Espanol para gringos (old version)

See the updated version!

2009-02-27T08:01:00.000-08:00

Note: this is an old backup

The new version of this blog was moved to the Knol Chilean Slang Made Easy, which is better organized and will be the updated in the future, take a look here.

Chilean slang (v)

2008-11-06T15:02:00.000-08:00

Vaca: a vile person

Vacuna: swindler, fraudster

Ver bajo el agua: refers to a person able to see what other people often miss, second intentions and such

Vividor: epicurean

Vale: Okey

Vuela or virate: go away

Virarse: to go away (me viro: I left)

darse Vuelta la chaqueta: to swap from a party to the enemy

dar Vuelta el paraguas: to turn into gay

Vivo el ojo: to be alert

mal Visto: misbehaviour

para Variar: as often occurs

Ver la paja en el ojo ajeno: to speak about defects from others not considering the own

Vandalos: delinquents, bandits

Chilean slang (u)

2008-11-06T14:52:00.000-08:00

Upeliento (derogative): leftist, admirer of Salvador Allende´s Unidad Popular rule

Udioso (derogative): rigthist, Pinochet admirer and supporter of Union Democrata Independiente (UDI) party

Usano (derogative) refers too USA goverment

Usia, refering to a judge, as in "your honor"

Ultimo, pathetic, ridiculous, low class

Uno de tantos, refers to a person without importance

Unito, just one

Ufanarse, to pretend, to be very proud of something

Un resto, some amount, a little bit

chilean slang (t)

2008-06-23T13:01:00.000-07:00

¡Tapa! an energetic negative
Topón padentro: someone who take all for himself
* Tula: penis
Buena tela: a good gal (also buena pasta)
Tay: short, friendly of to be (ex. ¿tay listo? are you ready?)
Tito: short for Hector
Tita: short for Berta
Tacuaco: shorty
Tirar: to have sex (also to pull)
Tarado: stupid
Tarima: small plattform
Tarupido: moron, mix of tarado with estupido

chilean slang (s)

2008-06-23T12:47:00.000-07:00

Sobrado pretender
¡Su madre!: dammit!
Salta pal lado: what you are telling me is not true, you are pulling my leg
Sapo: informer, also: vagina
Si te he visto no me acuerdo: I don´t wanna know about you anymore
Se le pasó el tren: refers to a single woman with advanced age
Se le arrancan las tortugas: a very distracted, dreamy person
Se le aconchan los meados: refers to someone who do not dare, a coward
Se le da vuelta el paraguas (se le quema el arroz, se le moja la canoa, se le cae el jabón): refers to an homosexual male
Sin bandera: someone who have no qualms about doing it
Sucucho: a very humble, dirty place (usually refer to low quality hotel or bar)
Salsa de piojos: poor man, in starving
** Saco de huevas (de bolas, de cocos, de pelotas): stupid, moron
Salado: a person with very bad luck (also jetta, yeta)

chilean slang (r)

2008-02-18T10:44:00.000-08:00

Rayado: (estar rayado): to be crazy
Rajar: to leave, to runaway
Raja: (estar raja, andar raja): to be drunk, to be very tired
Raja: buttocks
Re: very (EG. "estoy RE cansado= I´m VERY tired)
Rorro: short fro Rodrigo
Rasca: low quality, low class
Ratón: a shy, undecided, coward person, not brave
Rumbear: to walk to some place, to party
Rancio: corrupted meal, an aristocrat person
Roto: bad mannered, unpolite, low class, sometimes is friendly as typical chilean (roto chileno)
un Resto: a little
Rica mina: cute girl, nice girl
Ruma: a pile

chilean slang (q)

2008-02-03T09:30:00.000-08:00

Quitipasa: whats happen with you?
Quena: short for Eugenia
Quique: short for Enrique
Que onda?: whats up?
Quedado: fool, dull
Querendón: lovely
Quien lo dice: look who is talking
pasar las de Quico y Caco: to experience many inconveniences, adventures, etc.
Quita-Penas: name of many bars located near cementery across the country
hablar a calzón Quitado: to speak frankly
* Qliao (culiao): fucked
* Qliar (culiar): to fuck

chilean slang (p)

