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| INTRODUCTION |
| Natalia: What a moon! |
| Carlos: What’s going on everyone? My name is Carlos and welcome to the 16th lesson of the Costa Rican Spanish series and rounding out this dynamic duo is the indelible Natalia Araya. |
| Natalia: Hello, everyone, but indelli which – indelli…. |
| Carlos: Don’t worry, it’s good. |
| Natalia: I hope so. |
| Carlos: Seriously, help me out audience. Leave the comment on the form and then show Ms. Araya that I say good things, but she doesn’t believe me. |
| Natalia: Okay, okay, okay well while you are there, discuss the lesson in the forum. |
| Carlos: Wouldn’t it make more sense to say that after the lesson, Natie? |
| Natalia: Ey Carlos, you are obsessive compulsive, I tell you. |
| Carlos: Whatever you say, whatever you say. |
| Natalia: That’s right. So what did we discuss last time? |
| Carlos: Last time, we had an engaging discussion of reflexive verb as well as diverse and varied climate of Costa Rica. It was riveting Natalia. |
| Natalia: Well I recognize that tone. |
| Carlos: Well you should. We hang out enough. I mean come on, in Costa Rica it’s either raining or it’s not. |
| Natalia: True but either way, can you tell our audience what we are discussing today in a more serious tone please. |
| Carlos: Sí, señorita. senorita, today we are going to continue our discussion on weather. |
| Natalia: Well, it should be fun. |
| Carlos: Whether or not it really is. |
| Natalia: Oh dear, my god. Who comes up with these things? Do you do it by yourself? |
| Carlos: I do. |
| Natalia: Oh my god! |
| Carlos: We will have to see what happens. |
| Natalia: Qué payaso. |
| Carlos: Natie, don’t hate the Pun, the Big Pun. |
| Natalia: Qué payaso. And what else? |
| Carlos: And after that, we are going to top it all with the smidgen of grammar. |
| Natalia: Which? |
| Carlos: A smidgen. |
| Natalia: What! Today is weird word day? |
| Carlos: Yes. |
| Natalia: Okay, what’s a smidgen? |
| Carlos: A smidgen, just a small discussion of the love triangle between nouns, verbs and adjectives in Spanish. And it’s like you know it’s a lot harder than it happens in English. |
| Natalia: A love triangle. That sounds more soap opera like. |
| Carlos: That’s the point Natie. |
| Natalia: Oh! |
| Carlos: Did you get it, the whole Spanish being hotter than the English, come on now! |
| Natalia: Corny. |
| Carlos: You just don’t understand or appreciate my humor. |
| Natalia: No I think I do and that’s the only problem I have right now. |
| Carlos: That’s a luxury problem Natie, a luxury problem. |
| Natalia: What! Aha, well let’s start by going back to newbie lesson 16 where we heard the following conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| ANGELA: ¡Caramba! Hace calor! |
| RODRIGO: Sí, ¡hace mucho sol! |
| ANGELA: La playa está llena. |
| RODRIGO: Tú estás muy bronceada. |
| ANGELA: Todos estamos muy bronceados. |
| Carlos: This time with the translation. Ahora incluiremos la traducción. |
| ANGELA: ¡Caramba! Hace calor! Wow, it’s hot out. |
| RODRIGO: Sí, ¡hace mucho sol! Yeah it’s really sunny. |
| ANGELA: La playa está llena. The beach is full. |
| RODRIGO: Tú estás muy bronceada. You are really tanned. |
| ANGELA: Todos estamos muy bronceados. We are all really tanned. |
| Natalia: Now let’s hear how we may hear this here in Costa Rica. |
| DIALOGUE - COSTA RICAN |
| ANGELA: ¡Híjole qué luna! |
| RODRIGO: ¡Mae, me estoy ahogando! |
| ANGELA: Ya está llenilla la playa. |
| RODRIGO: Estás negra. |
| ANGELA: Todos estamos muy tostados. |
| Carlos: Once again slowly. Una vez más, esta vez lentamente. |
| ANGELA: ¡Híjole qué luna! |
| RODRIGO: ¡Mae, me estoy ahogando! |
| ANGELA: Ya está llenilla la playa. |
| RODRIGO: Estás negra. |
| ANGELA: Todos estamos muy tostados. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Carlos: Ajogando. |
| Natalia: Ahogando. |
| Carlos: Ahogando. H is nothing. |
| Natalia: Nothing. |
| Carlos: Okay. |
| Natalia: A letter actually. H is a letter. |
| Carlos: It’s silent. |
