Posted by adir ferreira
¡Huy! It’s very hard to talk about slang in Spanish. Do you know why? Just imagine how many differences can be found in US English alone. The same thing happens with Spanish, but in almost 20 countries.
So here’s the deal: I found some very cool websites with Spanish slang from lots of countries. If you like Mexican Spanish, go for it and so on.
Here are the links:
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Spanish/Slang
http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/spanish/cool/
http://www.languagerealm.com/spanish/spanishslang.php (Slang and Idioms)
http://www.livingspanish.com/spanish-slang
Nos vemos prontito.
Posted by adir ferreira
By now you already know Spanish is spoken in lots of countries and every one of them has their peculiarities. I am a big fan of the Mexican accent and I have found this video where a kid explains the basics for sounding like a Mexican. Here are some words he uses:
Güey – dude, man, guy. It is used mostly as a noun (Hey, güey, vente ‘pa cá.) or as adjective, meaning ‘tonto’ (stupid). (Qué güey soy, se me olvidaron las llaves dentro del coche.)
¿Qué onda? / ¿Qué rollo? – How are you?
No manches. – When something goes wrong, instead of cursing, say No manches.
¡Chale! – Damn it!
Chavo – boy. Some variations are cuate, morro and bato.
¡Qué chido! / ¡Qué padre! – How cool! That’s cool! The opposite expression is ¡Qué chafa!
Nos vemos muy pronto!
Posted by adir ferreira
If you’re tired of those old textbook dialogues here’s something for you: a real dialogue in Mexican Spanish with lots of interesting vocabulary. And remember, if you have any questions, write to us!
Antonio: Ahorita vengo.
María: ¿Adónde vas?
Antonio: Voy a la farmacia. Necesito unas hojas de afeitar y un rastrillo nuevo. ¿Se te ofrece algo?
María: No, gracias. Este… espera, se me pasaba: tráeme unas curitas y un paquete de algodón.
Antonio: ¿Es todo?
María: Creo que sí. Oye, no te tardes, gordo, ¿eh? Vamos al cine y la película empieza al cuarto para las seis.
Antonio: ¿Al cuarto? Tenemos que salir en diez minutos.
María: Eso ya lo sé, pues. ¡Pélale!
Antonio: ¿Y tu amiga? ¿No iba a lanzarse con nosotros?
María: Bueno, dijo que se caería por aquí como a eso de las cinco.
Antonio: Tu cuatita es la impuntualidad con patas. Dale un fonazo a su chamba para ver si ya salió.
María: Bueno, pero ¡vuélale! Que a esta hora el tráfico se pone de la cachetada.
Antonio: Sí, y para acabarla de amolar está lloviendo. ¡Qué lata! ¡Vuelvo!
Vocabulary and Expressions
• curitas – plasters
• hojas de afeitar – razor blades
• rastrillo – razor
• ¿Se te ofrece algo? – Want me to get you anything?
• ¿Eh? – all right? Ok?
• Este – I mean, that is, you know (used as a filler in a sentence)
• Oye – Hey, listen (used to get somebody’s attention)
• Gordo – informal form of address used for men, not women. For women, use flaca, not gorda (which would mean she’s fat!)
• No te tardes – Don’t be late
• Al cuarto para las seis – at a quarter to six
• ¡Pélale! ¡Vuélale! – Get a move on! Hurry up!
• lanzarse – to come along
• se caería por aquí – she would come here, (lit.) she would fall over here
• como a eso de las cinco – at around five
• cuatita – friend (fem.)
• con patas – personified
• darle un fonazo a alguien – to give someone a call. In Spain the equivalent expression is “pegarle un telefonazo a alguien”
• chamba – job, work
• ponerse de la cachetada – to become helpless, to be very intense
• y para acabarla de amolar – and to top it all off, and for good measure
• ¡Qué lata! – What a bummer!
Espero que les haya gustado, nos vemos prontito.
Posted by admin
I went to high school with two Chilean kids and one year I spent Christmas Eve with their families. I ended up learning some Chilean Spanish expressions. Here are some interesting ones:
¿Cachai? – Do you understand? Get it?
Agarrar p’al hueveo/leseo/chuleteo – make fun of someone
Al tiro – right away, immediately
Año de la pera – many, many years ago
Cabra/o – girl; boy
Cabra/o chica/o – young girl/boy
Chupar – to drink (alcoholic beverages) a lot
Colarse – to crash a party
Copucha – gossip
Cuico/a – snobbish high-class person
Guagua – baby
Guata – belly
Huevón – jerk, idiot
Llorar a moco tendido – to cry one’s eyes out
Lolo – young man
Mijito – Chilean way of addressing someone (it comes from Mi hijito, “my little son”.)
Pajarón – absent-minded
Pisco – a kind of aguardiente
Pololo/a – boyfriend/girlfriend
¡Por la cresta! – Holy cow!
Poto – buttocks
If you have advanced Spanish read this article about Chilean Spanish on La Página del Idioma Español (http://www.elcastellano.org/espachil.html).