2008-02-02T07:09:00.000-08:00

Pulento: great
Pato: short of Patricio
Pechar: to live, eat, etc. with money of others, to get lend
Patudo: a person who abuse your confidence
Pato malo: thiever, rober
Paco: cop, carabinero
Pelar or pelambre: goosip
Parado en la hilacha: someone who is arrogant
Parar los carros: to face someone
Parlar, parlotear: to speak

* Para el weveo: stop messing!
* Parar chalas or parar weas: to leave
* Puta: whore, bitch
*Puta la wea (hueva): too bad
*Partusa: swinger party
* Poto: ass
* Pico: penis
* Me fue como el pico: I had bad luck, not sucess

Chilean slang (o)

2008-01-21T07:07:00.001-08:00

que Onda: whats up?
buena Onda: good vibrations
mala Onda: bad vibrations
* Orto: asshole
Ordinario: low class, poor man, unpolite (also ordaca)

Chilean slang (n)

2008-01-21T07:05:00.001-08:00

Nano: short for Hernán
Nene: baby (fem: nena)
Nunca fue: never happened
Nunca tanto: not so much
Narigón: man with a big nose
don Nadie: a person who worth nothing
* No huevees: dont mess to me, are you kidding me?
Nada que ver: nothing to do
Nana: maiden (for cleaning, take care of children, etc.)

Chilean slang (m)

2008-01-09T17:37:00.000-08:00

Maldito: a very cruel person
Marcar el paso: to stay in the same position, not to progress
Movida (action): sting, a lucky bussines
Movido / movida (a person): a joiner, an active bussinesman
Mamón: dumb, stupid, a man dominated by women
* Mamón: oral sex from a woman to a man
¡Mi madre! Oh my God!
Mascada: a share in the earnings
Masoca: masoquist
* Maricón (marica, maraco): homosexual
Marimacho: lesbian-style
* Mierda: shit, crap
Morir en la rueda: not to reveal secrets
Morir pollo: to stay in silence
Muere de viejo y no de sapo: stop revealing secrets
Mala leche: bad intention
Mala cuna: low class
Mala cueva: bad luck
Malena: ugly woman
Malandra: robber, thiever
Mal que mal: despite that
Mal aguero: bad luck person
Mansa mina: gorgeous girl
Manso, menso: a big one
Menso: dumb (depending on context)
* Maraca: slut, bitch
* Maraco: homosexual

(4 letter or very offensive words marked with asterisks)

Chilean slang (l)

2007-12-03T14:48:00.000-08:00

Luma: the stick of carabinero (chilean policeman), by extension, any punishment
Lalo: short for Eduardo
Lamebotas: a person too servile
Loquillo, loquilla: little crazy man/woman, dude
La dura or la firme: I swear this is true
Lanza: pickpocket
Lanzado (estar o andar): to be entusiasted, in wild party mood
Leso: dumb
Lenteja: slow
Limitado: dumb, stupid
Listo: smart
Loro: watchman
Lora: a woman who talk too much about nothing
Lorea: look
Lomito: sandwich of pork with avocado, tomato maionaaise, etc.
Los juimos: we are leaving
La palida: drug hangover
Locoto: a very hot peper/Chile
Lucho: short (?) for Luis
Lumbrera: a very smart person
Locate: sea snail

Chilean slang (k)

2007-11-25T19:35:00.000-08:00

kitipasa: what happen with you?
kiltro (also Quiltro): stray dog
kuma (also cuma): low class person
karrete (also carrete): wild party
keka: short for Eugenia

Chilean Slang 10 (j)

2007-11-19T15:03:00.000-08:00

jaja, jojo, jeje: haha, hoho, hehe (spanish laugh)
jetón: fool
jeta: mounth (usually a big one)
joder: to screw up, to mess, to insist too much, in spain: to fuck
jodido: a person hard to manage, also sinonim of "fucking"
joda: some hard thing
jote: wine with coke (ahrg), a ladies man
jotear: to follow a woman with insistence
jalar: to sniff cocaine
julero: low quality, fake
jano: short for Alejandro

Chilean Slang 9 (i)

2007-09-28T12:39:00.000-07:00

Iñi Piñi (mapuche expression) small, few, usually refers to a small penis or to have few money
Irse cortado an orgasm, to die
Ir a la bolsa not pay the bills
Ir al grano to talk straigth, to go direct to the point
Irse al chancho to abuse
Ir embalado to be too entusiastic
Inaudito perposterous
me sale el indio I get angry
Una interna a private vendetta
Ir de farra go to a wild party
ir chato to be groogy, very tired

