One of those temptations those beginning a language have is to look up words in the dictionary to find out how to say what they want to say. There's nothing wrong with getting help from a dictionary — but it's far from foolproof. Look up the word "right," for example, and you might see the word derecho listed as the first translation. But in a sentence such as "That's not right," translating "right" with derecho would be ... not right. You'll need to find another word, perhaps correcto or justo.

If you need help deciphering a menu while traveling where Spanish is spoken, our list of vegetable names is here to help. You'll find the names of all the common vegetables (zanahoria for carrot and cebolla for onion, for example) and some less common ones as well (I'm not sure I'd be able to distinguish bok choy if I saw it, but la col china is what it's called is Spanish). Read more...