No matter where you are from or where you might go in the world, every culture has its own slang. Whether you use it or not, slang has its place and, in some instances, can be quite humorous.
Being a good ol’ Southern boy, y’all have to know that I’ve used my fair share of Southern slang. You’uns understand me? When I moved to Costa Rica, not only did I find it important to learn to speak Spanish, but to speak using Costaricqueñismos or pachuco, slang, like the locals, Mae!
Understanding how to use some of the Costa Rican slang vocabulary will often take you further with the locals than speaking proper Spanish. It typically catches people off guard and creates an automatic sense of endearment between you and the person that you’re communicating with. At the very least, it will impress the locals and make them laugh and appreciate that you took the time to go the extra mile, learning a few of their own special terms and phrases.
In the video, an American (gringo) tourist is walking around in downtown San Jose, seemingly lost. He asks a local Costa Rican, aka ‘Tico’, to give him directions so that he can return to his hotel.
As is common in Costa Rica, the Tico kindly obliges and goes about giving directions using the local Tico slang called pachuco. There is one slight difference between the video and that of a real-life experience with a Costa Rican. In that, a Costa Rican would almost never speak to a foreigner using slang, unless they know you personally, and were confident that you’d understand what they were saying.
These students did an amazing job of translating the Costa Rican slang, using ‘visuals’ in the video, which help to accentuate the words and phrases and enforcing their meanings. It gets the point across in a clear and concise way, Compa!
In the video, each time the Tico says something that doesn’t quite make sense to the gringo, the gringo has a visual of the word or phrase, adding to the humor of the video. It also adds to the viewers’ understanding of the literal meaning of each word.
If you want to become part of the local culture when you move to Costa Rica, take the time to learn to speak Spanish. It’s important that you get to know your Costa Rican neighbors. Take a cooking class and learn to cook some of the local cuisines. After that, take it one step further and learn to speak pachuco, the local slang. Even if it is just a few words or phrases, this will be the fastest way to disarm the locals, creating a sense of endearment. They’ll immediately understand that you have a special interest in being part of their culture. Of course, none of
these suggestions are mandatory, but I can assure you that your experience in this dynamic country will be far different if you put in just a little effort.
Take a few minutes to watch the video “Gringo Pinto” posted at the end of this article. See if you can understand what is being said. Once you figure out the words and phrases, you can refer to the list of words/phases below with the Pachuco – Spanish – English translations and repeat the process. I hope you’ll find this video as humorous and creative as I did.
• Compa – Amigo – Friend
• Un queque – Facil – A piece of cake, very easy
• Ponerse las pilas – Poner atencion – To pay attention to, be serious
• Pelar la oreja – Eschuar atentamente – To listen carefully
• Agarrar la lata – Coger el autobus – To take the bus
• Si no le pinta – Si no le parece bien – To not like a situation
• Agarrar un pirata – Coger una taxi – To take an independent, unlicensed taxi
• Carepistola – Pesona malintencionda – A person with bad intentions
• Echar harina – Pagar dinero – To pay money
• Bates – Hombres, muchachos – Men
• Echarle ojo – Tener cuidado – To pay attention to, to watch out for
• Rayarse el disco – Volverse loco – To make oneself crazy
• Huelepedos – Metiche – Nosey
• Tostado – Borracho – To be drunk
• Un mujeron -Una mujer attractiva – A very attractive woman, a babe
• Moverse el piso – Attraccion fisica excesiva – Love at first sight
• Dar taco – Intimidar, asustar – To intimidate or to scare
• Echar el cuento – Cortejar – To be courteous
• Dolor de huevos – Persona engreida – A difficult person
• Una teja – Persona sempatica – To be a nice person
• Verla peluda – Verse en una situacion dificil – To be in a bad situation
• Nave – Automovil, carro – An automobile
• No tener un cinco – Estar sin dinero – To be flat broke
• No deje que lo limpien – No deje que le cobran mas de la cuenta – To not be taken advantage of or robbed
• Irse volando – Apurarse – To go or move fast
• Soda – Fonda, restaurante pequeno – A cafe or informal restaurant
• Una manzana – Una cuadra – One block
• Cualquier loco – Una persona – Anyone, anybody
• Pescar – Entender – To understand
• Gringuito/Gringuillo – Extranjero – Foreigner, specifically someone from the United States
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