Chilean slang 8 (h)

2007-08-12T13:12:00.000-07:00

Huacho: orphan, alone, also used friendly as sweety (female huachita)
Huiro: joint, marihuana cigarrete
Huaso: countryman, also used to denote a shy or unpolite person
Hechizo: made improvised, emergency solution
Hachazo: hangover
Hacer agua: to fail, to fall apart
Hacer fortuna: to get rich
Hecho bolsa: completly ripp off
Hueco: faggot, gay (4 letter word)
Hueca: a silly girl, also a girl who speak/laugh too loud
Hacer chupete: to enjoy, to consume with joy
Hacer una vaca: to make an amount of money, where everyone contributes.
Hacer tuto: to sleep
Hacer perro muerto: go to a restaurant and run away before to receive the bill
Hacerla cortita: to say something resumed
Hasta que las velas no ardan: up to very late
Hasta la cola: when someone is punked
Hasta la coronilla: to be fastidied

Chilean slang, special edition: Huevón

2007-07-22T18:04:00.000-07:00

Huevón (Hueón, weon) is the wildcard most commonly used in chilean slang. It has a lot of meaning, depending on the context may be friendly or unfriendly and it is the mild 4-letter word most commonly used in Chile. Literraly means "big balls" and is supposed that men with big balls or those whose balls weight too much (le pesan las bolas) are stupid, this is the originary meaning of huevón, but has mutated over time. It is also applied to women as Huevona or weona. Some examples of use for this word as follow:

Huevón: usually used as "dude", "guy" (ese huevón=this guy)
Tonto huevón: stupid
Pedazo de huevón: very stupid
Huevón suertudo (rajudo, con cueva, cuevudo): lucky man
Huevón simpático: simpathetic man
Huevón al peo (al cuete): pretender
Pobre y triste huevón: Mr. no one, a person who woth nothing
Huevonazo: often a friendly way to refer to a person
Saco (o mata) de huevas: moron
Ahuevonado: to be groogy, temporary or permanently
Huevón fresco: a person who abuse on your confidence
Huevear (o hueviar): to go for fun, to party, to make fun from someone
Me estas hueviando: you are kidding me
Corta el hueveo: stop to mess me
Hueveo: a joke, a party, something not serious
Huevadas: things
Puras huevadas: bullshit

Modern alternative: weon, weveo, wea, etc.

All those terms are also common in Perú, Bolivia and part of Argentina (argentinian equivalent is "boludo")

Chilen slang 7 (g)

2007-07-10T11:12:00.000-07:00

Gallo: guy, dude
Gil: silly, stupid
Goma: servant, almost slave
Gata: cric (to lift the car)
Guatón: fat man (female guatona)
Gozador: epicurean
Garganta de lata: thirsty man (drunk)
Gamba: one hundred pesos coin
Gamba: (another meaning): feet
Garabato: four letter word
Garúa: fog
Garzón: waiter

Chilean slang 6 (f)

2007-07-06T07:54:00.000-07:00

Funar: to put in the black list
Fofo: fat and soft
Federica: ugly woman (federico: ugly man)
Farolear: to pretend
Farandula: celebrity culture
Farandulero: non serious
Fiestusa: (o partusa): sex party
Femina: female
A fondo: in deep
Fea la actitud: bad behaivor
Falta de respeto: disrespect, insolence
Fallute: crazy
Farsante: pretender

Chilean slang 5 (e)

2007-06-27T15:11:00.000-07:00

Ene: many
Ele Jota (o los juimos): we are leaving
Escurrirse: to realize
Echarse el pollo: to leave
Echar la foca o la bronca: to menace
Echar el pelo: to ramble
Echarle padelante: to persist
Enchufarse: to realize
Estar salao: bad luck
Estar frito: to be screwed
Estar o andar pato: to have no mney at all
Estar chato: to be disgusted

4 letter word of the day
Echar un polvo o una cacha: to fuck

Chilean slang 4 (d)

2007-06-24T09:36:00.000-07:00

Dar la pasada: to allow, green ligth
Despelote: chaos
Durazno: not so smart, fool
La dura: the truth
Dar como caja or darle duro: to do it heavy (sex connotation)
Dar filo: to end a relation
Da lo mismo: never mind
Doblar la rodilla: to apologize
Dar bola: to give atention (no dar bola: to deny atention)
Darle cuerda: to entusiasm someone
Deslenguado: a person who talk too much, infident

