Post #762065

2026-03-25 00:52 UTC

You know the more I reflect on this the more sure I am that I am falling into a trap that I am sure a lot of English speakers fall into. I am trying to apply English rules to Spanish as there is a shared language root and a bunch of shared words and at some level syntax. I need to acknowledge that Spanish is a distinct mature language and trying to treat it as a different dialect of English is a wall I need to stop butting my head off. Really appreciate you stepping in to clarify for someone with my calcified language abilities, the lack of comprehension is entirely my own. I think I will go with “Por favor, apila las sillas al final del día. Gracias.” and save deeper understanding until I can devote more time and mental energy to understanding Spanish as Spanish. You rock!

Replies (1)

@Mothra@mander.xyz 2026-03-25 01:43

Fair conclusion, but don’t be so hard on yourself. Honestly as a native speaker these things don’t come across as “rules” for me even though of course they have rules. It’s just the natural and obvious way of using the language. And that’s something very hard to get right if you weren’t raised with that language. In other words, I’ve heard a gazillion people say so many examples of phrases in Spanish since before I have memory, that hearing or seeing something outside of the expected pattern stands out immediately, but I can’t always explain why. It’s unreasonable to expect ever having the same level of fluency with a language you weren’t raised with. I’ve been speaking English half my life and I still screw up sometimes.

Open ##762549