Simply speaking Spanish can be difficult for some but trying to translate certain expressions into English is almost impossible -- even for Mexican actor Diego Luna.
Luna stopped by “Conan” on Monday night to discuss “Elysium,” in theaters August 9, and give host Conan O’Brien some language tips to survive in the futuristic all-Spanish speaking Los Angeles featured in the film.
“Do you speak Spanish?,” the 33-year-old actor asked Conan. “The thing is if you want to keep your job in this network you’re going to have to learn Spanish. You know like 47 million people speak Spanish today, and we like having sex, so multiply that [by] eight in ten years.”
Seeing a chance to get a lesson in survival Spanish, Conan asked the actor what crucial words he would need to learn to exist in a Spanish dominated world. The “Elsyium” star threw out more practical choices for his first lesson and went with some Mexican slang instead.
“If you want to survive in the future in this country you have to know ‘no mames,’ which is an expression,” Luna told the late night host. “Literally it means ‘do not suck’ or ‘don’t suck it’ like the lollipop obviously.”
Things took a turn for the best when Conan attempted to use his newly acquired Spanish vocabulary -- though he quickly learned some words are not safe for the little ears.
Check out the video of Diego Luna on “Conan” above and 13 Spanish curse words that don’t make any sense in English below. Luna will be on HuffPost Live discussing “Elysium” on Tuesday, August 6 at 7 p.m. (EST).
Before You Go
