The importance of local language in Colombia

Almost essential

Thanks, Cheryl, for the prompt about language learning.

Here is my story. I took a two week basic Spanish language course in Mexico before I first went to Medellín, thinking I could learn the emergency phrases I might need.

In Mexico they taught me to say ¿Cómo está Usted?

So, I land in Medellín and instead of ¿Cómo está Usted? I hear this: ¿Qu'bo pues, hombre?

It would be like someone learning proper English "How do you do? and then hearing "Wassup?"

Nevertheless, I persisted and eventually (in four years) became bilingual in Paisa-speak, so much so that when I visited other parts of Colombia people told me I had a Paisa accent.

@futuroexpat That's great! The important thing is that you're being understood.

Here is my story. I took a two week basic Spanish language course in Mexico before I first went to Medellín, thinking I could learn the emergency phrases I might need.
-@futuroexpat

Almost two decades ago I spent at least 9 months in Antigua Guatemala, of which 6 months I spent full time in a private Spanish school with an 8 a.m. to 2 p.m schedule. At the time, and maybe it still is, Antigua was the Spanish learning capital of the world with around 50 schools. I remember at the time, the Da Vincici Code in Spanish was available in many shops and that I bought a copy of it. I would spend many an evening with my dictionaries and grammar books reading that novel.

But despite that time, money and effort, and 11 years in Ecuador working on it, I still can't converse worth a lick. It goes to show, that some people just don't have the capacity to learn a new language in its spoken form, unless of course they start at a young age.

Surprising then, Mr. Barley, that you were able to

pass the citizenship test for Ecuador years ago.

Did they require you to converse in español during

your official exam?

How did that go?

cccmedia

Surprising then, Mr. Barley, that you were able to
pass the citizenship test for Ecuador years ago.
Did they require you to converse in español during
your official exam?

How did that go?

cccmedia
-@cccmedia

Ah, yes. The interviews were conducted in Spanish and I winged it. However, I had an Ecuadorian wife at the time, so I probably skated through.

P.S. I dread going to my barber every few months who is from Loja, because I know I am not going to understand a word he says. I can't even attribute it to a costal accent since he is from the sierra.

I told my nephew that I couldn't understand anything his Uncles from Sonson, Antioquia said and he laughed and said me either...

lpd

Phrases to use when you don't understand a person....

Hable más despacio, por favor.

Speak slower, please.

Repítalo lentemente, por favor.

Say it again slower, please.

Hábleme como soy un niño de cinco años.

Speak to me as if i am a five-year-old boy.

¿Quiere usted decir 'X'?

Did you mean 'X'?

Desafortunadamente, los gringos

no le entienden.

Unfortunately, Gringos don't understand you.

@cccmedia Por favor escribe aqui para mi...

@Lpd

Si tu ubicación es Guatapé, debe

corregir el deletreo Guatepe encima

de tus mensajes.

If your location is Guatapé, you need to

correct the spelling Guatepe

above your posts.

  ---

Members, please post primarily in English

on this Anglophone forum. If you must write

more than a word or two in español,

a translation is appreciated.

We'll grandfather Lpd in under the

formerly lenient policy until 12:01 a.m. May 31

local time, when linguistic leniency will expire.

cccmedia, experts team

Correction made...lol. It was only that way for decades... I hope I am not banned tomorrow night at midnight. I guess I could dust off my Elvis regalia and sneak in disguised.

lpd

Oops...

1. You got the accent mark right.
2. There are two of the letter 'a' in Guatapé

Nobody's getting banned for misspelling that name ..

nor even for misspelling Colombia.

cccmedia

I decided early on when arriving in Colombia that I would avoid the English-speaking expat community and keep trying to speak in Spanish.

I decided early on that I was going to make lots of mistakes and would be laughed at, so I laughed at myself, too.

I decided that since Spanish is mostly (not entirely) a pronounce-it-as-it-is-written language, that I would carry a small dictionary with me at all times and look up words I did not understand.

