You may remember a previous blog post where I told you about a friend from the States named Harry who came to Medellin, Colombia to visit me. Harry has spent a great deal of time, effort and money learning Spanish with some of the OTHER Spanish courses that you see advertised offline and online.

Harry is the one who I took to a restaurant here in Medellin, and the “mesera” or waitress asked him “Usted quiere salsa picante?” (Do you want spicy sauce?) and he replied “Yo no bailo” (I don’t dance), not realizing that “salsa” is not only a type of dance or music in Spanish — but “salsa” also means “sauce.”

Well, Harry returned today to visit me here in Medellin. And he has already made a couple mistakes when speaking Spanish — common mistakes that I want you to be aware of.

How To Say Eggs In Spanish

In Medellin, people normally do not put their “huevos” or eggs in the “nevera” (refrigerator).
Everyone just stores the eggs in a kitchen cabinet, on the kitchen counter, on top of the refrigerator or where ever. In fact, when you buy the eggs here in Colombia they are not refrigerated. By the way, outside of the U.S., in most countries, people do not refrigerate eggs.

So when Harry noticed that the eggs were on my kitchen counter the whole day, he asked me was afraid of getting salmonella. I told him no. Then he started to look for the expiration date on the carton of eggs.

When he could not find a word on the carton of eggs that looked like the Spanish verb “expirar” (to expire) he told me that there appears to be a date on the carton but the date is not an expiration date.

I then took the carton from Harry and saw the words “VENCE 07/SEPTIEMBRE/2012,” and I told Harry the verb “vencer” also means “to expire.”

Harry is an “aficionado” (fan) of “fútbol” (soccer) so he was familiar with the verb “vencer.” But in “fútbol” and other “deportes” (sports) the verb “vencer” means “to defeat” instead of “to expire.” For example:

Mi equipo venció a los otros y ganó la medalla de oro.
My team defeated the others and won the gold medal.

I told you about this mistake not only because you should be aware that the Spanish verb “vencer” has two meanings. But also because in Latin America the verb “vencer” is commonly used. Not only with soccer games and egg cartons and but also with documents.

My Colombian foreign “cedula” has the words: FECHA DE VENCIMIENTO (expiration date)

You can think of a “cédula” as Latin America’s equivalent of a social security number/card. Well, not exactly. A “cédula” is actually a national identity document/card used in many countries in Central America, South America and the Spanish speaking Caribbean.

I have a “Cédula de Extranjería” (foreign cédula) since I am not Colombian. In Latin American countries, a “Cédula de Extranjería” (foreign cédula) is what the “green card” is in the United States.

Another mistake Harry made . . .

How To Say Videogames In Spanish

This afternoon I took Harry to a Colombian friend’s house. As soon as we arrived at my friend’s house, Harry immediately started playing a “videojuego” (” (video game) on the television set with my friend’s son.

How To Say Shoot the Target in Spanish

Then Harry said to me in English — so that my friend’s son would not understand — “this kid must think I am stupid or something. He’s telling me to shoot the white part instead of shoot the target.”

That’s when I told Harry that “blanco” doesn’t just mean white in Spanish. “Blanco” also means target in Spanish. So ¡Dispárale al blanco!  means “shoot the target.”