![]() In Colombia, Peru or Bolivia, if you get a “chapa”, you have a nickname and if you go to countries like Ecuador, a “chapa” is a way to call a police officer. In Argentina if you are a “chapa” (you are a veneer), you are crazy, although they also use it to refer to a passionate kiss ( Esa pareja estaba chapando en el cine ≫ That couple was plating in the cinema ≫ That couple was kissing in the cinema). □□Literal translation ≫ Chapa = Metal Sheet, Plate, Veneer, Badge Spanish is not an easy language, so keep this list handy on your trip to Latin America or Spain, learn where to say what and you will save yourself more than one problem. You may use a word in your everyday life that, unknowingly to you, is not very appropriate in the neighbouring country. So in this post I am going to give you some words that you will appreciate knowing if you decide to travel around Latin America, either so that you don’t have to go through the same embarrassment that I did or so that you can understand “la jerga urbana” (slang) of the place you are in. You will understand me.Īs you can see, whether Spanish is your mother tongue or you have studied it extensively and therefore you think you can speak it anywhere, I’m sorry to tell you that you are wrong. If you are not Spanish and you don’t know what I am talking about, Google it. Thankfully, a girl saw my red face and confused look saying “I don’t understand anything”, and came up to me to explain that in Spain “correrse” (which, to me, simply means to “move along”) also had another meaning – but please don’t make me tell you here, I was already embarrassed at the time. As we say in Spanish, my face turned tomato colour. ![]() ![]() Trying to help out, I decided to shout: “¡Que se corran un poquito!” If you are Spanish you already know what it means and you can imagine how mortified I was when the younger passengers on the bus started spreading their giggles to others. I was on a crowded bus and the driver kept asking us to move back a little further so that more people could get on. To put things in context: a Colombian woman arrives in Spain with many concerns but with the peace of mind of at least knowing the local language. Who doesn’t like a little bit of gossip, right? There are so many Spanish-speaking countries and so many variations of the language that misunderstandings are bound to happen, and sometimes they can get you into trouble… My (embarrassing) experience However, sometimes we even have trouble understanding each other. This happens to us Spanish speakers fairly often because, well… there are many of us. Have you ever traveled abroad and felt relieved when you found someone who speaks your native language? ![]()
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