I decided that to enlarge my vocabulary I would attempt to read newspaper articles. It was time-consuming, but helped. Reading in Spanish with a dictionary nearby is a good strategy to understand sentence construction and word order and pronoun gender agreement and those really irritating irregular verbs. When the vocabulary was large enough I could go to libraries and bookstores and book fairs like the Feria Internacional del Libro de Bogotá (FILBo), which lasts two weeks and has a new invited country every year.

I listened to "telenovelas" and sports broadcasts and news broadcasts, even if I could not follow everything said. At first I would catch a word, then a phrase, and one day a whole sentence, etc. (listening as a child is probably how I learned English)

I took one brief Inlingua class to get grammar instruction, but aside from that it was all in the street, in the bus, in the taxi, in the grocery store learning by listening and attempting to speak. Fortunately, Paisas were very encouraging, very friendly, and very supportive.

I went to the Festival de Música Guasca and learned humorous lyrics. I love salsa music so I listened to the radio, trying to understand salsa lyrics. For me classic salsa (Rubén Blades, Celia Cruz, Fruko y Sus Tesos, etc.) became a window into the Latin American soul, telling stories about everyday trials and tribulations, sometimes in a humorous way.

Which brings me to jokes. Paisas have a great sense of humor and once you get some vocabulary there are cultural events you can appeciate like the dueling Trovas who improvise lyrics on the spot, like the festival de mentirosos (a contest to see who can tell the tallest tales), or just understanding when people tell jokes in social settings, like this one: President Turbay went to visit the USA. When he came back they asked him about his trip. He replied: You wouldn't believe it, there are little children, 3 years old, 4 years old, and they speak English! Then you learn some more about Turbay, about Colombian history, and the joke makes even more sense.

So, with this kind of immersion with Paisas, with continual effort to read and speak, after four years I considered myself bilingual. I could read, write, and speak. I could understand sports and news broadcasts, lyrics to songs on the radio, telenovelas. I could tell jokes, speak on the telephone, read poetry, and I even dreamed in Spanish.

For all this effort my life was immensely enriched... and I got a new nickname. My Colombian friends called me a "gringo platanatizado." (a plantain-culture-adapted gringo)

An important thing I discovered about learning a new language is that you cannot always translate literally word for word. Translation is about translating the meaning, not the words. For example, in Spanish they say: "tomando el pelo" which could literally be translated as "taking my hair" but the literal translation is not the correct meaning. The meaning is "teasing" similar to what we sometimes say in English: "pulling my leg" ... we don't literally mean pulling on someone's leg.

I also find all the Colombian sayings (dichos) and slang expressions to be fascinating.

Learning another language is truly discovering another world. "Vale la pena" (It's worth it)

I find this attitude a bit arrogant regarding South Americans demanding perfect Spanish for their region.  As an American living near DC, I have spent 35 years listening to terrible English primarily from Latinos but also Asians and Mid Easterners.  I NEVER made fun of them or made feel less because they did not know every word or had bad syntax.  I tried different ways of asking the same thing until we understood each other. 

If most latino countries are like this that is a negative reflection on their culture.  The latinos in the USA understand bad Spanish.  I once asked a woman on the other side of a small stream:  " Como alto es este aqua".  OFC this was terrible spanish as I was asking her how deep the water was.  I did not know they correct terminology.  She answered in accented but good English:  " Oh it's not that deep".  After that we had a nice conversation.  I have the same experiences with the people at the majority latino gym I work out at.   So is there a problem with language intolerance in colombia?

@drpeterjstanton I have not experienced it personally. That said, my Spanish is horrible and I usually preface my conversations with a self effacing comment; such as, disculpe mi bobo Espanol. When I first started going to Colombia I always carried three things... an electronic translator, a paperback translation book, and a notepad and pen. All that is pretty much replaced with an app on your cell phone now! I have never experienced anything but appreciation for even trying to communicate it Spanish. That said, I am sure comments have been made behind my back, I could care less.

