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Taco Stand Translation Guide

To optimize your taco-eating experience, I thought I’d relay a few tips that might prove helpful. Some are pretty basic, so bear with me.

StandAndDeliver2 copy1. Always bring cash. Preferably small bills.

2. If you’re not a fluent Spanish speaker, try English first. Most taco truck attendants have remarkable psychic abilities and can interpret your hungry non-Mexican gestures and awkward, ugly English quite well. Also, if you start using Spanish, they might think think you are fluent and respond in really fast Spanish.

3. Do not allow them to put lettuce and/or tomatoes on your taco. If this happens, write “CILANTRO Y CEBOLLAS” across the side of the taco truck with the nearby red salsa squirt bottle.

Here are a few key words that should help you get by at any taco stand:

Para Aqui (Parah Key) “For here”

Para Llevar (Parah Yeh Vahr) “To go”

Cuantas? (Quant-Toss) – How much? Note: There’s no need to understand their response. Just pretend like you understood, give them a ten and let them do the math.

Con todo (Cone Toad-O) “With everything”.

Maiz (Mai’s) “Corn”, as in corn tortillas.

Harina (Harina) “Flour”, as in flour tortillas.

Servilleta (Sir Vee Yay Tah) “Napkin”

Soda naranja (Sodah Naran-Ha) “Orange Soda”

Salsa Rojo – “Red Salsa”

Salsa Verde – “Green Salsa”

Cual es tu especialidades? – “What’s your specialty”?

Note: The word “Caliente” is often misunderstood as meaning, “spicy”. “Picoso” is the correct word for spicy. Caliente means hot, as in “your mom is hot”.

Crazy hot.

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6 Responses to “Taco Stand Translation Guide”

  1. japandemic says:

    Excellent post. As a Mexican who speaks more Japanese than Spanish, I am happy to see that you are going to such lengths to appeal to both the foodie and the wordie in me. Furthermore, it gives me an opportunity to get closer to “my culture.”

    Since we’re on the subject, how about a list of some Spanish I’ve learned over the years from a childhood missing a singular cultural identity…

    pinata [peen YAH tah] – Everyone knows pinatas. They are the big papier mache characters you can only get at Pancho’s and Fiesta. They are usually shaped as either a big pink star or some amalgamation of Goofy, Mickey Mouse, and the Power Rangers all run through the teleportation chamber at the same time. (shout out to Brundle-Fly)

    molcajete [mohl kah HE te] – This is a mortar and pestle made of stone and kept in the Mexican kitchen. It’s sole purpose is to grind tomatoes, onions and serrano peppers into one of mankind’s greatest achievements. You can also use it to make guacamole but I’m not too familiar with that usage as we did not eat much white boy food at my tita’s house.

    cafe [coffee] – This is coffee. Folger’s I believe. In our kitchen there was no such thing as “hazelnut” or “dark roast” or “breakfast blend” or “flavor”. Coffee had a single purpose. It’s what you drink when you’re waiting for your brothers to show up to go to work. The men drank it black. Us kids had it slightly cut with milk. But we all got the morning started right.

    preocupado [pray oh coo PAH doh] – This means worried. I learned this by continuously (and foolishly) expressing concern when my pops would begin ascending a half rotten ladder or carry nails in his mouth. “Careful” I’d say, which would quickly be dismissed with a smirk and the aforementioned term. Then my dad would toss a running buzz saw to my uncle and they would continue to finish the job. Oh, did I mention they were all drunk?

    Looking back, my childhood, although at times confusing and perhaps even traumatizing to an extent, was pretty freaking bad ass. I go to count some pretty extraordinary people as family and had some pretty respectable role models. I also had some real worthless pieces of shit and utterly useless sociopaths to contend with, but I think that’s really what made it a successful adolescent experience. I learned a lot, linguistically and otherwise. Sure, we were poor; sure, we were Mexican. But, we always stuck together and ate bad ass food. I mean, what else is there?

    Anyway, thanks to gunsandtacos for giving me an opportunity to remember my Mexican-ness, at least for a little while.

  2. Thought for sure you would exclude “harina” on principle.

    Another thought . . . do you tweet your new articles? I don’t recall seeing them tweeted each time a new post comes up. Time for some SSP (Shameless Self Promotion) . . your blog is awesome!
    .-= Jeff timpanaro´s last blog ..Fatigue, Hospital Gown Push Me Over Edge, To Sabbatical =-.

  3. My new obsession are these food trucks around Austin – thanks for the translations. I’d also like to see some of the popular tacos translated…like what is in the al pastor? Is it going to be different at each truck, or is that a term that refers to a specific type of taco meat and preparation?

    Great post!

  4. jacky says:

    Hey taco guy! i stumbled across your blog on a search for karanchos. And omg your site is really cool. Love your witty comments about taco stands. i so get your sarcastic mix of tex mex taco stand jokes. I will get other fellow mexicans to follow your sites. I have been browsing around the site and do you have an email? or is this the only way to contact you? Do you have fb?

  5. Jay says:

    Thanks Jacky! You can email me at gunsandtacos@gmail.com.

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