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| INTRODUCTION |
| Carlos: She is really with it, isn’t she? What’s going on? I am Carlos and I am joined by Natie. Natie, ¿cómo te va? |
| Natalia: Mae, todo tranquilo por dicha. Bienvenidos a todos. Welcome everyone. Carlos, I am really excited to be here with you today. |
| Carlos: Well Natie, thanks. It is really good to be here with you too. |
| Natalia: Now, just like every Costa Rican lesson, today we’ve referenced a newbie lesson right? |
| Carlos: That’s right. Today’s Costa Rican conversation references newbie lesson 5, Where is he from? So be sure to pick that one up too. |
| Natalia: Alright Carlos, let’s get into today’s conversation. |
| Carlos: Now to start off, let’s go back to newbie lesson 5 where we heard the following conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| SUSANA: ¿De dónde es él? |
| DAVID: Él es de Inglaterra. |
| SUSANA: ¿De dónde es ella? |
| DAVID: Ella es de los Estados Unidos. |
| SUSANA: Ella está contenta, ¿no? |
| Carlos: This time with the translation. |
| Carlos: Ahora incluiremos la traducción. |
| SUSANA: ¿De dónde es él? Where is he from? |
| DAVID: Él es de Inglaterra. He is from England. |
| SUSANA: ¿De dónde es ella? Where is she from? |
| DAVID: Ella es de los Estados Unidos. She is from the United States. |
| SUSANA: Ella está contenta, ¿no? She is happy, isn’t she? |
| Natalia: So pretty much, that conversation would be understood anywhere in the Spanish speaking world. |
| Carlos: And that’s right but now let’s hear what they might sound like in the Spanish spoken in Costa Rica. |
| DIALOGUE - COSTA RICAN |
| Natalia: ¿Y ese mae de donde es? |
| Carlos: Él es de Italia. |
| Natalia: ¿Y la güila? |
| Carlos: Ella es de la yunai. |
| Natalia: Ella está en todas, ¿no? |
| Carlos: Once again slowly. Una vez más, esta vez lentamente. |
| Natalia: ¿Y ese mae de donde es? |
| Carlos: Él es de Italia. |
| Natalia: ¿Y la güila? |
| Carlos: Ella es de la yunai. |
| Natalia: Ella está en todas, ¿no? |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Carlos: Okay Natie, I can see we got our work really cut out for us. To begin with, let’s look at the way ¿De donde es él? was rendered in the Costa Rican Spanish. Natie, would you do us a pleasure of repeating that for us. |
| Natalia: ¿Y ese mae de donde es? |
| Carlos: And that guy, where is he from? Now in newbie lesson 5, it sounded like this. |
| Natalia: ¿De donde es él? |
| Carlos: Natie, what do you think are the major differences here? |
| Natalia: Bueno, as we’ve said in the previous lessons, the word “mae” is frequently used in Costa Rican conversation. |
| Carlos: You know that’s right. It’s pretty slangy too right? |
| Natalia: Sin duda. Without a doubt. You can translate it as dude, man or even guy as we do here , ese mae, that guy. |
| Carlos: You know I have to say in the time I’ve been here, I have noticed everybody from taxi drivers to teenagers saying “mae”. |
| Natalia: Yeah that’s true. We tico say it all the time. A lot of times, we say without even noticing it. |
| Carlos: Yeah I know. The longer I say in Costa Rica, the quicker man is being replaced in my vocabulary by “mae”. |
| Natalia: That’s a good thing Carlos. Even though it seems minor, it’s actually a big step in the learning process. |
| Carlos: For sure I mean I guess I really can’t overstate the importance of “mae” in everyday conversation. |
| Natalia: Es verdad. That’s true but from the usage here, we can imagine Yahira and Roberto in a very casual conversation maybe a party or a gathering. |
| Carlos: So again, the standard way to say where is he from is |
| Natalia: ¿De donde es él? |
| Carlos: And in the Costa Rican version we heard |
| Natalia: ¿Y ese mae de donde es? |
| Carlos: And that guy, where is he from? No doubt. Now let’s look at the way the question where is she from was rendered in the Costa Rican Spanish. Natie, could you repeat that for us please. |
| Natalia: ¿Y la güila? |
| Carlos: And the girl. Now in newbie lesson 5, it sounded like this. |
| Natalia: ¿De donde es ella? |
| Carlos: Natie, these two questions hardly look alike. What’s going on here? |
| Natalia: Well first of all, in the Costa Rican version, we’ve omitted the verb because it’s implicit. |
| Carlos: Okay. So I mean because the question where is he from was asked just before this, it’s understood that we are talking about where she is from. |
| Natalia: Correct. That’s right. Now the difference is the word “güila”. |
| Carlos: Yeah that’s a real new one for me. |
| Natalia: Well it’s really easy. We use it kind of often in Costa Rica. |
| Carlos: And what does it mean? |
