Oct
19
The most annoying expression in Spanish is…
This is going to come as a shock to many of you studying Spanish, but the most annoying expression in Spanish is….¿me entiendes? (Do you understand me?), according to readers of BBC Mundo,
This expression, (along with “¿comprende?”) is one that is used frequently and perhaps compulsively by students of Spanish everywhere. In English, the question “Do you understand?” is commonly used to confirm that that the other person is listening and has, indeed, understood what you have said. Normally no pasa nada when someone asks this question in English, unless the tone of the speaker’s voice is aggressive, brusque or condescending.
But in Spanish using this muletilla (verbal crutch), regardless of tone of voice, rankles many native Spanish speakers because of what they think it implies.
“Es como llamarte bruta en tu cara”, (“It’s like calling you ignorant to your face”) says BBC Mundo reader Sonia Janet from Venezuela.
I used to say “¿me entiendes?” in the same manner I used the expression in English until finally one of my Spanish friends corrected me and told me that it was very annoying. At first I was shocked because no one had ever mentioned it to me before. But then I was grateful that he had mentioned it.
I asked him what a better alternative was and he told me ¿me explico?, (which literally means “Am I explaining myself?”), sounded more polite. Essentially, it makes the same query as ¿me entiendes? in terms of requesting confirmation of comprehension, but it shifts the responsibility away from the listener and places it squarely on your shoulders to explain yourself better.
However, there is no pleasing everyone.
Another BBC Mundo reader from Tijuana, Mexico writes that ¿me explico? irritates her too. “¡Caray! Es que no soy tonta, ni sorda, ni hablo un dialecto marciano”.
OK, OK, tranquila, chiquilla. 
You can read the BBC Mundo story and reader comments here. It is a fun bit of insight into the way native Spanish speakers view some very common phrases in their language.
Photo from iStockPhoto.com
October 20th, 2009 at 12:07 am
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October 20th, 2009 at 4:14 pm
¿Me explico?” is actually just a bit more sophisticated, so I don’t understand the fuss about it. I have the nasty habit to end pretty much every sentence with “¿no?” which does the same I guess
.
October 21st, 2009 at 5:14 pm
That’s weird, I would look at it the opposite way. I find “Do you understand (me)?” in English to be quite arrogant (outside of say, a classroom environment) and implies that maybe I’m too dumb to have actually understood, while “¿entiendes?” (perhaps, without the “me”) as being more like the English “y’know?” Maybe the “me” is the crucial difference here.
But I’ll admit that my Spanish is kind of influenced by other languages. In Italian “hai capito?” is extremely common and it would be hard to make a claim that it was an annoying expression. The same goes for “entendeu?” in Portuguese (both literally, “did you understand”, the past being used more in this type of question for a current conversation).
I guess I’ll have to avoid the use in Spanish! Do you know if it is country dependent? I still think the “me” makes a difference here.
October 27th, 2009 at 4:30 pm
Anyone who finishes a sentence with “You know what I mean” or “Isn’t it” or “You know what I’m saying” or “You know” in any language, is simply using it as a crutch and frankly, very boring. But then I’m over 60 and probably don’t understand the younger generation
October 28th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
¿entiendes?
A detail that the post did not mention is that the expression ¿entiendes? is used in the gay community (in both Spain and Latin America) to “secretly” ask someone if he/she is gay. I think in English, the equivalent is more direct, like “are you family?” or something like this. If you answer “entiendo”, obviously you too are understand…
October 29th, 2009 at 4:33 pm
Hello all,
Thank you all for your comments. Sorry for not responding earlier. (Also, for some reason, comments are now showing up as an unbroken block of text, without paragraph breaks. Not sure how to change that.)
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1). To Capt. Future: Yes, excellent point! I forgot about that colloquial meaning for entender. When I previously heard about this usage, I thought it was funny that the verb was being used with that meaning. It has great potential for developing into a comedic misunderstanding between two people who think they’re referring to the same thing.
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2). To Benny: I’m not sure if it is country specific. Based on the comments I read on that BBC Mundo survey, it looked like there were people from different Spanish-speaking countries who felt the same way about the expression.
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3). To Jilly: Yes, I agree with what you wrote, although many people find it very difficult to wean themselves off from using such filler phrases. Earlier this year John F. Kennedy’s daughter, Caroline, saw her hopes of becoming a U.S. Senator dashed when the public heard her speak in an interview. Caroline, a fiftysomething woman, resorted to saying “you know” at the end of every other sentence. It was appalling and that was pretty much the beginning of the end of Caroline Kennedy’s political career. A lot of people were shocked by how inarticulate she was.
October 30th, 2009 at 11:44 pm
Wow…I never thought about that phrase being offensive. I love learning about all the nuances of the Spanish language. I am definitely going to ask some of my hispanohablantes about the phrase and whether or not they find it offensive.
November 1st, 2009 at 7:26 am
Totally agree about the post.
I have personnaly never said ´me entiendes?” when I wasn´t sure I had made myself understood. I say “vale?”, which works just as well!
I would say ´me entiendes´if I was having a go at someone, or lecturing my child, if I had one.
November 18th, 2009 at 4:05 pm
I particularly dislike “me entiendes” mostly because when I was a child, various adults would use it to end a long lecture when I was being disobedient. So that’s what I associate it with…
Like Muriel says, a better way to ask if a person has understood what you have just said would be to use “vale”.
February 17th, 2010 at 5:13 am
WOW this was so cool to know!!!
I always wondered if some of the things we said in English would translate with ‘hard-feelings’
My Spanish teacher is not a native speaker, but his family is from Mexico and he is always saying me entiendes throughout class…
COOL!!!
February 17th, 2010 at 8:24 pm
Afya,
A better option for your teacher would be to say ¿Queda claro? (Is that clear?) or ¿Alguna pregunta? (Any questions?)
Or he could just simply ask ¿Entiendes? (to one person) or¿ Entienden? (to a group).
Maybe you should print out this article and anonymously give it to your teacher.