In Translation - Roamancing

The lucky Burmese Mountain Dog in question.

Recently, a dear friend of mine enjoyed a brief trip to my native country, Colombia. From what I hear, she had a lovely time. As far as her exploits with the language … well, I may have heard that she spent some time attempting an eclectic mix of languages (Spanish, Spanglish, French, Italian, and even Arabic) in order to communicate, something I’d actually be rather interested in hearing. It was, apparently, enough to impress a Burmese Mountain Dog! I also heard that she did manage to pick up at least a tiny bit of the language, or at least made a fair attempt, and I am rather proud of her for that! Learning an additional language can be tough work, and being confident enough to try and speak the few words you may have picked up is admirable.

As a very out of practice, but native speaker of Spanish, the most trouble I have with the language when I travel is getting stuck in the middle of sentences unsure of how to continue, mixing some words up (most infamously: tarejeta [card] with carta[letter]), and simply being unsure of how to express certain thoughts in the language. Actually … those sound like things anyone picking up Spanish as an additional language might run into, don’t they?

In any case, I will now share some of the knowledge I have retained in regards to the language, for the benefit of travelers who may plan to visit a Spanish speaking country, of which there are twenty-one. As I’ve been assured by Spanish-speaking acquaintances hoping to convince me to take up writing in Spanish upon knowing I dabble in the craft, it is a gorgeous, poetic language … adding an extra edge to its classification as a ‘Romance’ language, if you will pardon the pun.

Bogota ~ a city of art, poetry & roamance.

So I’ve come up with a very short list, mostly daily pleasantries and some examples of phrases you may find useful. Here they are:

Hola: Hello!

Buenos dias/Buenas tardes/Buenas noches: Good morning/Good afternoon/Good night.

Adios/Chao: Goodbye, with ‘chao’ being the more casual variant that you may run across.

The Colombian spirit, care of Fernando Botero.

Por favor: Please.

(Muchas) gracias!: Thank you (very much)!

No, gracias: No, thank you.

¿Dónde/Cuando/Qué vamos a comer?: Where/When/What are we going to eat? These may not be the paragon of politeness, but… well I’m definitely always concerned with the placement and timing of meals, and speak a little like a brat.

¿Dónde está la tienda de dulces?

¿Dónde esta el supermercado?: Where’s the supermarket? Switching ‘el supermercado’ with ‘el banco’, ‘el baño’ or ‘el hotel’ could get you the general location of a bank, bathroom or, well, hotel too.

¿Qué hora es?: What time is it?

¡Buen viaje!: Have a good trip!

Looking over Bogota’s Old Town

I hope this list helps! For additional aid, I’ve found this lovely online dictionary, which I used to check words so I could check my accents … I hope I got most of them.
I’d like to wrap this up with a rather faithful rendition by Youtube user DownSinceDawn of a … rather interesting and only semi-sensical Spanish rap from one of my favourite shows on television, Community.

Thanks for reading! ¡Buen viaje!

In Translation – Arabic

One of the most attractive things I find in a fellow traveler is somebody who makes an effort to speak the local language. I am not suggesting that you become fluent before you travel to a new place, but learning a few important phrases and making a bit of an effort to speak to the people in their native tongue, shows the local people you respect them. If it is me making these attempts, it usually results in a certain amount of laughter at my pronounciation of the whatever it is I am trying to say and a welcoming / inviting reaction, that often has me invited to join in local experiences and conversations, that I might not have had otherwise.

A warm Egyptian that we met on the way to Alexandria

It is for this reason that we are starting a regular column called In Translation, with a few choice words and phrases from the different places we visit.

To begin, a little bit of Arabic, from my recent trip to Egypt. I’m embarrassed to say that I didn’t brush up on my Arabic for this trip, as I was running around getting ready at the last minute. I thank the restaurant staff at the Intercontinental Citystars Hotel Cairo for rectifying this by teaching me new Arabic words that first night at dinner. I also apologize to them for butchering that Arabic. I blame my extreme exhaustion and thank then for treating my mistakes with good humour and further tutelage.

This is just a beginning, we will add to this list with future visits to Arabic speaking countries and with words and phrases that you share below in the comments.

In my humble opinion, the most important words in any language are the simple ones that focus on daily social graces. That is where I’ve begun.

Hello ~ Salaam or Marhaban

I’m rather partial to Salaam as a greeting, as it also means peace.

Good Morning ~ Sabah El-Khair

Good Evening ~ Massa’a El-Khair

Please ~ Min Fadlik (to women only – this would be offensive, if to a man)

~ Min Fadlak (to a man)

An explanation of suffixes in Arabic, courtesy of Maria (aka. @LatinAbroad):

In Arabic, the suffix has the sex AND the person (1st, 2nd, 3rd). Thus, if it ends in “ik” that means it is feminine second person (singular). So, for masculine, you would say ” Min fadlak” with AK referring to male second person (singular).

Maria writes a fair bit on travels in the Middle East. You can read all about her adventures on LatinAbroad.com and TravelTheMiddleEast.com.

Thank You ~ Shukran

Having learned Shukran while suffering from serious jet lag, I mixed it up for my first couple of days in Egypt with Sakara, my favourite Egyptian beer. Goodness only knows what people thought as I wandered around saying Sakara to everyone. A big Shukran to Egyptian Tom Hanks for his patience in correcting me on this.