I get along just fine and don't hold it against anyone if they think I speak like a five year old. I plan on remediating that starting in the fall. You see I can attend university free of charge (over 65 age) and I will get an Associate of Arts degree is World Languages (Spanish of course)!

lpd

I'm at the point in my Spanish where I can ask simple questions, either in the grammatically correct way, or in the street language, with good pronounciation, at normal speed, and always understood.   It's because of my practice with my Colombian wife and my ability to mimic the sounds that I hear.  But the problem comes when the native speaker replies to me.  I suddenly go into shock because I can't understand anything they are saying to me, I get paralyzed and stuck.

A confession:  I often "dumb down" my own already-handicapped Spanish so that the other person understands right away that "This gringo can't speak Spanish."  Sometimes it helps in how they respond, but usually not.

One of my best memories is of a morning when I was in a bakery in Fontibón, Bogotá.  I had no problem ordering my coffee (tinto).  But then I wanted a croissant like I had there the morning before,  the lady obviously knew I was a gringo without Spanish and she said to me in very slow, very deliberate and very well articulated Spanish, complete with supporting hand signals,  "No.....hay.....mas.   ..... Se....acabo."   I was so grateful to have found at least one Colombian who understood how to speak Spanish to the gringo.

So far, my two favorite Spanish language songs that I've heard many times around Bogotá are "¿Cuánto Te Debo?" and "Hola Soledad", two classics that grabbed my heart for the beauty of the music itself, each dragging me into actually reading and trying to understand the lyric.

@rf2023 My Spanish is technically at A2/Lower B1 level. I could have full (albeit superficial) conversations in the interior when people speak like 10% slower than normal.

But on the coast, they speak Costeñol, which is literally (well, linguistically) a hot garbage fire in a trash dump 😂 Despite all my attempts, my listening comprehension is so low, that I am a hermit most of the time. I only have 2 local friends - a couple of sweet old ladies in their 60s - and they naturally speak slowly anyway so I can understand a little over 50% of what they are saying.

With other people, the interactions can be lopsided or weird because they hear me speak "grammatically correct Spanish", and then they happily respond in full-speed Costeñol... which is basically gibberish to me LOL! I'm all like, "Amigo, despacio por favor... donde estan las silabas? Donde estan las eses"?? 😅

"  I only have 2 local friends - a couple of sweet old ladies in their 60s - and they naturally speak slowly anyway so I can understand a little over 50% of what they are saying.
-@ChineduOpara "

Hello ChineduOpara,  I can relate to you 100% !

Decades ago I was in Quebec, Canada learning French.  I fell in love with one of the "facilitators" at the summer French program at Laval University.   Then before returning to the USA, I was invited to dinner with her mom and dad.   I was so nervous, not only for the French, but to "meet the parents", then that her parents were professionals (on OB/GYN doctor and a nurse), and they were rich, too, by my standards, because they had a swimming pool *inside their home* .

Well her dad said in French (and I understood) , "They say that it is easier to understand women than men, women speak slower and more clearly, is it true?"  And I replied in my best French "It's not that they speak more slowly or more clearly, but because the things women talk about are much easier to understand."   Everyone understood!  It was not only my first joke ever in French, but also my first sexist joke in French, it went over very well, and I was so very proud of myself.

I want to write a book someday about learning Colombian Spanish.  It will stress the importance of listening comprehension and will list the 10,000 most frequent Spanish idiomatic expressions in spoken Spanish, complete with audio files.    If someone wants to steal my book idea and beat me to the punch in publishing it, that's fine with me, I'll be the first to buy the book!

@rf2023 OMG that joke made me chuckle heartily 😄 I love being surprised by new material, de verdad!!

@rf2023 OMG that joke made me chuckle heartily 😄 I love being surprised by new material, de verdad!!
-@ChineduOpara

You can use it...... for free!  And no need to give me credit jajaj.