13/10/2022
Today's Good News Quickie!
Thursday, October 13th, 2022
www.costaricagoodnewsreport.com
What the heck does that mean?". . you say this to yourself a few time a day. You have studied hard for months. Your Spanish is getting better and then, you're speaking with someone. You never heard that before and the words just don't make sense used like that. Well, you've just been greeted by the SLANG MONSTER! Yes, he lurks in plain view and hits us right between the eyes every day it seems. Let's tame that monster just a little today and go over a few more phrases and words that you'll hear out on the street here in Costa Rica. 1. "Suave un toque". For a native Spanish speaker, this phrase sounds so cool. It means to calm down or slow down a little bit.
"Suave un toque que no te estoy entendiendo". "Calm down a little bit as I’m not understanding a word of what you’re saying". 2. "Qué es la vara"? The Costa Rican Spanish equivalent to “what’s up?” You’ll hear it every day, several times in Costa Rica. "Hola, ¿qué es la vara"? "Hey, what’s up"? 3. "Hablar papaya". I find this one so funny. Hablar papaya means “to talk nonsense.” Hablar does mean “to talk” or to speak,” but I wonder where the papaya came from! It’s like that English expression of “going bananas. ”No le hagas caso, está hablando papaya". "Don’t listen to him, he’s talking nonsense". 4. "No entender ni papa". When you don’t understand anything, you can say, "no entendí ni papa". A papa is a potato, so don’t ask me for the origin of this expression. I guess it goes hand in hand with that one of the papaya. "No le entendí ni papa al maestro de español". "I didn’t understand anything of what the Spanish teacher said". We're going to share more tomorrow for you. . and the next day and the next. It's fun learning these because. . coming from the mouth of a Gr**go or Gringa, you will have INSTANT KARMA with those whom you speak! They'll think you've been here for years. Have fun with these and become one with the language. As we have said before, learning Spanish is a hard task, but one that will reward you many times over for your effort. MAKE IT FUN for yourself. And like we always suggest, use what you have learned the day before the following day. Enjoy this cool ride to total fluency in Costa Rican Spanish and learn the slang as well. It's an integral part of the Pura Vida Lifestyle here!