Chilean slang 3 (c)

2007-06-23T16:50:00.000-07:00

Califa: lady´s man (or horny woman)
Colado o paracaidísta: person who enter without being invited
Coloriento o ponerle color: person who like to exagerate things
Cuática: scandal
Cuento corto: to make a long story short
Callulla: big nose
Condoro: big mistake
Cuico: snobby, upper-class pretender
Care palo: without shame. without scrupule
Cahuín: goosip, prostibule, big disorder
Cuestión: a thing, the matter, the issue
Camorra: figth
Caramboleado: half drunk
Cototudo: big
Cachar: to realize (also to make love, just used in some regions)

4-letter words
Culiar: to fuck (strong)
Culiado: to refer to another person, dude, may be either friendly or insulting (strng)
Concha de tu madre: motherfucker (strong)
Cagazo o cagada: big mistake (mild)

Chilean slang 2 (b)

2007-06-15T13:34:00.000-07:00

Basurear: to insult
Bacán: cool
Bolsero: some who loves to be invited, don´t like to pay the bill
Buche: some who like to take advantage from other people
Bajón: depressed state
Botella: to be abandoned
Barsúo: see "buche"
Brígido: dangerous
Balurdo: fake
Bagallo: contraband

to be continued with c...

chilean slang 1

2007-06-14T16:12:00.000-07:00

I start a new set of idioms and modisms, specifically used by chileans:

A la pinta: excellent
Amermelao: stupid
Asopado: fool
Aperrado: hard worker, perseverant
Apestado: depressed
Achacado: depressed
Andar arriba de la pelota: in a party mood, to be drunk or stoned
Agenciar: to get
Arrugar: to step back
Aguja: insolent
Angurriento: scrooge, miserly
Al cuete: improvised, not properly prepared

Too much for today (to be continued...)

Spanish expresions

2007-05-30T10:31:00.000-07:00

Some spanish expressions, not specific to Chile as follow:

Echar (dar) una mano: to help
Echar mano a: to take an oportunity, to use an resource
Ponerse el parche antes de la herida: to cure in advance, to prevent
Hablar pestes (or Despotricar): to insult, to talk bad about someone or something
Ver debajo del agua (or del alquitrán): to foresee, to realize on which is not aparent
Buscarle la quinta pata al gato: to cut hairs in four
Andar como alma en pena: to be sad, like a zombie
Como alma que lleva el diablo: to run away

Enough for today, but I forgot the chilenismos, see those:
Perico (perica): a guy (pericote means a big rat)
Chanta: redneck, low quality (also used in Argentina)

More chilenismos

2007-05-17T19:54:00.000-07:00

A few more idioms specific to Chile

Micro: small buses, by extension buses
Marraqueta; kind of bread similar to a mini baguette
Hallulla: kind of bread
Cabro: young man, in a friendly mood (in Peru it means gay, peyorative)
Colectivo: shared taxi
En pana (panne): when a car is broken
Vacas flacas: to be broke
Vacas Gordas: to be whealty
Pacos: Carabineros, policeman
Espérate sentado: You have to wait a long, long time
¿Adonde la viste?: are you kidding? you are wrong!
Estar (andar) arriba de la pelota: to be drunk, stoned, in party mood
Se le apagó la tele: he is KO, unconcious

Beef in spanish and others

2007-04-15T14:28:00.000-07:00

Kinds of beef in spanish
Filete (filet, tenderloin)
Lomo vetado (cube roll)
Lomo liso (strip loin)
Entrecot (entrecote steak)
Punta paleta (triangle covered with fat in the top of the rump )
Churrasco (Strip loin, boneless, from the short loin, New York steak)
Lengua (Beef tongue)
Bistec de hígado (Liver, sliced)
Lagarto (Shank for soup of stew)
Costillar de res (Short ribs)
Posta negra molida (Steak, ground round)
Carne para guisar ( Stewing meat)

Animals
Vacuno (Beef)
Pollo (Chicken)
Cordero (Lamb)
Pavo (Turkey)
Cerdo or Chancho (Pork)

Methods to cook
Frito (Fried)
Al horno (Oven / Baked)
Ahumado (Smoked)
A la parrilla (Grilled)
Asado (Barbacue)

How done?
Casi cruda (Rare)
Medio cruda (Medium-rare)
Término medio o A punto (Medium)
Tres cuartos (Medium-well)
Bien cocida (Well-done)

Things in a restaurant
Mozo, Garzón (Waiter)
Servilleta (Napkin)
Cuchillo (Knife)
Tenedor (Fork)
Cuchara (Spoon)
Taza (Cup)
Copa or Vaso (Glass)

Chilenismo: choripan bread with pork sausage used as antipasto in asados its often served with pebre or chancho en piedra made wit tomato in tiny cubes with garlic, onion, culandrom, garlic, oil and vinegar.

