My LTR with Spanish

Weekend trip to Villa de Leyva, Boyacá province.

Waterfall hike!

One of the biggest reasons I’m living in Colombia is Spanish.  At this point, it’s way beyond something I “like” or think is “interesting”: it’s an LTR (long-term relationship).  I’ve come to (almost) accept that I’ll never be perfect, but I’ve also realized that somehow, the pursuit of ever-more perfect Spanish is essential to my well-being and happiness.

It takes effort to pursue my Spanish here, because so unlike my year in Palena, I work with other gringos, and most of my Colombian friends speak good English.  The advantage of this situation, especially at the level I’m at, is the opportunity to constantly think and talk with like-minded people about translation, about the subtle difference between the two languages, about connotation and denotation, and so on.  I was recently with two friends, one gringo with little Spanish, one Colombian with very good English, and we each tried saying the same sentence in English and Spanish.  We agreed that each person sounded older and more mature in his or her native language, even though we could express ourselves very well in the other language.

I am here both to deepen and widen my Spanish: deepen in the sense of just get better (more vocabulary, better grammar), and widen in the sense of adding Colombian Spanish to my repertoire.  In the beginning, I very consciously down-played my Chilean accent and tried not to say Chilean words; two months in, I am beginning to grow a certain affection for Colombian slang, and it is creeping into my speech, both consciously and unconsciously.

Widening: Here are some of the Colombian-specific words/phrases I’ve learned.

1. vaina — used in a casual, but not offensive, way to say “thing”, a bit the way “cuestión” is used in Chile.  “Qué es esta vaina? (What is this thing?)”
2. pico — means “peck”, like kisses on the cheek, and also “something”, as in, “Ella tiene veinte y pico” (She’s twenty-something).”  The first time I heard this I was scandalized, as “pico” in Chile is slang for penis.
3. banano — banana, plátano — plantain.  In Chile banana is plátano, and I never came across the plantains.  Avocado is also aguacate here, like in Mexico, not like palta in Chile.
4. Diminutive “ico” (as well as more standard Spanish “ito“).  Common uses: “Tenemos cinco minuticos” (from minutos, minutes), “Vamos a dar una vueltica” (from vuelta, like walk around the block), “chiquitica” (from chica, small).
5. chino — literally, Chinese, used to refer to children in Bogotá.  I really want to know more about this.
6. miércoles — literally, Wednesday, used instead of saying “mierda” (shit), sort of like “dang it!” or “fudge!” in English.   For example, “Qué es esta miércoles? (What is this **?)”  I’m not sure if this is only in Colombian, but I’ve never heard it before.
7. Uy juemadre!  Juepucha!   Mild, family-friendly exclamations of surprise/astonishment, either positive or negative.
8. Juicioso — literally, “judicious”, this word is used all the time to describe good behavior, especially of children.  “Este niño es muy juicioso, siempre hace su tarea. (This student is very juicioso, he always does his homework).
9. Divino — literally, “divine”, this is used all the time for something pretty/sweet/kind.  “Me hiciste galletas, que divino! (You made me cookies, how divine!)”
10. Tenaz — literally, “tenacious”, but used commonly as an exclamation, like, “Oo, that’s rough.”

Deepening: Here are the last 10 words I’ve written down on my new vocabulary list:

1. titiritar — chatter.  I learned this word when, on the last afternoon of our three days of “professional development” at school, it started to pour during a competitive slip n’ slide/ relay activity.  Though I was chattering, I continued to cheer on my upper-elementary team.
2. guachafita — noise, messing around, nonsense.
3. tuto — from “asusto“, scared, but as if a child is saying it.  In Chile, “tuto” means sleep.
4. brújula — compass.  I learned this from playing with a Colombian friend’s compass iPhone app.
5. cuchilla de afeitar — razor.   I’m surprised I didn’t know this word.
6. rueda de Chicago — ferris wheel, literally, “Chicago wheel” in Spanish.  I wonder how that happened.
7. esquimal — Eskimo.  The Colombian friend I was with asked what the word was in English, and he pronounced it “Skimo”, careful not to make the common Spanish-speaker’s mistake of putting an “e” before English words that start with an “s”, like “e-stop”, “e-stairs”.
8. garrapata — tick.
9. calambre — muscle cramp, such as when running.
10. alfileres — pins for sewing.

I am also, embarrassingly, working on mastering the verb gustar (to like) once and for all.  The problem is that for an English speaker, gustar is congugated “backwards”.  As I was taught in my first Spanish class, you say “A mi me gusta la manzana”, or “A mi me gustan las manzanas”, so the object you like is actually the subject of the verb.  Where this gets really tricky, and I was never formally taught, is liking between people:

• I like you: Me gustas tu.
• You like me: Yo te gusto.
• She likes me: Yo le gusto a ella.
• You like her: (A tí) Te gusta ella.
• She likes you: Tu le gustas a ella.

To be continued!