What should I know about Colombian Spanish?

What should I know about Colombian Spanish?

Colombia, a country with a lot of cultural diversity and biodiversity. This country is known for having the best fauna and flora worldwide and obviously for its great natural resources. Here people do not live but enjoy their traditions such as dance, food, customs and of course their beautiful women. But what does a tourist need to know before coming to Colombia?

The tourist must know its official language which is Spanish and English in the archipelago of San Andrés; although 68 ethnic languages and dialects are also spoken in Colombia. As in Colombia, there is great cultural diversity, this greatly influences the official language, which makes it a different way of speaking Spanish in each region of the country. Colombia is divided into 6 regions where each of them has its own sayings, jargon and of course its accent (The Andean Region, The Orinoco Region, The Caribbean Region, The Pacific Region, The Amazon Region, and The Insular Region). In each country of Latin America, their natives are known by an accent, but the Colombian is not very common to have an accent due to its cultural diversity; but the foreigners think that in Colombia the accent paisa is spoken due to the Colombian novels presented in the international television.

We will begin by talking about the cultural interference of Colombian Spanish with Spanish from other countries. In Colombia when you go to buy something, you tell the grocer "Me regalas ... / Give me..."; The tourist thinks you're asking for it for free. If an Argentine wants to ask for a cup of wine, he or she can not ask for "Tinto / wine" because that word means a cup of coffee in Colombia. If a Peruvian woman wants a Colombian man to look for her (Conquer), she can not use the word "Afanar",  as a result, he will harass her, or hurry her. If a Colombian asks you to accompany him to "Coger / Catch" the bus, it does not mean he wants to have sex with you, but you accompany him to take the bus. Or if a Colombian says "No seas marica / do not be a fag" it does not mean you're effeminate but do not be silly. There may be many linguistic interferences when you want to go to Colombia.

The tourist must not only know the linguistic clashes with the other countries but also regional ones, typical of Colombia. If you are going to visit the department of Santander, there you will learn to say "Estoy arrecho / I am angry" instead of being angry. But if you go to Bogotá and say "Estoy arrecho", people will think you are hot. If you have been in Bogota and always ask for a "Perico", they will give you coffee with milk; but if you go to Neiva and ask for a "Perico", you will receive eggs with onion and tomato. The accents in Colombia also vary depending on the place where you are; one of them are Paisa, Costeño, Caleño, Opita, Pastuso, Santandereano, Cachaco, and others. Some of these accents are difficult to understand because of their rapids when speaking and little vocalization, however, others that are easy to understand due to their good vocalization. If you want to visit the coast, it will be somewhat difficult to understand the people who live there, even if you are a native of Spanish. The costeño is an accent where people speak it fast, shorten words and do not vocalize words very well. The accent that people speak in Bogota is known as the neutral accent because it is very easy to understand, it is spoken slowly, vocalized and fluent.

When you decide to travel to Colombia it is good to know about the Colombian vocabulary and thus distinguish the meaning of a word in each region of the country. The great advantage of traveling to Colombia is that people are very understanding and very respectful. If you are a Latino and you want to visit Colombia, It is recommended that you browse this virtual dictionary where you can know what your words mean in Colombia www.asihablamos.com