Linguistic Faux Pas

It was only two short words in Spanish. But the president of the United States managed to mangle them when he greeted Venezuelan leader Hugo ChAvez at the Summit of the Americas in Port of Spain, Trinidad.

Eager to get off on the left foot with Venezuela's leftist tyrant, Barack Obama walked across a hotel meeting room to offer a conciliatory greeting. The two men had never met before. According to Obama's own account of the encounter, he blurted out in Spanish: "Como estas?"

This simply means "How are you?" in familiar Spanish — a form of the language used between good friends or family members, but never with someone you have just met, least of all a fellow head of state. For that, a Spanish speaker uses the formal form: "Como esta usted?"

If you think the distinction between the familiar and the formal is unimportant, consider how Spain's King Juan Carlos used the familiar Spanish as a form of studied insult in addressing the loud-mouthed Chavez. At a summit of Spanish-speaking nations in Santiago, Chile, in 2007, Chavez repeatedly interrupted Spain's prime minister, Jose Luis Rodr'guez Zapatero.

The exasperated Spanish monarch finally leaned forward and said in a loud voice to Chavez: "ÀPor que no te callas?" — "Why don't you shut up?"

Significantly, the king used the familiar form of Spanish, rather than the more respectful formal form, to underscore his disdain for Chavez. Indeed, saying "callate" ("shut up") to someone is a sharp insult, akin to how a mother might scold an unruly child. The insult is enhanced by the fact that the familiar form of Spanish is also used in addressing children.

King Juan Carlos' dissing of Chavez certainly did not go unnoticed in the Spanish-speaking world. Various heads of state throughout Latin America lined up either on the side of the monarch or on the side of the populist demagogue from Caracas. Chavez was so incensed by the royal put-down that he threatened to make mischief with Spain's investments in Venezuela.

For President Obama, the lesson here is that words matter — in Spanish as well as English. If you choose to speak Spanish, Mr. President, please speak it correctly.

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