At the scales in Valencian
A buyer asks the seller to weigh groceries at the market in Valencian. 6 phrases that the conversation is made of: «Bon dia! Em posa mig quilo de pernil, si us plau?» — Good morning! Will you put me half a kilo of ham, please? The conversation is predictable: few lines, and almost all of them repeat from one exchange to the next.
How the whole thing sounds
The situation: a buyer asks the seller to weigh groceries at the market. The conversation is short and predictable — which is exactly what makes it good for a first try: few lines, and almost all of them repeat from one exchange to the next.
- Bon dia! Em posa mig quilo de pernil, si us plau?Good morning! Will you put me half a kilo of ham, please?
- De seguida. El tallo fi i el pes a la balança: mig quilo just, ni un gra de més.Right away. I will cut it thin and weigh it on the scales: exactly half a kilo, not a grain more.
- Perfecte. I també voldria un grapat d'olives i mig litre de llet.Perfect. And I would also like a handful of olives and half a liter of milk.
- Les olives són d'aquesta setmana: les de verdes són més salades. En vol provar una?The olives are from this week: the green ones are saltier. Would you like to try one?
- D'acord, una de verda. I això és tot: quant val tot plegat?All right, one green one. And that is all: how much is everything together?
- Set euros i cinquanta. Paga ací mateix, en efectiu o amb targeta, i ja té la bossa.Seven euros and fifty. Pay right here, in cash or by card, and the bag is yours.
Lines one by one
| Valencian | Reading | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| Bon dia! Em posa mig quilo de pernil, si us plau? | — | Good morning! Will you put me half a kilo of ham, please? |
| De seguida. El tallo fi i el pes a la balança: mig quilo just, ni un gra de més. | — | Right away. I will cut it thin and weigh it on the scales: exactly half a kilo, not a grain more. |
| Perfecte. I també voldria un grapat d'olives i mig litre de llet. | — | Perfect. And I would also like a handful of olives and half a liter of milk. |
| Les olives són d'aquesta setmana: les de verdes són més salades. En vol provar una? | — | The olives are from this week: the green ones are saltier. Would you like to try one? |
| D'acord, una de verda. I això és tot: quant val tot plegat? | — | All right, one green one. And that is all: how much is everything together? |
| Set euros i cinquanta. Paga ací mateix, en efectiu o amb targeta, i ja té la bossa. | — | Seven euros and fifty. Pay right here, in cash or by card, and the bag is yours. |
How to prepare for a conversation like this
Memorizing the lines is not enough: the other person will say their own thing, not what is written. What helps more is catching the key words by ear and keeping three rescue phrases ready: “I don't understand”, “repeat, please”, “slower”.
And one more thing phrasebooks do not mention: awkwardness gets in the way more than not knowing the words.
- Fear of making mistakes gets in the way of learning a language, and it gets in the way badly. It is one of the most reliably measured findings in the entire field.checked many timesTeimouri, Goetze & Plonsky, 2019, Studies in Second Language Acquisition 41(2) · 19,933 participants from 23 countries; correlation with results r = −0.36.
- That fear can be dealt with — the methods have been tested and they work.checked many timesXiong et al., 2024, Journal of Language and Social Psychology · 37 studies, anxiety reduced by −0.61. Of the seven conditions examined, only age turned out to matter.
Frequently asked
How do you start a conversation in Valencian in this situation?
“Bon dia! Em posa mig quilo de pernil, si us plau?” — Good morning! Will you put me half a kilo of ham, please?. The first line in such a conversation is almost always the same, and that is the one worth learning: the other person will carry it from there.
What if you did not understand the reply?
Say “I don't understand” and “repeat, please” — both are in the rescue set. Admitting your language is still shaky almost always makes the other person more patient.
Should you memorize the dialogue?
No. It is more useful to catch the key words by ear: the other person will say their own thing, and a memorized line will not always fit their reply.