Here are some notes concerning things I heard or noticed about the language over the semester. Some won’t make sense if you’ve never studied Spanish or even a foreign language, but hopefully it will still be interesting.  Be sure to check out the other three parts to this set on How to be a Spaniard in How Spaniards Eat It, Do It, and Live It.

Vocabulary
-Dime is the phrase used for store greetings and to answer the phone (NOT hola). It literally means Tell me or Talk to me, but after spending more time there, I think it’s better translated as How can I help you?

-As my host mom described to one of my housemates who knew no Spanish, “All you need is to know the 3 Vs: venga (c’mon, alright), vale (okay, sounds good), vamos (let’s go, get a move on). But the funny thing is that there is no V sound in Spanish, but a B sound, so it would be better to say the 3 Bs. These three words are tossed around so much.

-Two phrases I learned at the dinner table: Hacer la pelota = Butter someone up and Hacerse el sueco = Do/Become Swedish (literally), but in practice more of an impartial, do nothing, meh kind of meaning. I obviously took interest because of my Swedish heritage. At first I thought the translation was referring to the Swiss because they are “neutral” in our eyes.

-Mi mujer literally means “my woman” but is in practice used as “my wife.” I questioned a few times why “esposa” wasn’t used to be a bit less sexist, but no one had a good explanation.

-Words used a lot: super (same meaning in English), mono (cute, but literally means monkey), tonto and tontería (stupid, stupidness)

-To deny someone you say Que no and not simply No. Case in point, my host dad trying to convince his niece to dance with us all. Using this que no form it’s almost as if you are going to explain yourself and offer excuses. It’s just that I don’t…Similarly, I heard strong affirmation in the form of Que sí.

-Ciao is not just Italian anymore because I heard it all over Europe, especially in Spain.

-Guapa is what older men say to refer to younger women, but not in a cat-call kind of way, more of an endearing term (at least that was my albeit naïve impression). It literally is the female version of handsome but I would say it’s closer to dear or hun’.

-Un besito (a little kiss) is a common way to part with someone, be it via email, in person, or over the phone.

-Ya is another one of those words thrown around a lot. The best translation is already but it was often said by itself, short for ya está (that’s it)

-A ver is let’s see. Many inquiry conversations began with this. It signifies that you need to start thinking or adjust your glasses to see something better.

-Mira! and Oye! (look! and listen!) are the most common exclamations.

-Hombre (means man) and is used exactly the same as we do like Man, I can’t believe I just ran a marathon. I can recall a teacher saying it to me when I asked a stupid question or when someone was trying to dispel an exaggeration.

-Okay is a word that I heard internationally. Not sure which country used it first.

-Although menu and carta translate directly to the same thing, menu refers to the daily special (ie Menu del dia) that normally has two plates, a drink, and a dessert; while carta is the regular, written menu.

-The use of Bajarse for getting out to a store, not just to refer to lowering yourself from, say, the pull-up bar in our hallway.

-“Spanish” is actually not the name of the language, but “Castellano.” I think español more refers to the person or is used as an adjective.

Spit it Out
-Fast language, but I think it’s the same for any non-native speaker confronting a new language

-Accent variation between the all the autonomous regions, especially noticeable between the North and the South. The Southerners have a bit more of a slur, so they are particularly tricky to understand for natives and foreigners alike. The difference is hard to describe, but you would know it if you heard it.

-Vosotros form is not taught in American Spanish classes because it is almost exclusively used in Spain (somehow lost over the years in the former colonies of South America). Since we have more contact with Mexico, we obviously are taught Mexican Spanish. Whenever I tried to say something in vosotros form, it always felt like I was making up words.

-The most commonly used verb form (of course, right after present tense) is the perfect to refer to something that was just done, followed by imperfect and preterit (the hardest and most full of irregulars) was rarely used, it seemed.

-Spain Spanish is spoken quite sloppily, dropping words here and there (you almost never hear the haber part of the perfect, instead it sounds like adjectives all the time from the past participles), and smushing together other ones, which is not the best for someone learning the language.

-Just as there are sounds I/native-English speakers have trouble saying (like rolling r’s and getting the proper inflexions), Spaniards also have trouble with some English sounds. Words starting with a J are a Y sound to them (Jackson is Yackson) and a leading S is pronounced as an Es (Stephanie becomes Es-tephanie).

-But, there are some words that are pronounced exactly the same in English and Spanish.  I can’t think of any right now.  It was always a surprise when we were struggling to think of a word in Spanish and would blurt out the English word only to find that we were understood because it was the same for them.  Similarly, I can recall times at the dinner table where my host mom would say a word in Spanish that was the same in English and we all would jump to tell her that her English vocabulary had just grown.

-Proper nouns are NOT the same in all languages, which is a stark contrast to the previous observation.  City names, historical characters, brands, and even current celebrities all have their own pronunciation.  Harry Potter and Josh Hartnett were two that always tripped us up.  We basically had to translate those and hope that our accents wouldn’t mar the names too much.  It is kind of odd thinking that a proper noun referring to a unique thing would be said differently depending on the culture you are in because then it suddenly has 100s of “names” instead of the original.  But it’s understandable, considering I wouldn’t be able to say or even spell most Asian names and by “translating” them they suddenly have meaning to the foreign culture.

Cultural
-Lots of English music on the radio and in the culture. It was a shock to me, but it seems like the whole world loves American and British music. Obviously, there is a bit of a delay before the new releases reach Europe. They also like the pop-y music way more than we do, perhaps because the lyrics are more easily distinguished and the tunes catchy.

-Swearing is ok, apparently, because I heard stories/experienced unapologetic swearing in front of Grandma and little kids (even at a daycare!). Both in English and Spanish, though I am sure there are a fair amount of words that I heard and didn’t realize were swear words. There are also different levels of word “badness” and I am only vaguely familiar with the PG words.

-They often use this dice-rolling hand motion as if they are winding up for a slap, almost as if saying “why I oughta…” or to express some disbelief. Often accompanied by a sucking in of breath.

-Since there are a variety of languages in Spain, almost all associated with feather-ruffling, nationalistic feelings. People will feign that they don’t know the dominant language (Castellano), the most characteristic example being the tough relations between the Catalans in Barcelona with the Madrileños.

-Common use of racist words, like referring to Obama as negrito (little black guy) and mulata. There is not a real push in the culture to change it, even if my friends or I pointed it out. The reply was more of a shoulder shrug.

-Overall, Spaniards are a joking, chatty people, be it for strolls in the neighborhood or messing with the flight attendants. The best example of this is in this year’s Eurovision song contest entry for Spain, El Chiki Chiki (that I also happened to do a 20 minute presentation on for a class).