{"id":4420,"date":"2012-08-09T13:23:22","date_gmt":"2012-08-09T18:23:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/?p=4420"},"modified":"2021-03-16T17:39:54","modified_gmt":"2021-03-16T22:39:54","slug":"colombingles-the-colombia-travel-blogs-definitive-guide-to-colombian-english","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2012\/08\/colombingles-the-colombia-travel-blogs-definitive-guide-to-colombian-english\/","title":{"rendered":"Colombingl\u00e9s – The Colombia Travel Blog’s Definitive Guide to Colombian English"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A<\/a>
A Colombian in Cambridge: Globalisation<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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<\/a>, as well as some phrases you shouldn’t translate literally in Colombia<\/a>\u00a0and some words you’ll only hear in Colombia.<\/a>\u00a0Today I have the plesure of bringing to you the definitive Colombingl\u00e9s dictionary.<\/p>\n

It will undoubtedly surprise newcomers to the country just how much English decorates the Colombian language, even if sometimes it’s not used quite right, but we live in a connected world and globalisation has its claws in all aspects of our lives. So, without further ado, let me present to you viejas and mancitos our – OMG – dictionary. We hope you find it muy cool<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Ronpoint (Round point)<\/h2>\n
\"Roundabouts<\/a>
A roundabout in the mighty Stevenage (courtesy of http:\/\/www.copenhagenize.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

My girlfriend once explained to me when we were driving that for the circular junction we were about to approach, here in Colombia they oddly use the English word, ’round point’ to describe said junction. Confused, I took the roundabout and carried on driving.<\/p>\n

Overol (Overall)<\/h2>\n

Overall, like overall or dungarees. Not too hard to grasp.<\/p>\n

OMG<\/h2>\n
\"OH<\/a>
OH EM GEEEEE!!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LOL hasn’t quite made it into the standard lexicon just yet, but OMG has infiltrated with a vengeance. You’ll also hear the full ‘oh my god’ at times, but OMG is surely the winner in the humour contest.<\/p>\n

Postip (Post It)<\/h2>\n

Also sometimes ‘posty’.<\/p>\n

Man<\/h2>\n

Kind of like ‘guy’, or ‘geezer’. ‘Este man tiene un gatico!’ ‘Pues, se\u00f1or, ciertamente lo tiene!’<\/em><\/p>\n

Heavy<\/h2>\n

Kind of like the way we might use it in English to describe a particularly ‘heavy’ party, or ‘heavy’ film. It can also be used to describe people that are particularly difficult.<\/p>\n

Fashion<\/h2>\n
\"FASHION!<\/a>
FASHION! This bag is from the extreeeeemely talented Bogot\u00e1 designer Cami Miranda<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If something is ‘fashion’, it means it’s particularly hip or trendy at the time.<\/p>\n

Look<\/h2>\n

Once again this is used much in the same way as we’d use it in terms of fashion. ‘I like your new look’, or ‘me gusta tu nuevo look<\/em>‘.<\/p>\n

Lonchera (Lunch-era)<\/h2>\n

I’m really confused by this one. For lunchbox, instead of calling it an almorcero or something similar they’ve adopted the English word ‘lunch’, and Spanish-ised it. Creative stuff.<\/p>\n

In\/Out<\/h2>\n

As in, ‘totally hot right now’, or ‘OMG they’re like soooo 200-late’. ‘Esos pantelones estan muy in\/out’.<\/p>\n

Chatear<\/h2>\n

Yup, you guessed it. To chat.<\/p>\n

Hit<\/h2>\n

Just like we’d use it when something is ‘a hit’ in English, only it’s used perhaps even more frequently. Your jacket, for example, could be a ‘hit’.<\/p>\n

Stalkear<\/h2>\n
\"Stalkeando...\"<\/a>
Stalkeando…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Thank Facebook for this one. If you are stalkeando<\/em>\u00a0someone, you’re checking out their photos, posts and general life on Facebook.<\/p>\n

Bitch<\/h2>\n

Doesn’t really need much in the way of an explanation…<\/p>\n

Sanduich (Sandwich)<\/h2>\n

This seems to have no agreed upon spelling here in Colombia, with ‘sandwich’, ‘sanuch’, ‘sanuis’, and ‘sanuich’ all making appearances.<\/p>\n

Brother<\/h2>\n

Used in the same way we’d use brother to refer to someone that is not your brother, kind of like how we use ‘man’.<\/p>\n

Coffe (Coffee)<\/h2>\n

Many a coffee shop is adorned with the sign ‘coffe’, or ‘cofee’.<\/p>\n

Pub<\/h2>\n
\"My<\/a>
My gang in a pub<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A popular word in Bogot\u00e1 thanks to the ubiquity of pubs here, it’s kind of pronounced ‘poob’.<\/p>\n

Japi Birtday Tu Yu (Happy Birthday to You)<\/h2>\n

Finally, perhaps the strangest of all. Before singing the traditional Spanish version of ‘Happy Birthday’, Colombians engage in a hearty round of singing ‘Japiii biiiirtday tuu yuuuuu’. It’s funny, it’s strange, but it’s great fun. Good old Colombia.<\/p>\n