| Natalia: It’s a letter anyways. You are saying H is nothing but it’s a letter. |
| Carlos: I did not. I said it’s silent Natie like the T in “listen”. |
| Natalia: Ssh it’s time. Carlos ya… |
| Carlos: Well I would ask where you think we should begin but I have a preference today. In newbie lesson 16, we heard |
| Natalia: “¡Caramba! Hace calor!” Right. |
| Carlos: In our Tico conversation, we heard |
| Natalia: ¡Híjole qué luna! |
| Carlos: Wow, What a moon! That’s awesome. |
| Natalia: Why? |
| Carlos: I just like the sound of it “¡Híjole qué luna!” I mean I am going to use it next time I am at the beach. |
| Natalia: Well it’s easy to remember like we said in the lesson 15, the sun on the coast is pretty, pretty intense. |
| Carlos: The sun taps you on the shoulder and says “Yo what up?” |
| Natalia: Carlos, you feel that sun taps you in the shoulder. |
| Carlos: No joke, I was in Hako and I was on the beach and literally the sun tapped me on the shoulder and said “Yo what up, kid?” |
| Natalia: That’s because you are almost transparent. That’s probably hallucination from the sun. |
| Carlos: Do you know what transparent means? It means that you can see through me. |
| Natalia: I know. I see through that you are so white, you are almost see through. |
| Carlos: Oh, oh okay. |
| Natalia: He just got it. |
| Carlos: You know what she is like the same color as I am. She went to the beach this weekend. |
| Natalia: Sir, you wish you had my tan. |
| Carlos: I am going to have your tan but anyway. |
| Natalia: Eventually. |
| Carlos: But seriously, here we have a great opportunity. |
| Natalia: For what, besides discussing the tan? |
| Carlos: Well with this phrase “¡Híjole qué luna!” |
| Natalia: Híjole |
| Carlos: Híjole. We see the use of the word “híjole” which I have definitely heard before. |
| Natalia: Where? |
| Carlos: Well isn’t it used in Mexico too? |
| Natalia: Yeah it’s pretty popular word in Central America and Mexico. |
| Carlos: Yeah it seems like a pretty enthusiast word. |
| Natalia: It is. I use it a lot. I am surprised you haven’t noticed. |
| Carlos: Now that I think about it, I better have her to use it. Natie, how can we loosely translate this? |
| Natalia: It’s like saying wow or whoa! |
| Carlos: Wow! |
| Natalia: Woww! Carlos. ¡Híjole¡ It’s like saying wow or whoa! |
| Carlos: Whoa or wow! |
| Natalia: Wow ¡Híjole qué luna! |
| Carlos: Or whoa! |
| Natalia: ¡Híjole qué luna! Whoa! Wow! |
| Carlos: Alright, you know that. |
| Natalia: You get the point. |
| Carlos: I guess I do. |
| Natalia: Cool. |
| Carlos: Cool man nah! |
| Natalia: Cool! |
| Carlos: Wow! Okay. You know Natie, I think I am definitely going to start using that one. I used to love saying whoa when I was in the States like whoa! You got any more examples. |
| Natalia: Well you can do it in either two ways. When you are really impressed, for example you are walking down the street and then you see a car crash, you go “¡Híjole! ¡Chocó el carro¡” or when something is like wow, how pretty then it is like me when I walk through vet and then I see a Chihuahua I say “¡Híjole, vea que pinto!” Carlos, say something. |
| Carlos: Let’s move on. |
| Natalia: Oh my god. Well once again, instead of saying “Caramba. Hace calor. You could say |
| Carlos: ¡Híjole qué luna! That’s funny. Okay, okay no, no seriously let’s move on. |
| Natalia: Sure? |
| Carlos: Natie, where would you like to move to? |
| Natalia: Why? Well I am doing the dumb jokes today. What’s up with me? |
| Carlos: I have no idea what’s up with her. |
| Natalia: That’s your part. |
| Carlos: Aha! |
| Natalia: Aha ha hah dear! Well how about something I know you know. |
| Carlos: Yeah I am always down for that. |
| Natalia: Ya está llenilla la playa. |
| Carlos: Ah the diminutive, I I would know you any way. |
| Natalia: Really where? |
| Carlos: Well if not mistaken “llenilla” is the diminutive form of “llena” which is conjugated form of “llenar”. |
| Natalia: Which means |
| Carlos: To fill. |
| Natalia: So how would you translate that sentence? |