Foods 1 (fish and seafood)

2007-04-12T09:16:00.000-07:00

This entry was sugested by my friend Victor (fat-man) Cherubini: gringos often need to know the equivalent name for meals to order at a restaurant, so I will start with fish names, the best we have:

In spanish when the fish are still alive they are called "pez" and when they're being served on a plate they're referred to as "pescado".

Anchoa (Anchovies)
Atún (Tuna fish)
Bacalao (Cod)
Caballa (Mackrel)
Jurel (southern jack mackerel )
Congrio (eel, conger)
Corvina (Corb)
Dorado or Palometa (Gilt head fish)
Lenguado (Sole)
Mero (Grouper fish)
Merluza (Hake)
Morena (Moray eel)
Rodaballo (Turbot)
Vieja (Parrot fish)
Calamar (Squid)
Pulpo (Octopus)

Seafood

Jaiba (Crabs)
Centolla (sort of Alaska´s king crab)
Langosta (Lobster)
Chorito or mejillón (Mussels)
Almeja (Clam)
Ostra (Oyster)
Camarones (Shrimp)

My suggestion? caldillo de congrio, or lenguado a la plancha, or oyster soup.

Chilean dishes: Paila marina (assorted seafood and fish soup in a clay dish)
Perol (assorted seafoods raw, marinated with lemon)

Bon apetit!

Conditional mode

2007-04-06T19:59:00.000-07:00

In english the conditional mode is indicated using the word "would", in spanish you dont use any word but change the ending of verb with "ria", example:

Yo voy (I go), yo iría (I would go)
Yo como (I eat), yo comería (I would eat)
Yo camino (I walk), yo caminaría (I would walk)
Yo quiero (I want), yo querría (I would want)
Yo soy (I am), yo sería (I would be)

As you see, the transformation is not simple, so It´s easier to learn the conditional words separatly instead to try to derive some kind of rule, anyway, when you hear or read a spanish verb ended with ria you will know that means the root in conditional mode (except for María, and other nouns of course, this applies for verbs)

Chilenismo Porquería (crap, garbage, another exception to "ria" rule for conditional)
Bonus: Echar pa adelante (to go ahead, to advance in a hard work)

Some expressions not easy to translate

2007-04-03T09:34:00.000-07:00

There are some common expressions in spanish not easy to understand if you try to translarte literally, check those with the word "mal" (bad):

Menos mal (thanks God)
Mal que mal (however)
Mal visto (something considered incorrect)
Mal parado (to be in a dificult situation)
Mala leche (mean, with a bad intention)
Mala pata (bad luck)
Mal vivir (to have an inmoral, disipate life)

Chilenismo: Malabar (an obscure business, a sting)
Bonus: Malandra (delincuent. thiever)

More expressions

2007-03-31T08:47:00.000-07:00

Some expressions used frequently in spanish:

En el filo de la navaja (to be on the border, in the edge)
Miti-miti (half and half, also miti-mota)
Desprevenido (distracted, unprepared)
En vivo y en directo (live transmision)
Por ser (by example, used in Chile)
Solución de continuidad (interruption, used in Chile)
Cuarto intermedio (interruption, used mostly in Bolivia)

Chilenismo: apechugar (to face, to dare)
Bonus saying: Chancho limpio nunca engorda (a clean pig never get fat)

Confusing similarities part 2

2007-03-29T12:31:00.000-07:00

Just heard some funny espanglish expressions with confusing similarities:

1.- Vacuna la carpeta
2.- Delibera las goserías

The confusing words are:

Vacuna (means vaccine, nothing to do with vacuum)
Carpeta (means folder, nothing to do with carpet)
Delibera (to think, nothing to do with delivery)
Grosería (four letter words, nothing to do with groceries)

