juntos"Can I have…" in Spanish is not ¿puedo tener…?
Nobody in Mexico orders coffee like this. It's not rude, it's just very English.
Tener means to have in the sense of owning. ¿Puedo tener un café? asks whether you're permitted to possess one, which is why it lands strangely even though every word is correct. Spanish frames ordering as asking the other person to give: ¿me da un café? (will you give me a coffee?). It sounds abrupt in translation and perfectly polite in Spanish, especially with por favor.
The regional flavours are worth having. In Mexico and Central America ¿me regala un café? (literally "will you gift me") is the warm, everyday version. ¿Me trae la cuenta? (will you bring me) is the one for the bill. Quisiera un café (I'd like) is soft and formal; un café, por favor on its own is fine anywhere.
The same logic fixes the other calques: not ¿puedo tener la cuenta? but ¿me trae la cuenta?; not ¿puedo tener el menú? but ¿me pasa el menú?. Ask them to give, bring or pass, and you'll sound like you've been here a while.
The reel. This slip, as it happens, in thirty seconds. The tutor gave the original sentence 74/100, with the fix.
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Also worth knowing
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| ¿Me regala un café, por favor? | Could I get a coffee, please? (Mexico, Central America) |
| ¿Me trae la cuenta? | Could you bring the bill? |
| Quisiera un té. | I'd like a tea. |
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