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| INTRODUCTION |
| Joseph: “How you doing, my man?” Muy buenos días. I’m Joseph! I’m here with Beatrice and we’d like to welcome you to the first lesson of the Peruvian Spanish Series in Spanishpod101.com, the only place where you get podcasts adapted to the Spanish of Peru. |
| Beatriz: ¡Así es! That’s right! Here, we reference the core curriculum of Spanishpod101 and show how it applies to Peruvian Spanish. |
| Joseph: We’ll also shed light on words and idiomatic phrases proper to Peru. |
| Beatriz: Showing you how these are pronounced with an authentic Peruvian accent. |
| Joseph: And giving you insight into Peruvian customs and culture. So, join us for this lesson of Spanishpod101.com! |
| Beatriz: Welcome to Inaugural Peruvian Spanish lesson! |
| Joseph: For this lesson, we’ll study how the Spanish spoken in Lima, the capital of Peru, differs from the neutral version that we heard in Newbie Lesson 1. Also, we’ll learn the basics of introductions using the verb “estar” “to be”. |
| Beatriz: In today’s Peruvian conversation, we’ll hear Jorge and Elena, who are good friends, greet each other. |
| Joseph: So, let’s start today’s lesson off by going back to Newbie Lesson 1. In that lesson, we heard the following conversation. |
| DIALOGUE - NORMAL |
| Beatriz: ¡Hola! |
| José: ¡Hola! Buenos días. |
| Beatriz: ¿Cómo estás? |
| José: Yo estoy bien. ¿Y tú? |
| Beatriz: Yo estoy muy bien. Gracias. |
| José: Ahora incluiremos la traducción. This time, we’ll add the translation! |
| Beatriz: ¡Hola! |
| Beatriz: “Hi!” |
| José: ¡Hola! Buenos días. |
| José: “Hi! Good morning!” |
| Beatriz: ¿Cómo estás? |
| Beatriz: “How are you?” |
| José: Yo estoy bien. ¿Y tú? |
| José: “I’m very well. And you?” |
| Beatriz: Yo estoy muy bien. Gracias. |
| José: “I’m very well, thanks!” |
| DIALOGUE - PERUVIAN |
| Joseph: Now, let’s hear what that sounds like in Peruvian Spanish, and in particular, using some slang from Lima. |
| HELENA: ¡Hola, Jorge! |
| JORGE: ¡Habla, Helena! |
| HELENA: ¿Cómo estás pues, causita? |
| JORGE: Bien, muy bien. ¿Y tú? |
| HELENA: Tranqui como siempre. |
| Joseph: One more time! This time, slowly. |
| HELENA: ¡Hola, Jorge! |
| JORGE: ¡Habla, Helena! |
| HELENA: ¿Cómo estás pues, causita? |
| JORGE: Bien, muy bien. ¿Y tú? |
| HELENA: Tranqui como siempre. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Joseph: So, you can see that there are some really big differences between the two conversations. To begin, let’s look at the way “Hi! Good morning!” was rendered in the Peruvian Spanish from Lima. Beatriz, could you repeat that for us, please? |
| Beatriz: ¡Habla, Helena! |
| Joseph: “Talk to me, Elena!” Now, in Newbie Lesson 1, it sounded like this: |
| José: ¡Hola! Buenos días. |
| Joseph: ¡Hola! Buenos días. Beatrice, what do you think are the major differences here? |
| Beatriz: In the first place, Jorge says “habla” instead of “hola”. This is a very colloquial expression, very informal. It’s only used among friends, and it’s more common among men. In fact, it’s the kind of expression you hear on the street. |
| Joseph: “Claro” The word “habla” literally means “speak” or “talk” as in “Talk to me.” In Newbie Lesson 1, the expression is simply “Hola” which means “Hello!”. So, in Lima, Peru, a very, very informal way to say “Hola” is “Habla”. Again, this is a slangy expression and as Beatrice just pointed out, it’s only used in informal situations and it’s more commonly used among men. So, again, the neutral way to say “Hi! Good morning!” is: |
| José: ¡Hola! Buenos días. |
| Joseph: ¡Hola! Buenos días. and in the Peruvian Spanish of Lima we could say: |
| Beatriz: ¡Habla, Helena! |
| Joseph: “Talk to me, Elena!” Great! All right! Next we’re going to look at the way “How are you?” was pronounced in Peruvian Spanish. Beatrice, could you repeat that for us? |
| Beatriz: ¿Cómo estás pues, causita? |
| Joseph: “How you doing, my man?” Now, in Newbie Lesson 1, it sounded like this: |
| Beatriz: ¿Cómo estás? |
| Joseph: “¿Cómo estás?” Beatrice, what do you think is the major difference here? |
| Beatriz: Well, first let’s look at the word “pues” which has a consecutive nuance. |
| Joseph: Right! So, the word “pues” is a kind of pause word. We use it when we’re trying to figure out what we’re going to say next. So, in the example “¿Cómo estás pues, causita?”, is as if we’re trying to decide whether or not to use the word “causita” or some other word. And, Beatrice, the word “causita” what does that mean? |
