Spain and can be translated as “What a morning!” in English. I don’t know if you’ve written about this already, if not it could be interesting. All the best, E.”

That is a great use of Vaya, we love it! You could also use ‘Vaya mañana’ (What a morning!) if it was pouring with rain, or incredibly hot, or just if you’d had a hard start to the day!

Vaya is also often used in response to bad news, to mean ‘oh dear’:

Enrique: Me han despedido – I’ve been fired
Ben: Vaya, lo siento mucho – Oh dear, I’m really sorry

Here is another typical use of Vaya, in this wonderful and common expression:

Vaya tela – What a nightmare

For example:

Vaya tela que tienes con tu trabajo, además de tener un jefe inaguantable te han asignado el cliente más complicado – What a nightmare you?ve got at work. As well as having an unbearable boss, they’ve given you the most difficult client!

Fill your life with more Real Spanish now! Listen to our Real Spanish Conversations and pick up one of the Real Spanish learning products in our store!

We wanted to share one or our favourite expressions, and other related vocab, from one of the episodes in our Gold Two program:

Hoy me he levantado con el pie izquierdo – I got up on the wrong side of the bed / in a really funny mood today.

You can also say the following two phrases, to mean the same thing:

Hoy me he levantado del revés – I got up in a really strange mood today
Hoy me he levantado un poco torcido – I got up in a funny mood today

“Torcido” literally means crooked, or bent, for example:

Ese marco está torcido – That frame is not straight (on the wall).

Tengo la columna torcida – My spine / back is a bit bent.

Here in Spain it is commonly used in other phrases to say that things haven’t gone quite right:

Después de hablar con mi jefe se me ha torcido el día – After speaking to my boss my day has gone completely wrong.

Se me ha torcido el viaje con la huelga de pilotos – My trip has gone out of the window due to the pilot’s strike.

Gold Season Two is full of real-life, organic Spanish like this, for upper intermediate and advanced learners.

We are constantly asked about how to translate the simple English verb ‘become’ into Spanish. And there is no simple answer!

The Spanish use other verbs, like ponerse, volverse, and many others, to do the same job.

We’ve put together a list of the top 23 ways ‘become’ is used in Spanish in this special report. Download the PDF here now:

	23 Ways to Translate “Become” in Spanish! PDF Dominate “Become” in Spanish from now on!

Remember, you can get more of our best reports here.

As well as our free Spanish learning audio and videos, we have produced a lot of great free reports over the years, packed full of valuable Spanish learning resources.

You can find them listed below. Feel free to download them and add them to your personal Spanish learning resources.

N.B. Sign up for our newsletter via the form top-right of this page, and you’ll get two more of our best ever reports too – our Super Simple Spanish Subjunctive Rule Book (the biggest, and best report we’ve ever made!) and Kick-Start Your Spanish, packed with ideas to improve your Spanish learning right now!

	11 Cool People Phrases in Spanish PDF The Spanish are gifted when it comes to describing their fellow human beings!

	Conversation Starters PDF 10 Ways NOT To Sound Like A Total Tourist In Spain…

	The Mighty Echar PDF Useful phrases with one of the most versatile verbs in Spanish, Echar

	The Most Amazing Spanish Learning Ideas Ever PDF – Put together with ideas from hundreds of Notes in Spanish listeners, this is a gold mine of ideas!

	10 Very Cool Spanish Verbs PDF – Some of these are pretty colloquial, but they’ll make you sound Super Spanish!

	Zero to Fluent in Spanish in 9 months PDF – The original steps Ben took to go from zero to pretty darn fluent in just 9 months!

	Spanish Wine Phrases Report PDF – We teamed up with our friends at Catavino to bring you both useful, and fun, wine phrases!

	False Friends Report PDF – How to avoid extreme embarrassment by not getting these mixed up!

	34 Uses of Dar PDF – 34 excellent ‘Dar’ phrases and expressions that are commonly used by Spanish speakers every day

	23 Ways to Translate “Become” in Spanish! PDF Dominate “Become” in Spanish from now on!

	Totally Understanding Llevar! PDF Become a llevar expert now!

Remember, if you’ve signed up for our newsletter you’ll get two more of our best ever reports too – our Super Simple Spanish Subjunctive Rule Book (the biggest, and best report we’ve ever made!) and Kick-Start Your Spanish, a real motivation booster full of ideas to improve your Spanish learning capabilities.

Just sign up for our newsletter via the form top-right of this page to make sure you get those two right now as well!