Free Spanish Lesson #19 – I need a pair of pants

While in Latin America, I found out there were tailors (people who custom make clothes) that work out of their homes.

Many of them, in lower-income areas (small pueblos), worked full time in their career as a tailor and would support their whole family by selling the clothes they made.

Their work/office area usually consisted of the front room of their small adobe homes, with a dirt floor and a sewing machine in the middle of the room. Since there were so many power outages, they usually had an old-style treadle sewing machine which required moving a foot pedal up and down to make the machine work; no electricity was required.

I had figured that the sewing machines were antiques passed down from relatives that had deceased. But, when I was in some larger cities, I passed by a few stores that actually sold the “old-style” treadle sewing machines as brand-new models. As mentioned before, the “treadle” style was necessary for small pueblo areas that had frequent power loss.

Now I want to tell you about an interesting experience I had with a tailor (“sastre” in Spanish). Once, I went into a tailor’s home/shop with a native friend who was looking to buy a new suit. The tailor gave him the price which sounded very reasonable for a complete suit – especially for one that was going to be custom-made.

I then inquired about a pair of pants (“un par de pantalones“) and was very surprised at the price. I tried my “I’m an American, don’t give me such a high price” line (talked about in a previous newsletter) but he was set on his price. I couldn’t understand how, for a pair of pants, he could charge almost as much as a suit.

We talked back and forth for about 10 minutes about how pants should cost a lot less than a suit because the suit includes the pants, uses much less material, and would take a lot less time to make, but he wouldn’t budge on his price. He thought I was off my rocker.

Finally, after we were both very frustrated with the situation, it dawned on me what was really going on. In English, or at least in the U.S., when we say “a pair of pants”, we are talking about ONE “pants” (I’ve never been able to figure out why we put an “s” on the end of the word “pants” if there is only one of them).

In that region of Latin America, if you just want one “pant”, you say “I would like a ‘pant'” (Me gustaría un pantalón). The word “pants” means more than one and in turn, a “pair of pants” would mean “four pants” instead of “one”. NO WONDER HE WANTED TO CHARGE SO MUCH, I was asking for the price of four pants!! I then asked him how much a “pant” (“un pantalón“) was and he gave me a great price.

From this lesson, I hope you can see that cultural and language differences can sometimes cause a little frustration. In a conversation, two people may think they are talking about the same thing but may actually be talking about completely different things.

My suggestion is to be patient in communicating and try to learn something from each conversation. It is important just to realize that language and cultural differences exist.

¡Qué le vaya bien! (May everything go well for you!)

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Written by Dave Clark with Try a Free Spanish Lessons

Andrew Makarik

to@welovecostarica.com

Andrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.