First date dinner: Choosing dishes from the menu together

💬 Patatas is the word for potatoes in Spain. Most of Latin America says papas instead.

💬 Pescado is fish as food. A live fish swimming around is pez.

💬 A la romana literally means "Roman-style", but on a menu it means coated in batter and fried. You'll see it on other dishes too, such as gambas a la romana "battered prawns".

💬 Red wine is tinto, never rojo "red", even though rojo is the normal word for the colour.

💬 Copa is a stemmed glass, like a wine glass. A plain tumbler is vaso: un vaso de agua "a glass of water".

💬 The accent matters here: mí with an accent means "me", while mi without one means "my".

💬 Spanish often uses the plain present for something you're about to do right now, where English says "I'll". Same pattern: pido yo "I'll order".

🇪🇸 In Spain, the informal perdona is the normal way to catch a waiter's attention, and it isn't rude. The more formal perdone works too, especially with older staff.

💬 Spanish says you "have" hunger rather than "are" hungry. The same pattern works for thirst: tengo sed "I'm thirsty".