| Beatriz: Buena pregunta. is a colloquial form of address or as we say in Peru, it is a “jerga”, that is a slang. “Causita” means “amigo” “friend”. But, you know, it’s not the same as saying “amigo”. |
| Joseph: “Buen punto”. Good point! So, maybe we could translate the form of address “causita” as “buddy”, “pal” or “my man”. |
| Beatriz: Yeah. I like it. |
| Joseph: So, as you can see, this is a really, really informal way of speaking, but on the other hand, it’s not uncommon to hear it in Lima. Beatrice, if I’m not mistaken, the word “causita” is used in some other expressions, too. Is it not? |
| Beatriz: You must be thinking of the expression “Causita del corazón”. |
| Joseph: Eso es. That’s it! “Causita del corazón” It’s like saying “bosom buddy” or in a funny way “my man squeeze”. |
| Beatriz: Yes, it’s funny to translate the slang words because they’re idiomatic. It’s often hard to get a direct translation, but I think that idea come through here. |
| Joseph: Yes, I think you’re right! So, again, the neutral way to say “How are you?” is” |
| Beatriz: ¿Cómo estás? |
| Joseph: ¿Cómo estás? And in Peruvian Spanish, especially in Lima, we can say: |
| Beatriz: ¿Cómo estás pues, causita? |
| Joseph: “How you doing, my man?” Let’s go over some of the localisms that came up in the conversation. Today, we’ll look at the expression “tranqui”. Beatrice, would you take us back to where this came up in the Peruvian Spanish conversation? |
| Beatriz: Tranqui como siempre. |
| Joseph: “Chill, like always!” Now, Beatrice, the word “tranqui” probably isn’t all that familiar to most of our listeners. What exactly does this mean? |
| Beatriz: Well, the word “tranqui” is a shortened form of the word “tranquilo” or “tranquila”. |
| Joseph: Right! And “tranquilo” is the masculine form, and “tranquila” the feminine. This means “cool”, “relaxed”, “laid back”, “chill” or something like that. |
| Beatriz: That’s right! In the slang that we use in Lima, it’s not uncommon to shorten a word on pronounce the root only, from which the rest of the root is recognizable. |
| Joseph: Exacto. Exactly! And there are other examples of this phenomenon, too. Aren’t there? |
| Beatriz: Yes, there are. For example, we can say “compu” instead of “computadora”. |
| Joseph: Right! So, you say “compu” instead of “computadora” in order to refer to the “computer”. |
| Beatriz: Other expressions that follow this pattern are “refri” instead “refrigerador”, “deli” instead of “deliciosos” and “matri” instead of “matrimonio”. |
| Joseph: Perfecto. Perfect! So, with that list, we can see that this kind of slang follows a certain pattern. And, you know, it seems like we have something similar in English. I mean, isn’t saying “refri” something like saying “fridge” instead of “refrigerator”? |
| Beatriz: It’s seems like it is! It’s interesting that this similarity exists. Joseph, can you think of a translation from the slang word “deli”? |
| Joseph: Well, seen that “deli” is the shortened form of “delicioso”, it would seem that we can translate it as “delice”, as the shorten form of “delicious”. |
| Beatriz: Muy bien, Joseph. However, we should point out that this is a very informal way of speaking and aside from being informal, it is very limenio, very proper to Lima, Peru. |
Outro |
|---|
| Joseph: Alright! That’s pretty interesting! Well, we’re going to have to stop here for today. To further compare what we’ve covered here, check out Newbie Lesson 1 and we’ll see you soon! |
| Beatriz: Nos vemos pronto. |
Comments
HideToday's lesson was recorded on-site in NY, USA. Who has been to Perú before? Do any of these expressions ring a bell? Are there any other Peruvian expressions that you've heard which we didn't cover in this lesson?
Hola Lucia,
Thank you for your comment.
Yes, but the slang word is "manti".
Sigamos practicando!
Saludos,
Carla
Team SpanishPod101.com
Hola
Puesto que "butter" se escribe "mantequilla", no "mantiquilla", ¿sería más apropiada la expresión "Pasame la mante"?
Hola Faéz,
Thank you for your comment.
Yes, the "s" at the end of estas and cusitas, might sound like h sound because they talk quicky.
Let us know if you have any questions or doubts.
Sigamos practicando!