Now the spanish equivalent to

Vaccum: vacío (vacuum cleaner is aspiradora)
Carpet: alfombra
To delivery: entregar (a newborn, dar a luz)
Groceries: verduras

Chilenismo: po, It has no meanning, when you hear this expression just ignore, It is used just for decorative purposes, peruvian equivalent is pe

Bonus: gallo (guy, female galla)

"su" has no gender

2007-03-28T08:54:00.000-07:00

In spanish, the word "su" (his or her) has no gender, so, it is used the same for both genders, by example

Maria está en su casa (Maria is at her home)
Pedro maneja su auto (Pedro drives his car)

At least there are some easier in spanish! just "su", for both genders

Chilenismo: pa (used instead of "para" that is, for)
Bonus pallá, pacá (used instead od "para allá, para acá" that is that way, this way)

Sayings

2007-03-27T10:06:00.000-07:00

Sayings are capsules of popular wisdom and may tell us some about the way of thinking of locals, many have almost exact equivalent both in spanish and english, I will try to show some spanish specific, if there are english equivalent pls advise to me.

Caras vemos, corazones no sabemos (we just can see faces, not hearts)
Guatita llena corazón contento (with a full belly the heart is happy)
Si Dios quiere darme ya sabe donde vivo (if God wish to help me, he knows my address)
El que busca encuentra (the enquirer finally will find)
Muchas manos matan la guagua (too many cooks spoil the pie, gracias Puelche!)
En la puerta del horno se quema el pan (bread is burned at the door of the oven, it´s refers to projects that fails in the last minute)

This one is my own creation!:
Teniendo alcohol no puede ser malo (having alcohol cannot be bad)

Ok, enough for today, lets see now our
Chilenismo: Pasó la vieja (the time is over, you missed your oportunity)
Bonus: Para donde va la micro (what´s the matter, e.g. "no sabe para donde va la micro" don´t know what´s happen)

Expresions

2007-03-26T07:32:00.000-07:00

Many spanish expresions widely used are not easy to understand, because the literal translation has not sense, see following a few examples:

Es el pan de cada día (refers to something that happen frequently)
Sin pelos en la lengua (to speak candid)
Hablar a calzón quitado (to speak candid)
Hay gato encerrado (there are some misterious secret)
Poner trabas (to make it hard)
Buscar la quinta pata al gato (look for problems where there are not)

Chilenismo: Guatón (fat man)
Bonus: Estar en la vida, or en la vía (to be in the bankrupcy)

Tip 6: connectors

2007-03-25T10:13:00.000-07:00

With connectors I refer to those words used to filling a gap or to emphatize an idea, in spanish they are called muletillas, by example:

Bueno (literally "well" and used same way as in english when you start talking: "well I think" "bueno, yo creo que...")
Que se yo (not precise translation, aproximate equivalent to "whatever")
En fin (not precise translation, used to end an idea giving the impresion that there is more about that: "podría hablarse mucho acerca de eso, en fin")
A ver ("let´s see")
Esteee (not precise translation, sort of "uhhh")
En verdad ("indeed")
Te explico ("let me explain to you")
O sea (that is, sometimes used to give an answer in the air "o sea...hummm")
Para, para ("wait! wait a minute")

Chilenismo: Mhijita ("babe"), mhijita rica! ("nice babe!" adults only)
Bonus chaleco (jersey)

Tip 5: gender blues

2007-03-24T10:17:00.000-07:00

In spanish you must to indicate gender explicity more often than in english, where by example, the word "the" is used both for male or female.

Not so in spanish, where "the" changes depending on gender and must be:

El (the, masculine)
La (the, feminine)

As if this mess wasn´t enough, the sustantive indicated also changes, as rule of thumb for female it ends with "a" and for male it ends with "o" by example

El esposo (the husband, male)
La Esposa (the wife, female)

Enough? not yet, even inanimate things have gender, by example:

El balde (the buck), el teléfono (the telephone), el agua (the water)
La rueda (the weel), la cocina (the kitchen), la ventana (the window)

As you can note, when gender applies to things, the rule of thumb of final letter "a" and "o" doesn´t applies.

It´s easy, not rocket science!

Well, today´s chilenismo is Mina (chick, young lady, pretty woman), and is widely used in Chile, Argentina and other countries of Latin América.
Bonus: Goma, which means servant, a person unconditionally submited to the will of his master.