| Carlos: Now the beach is really full. |
| Natalia: How do you know that “llenilla” was a diminutive? |
| Carlos: You don’t want to know. |
| Natalia: No actually I do. How? |
| Carlos: Natalia, Natilla, diminutive. |
| Natalia: Carlos! My god! |
| Carlos: Natilla. Yes Natilla. |
| Natalia: The thing is that…. |
| Carlos: We got a French lesson Natilla. |
| Natalia: Sometimes you should never tell people things about your past, about your childhood because they pop out and bring it right to your face. Well if you don’t know what we are talking about, it’s a couple of lessons back where we spoke about “gallo” pinto and all this. So it’s like saying it’s all filled up “llenilla”. |
| Carlos: And that phrase brings up a very good point. In “Ya está llenilla la playa.” we see something interesting. The placing of the adjective before the noun. I mean why, isn’t it usually the other way around? |
| Natalia: Well in this case, the adjective comes first to show emphasis. Now the beach is really full. The emphasis on the quality of being full. |
| Carlos: Cool. You know what, when else we use an adjective in such a way? |
| Natalia: Let’s say, you walk into a party and then you say “Ay mira, ya esta llenilla la sala.” So hey look, the living room is getting full. |
| Carlos: My living room is getting full. |
| Natalia: Full of things but people don’t want to know your purchases Carlos. Well , la casa de Carlos está llenilla de chunches. |
| Carlos: I don’t trust her. What does that mean? |
| Natalia: “llenilla de chunches”. Full of things. |
| Carlos: Okay. |
| Natalia: Full of things but “chunches” is sort of like rubbish and things. |
| Carlos: Okay I am not going to argue with that that is true. Localisms. |
| Natalia: Somebody stepped on you? |
| Carlos: Localisms. |
| Natalia: Okay why are you so excited today Carlos? |
| Carlos: Actually because today’s localisms hit me right at home, right in the heart. |
| Natalia: Why is that? |
| Carlos: Well first let’s look at and tell us first line. “¡Híjole qué luna!” |
| Natalia: Híjole. |
| Carlos: Híjole. |
| Natalia: By the time we are finished, you are going to get it right. Híjole. |
| Carlos: Híjole. |
| Natalia: That’s the way. |
| Carlos: That’s the way. |
| Natalia: Okay right well we’ve looked at “híjole” already. What is the word you want to look at? |
| Carlos: Well being from New York, Sarcasm is a mode of communication and also an art form. |
| Natalia: No, really. I didn’t notice at all, never. |
| Carlos: It is and I just love the fact that here “qué luna” or what a moon is a sarcastic way of saying, the sun is burning. |
| Natalia: Well, we ticos are quite sarcastic too, not me of course. I only speak the truth. |
| Carlos: Well okay maybe it’s my language barrier but I don’t hear it much. |
| Natalia: You don’t. Carlos, maybe you don’t get it much. |
| Carlos: No I get sarcasm. Audience, let me be completely honest with you. You have no idea how much trouble I got into with Natie and her friends when I first arrived. |
| Natalia: Oh my god! It was because of the New York accent because he was talking very straightforward like yo, this and this and this and that. People were thinking it was quite rude. |
| Carlos: But I was saying nice things. |
| Natalia: Nice things but with a really, really hard tone like yo pass me that spoon over there yo! |
| Carlos: Would you rather me have said mean things in a nice voice? |
| Natalia: Sometimes you can just sort of put a disguise to the mean things with a nice voice. |
| Carlos: They always thought I was angry and it was just my accent and I think Natie finally understands. |
| Natalia: I sort of do and you know, the thing about your sarcasm is that you keep a straight face. |
| Carlos: That’s the key to good sarcasm and once I learn how to speak Spanish fluently with the help of spanishpod101, I will learn the special nuances of Tico sarcasm. |
| Natalia: Carlos, I am seriously going to get a blue skirt and spanishpod101 puns for you. You are going to be the cheerleader. |
