I passed ‘O’ Level Spanish at school, and then never visited Spain, so really lost it all. In recent years Paul and I have been visiting Spain on a regular basis, and keep trying to learn the language. It is just so difficult to remember anything. French was so easy to learn when I was at school, and I then did my degree and visited France a lot as a child and teenager. My brain is just not as fresh as it used to be.
We are both fine with restaurant menus and the basics of saying hello, good morning, good-bye and so on. Well, the menus are fine if they are in Castillian, rather than Basque, Catalan or Galician! Names for meat and fish varieties are always an interesting challenge in foreign languages. Yesterday we were having a set menu lunch in Bermeo, and I took out our Eyewitness Guide to Northern Spain to check the useful glossary of words provided. There is a survival guide for eating in a restaurant, and I quickly scanned it for useful words. The last word in the list was ‘Muy hecho’ which translates as ‘well done.’ I said to Paul “that’s a bit patronising isn’t it?! To say well done to the waitress for bringing your meal to the table!” He thought I was trying to be funny, which of course I was not! However, I then noticed that the words above ‘muy hecho’ were ‘poco hecho’ and ‘medio hecho’ which of course mean ‘rare’ and ‘medium.’ So ‘muy hecho’ was the word I would not use for ordering my steak! (as I prefer mine poco hecho!)
Anyone who knows me well will be familiar with my ability to laugh at my own jokes and idiocies and the accompanying fit of the giggles which can last for quite a long time after the joke has passed! I have even been known to wake up in the night laughing at a joke I made hours beforehand!
You can be sure that ‘muy hecho’ is our new family phrase when you just need to say to someone ‘well done you!’