Colloquial Spanish and Some Gestures You Need to Know

In Spain, people love to use their hands in fact many Spanish speaking countries do that and use colloquial expressions. If you are new in town and have just started to learn Spanish, there are some colloquial words and gestures you need to know which will help you a lot.

If somebody says ¡Que tiene caradura! for somebody else, it doesn’t mean that he has a tough/hard face. In colloquial Spanish it is used to describe people who are shameless or cheeky. They are not embarrassed to do or say anything and most of the time they take advantage of others. This gesture is shown by hitting one hand (slowly) several times on their cheek.

Devil’s Horn, the legendary symbol of rock is widely used in all over the world yet think twice in Spain before doing that. It is called cornudo and describes the infidelity between the couple that may lead to a misunderstanding during the conversation. “Los amigos de mi clase tienen buen rollo.” Don’t fall into the trap and think of whether they have a good roll. Tener buen rollo means get on well each other, depicting the relationship as good. In short we can say “My classmates are cool”. But the meaning of the word rollo changes depending on the context. If you are bored from a movie you can say "Esta pelicula es un rollo".
When a friend tells you “Estoy de mala leche hoy”, be sure that there is nothing related to bad or spoiled milk. It is the colloquial usage of being in a bad mood or getting angry at something.

A word itself can change the whole meaning of the sentence, so it is better to be careful to pick the right word. The word “facha” means fascist in the sentence “¡Que facha eres!, addressing the person you talk and naturally shows the anger. But if you say “El tiene muy buena facha”, it refers the appearance and means “He looks good”.
Putting the index finger on temporal side and moving is used to describe someone as crazy.

Spaniards are passionate. They show their anger, happiness, excitement or fear in various ways and using the hands while talking is another cultural trademark. Then what's left to you is merely to enjoy the Spanish culture. Here is a very entertaining video below about gestures and surely you can understand what the people say.