"survival" spanish

[currahee]

With the proliferation of non Spanish speakers in my AO over the last few years I have batted around the idea of putting together a list of phrases or words that would be useful in a survival or defensive situation.

I've looked around for such a thing a few times when I thought about it and never came up with a decent list. I figured it might be available and y'all would know where, or it could be done as a "group project"

My Spanish is about as good as Peggy Hill's, so I'm stuck using google translate, but this is what I have so far...


hands up- las manos en alto
show your hands- mostrar sus manos
face on the ground- la cara en el suelo
on your knees- ponte de rodillas
Drop the gun- tira el arma
Drop the knife- caer el cuchillo

water- agua
fire- Fuego Encender (light) Disparar (gun)
food- comida
Clothes - ropa
Shoes- zapato
Socks- calcetines
Blanket, bedding- manta, Ropa de calma

bandage- Vendaje (noun) Vendar (verb)
First aid - primeros auxilios
-dar los primeros auxilios (give)
Bleeding- sangría
Gunshot- cañonazo
Pregnant- embarazada
Fever- fiebre
Hospital- Hospital
Doctor- Doctor
Nurse- enfermera
paramedic- paramédico

[RMiller]

I think its a good thing to know. Being able to somewhat understand somebody can make the difference in difusing or escalating a situation.

[fssmikey]

With the proliferation of non Spanish speakers in my AO over the last few years I have batted around the idea of putting together a list of phrases or words that would be useful in a survival or defensive situation.

I've looked around for such a thing a few times when I thought about it and never came up with a decent list. I figured it might be available and y'all would know where, or it could be done as a "group project"

My Spanish is about as good as Peggy Hill's, so I'm stuck using google translate, but this is what I have so far...


hands up- las manos en alto

hands up = "Manos arriba", which is a literal translation hands = manos, arriba = up

show your hands- mostrar sus manos

would be better said as "deja me ver sus manos" which = let me see your hands

face on the ground- la cara en el suelo
on your knees- ponte de rodillas


Drop the gun- tira el arma

literal translation to "tira el arma" is "throw the gun" which could work, but it would be better said as "suelta la arma" which is "let go of the gun"

Drop the knife- caer el cuchillo

the literal translation to "caer el cuchillo" is "fall the gun" as the word caer is the verb for fall. would be better said as "suelta el cuchillo" which is "let go of the knife"

water- agua
fire- Fuego Encender (light) Disparar (gun)
food- comida
Clothes - ropa
Shoes- zapato
Socks- calcetines
Blanket, bedding- manta, Ropa de calma

bandage- Vendaje (noun) Vendar (verb)
First aid - primeros auxilios
-dar los primeros auxilios (give)

Bleeding- sangría

if you tell someone in spanish "sangría" youre effectively asking them for an alcoholic drink (which is quite delicious) this would be better asked or said in this manner

"estás sangrando?" meaning "are you bleeding?" and
"estoy sangrando" meaning "i am bleeding"



Gunshot- cañonazo
Pregnant- embarazada
Fever- fiebre
Hospital- Hospital
Doctor- Doctor
Nurse- enfermera
paramedic- paramédico

edits in red

my spanish is pretty horrifyingly bad for a cuban american, but i will help as much as i can, when i can.

[TacCommE21]

Mikey,

Thanks for the pointers. I tried to learn Spanish in college. It didn't work.

[fssmikey]

no problem, ive been trying to learn spanish for 34 years, and i still suck at it

[currahee]

That's great stuff, and I will amend my list with an eye towards making an actual resource.

(I was wondering about "sangria" I've had it a few times)

we need more stuff to be translated that was just off the top of my head.

[Caduceus]

Fssmikey did pretty good. Even reply with his Cuban influence, I could follow it with my L.A. based spanglish.

Decent list, but I suggest finding what sort of hispanics are in your AO. Lots of dialects, and Puerto Rican Spanish is almost a different language. Make some amigos and have them help you.

[Moose-Knuckle]

Survival spanglish/tex-mex . . .

The problem is even if they comprehend you they will pretend that they DO NOT.

I view the ability to speak another language, especially Español given my AO during a crisis as a force multiplier. If for no other reason than being able to effectively communicate with/or intercept intel from potential allies/enemies.

[fssmikey]

Fssmikey did pretty good. Even reply with his Cuban influence, I could follow it with my L.A. based spanglish.

Decent list, but I suggest finding what sort of hispanics are in your AO. Lots of dialects, and Puerto Rican Spanish is almost a different language. Make some amigos and have them help you.

Every Spanish speaking country, even down to the region has different manners of speaking. Further more, the different generation of the people will speak differently. My father was from La Havana (he entered the country at 13 escaping the incoming commie Castro) and his Spanish was very different from the current refugees from his area coming over now. Funny thing is, my grandfather (mothers side) left Cuba in the 40s to fight for the US in WWII and his Spanish was very similar to my dads. I'm going off on an unnecessary tangent. Pardon the deviation.


My ultimate point is, even with all the different dialects, a small useful list can still be conjured up that would work with any style of Spanish.

[mikelowrey]

Mikey, not bad brother and for the rest I lived in the Dominican Republic for 20 years so my Spanish is excellent (English is my second language) so the corrections on top are absolutely correct and if you guys need any additional stuff just let me know. Also to point out an absolutely correct comment by mikey is that Spanish is different in every Latin country so you may have to improvise sometimes. But you guys have a general idea which is good. Again, if there is anything let me know.