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Learning To Speak Spanish - Easy Streetwise
Spanish Phrases For Drivers

By Peter Christian

(c) Peter Christian - All Rights reserved
http://www.streetwisespanish.com

If you plan on visiting a country in the Hispanic world, it is likely that you'll be wanting to explore as many places as you can. For lots of people, the car offers the best way to travel around and if you're learning to speak Spanish, here are several easy, but useful Spanish phrases to help you navigate the highways.

To rent a car is very easy. Just say:

Quisiera alquilar un carro - I would like to rent a car

You can then add one of these phrases according to your preferences:

For an automatic: automático or de marchas for a stick shift. You'll need your passport - pasaporte - and driving license - carnet de conducir - and some money of course!

In the cities, the traffic - el tráfico - will be very busy and during rush hour - la hora punta - expect traffic jams - atascos. As well as being packed with cars, look out for scooters - motos - which are absolutely everywhere, complete with pillion passengers. To ride pillion is called "ir de paquette", and as you continue learning to speak Spanish, it's a very cool phrase to sprinkle into your streetwise vocab.

Roads are - los caminos - highways - las carreterras - and motorways - las autopistas. Traffic lights - semáforos - are pretty much the same as anywhere and you'll also have to navigate around the many traffic islands which are fittingly called - las islas.

Be mindful about the speed limits as speed cameras - los radares - proliferate the highways and if you're caught speeding - velocidad excesiva - you'll be punished with a not inconsiderable fine - una multa. Sometimes a ban - una prohibición de conducir - will accompany the fine so it's worth sticking to the limit.

Driving long distances - conducir distancias largas - will involve negotiating toll roads - carreteras de peaje - so you'll be paying for the pleasure of your journey.

Lastly, it has to be said that finding a place to park when you're visiting a city can be a real test. Many cities will be like my adopted home city of Barcelona and will have an abundance of car parks - los aparcamientos - many of them underground - aparcamientos subterráneos - however, parking your car on the street can be risky, especially if the area has been designated as a residential area - una zona de residencia - as you need a permit to park there. As well as incurring a parking fine - una multa de aparcamiento - a tow-truck - una grúa - will take your car away - quitar el coche - and you'll have to pay your fine before you can reclaim it. Not the most desirable situation to go through!

The following Spanish phrase will help you find suitable parking:

¿Dónde está el aparcamiento más cercano? - Where is the nearest car park?

If you do take the risk of parking in una zona de residencia and somebody shouts:

¡Viene la grúa! - here comes the tow-truck!

Make sure you get to your car before the tow truck does!

You can discover more authentic, useful Spanish phrases to help you travel around the Spanish-speaking world and create a charming, winning impression as you go exclusively in the unique Streetwise Spanish program and only available from the Streetwise Spanish website!

Hasta otra,

Peter Christian