| Natalia: Well it’s a really easy one to use and it’s definitely very Costa Rican. It’s got two basic meanings. The first one means Beetle. |
| Carlos: ¿Al chile? For real? |
| Natalia: Yep. In this sense, we are talking about a large insect. |
| Carlos: Well I know what a beetle is but I mean, - and what’s the second meaning? |
| Natalia: Just in case you didn’t know. Second, we use it to refer to young people kind of like teenager but with the word “güila” there is much more levy. |
| Carlos: Wait! Wait! So wait! You guys call your kids beetles? |
| Natalia: I guess we do. |
| Carlos: Man, that is too funny. So I see that the word “güila” ends with an A but you know I’ve learned my lesson and I am not going to assume right off the bat that it’s feminine. |
| Natalia: Yeay Carlos, you are getting good now. |
| Carlos: Now, is this word masculine or feminine or both? |
| Natalia: Well Carlos, you have to be careful. |
| Carlos: Well, I mean I got to protect myself. I mean sometimes you can be pretty brutal. |
| Natalia: Me? Man, Carlos! |
| Carlos: Sorry, you just misunderstood. |
| Natalia: What? |
| Carlos: You just misunderstood. |
| Natalia: Okay Carlos, we can use the word “güila” for either boy or girl. That’s why it’s a little hard to translate because it can mean either boy or girl or even child depending on the context. |
| Carlos: Man, this really seems wrapped up in Costa Rican culture. Wait, so Natie, can we use this term to refer to a child. |
| Natalia: Yes you can and then also, you can use it to say someone is acting immature. For example, you may hear “Ese mae es un güila”, that guy is such a child. |
| Carlos: Now I see. Yeah in this sense does seem a lot like the word child. So once more in the newbie lesson, the question was rendered like this. |
| Natalia: ¿De donde es ella? |
| Carlos: And in the Costa Rican version, we heard |
| Natalia: ¿Y la güila? |
| Carlos: And the girl. |
| Natalia: Alright Carlos, now let’s look at some of the local expressions that came up in today’s conversation. |
| Carlos: And that sounds great Natie. You know I’ve never heard the word “yunai” before. |
| Natalia: I am sure you have but you don’t realize it. |
| Carlos: No, no, no really I am not lying to you. I have no idea what this means. |
| Natalia: You do Carlos. |
| Carlos: Okay I guess you can explain it. |
| Natalia: Have you ever heard anyone with a heavy, heavy Spanish accent pronounce United States before? |
| Carlos: Yeah I teach ESL. I spend 20 minutes a day on how to pronounce United States. |
| Natalia: No don’t be bragging. Anyways how does it sound? |
| Carlos: Yunaite estate. |
| Natalia: Exactamente. Exactly. It’s a pay on the way Spanish accent is pronounced in United States, “yunai”. |
| Carlos: “Yunai”. Alright, yeah, yeah, I get it, okay. |
| Natalia: So Carlos, I think you should listen to me more often. |
| Carlos: God, help me. So this word “yunai” is spelled Yunai. |
| Natalia: Yes I remember in Costa Rican Spanish, the Y sounds like an English J. |
| Carlos: That’s pretty wild. I like it. |
| Natalia: Well, we say it’s proper to Costa Rica. So again, the standard way to say she is from the United States is |
| Carlos: “Ella es de los Estados Unidos.” |
| Natalia: And in the Costa Rican Spanish, we can say “Ella es de la yunai.” |
| Carlos: She is from the United States. Now Natie, there is one more expression in the Costa Rican version that I think we should cover. I am talking about “estar en todas”. |
| Natalia: This is a good one and I would imagine that is used in other Spanish speaking countries as well. It is not strictly Costa Rican. |
| Carlos: Cool. So in the conversation Yahaira says “Ella está en todas, ¿no?” So what does this mean? |
| Natalia: Well, notice that we are using the verb “estar” which means to be. |
| Carlos: Okay I see that. |
| Natalia: Then we have the phrase “en todas”. When we put these two together, it means that she is aware of everything around her. |
| Carlos: Ah so it’s like saying she is really with it, isn’t she? |
| Natalia: Uhoo that’s a pretty good translation. |
| Carlos: Or like she is pretty hip, isn’t she? |
| Natalia: Well I guess so. No te pases. |
| Carlos: Oh that chick really knows what’s up right. |
| Natalia: Carlos, we can stop giving translations now. |
Outro |
|---|
| Carlos: So I guess this will wrap up the lesson for today. |
| Natalia: To further compare what we covered here, check our newbie lesson 5 and pick up today’s PDF at spanishpod101.com |
| Carlos: Also show us some love. Ask us a question in the forum or leave us a comment. |
| Natalia: See you soon. |
| Carlos: Nos vemos pronto. |
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