I bank at a bank in Colombia called Bancolombia. Earlier this week, I heard an English speaker asking the teller a question. From his accent, I would imagine that he’s from Texas. Although I didn’t hear the whole conversation, I heard him ask:

¿Necesito ir a la rama donde abrí la cuenta de ahorros?

When he asked that question, I noticed a look of bewilderment suddenly appear on the teller’s face. The English speaker was trying to ask “Do I need to go to the branch where I opened the savings account?”

Well, the Spanish word “rama” does mean “branch.” However, the Spanish word “rama” means branch as in a tree branch. For example,

Voy a cortar todas las ramas largas del árbol. (I am going to cut all of the long branches from the tree.)

But if you are talking about a branch as in a local operating division of a business, bank, library, etc., then you must use the word “sucursal.”

Mi negocio está creciendo rápidamente. Estoy por abrir otra sucursal.

My business is growing rapidly. I am about to open another branch.

So he should have asked:

¿Necesito ir a la sucursal donde abrí la cuenta de ahorros? Do I need to go to the branch where I opened the savings account?

By the way, when referring to a branch as in a “branch of science” (rama de ciencias), in that case you use the Spanish word “rama.”

Algunas de las ramas de la medicina son la ginecología, la urología y la neurología. (Some of the branches of medicine are gynecology, urology and neurology.)

I wanted to share this mistake with you so that you do not ever commit this error when trying to use the Spanish word for branch.