The topic of language comes up a lot in small talk during taxi rides. Taxi drivers are surprised when expats speak more than basic Spanish. Riders can’t help noticing that a lot of taxi drivers mention they’ve spent 6-10 years in the US, but quickly switch back to Spanish after a few cursory phrases in English. This week during the usual conversation about whether Spanish or English is easier to learn (general concensus: English is easier when it comes to verb forms and because there isn’t gender agreement, Spanish easier when it comes to pronunciation rules), the taxi driver asked me which language I think is “better”.
After pondering the taxi driver’s question for a bit I responded that it doesn’t make sense to me to think about language in terms of better or worse. Each language, and local variation of a language, reflects culture, beliefs, and preferences of the people who use it. That is what I love about language, and why I have always loved traveling and living in countries where I have more than a rudimentary grasp of the language. It is fascinating to me to learn local expressions and language use.
Thus, I thought I’d share some of the unique expressions and words used here in Cuenca. Many of them come from Kichwa (also sometimes written quichua) language, the northern version of the quechua language imposed by the Incas during their rule. Several colleagues of mine, former Peace Corps volunteers in Cuenca, had told me about some Kichwa expressions before I came. I had expected these words to be used occasionally, and mostly by people of indigenous background as an alternative to the Castillian Spanish word. In fact, the Kichwa words are universally preferred, regardless of social class or ethnic background. While people understand the standard Spanish word, they almost always use the Kichwa. Some of my favorites, accompanied by examples:
After pondering the taxi driver’s question for a bit I responded that it doesn’t make sense to me to think about language in terms of better or worse. Each language, and local variation of a language, reflects culture, beliefs, and preferences of the people who use it. That is what I love about language, and why I have always loved traveling and living in countries where I have more than a rudimentary grasp of the language. It is fascinating to me to learn local expressions and language use.
Thus, I thought I’d share some of the unique expressions and words used here in Cuenca. Many of them come from Kichwa (also sometimes written quichua) language, the northern version of the quechua language imposed by the Incas during their rule. Several colleagues of mine, former Peace Corps volunteers in Cuenca, had told me about some Kichwa expressions before I came. I had expected these words to be used occasionally, and mostly by people of indigenous background as an alternative to the Castillian Spanish word. In fact, the Kichwa words are universally preferred, regardless of social class or ethnic background. While people understand the standard Spanish word, they almost always use the Kichwa. Some of my favorites, accompanied by examples:
Ñaño/ Ñaño: Brother/Sister. Tomé este foto con me ñaño cuando el vino a visitarnos. I took this photo with my brother when he came to visit.
Guagua – baby or child. Los guaguas en mi clase tienen mucha energía. The kids in my class have a lot of energy.
Aychaychay- burrrrrr. Aychaychay, ¡qué frio hace! Burrrrr, its cold. This is usually said by someone wrapped in about 5 layers and a scarf, while I’m standing at their side feeling perfectly comfortable in a long sleeve shirt, or a short sleeved shirt and a vest. The temperature varies by only a few degrees here, but Cuencan’s are sensitive to the changes.
Chendo – just kidding. No tenemos escuela hoy. Chendo, si tenemos. There’s no school today! Just kidding!
¡Hele! - an expression of surprise. For example, after hearing that our gym teacher isn’t showing up at preschool , ¡Hele! ¿Y ahora que hacemos? What?! And now what do we do?
Chuta – darn it. Or shoot. Chuta, se me olvidó hacer la tarea . Shoot, I forgot to do my homework.
Cangüil - popcorn. Sirvense cangüil con el locro. Have some popcorn with your potato soup. May seem odd, but its super yummy.
And then there are some expressions in regular Spanish that I haven’t heard in other places. Linguists posit that some of them, such as indirect requests and the use of the diminutive, were developed in response to the culture of domination and conquest experienced under the Incans and then the Spanish. Here are a few of my favorites:
Guagua – baby or child. Los guaguas en mi clase tienen mucha energía. The kids in my class have a lot of energy.
Aychaychay- burrrrrr. Aychaychay, ¡qué frio hace! Burrrrr, its cold. This is usually said by someone wrapped in about 5 layers and a scarf, while I’m standing at their side feeling perfectly comfortable in a long sleeve shirt, or a short sleeved shirt and a vest. The temperature varies by only a few degrees here, but Cuencan’s are sensitive to the changes.
Chendo – just kidding. No tenemos escuela hoy. Chendo, si tenemos. There’s no school today! Just kidding!
¡Hele! - an expression of surprise. For example, after hearing that our gym teacher isn’t showing up at preschool , ¡Hele! ¿Y ahora que hacemos? What?! And now what do we do?
Chuta – darn it. Or shoot. Chuta, se me olvidó hacer la tarea . Shoot, I forgot to do my homework.
Cangüil - popcorn. Sirvense cangüil con el locro. Have some popcorn with your potato soup. May seem odd, but its super yummy.
And then there are some expressions in regular Spanish that I haven’t heard in other places. Linguists posit that some of them, such as indirect requests and the use of the diminutive, were developed in response to the culture of domination and conquest experienced under the Incans and then the Spanish. Here are a few of my favorites:
No más – literally “no more” but translated as go right ahead. So for example, in response a request to squeeze by someone (siga no más), or yes go ahead and have another serving of juice (toma no más) or pick out the peppers you want to buy for $1 (coge no más). I hear this multiple times a day in all kinds of contexts. An example of softening the command with some gentle language.