| Carlos: And she just said, she is going to wear a tiny blue skirt. |
| Natalia: Not good that I am going to get you one. |
| Carlos: Oh well that would be pretty... |
| Natalia: You see sarcasm. He doesn’t get it. |
| Carlos: But on a serious note, I’ve noticed something about the population in Costa Rica. |
| Natalia: Hmm careful. What’s that? |
| Carlos: Well after traveling to Nicaragua, Panama and Guatemala, I have noticed that Ticos have a more shall we say European look. |
| Natalia: Well yeah unlike the surrounding countries, here our indigenous population is very, very small. |
| Carlos: How small? |
| Natalia: Like three guys, no, no. |
| Carlos: You said three? |
| Natalia: I mean three guys. I don’t know that in exact numbers but it’s so small that until recently, our country said that we had no native population left in Costa Rica. |
| Carlos: But that isn’t true. |
| Natalia: No it’s not. There are still small communities of indigenous populations in Costa Rica but the vast majority of the population is Mestizo. Actually I went up to a mountain and we had to do a 9-hour trial to get to one of those small communities to get to see them because they wouldn’t even talk to you. |
| Carlos: Okay so the majority of the population in Costa Rica is Mestizo as in the majority of the population of Puerto Rico or most of the Caribbean. |
| Natalia: I mean you are going to tell our audience what Mestizo is? |
| Carlos: Of course. A Mestizo usually refers to a person born of a white father and a native American mother. I mean the Caribbean and the Latin America, the true melting pot. |
| Natalia: Carlos. |
| Carlos: What? |
| Natalia: Why this sudden discussion of raising history. |
| Carlos: Well in our conversation, Rodriguez says “Estás negra.” you are dark or you are black which is another way to say you are tanned. And we use that phrase in the states also. |
| Natalia: You do? |
| Carlos: Yes. I’d just be surprised. You know, sometimes I have been walking and just talking and you’ve categorized yourself as dark. |
| Natalia: Me, okay I’m more like Hawaiian tropic dark. Don’t laugh at me, he is just jealous of me. Carlos eventually just go out every single day, try to get some sun, vitamin D and you might achieve my tone of skin. |
| Carlos: Yes I will try. I will try, master. |
| Natalia: Carlos, you know something else now talking seriously. |
| Carlos: Yes. |
| Natalia: You know that here in Costa Rica, like, well, I’ve seen this a lot. You’ve probably seen it. You can call someone black, white, whatever as a way of identifying them without giving them any insult. For example, you know you can say “negro” and you know, they won’t mind. Somebody that’s Asian, you can go Chino and also like you go to every “pulperia” in Costa Rica and people just call the guy that serves Chino. |
| Carlos: Okay. |
| Natalia: And it’s not insulting. |
| Carlos: You mean like Gringuito |
| Natalia: Yeah Gringuito. That’s just you know what guy. |
| Carlos: Okay so like, that will be like me running around the states going “Ey yo whitey!” |
| Natalia: Exactly. |
| Carlos: A white man. |
| Natalia: Exactly or hey Asian and nobody would care because that’s how it works here. It is not offensive. |
| Carlos: Hey Latino person. |
| Natalia: It is not offensive. You know the people that do get offended is the ones that come to the country and don’t really know this information. |
| Carlos: Come on, you could see where it would be a point of contention or confusion. I got to say it is a different kind of feel out here. It is like when I heard somebody call somebody else “gordo”. |
| Natalia: “Gordo o flaca”. That’s how you call me. |
| Carlos: But “flaca” it’s like a little different than “gordo”. If someone goes ey oh chubby. If someone came up and said, you are “gordo” and I would be offended like yo man. Why are you calling me fat? |
Outro |
|---|
| Natalia: This is the end of today’s lesson. |
| Carlos: Peace out. Later. |
| Natalia: Nos vemos pronto. |
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