Saludos,
Carla
Team Spanishpod101.com
¡Hola a todos!
Es muy interesante to listen to the Peruvian slang, not only on the choice/modification of vocabulary, but on how certain words are pronounced as well. For example, I noticed that the "s" in "¿Cómo estás pues" are reduced to a little bit of "h" sound or almost silent.
¡Qué interesante!
Faéz
Bridget,
Good to hear from you again! I'm glad you're enjoying the Peruvian Regional Series. In response to your question about slang from Spain, we've already got it going! Check out the Iberian Regional Series, where David and Megan walk us through the nuances of Iberian Spanish.
¡Ya estamos hablando!
Joseph
i love the peruvian slang. i have cousins in peru and one day when i visit i'll be able to surprise them with my slang. i hope that you guys will come out with spain slang.
Pilar,
Gracias por el comentario. Me es muy interesante escuchar su opinión sobre el tema de la jerga. Mientras conisdero su comentario me doy cuenta que la enseñanza de las formas coloquiales no es sólo para que el alumno hable sino también para que comprenda lo que escuche. Obviamente, todo el mundo en Lima no dice "causita", "pata", "¡habla!", "nos vidrios", "de fresa hasta alfonso", etc., pero me parece muy posible que un alumno esuche una de estas expresiones en algún momento. Aparte de eso, hay numerosas formas regionales como la de la sierra y la selva, como usted sabe. La meta es demostrar algo del sabor de la cultura peruana atraves del idioma.
Lo importante es recordar que las lecciones regionales sirven como complemento al curso básico en el cual enseñamos un español "universal". Estoy de acuerdo con usted. Hay muchísimas expresiones que pueden ser útiles para un extranjero, y como que recién hemos empezado tendremos en cuenta sus sugerencias durante el desarollo de las próximas lecciones.
Además, sugiero que usted haga un post en nuestro foro "Future Requests" para desarollar aun más este tema.
Muchos saludos y gracias por su participación,
Joseph
Me parece genial que muestren la riqueza del español, los felicito.
Soy limeña y para ser sincera me pareció interesante y graciosa la lección. Si bien creo que es bueno enseñar el habla casual e incluso algo de jerga puede resultar útil en algunas circunstancias, quiero hacer hincapié en que el uso de la jerga en el momento adecuado no es fácil. Yo les recomendaría no dar mucho énfasis a la jerga porque después de todo "la jerga pasa de moda" y además no la usamos en todos los contextos ni es usada por todas las edades. Si un extranjero me saluda diciendo: "hola, causita" me daría mucha gracia y no me molestaría mientras sólo sea para "hacerse el gracioso muy ocasionalmente". Puedo estar equivocándome, pero "causita" lo usan más los hombres. Personalmente no la uso. Quizás por eso el diálogo "me sonó extraño". Otras palabras como causita: choche, chochera, pata.
Yo les recomendaría hablar en los próximos podcasts sobre peruanismos, por ejemplo:
calato: desnudo
chompa: suéter, jérsey
choclo: maíz
sancochar: cocinar
terno: traje
gasfitero: plomero
carro: coche
Finalmente, quiero hacer un comentario sobre la entonación. En Lima hay mucha gente de otras provincias así que es frecuente encontrar distintas entonaciones. Pero la entonación que han usado me parece más característica de la selva que de Lima.
“Este té sirve para dirigir la comida…” = "Este té sirve para DIGERIR la comida..." :smile:
Saludos.
¡Jajaja! ¡Qué chistoso, David!
"Llámame p'atras" = "call me backwards" instead of "llámame de nuevo" or "vuelve a llamarme" = call me back
"vacunar las carpetas" = "to vaccinate the folders" instead of "aspirar las alfombras" = "to vacuum the carpets"
Yeah, false cognates can be trouble. And then there are homophones (words that sound the same or similar). Check out this confusion, which I have to admit I made when I was learning Spanish:oops::
"Este té sirve para dirigir la comida..."
Jajaj... who can translate this one and show where the mistake is?
Glad you liked the lesson!
Hablamos,
Joseph
Hey Beatriz and Joseph! Nice lesson. I had no idea of Peruvian Spanish, and it's really interesting to hear it.
watermen, I once heard some funny expressions of "US-spanish":
"Llámame p'atrás" = Call me back
"Vacunar las carpetas" = Vacuum the carpets
Who can literally translate into English the phrase "vacunar las carpetas"? You will see how funny it is.
David.
Joseph and Beatrice, great lesson!:grin: I second that it was very interesting!
Watermen, in the near future we'll be adding many more dialects, so we're really excited about the possibilities!
This is one advantage of recording on-site!:grin:
This is really interesting. What about US-Spanish?