I talk like a monkey?

I have to admit that I was not entirely excited about taking Spanish language classes here in Quito given that I’ve been teaching Spanish to predominately Spanish speakers for the past two years; nevertheless, I now feel that it was a valuable experience. I have learned a variety of vocabulary that is specific to Ecuador, many of which come from Quichua (or Kichua or Kichwa or K-chwa etc.) Some of my favorites are described below:

• ¡Ayayay! ~ Ouch!
• ¡Arrarray! ~ Ah, that’s hot!
• ¡Achachay! ~ Ah, that’s cold!
• ¡Atatay! ~ Eww, that stinks!

A couple others that come from Quichua are very common around the house:

• Ñaño/ñaña ~ Brother/sister
• Rucu ~ Older person (or volcano…)
• Guagua ~ Younger person (or volcano…)
  The reason I say volcano here is because the closest mountains to the city of Quito are the brothers Pichincha (also the name of the province). Rucu Pichincha is visible from almost anywhere in the city and serves as a fabulous reference point if you are ever lost (in the photo). Unfortunately, Rucu is old and tired and doesn’t get very excited anymore. Its younger brother Ñaño, however, is still alive and kicking and is continuously active blowing off steam on a daily basis and the occasional ash plume every few decades.
• ¡Llugshi! ~ Get away dog! (more useful than you might expect…)

I also enjoy the fact that there are several Ecuadorian expressions that use English words (even if those words in Ecuadorian don’t mean quite what they mean in English…):

• Hacer un play ~ To do a favor
• Man ~ Boy or girl
• Estar happy ~ To be buzzed
• Brother ~ Friend
• Mandarina (like the orange) ~ A whipped man

Clearly, learning to speak Ecuadorian is no simple task (though it is certainly easier than figuring out the bus system). I am really enjoying it here and using this new vocabulary with friends around town. The only thing is people sometimes tell me that I talk like a monkey. Okay, not the oohhh oohh aahh aahhh thing your thinking, but rather like a coastal Ecuadorian. Apparently there are actual two different Ecuadorian Spanishes: One in the highlands (where we are) and one along the coast with the city of Guayaquil (Ecuador’s largest city at about 2.5 million). People from the coast, being so proud of themselves call people from the highlands bobos tontos (which more or less means stupid little dummies). In response, highlanders (yes it is high over 11,000 feet in the city) call coastal folk monos (literally monkeys).

Now throughout Latin America, Andean Spanish is generally considered to be the most generic dialect and what most American students learn in school as the spoken language and the written language tend to agree quite nicely phonetically. Other dialects, for example the Caribbean style Spanish that I speak, are not generally taught in American schools because in the Caribbean people tend to leave out quite a few letters when they are speaking. For example, we were stuck in traffic the other day and I wanted to ask if the road was backed up all the way to the freeway interchange which in standard Spanish would be written as such:

¿Está tapado hasta el trébol?

When I said it, however, it sounded more like the following:

¿Etá tapau atal trébo?

As you can see, I’m not really the biggest fan of the letter s, or the letter d, or having 2 vowels in a row, etc. Fortunately for me, however, Mono Spanish tends to be quite similar to Caribbean Spanish so people never really know where I am from. Pretty much everyone here in the highlands knows I am not from Quito, but many aren’t sure if I am from the coast, or the Dominican, or the US etc. Nevertheless, Quiteños have really proven to be great people. I have been lucky enough to meet and talk to several new people every day and they all have welcomed Team Manna into their country with open arms. I am learning so much day in and day out and it is just from the simple fact that I am able to talk to the people that are here (even if I do talk like a gringo monkey.)