If you want to learn to speak Mexican Spanish and sound authentic, you need to become familiar with the slang. Learning slang phrases is also a good idea, because many of the words have a literal meaning.

It is easy to become confused. You could find yourself in a bit of trouble if you are completely unfamiliar with the slang of Español.

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of slang phrases. Here are five common ones that can easily be misinterpreted.

Hay La Casa Chica

Literally, this phrase means "there's a small house". It is a comment that you might make out of hand while driving down the road with a tour guide or another companion.

In slang, the phrase means "there is the house of my mistress". So, you can see how the phrase could cause some laughter at your own expense.

¿Que Honda?

This is a phrase that you might want to learn and use, particularly with your friends. The literal translation would be "what wave". In slang, it means, "What's up?" Here are a few other phrases that are also used as "what's up" greetings.

Que hubo? Que pex? Que tal? "Que pedo" is another, but it is considered somewhat vulgar. Avoiding the use of vulgar terms is another reason to learn to speak Mexican Spanish slang or at least understand it.

Estoy Loco Por Ti

Literally, this means "I am becoming crazy for you" or "I am changing to insane for you". In slang or common usage, it means "I love you".

¿Por Qué?

Learning how to ask common questions is difficult for many people, because translating them is difficult. When you are studying vocabulary words, you will see that "por" means "for". "Que" means "what". So, the literal translation of "por que" would be "for what".

When you learn to speak Mexican Spanish, you will hear people say "por que" quite often. To them it means "why".

In slang English, you might say "what for" or "for what" instead of "why". So, it is pretty easy to understand how this phrase came to be.

Que is also used to signify that you did not understand what was said and you need the phrase repeated. Como basically means the same thing.

¿Cómo se llama?

What's your name? It is the most popular conversation starter. En Español, there are many ways to say it. This phrase would be used to ask someone their name. Literally, llama is slang for call or called. So, what you are asking is "what are you called".

These five phrases are not enough to help you learn to speak Mexican Spanish. But, they should give you an idea of how important it is to learn the slang.

The key to picking up and getting by in any language quickly is finding the basic words and phrases that are used in every day speech. Take a look at this program that will show you how to learn to speak Mexican Spanish quickly by giving you the most important and commonly used phrases and how to apply them, without getting you bogged down with unnecessary and boring details - http://www.learnmexicanspanish.org/.