¡Qué goce! - What fun, or what a delight. Qué goce pasar un día con amigos. What fun to spend a day with friends.
De me… literally “give me” but actually please. For example, De me cobrando – Please tell me what I owe. Not gramatically correct, but a softened version of a command, using the reflexive form of the verb dar (to give). Another example, de me haciendo instead of hágame when asking for something to be done.
No sea malito – be a sweetheart but literally translated to “don’t be bad”. A way of asking for a favor. For example when asking for exact change: No sea malito, pague con sueltos por favor : Be a sweetie and pay with exact change. When combined with the above phrase… No sea malito, de me abriendo la puerta. Be a dear and open the door for me.
Ese/Esa Man – that person/dude. Used for both men and women, and borrowed from English. Usually the expression is used to refer to someone in terms of a specific role they have, rather than the person themselves. For example, “Esa man que vino a entrenarnos” that woman that did the training for us. Or it can be used to someone in the third person with a somewhat negative connotation… like, uh, that politician thinks he is so important. “Ese man se cree tan importante”.
Full or “a full” – meaning full or a lot. Yes, borrowed from English, but pronounced like "fuhl". For example: “Estoy full” or I am full after a meal. Also, “tengo full deberes” – I have a lot of homework.
¡Qué iras! – how infuriating! Cancelaron el concierto al último momento – qué iras! How frutstrating that they cancelled the concert at the last minute.
¡Qué gara! Beautuful, excellent, wonderful. Que película tan gara . What a great movie.
-ito. Little, tiny. But really a way of softening language. For example the phrase “no sea mailto” mentioned above is very much preferred to “no sea malo”. Lucia has learned to ask for “unita más” or just one little bit more of a treat instead of “uno más”. Almost everything is referred to this way. Niñito, favorcito, minutito,aquicito, etc.
Más cuencano que el mote - the Cuencan equivalent of as American as apple pie. Mote is a type of hominy that is served with practically every meal here, especially in the countryside. Often there is a big dish sitting on the table to be nibbled throughout the meal. I’ve heard this phrase used to describe certain kids in the preschool who come from traditional Cuencan families.
Some of the phrases I’ve shared in this post Qué gara, Hele, Chendo and más cuencano que el mote) are so specific to Cuenca that they appeared in the introduction of the booklet listing all the events to honor the 458th anniversary of Cuenca’s founding! Clearly the ministry of tourism felt visitors from other parts of Ecuador would need a key to these phrases to understand what they would hear while in Cuenca. We’ve certainly had fun learning these words and phrases and at least a couple have snuck into conversation here in the Faulkner casa.
¡Qué goce! - What fun, or what a delight. Qué goce pasar un día con amigos. What fun to spend a day with friends.
De me… literally “give me” but actually please. For example, De me cobrando – Please tell me what I owe. Not gramatically correct, but a softened version of a command, using the reflexive form of the verb dar (to give). Another example, de me haciendo instead of hágame when asking for something to be done.
No sea malito – be a sweetheart but literally translated to “don’t be bad”. A way of asking for a favor. For example when asking for exact change: No sea malito, pague con sueltos por favor : Be a sweetie and pay with exact change. When combined with the above phrase… No sea malito, de me abriendo la puerta. Be a dear and open the door for me.
Ese/Esa Man – that person/dude. Used for both men and women, and borrowed from English. Usually the expression is used to refer to someone in terms of a specific role they have, rather than the person themselves. For example, “Esa man que vino a entrenarnos” that woman that did the training for us. Or it can be used to someone in the third person with a somewhat negative connotation… like, uh, that politician thinks he is so important. “Ese man se cree tan importante”.
Full or “a full” – meaning full or a lot. Yes, borrowed from English, but pronounced like "fuhl". For example: “Estoy full” or I am full after a meal. Also, “tengo full deberes” – I have a lot of homework.
¡Qué iras! – how infuriating! Cancelaron el concierto al último momento – qué iras! How frutstrating that they cancelled the concert at the last minute.
¡Qué gara! Beautuful, excellent, wonderful. Que película tan gara . What a great movie.
-ito. Little, tiny. But really a way of softening language. For example the phrase “no sea mailto” mentioned above is very much preferred to “no sea malo”. Lucia has learned to ask for “unita más” or just one little bit more of a treat instead of “uno más”. Almost everything is referred to this way. Niñito, favorcito, minutito,aquicito, etc.
Más cuencano que el mote - the Cuencan equivalent of as American as apple pie. Mote is a type of hominy that is served with practically every meal here, especially in the countryside. Often there is a big dish sitting on the table to be nibbled throughout the meal. I’ve heard this phrase used to describe certain kids in the preschool who come from traditional Cuencan families.
Some of the phrases I’ve shared in this post Qué gara, Hele, Chendo and más cuencano que el mote) are so specific to Cuenca that they appeared in the introduction of the booklet listing all the events to honor the 458th anniversary of Cuenca’s founding! Clearly the ministry of tourism felt visitors from other parts of Ecuador would need a key to these phrases to understand what they would hear while in Cuenca. We’ve certainly had fun learning these words and phrases and at least a couple have snuck into conversation here in the Faulkner casa.