Living or travelling in Colombia, as we mention on a daily basis, is a truly enriching experience. I, like most foreigners who decide to live in Colombia, am enchanted by Colombian culture and its peculiarities. So much so that I have even begun to adopt some of the ‘Colombianisms’ that seemed so strange to me […]
Tag: Colombian Spanish
There are times when learning a language that you’re stunned at the similarities. For example there’s an old Spanish proverb (“A caballo regalado no se le mira el diente“) that literally means “don’t look a gift horse in the mouth”. Who’dathunk it? –> Colombia Dolar (TRM) <– There are times, however, when you’re left baffled by […]
Have you gone totes cray-cray? According to Education First´s survey of 54 countries whose official language isn´t English, Colombia comes in 50th place for the level of English spoken. So… if you’re going to Travel to Colombia, you´ve got to hablah a bit of Es-pan-ol, to even think about coming here, right? –> Colombia Dolar […]
Colombians are a friendly bunch, no doubt about it. To get on their good side (which is a great place to be) brush up on your answers to these conversation starters. –> Colombia Dolar (TRM) <– “You need to be careful.” Sometimes, one needs to be careful. In pretty much any country, […]
Bogotá may not have the biggest expat community out there, but the one it does have is thriving, well-connected and, best of all, pretty damn fun. There are various opportunities to meet up with expats from all over the world in that are living in Bogotá and exchange stories, guzzle beers, reminisce about life back […]
There is nothing worse than arriving in a country and not being able to understand a single word anyone says. –> Colombia Dolar (TRM) <– You catch a taxi or a bus from the airport and you freak out when you’re asked a simple question like “So, where are you from?” You’re invited to a […]
The Colombian dictionary is a colourful one, and one of the pleasures of staying here is trying to learn the intricacies of their slang – the way the formal Spanish used is interwoven with strangely ‘creative’ street talk. We’ve already delivered a guide to Colombian slang, as well as some phrases you shouldn’t translate literally […]
Aside from the slang phrases in Colombia, there are some rather strange things about Colombian Spanish that can make it confusing for foreigners – even those that have Spanish as their first language. –> Colombia Dolar (TRM) <– Colombian Spanish has always been a very formal way of speaking. Friends refer to each other as ‘usted’, and […]
As anyone learning Spanish will know, it’s a language that changes a great deal in tone, style and even lexicon from country to country. Don’t be surprised, for example, to find yourself uncapable of understanding Argentinian Spanish if you learnt the bulk of what you know in Spain. –> Colombia Dolar (TRM) <– We already […]
Before I came to Colombia my Spanish was rudimentary at best. It’s still not great, but I get by ok these days. One thing you find when you learn a new language is that useful, everyday words are difficult to learn. Slang words aren’t. In fact, slang words are some of the most fun to […]