Tip 4: one word several meanings

2007-03-23T09:49:00.000-07:00

Same as in english, in spanish you will find one word with more than one meaning. It´s good to learn those words first because you will increase your vocabulary with less effort, and are often misused or mis-translated.

How to know what meaning applies? just by context, see those few examples:

valor=worth, value, price, courage
pieza= room, part
marca=mark, brand
deber=duty, to owe
justo=fair, just
cola=tail, line of people (waiting)
rico=rich, tasty, pleasurable
tiempo=time, climate
carta= letter, playing card, chart
corte= cut, interruption, court
para=stop, for

Enough for today, now our daily chilenismo: pa, means "para" in chilean slang, that is "for"
Bonus hacer tira which mean "to rip off"

Tip 3: confusing similarities

2007-03-22T10:36:00.001-07:00

There are several words that spell almost the same with the same meaning both in english and spanish, e.g. inocence (inocencia), confidence (confianza), patience(paciencia) etc.

However there are some words very similar to spanish but with a meaning completly diferent such as:

Candid (eq. spanish franco) and Cándido (which mean a silly person who believe anything the other people say)

Actually (eq. spanish realmente) and actualmente (which mean currently)' Tks Anita for correct me!

Caution (eq.spanish precaución) and Caución (which mean deposit in advance)

To realize (eq.spanish darse cuenta) and realizar (which mean to do)

OK, enough for today, the tips must remain short. If you know any other confusing similarity pls add it.

Chilenismo 3: compadre (buddy, alligator, a very good friend), the original meaning -a sort of godfather- is not very used

Bonus track: listo (is used instead of Okey), e.g. listo compadre (okey buddy)

Both are also used in Perú and bolivia

Tip 2: formal and informal

2007-03-21T18:52:00.000-07:00

In spanish, the formal/informal way to speak with other it matters. If you say usted when the apropiate is tu, you may give the feeling of arrogant, trying to put distance, social inferiority, or lack of affection.

On the contrary, if you say tu when the apropiate is usted older people or some with authority may consider you as an insolent, unpolite individual.

This is often confusing for native english because their language dont make such distintion. How to know when to use formal or informal expression?

-You must use informal way always you want to be friendly, people of similar age uses always the informal way, except with people you first meet and you are not sure on wich degree of familiarity is propper.

-Formal way is for older people, except those which you have familiarity, It is a "respective" way to talk so it must to be applied also for any person with authority as judges, carabineros, goverment officials, etc.

The formal and informal forms are:
You = tú (informal), usted (formal)
Many verbs are converted to informal adding a final "s"
You have= usted tiene (formal), tú tienes (informal)
You go= usted va (formal), tú vas (informal) etc..

Chilean slang: the informal way in chilean slang adds a final "is" instead "s" by example
tu tenís or tu querís

Can you see it? It is not rocket science, rocket science is easy!!

Chilenismo 2: sobrado (vain, snobby person) same for Peru and Bolivia

Tip 1: increase your vocabulary

2007-03-21T18:35:00.000-07:00

It is obvious but I have to say It: the more words you manage the better, to learn 10 new words every day may be a good discipline, just think that each day that you miss to learn 10 new words is a loss for your program to become Miguel de Cervantes reincarnated.

Words are the biulding blocks of a languaje and you cannot build a brick wall having no bricks, the more you have the better, so, first than all improve your vocabulary, new words every single day.

Chilenismo 1: with every entry I will ad a chilenismo (chilean slang), today´s is al tiro (or altiro), wich means rigth now! the peruvian equivalent is al toque, and in Bolivia is ahorita.

Why espanol para gringos?

2007-03-21T18:10:00.000-07:00

Well, my english is horrible but I am native spanish., I meet gringos every day because they see my Alternative Guide for tourists in Arica, I had meet personally with some of them here, in my town, and I realized how hard for them is to comunicate in spanish.

Not just talk basic things such as "donde esta el baño" or "otra cerveza por favor", but to be able to comunicate ideas and feelings effectively. It is not so hard indeed, It is no rocket science, rocket science is easy compared with this ;-).

I do not intend to give you spanish classes, I am not qualified for that, My intention is to write on some tips and details that may be useful to improve your comunication skills in spanish. Just some disperse ideas on those subtle little things that may help you to turn on a Miguel de Cervantes y Saavedra reincarnated.

Okey too much yabadaba, lets start...