If you have any more suggestions, please let us know!<\/p>\n

Paul<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[35,115,626,4,48,66,97],"tags":[2735,58,251,356],"yoast_head":"\nColombingl\u00e9s - The Colombia Travel Blog's Definitive Guide to Colombian English - Colombia Travel Blog by See Colombia Travel<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2012\/08\/colombingles-the-colombia-travel-blogs-definitive-guide-to-colombian-english\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Colombingl\u00e9s - The Colombia Travel Blog's Definitive Guide to Colombian English\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"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 […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2012\/08\/colombingles-the-colombia-travel-blogs-definitive-guide-to-colombian-english\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombia Travel Blog by See Colombia Travel\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-08-09T18:23:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-03-16T22:39:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/407135_10151266068285230_39777720_n.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Paul Fowler\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Colombia Travel Blog by See Colombia Travel\",\"description\":\"Colombia Travel Blog: An international perspective on travelling in Colombia by world travellers.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2012\/08\/colombingles-the-colombia-travel-blogs-definitive-guide-to-colombian-english\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/407135_10151266068285230_39777720_n.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/407135_10151266068285230_39777720_n.jpg\",\"width\":766,\"height\":960,\"caption\":\"A Colombian in Cambridge: Globalisation\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2012\/08\/colombingles-the-colombia-travel-blogs-definitive-guide-to-colombian-english\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2012\/08\/colombingles-the-colombia-travel-blogs-definitive-guide-to-colombian-english\/\",\"name\":\"Colombingl\u00e9s - The Colombia Travel Blog's Definitive Guide to Colombian English - Colombia Travel Blog by See Colombia Travel\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2012\/08\/colombingles-the-colombia-travel-blogs-definitive-guide-to-colombian-english\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-08-09T18:23:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-03-16T22:39:54+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/417e4177e5bc2022442cf51a5355ed17\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2012\/08\/colombingles-the-colombia-travel-blogs-definitive-guide-to-colombian-english\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2012\/08\/colombingles-the-colombia-travel-blogs-definitive-guide-to-colombian-english\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2012\/08\/colombingles-the-colombia-travel-blogs-definitive-guide-to-colombian-english\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Colombingl\u00e9s – The Colombia Travel Blog’s Definitive Guide to Colombian English\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/417e4177e5bc2022442cf51a5355ed17\",\"name\":\"Paul Fowler\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f10b8d3d1bb226ec998ece9c986b594e?s=96&d=retro&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f10b8d3d1bb226ec998ece9c986b594e?s=96&d=retro&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Paul Fowler\"},\"description\":\"Paul is an Englishman with a longstanding love of travel, tea and quality beer. His first trip was to Bosnia & Herzegovina and it was there, wading in some waterfalls near Mostar with just a litre of cheap beer and some bread in his belly, that he was bitten by the travel bug. After many more trips and a spell working in London, Paul relocated to Buenos Aires for some months before moving to Colombia. He's been here, knocking back 'guaro', for about 2 years now.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.seecolombia.travel\/blog\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/author\/paul\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Colombingl\u00e9s - The Colombia Travel Blog's Definitive Guide to Colombian English - Colombia Travel Blog by See Colombia Travel","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2012\/08\/colombingles-the-colombia-travel-blogs-definitive-guide-to-colombian-english\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Colombingl\u00e9s - The Colombia Travel Blog's Definitive Guide to Colombian English","og_description":"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 […]","og_url":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2012\/08\/colombingles-the-colombia-travel-blogs-definitive-guide-to-colombian-english\/","og_site_name":"Colombia Travel Blog by See Colombia Travel","article_published_time":"2012-08-09T18:23:22+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-03-16T22:39:54+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/407135_10151266068285230_39777720_n.jpg"}],"twitter_card":"summary","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Paul Fowler","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/","name":"Colombia Travel Blog by See Colombia Travel","description":"Colombia Travel Blog: An international perspective on travelling in Colombia by world travellers.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2012\/08\/colombingles-the-colombia-travel-blogs-definitive-guide-to-colombian-english\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/407135_10151266068285230_39777720_n.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/407135_10151266068285230_39777720_n.jpg","width":766,"height":960,"caption":"A Colombian in Cambridge: Globalisation"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2012\/08\/colombingles-the-colombia-travel-blogs-definitive-guide-to-colombian-english\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2012\/08\/colombingles-the-colombia-travel-blogs-definitive-guide-to-colombian-english\/","name":"Colombingl\u00e9s - The Colombia Travel Blog's Definitive Guide to Colombian English - Colombia Travel Blog by See Colombia Travel","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2012\/08\/colombingles-the-colombia-travel-blogs-definitive-guide-to-colombian-english\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2012-08-09T18:23:22+00:00","dateModified":"2021-03-16T22:39:54+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/417e4177e5bc2022442cf51a5355ed17"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2012\/08\/colombingles-the-colombia-travel-blogs-definitive-guide-to-colombian-english\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2012\/08\/colombingles-the-colombia-travel-blogs-definitive-guide-to-colombian-english\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2012\/08\/colombingles-the-colombia-travel-blogs-definitive-guide-to-colombian-english\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Colombingl\u00e9s – The Colombia Travel Blog’s Definitive Guide to Colombian English"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/417e4177e5bc2022442cf51a5355ed17","name":"Paul Fowler","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f10b8d3d1bb226ec998ece9c986b594e?s=96&d=retro&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f10b8d3d1bb226ec998ece9c986b594e?s=96&d=retro&r=g","caption":"Paul Fowler"},"description":"Paul is an Englishman with a longstanding love of travel, tea and quality beer. His first trip was to Bosnia & Herzegovina and it was there, wading in some waterfalls near Mostar with just a litre of cheap beer and some bread in his belly, that he was bitten by the travel bug. After many more trips and a spell working in London, Paul relocated to Buenos Aires for some months before moving to Colombia. He's been here, knocking back 'guaro', for about 2 years now.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.seecolombia.travel\/blog"],"url":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/author\/paul\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4420"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4420"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4420\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26499,"href":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4420\/revisions\/26499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}