Gringos speakin' some Espanol

When I was getting ready to spend a semester in Costa Rica in the mid-1970's, I crammed a year of college Spanish into 6 months. In high school I had taken 4 years of Latin and two of French, so I thought I was in pretty good shape. I mean, Spanish is just another "Romance Language", right? Plus I had a Venezuelan boyfriend who taught me several useful phrases not found in the typical textbook. Since I was living in Nicoya where only one person knew any English, I picked up "Tico" Spanish rapidly. The first couple weeks I tended to put French irregular verbs into Spanish sentences. Since the father of the family I stayed with was also the local high school French teacher, he was able to translate and correct my verbs.

Slang is tricky and varies by region even within a country. When we were going to the playa, they asked if I had any "plata". I was thinking "plato" and wondered why I would be expected to bring a plate to the beach. So I said no. When we go there and I was paying for lunch, they told me that I did indeed have "plata" (money). It's sort of like if we asked someone in English "do you have any bread?"

I found the transition to be rough at first, but by sticking with it and not having any opportunity to speak English, by the time I had been there two months people were trying to figure out if my accent was Venezuelan or Ecuadorian. Hardly anyone pegged me as a norteamericano.

I'd love to be practising my Spanish more before I leave, but everyone around me who speaks it here is Mexican. You are right, gardener1. It sounds nothing like what I heard when I visited Ecuador or when I lived in Costa Rica. I think I'll stick to my Pimsleur tapes and hope for the best when I get to Cuenca. I got around pretty well the brief time I was there, but I usually wrote out what I needed to say and looked up unfamiliar terms when I needed to get something out of the ordinary done. I was usually able to wing it with lots of hand gestures and a few key words. Thank goodness the Ecuadorians I encountered were very patient and tolerant.

DorothyPeck wrote:

Slang is tricky and varies by region even within a country. When we were going to the playa, they asked if I had any "plata". I was thinking "plato" and wondered why I would be expected to bring a plate to the beach. So I said no. When we go there and I was paying for lunch, they told me that I did indeed have "plata" (money). It's sort of like if we asked someone in English "do you have any bread?

 

That is really funny, good one.

It reminds me of a Brit friend who was living in Russia - at the end of every supermarket cashier checkout there is a little cardboard box where you can throw away your grocery receipt, they usually have "chekov" penned on the side. (receipt=chekov). So she was new there, and thought it was a donation box for the plays of Anton Chekov and she threw some money in. The cashier was completely dumbfounded by such an idiot move and yelled at her.

Ecuadorans a much more tolerant people.

DorothyPeck wrote:

I'd love to be practising my Spanish more before I leave, but everyone around me who speaks it here is Mexican. You are right, gardener1. It sounds nothing like what I heard when I visited Ecuador or when I lived in Costa Rica. I think I'll stick to my Pimsleur tapes....

I have been to all these places and never noticed a real difference in the Spanish being spoken.  I hear more of a difference between how Quiteños speak compared to folks from the EC coast, whom I often have trouble understanding.

I think it could only help you, not hurt your Spanish long-term, Dorothy, if you took advantage of opportunities to speak to the Mexicans between now and November.

cccmedia in Quito

cccmedia is right, practice your Spanish with whatever native speakers from anywhere that you can.  Yes there are often differences but it all helps.

This video "Qué dificil es hablar el español" poking fun and explaining some differences from country to country went viral in the Spanish-speaking world, it's quite amusing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xyp7xt-ygy0

And, here's the link, with subtitles (but watch it without them first and see how you do!):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?annotatio … yGFz-zIjHE

Spanish of the streets and of the educated classes can be different, just like "street English" is different from college or educated English.

I first learned Spanish in Quito, and to me they still sound the clearest, along with the Colombians (probably because I'm married to one).  The Mexicans are easily understood for me.  I most often cannot reliably distinguish among Puerto Ricans, Cubans and Dominican Republic Spanish speakers, "Se comen las colas de las palabras", all.  Argentinians to me often sound like they are drunk even when they're not.

My wife who was born in Bogotá but who grew up in Cali, pinpoints Spanish accents with ease, to the city level at least in Colombia.  Analogous I imagine as to how American English speakers can easily hear the difference between Boston and New York, but who may confuse Cockney with other England accents and not readily recognize Australian as opposed to New Zealand, or something...

The Mexicans and every country has different words:  "Quiero irme al lonche pero el pinche troca no arranca!" - I want to go to lunch but the (damn, crappy, shitty) truck won't start!  Well, for purists lonche is NOT "almuerzo", troca is NOT "camion" or "camioneta"...and pinche per the Real Academia Española means something like "kitchen help".

My colombiana wife was embarrassed one day (and don't ever forget that "embarazada" is NOT "embarrassed") when she used a common word "bicho" that in Mexico and most countries means any little bug.  But she was in Puerto Rico where it is slang for "penis"...

A good reference on the internet where in the forums you can find many translation discussions among English speakers and native Spanish speakers from many countries is at wordreference.com

It's all grist for the mill.  With about 21 Spanish-speaking countries you have even more variation than we do in English, and you just have to decide that it's more entertaining than frustrating!

gardner1 said:
" I was talking to a boy in Quito who was wanting to polish my shoes and I asked him why he wasn't in school, 'escuela'. He had no idea what I was babbling about. Then later from our hostal balcony I saw the school buses go by on the street below and on top of the buses was written 'escolar'. (you'd think he could have made the leap from escuela to escolar...but)"


Funny about the kid in Quito, as escuela is commonly used here. I found that when I first arrived most Ecuadorians seemed amazed that anything resembling Spanish came out of my mouth and I had to repeat myself frequently. I've come to the conclusion that it's a combination of being gringa and my hesitancy to use the language when I wasn't comfortable. Now, I rarely have to repeat myself.

The best way to get a handle on Spanish, as many of you have alluded to is to speak with the locals. While I still struggle with conjugation (is that sentence subjunctive of not??? Should I have used imperfect??? Aigh!) I'm at least understood. If I can do, anyone can.

Good string of conversation.