Chilenismos
Often when visiting a new country, I find it interesting to observe their behavior. I like to learn about their ways of living, the way they talk, how they feel about their country, what do they think about their food, what are the best dishes to try, etc. All of these as the result of their culture, which I find fascinating. We have visited many countries in South America, and although most of these countries have Spanish as their main language, there are many dialects.
Argentinians for example use “vos” meaning you (singular) while in Spain “vosotros” means you as well but in plural. Uruguayans use vos too in almost the same way as Argentinians do. Both countries use verbs in a very distinct way too. Having visited both countries, I can say confidently that I could understand what they were saying. Indeed they have their own way to talk, and their own dialects even in the same country. But if you know Spanish, you can figure out what they are saying.
Colombians and Venezuelans have a special intonation that makes them easy to identified. Whereas, Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia hold a more traditional Spanish. Each country has their own dialect. But somehow in these countries it is easier to understand them. The main reason is the fact that they pronounce every word, in a more refined manner. They don’t omit any letters; they don’t talk too fast or with a heavy intonation. I call this a flat Spanish without a sing song.
When we arrived to Santiago de Chile in 2012, I didn’t expect communication to be a problem. But it was mostly at the beginning. I didn’t know what was happening, but I couldn’t understand what they were saying. Which gave me a lot of stress, I didn’t want to be rude, and several times I just stood there trying to figure out as fast as I could, whatever they were saying to me. This feeling worsen while on a waiting line, for shopping, or at the bank teller, or anything in that line.
After a few months we got the hang of it. First Chileans speak in a high tone, most of the time they don’t pronounce the “s” and the verbs get a weird conjugation the result is “ai” at the end of some verbs. As any other county in South America they have slang in their vocabulary, but add this to the way they talk, the result can be very difficult to comprehend whatever they are saying. But it is their country, and they possess their own language to which we must adapt and learn to communicate with them.
Here is a list of some words that can be useful in Chile. Although, something to take in consideration is that they do not use these words in other South American countries, on the contrary people can take offense on some of them, if used. My advice is to keep these Chilenismos to Chile alone.
Achuntar: aim to something
Agarrar onda: to catch up with what is going on
Agarrar papa: to take advantage of the situation
Agarrar para el fideo or hueveo: means to get fun at the expense of someone or something, also to pull someone’s leg.
Ahuevonado(a): he/she is an idiot
Al lote: casual
Al tiro: immediately
Andar pato: not to have any money,
Andar achacao: sad or depressed
Apretado(a): stingy
Aperrado(a): a brave person
Arriba de la pelota: means being drunk
Arrugar: to bail
Atado: being in trouble
Atadoso(a): a complicated situation
Bajon: bad time or being in crisis
Bomba: gas station also call “bencinera”
Pasarlo bomba: to have a fun time
Cabro(a): boy or girl
Cabro chico(a): toddlers
Cachar: to understand
Cachai?: do you understand?
Me pegue la cachada: I got it
El cacho: a difficult situation
Esperate un cachito: you wait just a minute
Caerse el cassette: to spill the beans
Cahuin: this is a Mapuche word, it means ravel
Vale callampa: not worthy, has no value.
Caña: hangover
Cara de raja/palo: to be rude
Carrete: party
Copete: any alcoholic drink
Copucha: gossip
Cuete: joint
Cuico(a): snob
Curado: drunk
Chancho: to have a good time
Enfermo del chape: to be crazy
Choro: cool
Choreado: to be angry
Chueco: to be dishonest
Chuta: shit
Despelote: big mess
Embarrarla: to mess something up
Encachado: interesting
Escoba: a disaster
Fome: boring
Frito: to be stuck in a situation
Gallo(a): man or woman
Ganso: idiot
Guagua: baby
Guata: belly
Huevon(a) or weon, weona: buddy, but in a different tone could be an offense.
Lesera: silly
Lolo(a): teenager, male or female
Luca: 1000 Chilean pesos
Movida: illegal deals
Nana: maid
Once: coffe/tea time or snack time
Onda: the mood
Papa: baby food
Pata pelada: barefoot
Patudo(a): a person who meddles
Pega: job
Picarse: to be mad or upset
Pichintun: a bit of something
Po: yeah, Okay
Pololo(a): boyfriend or girlfriend
Pololear: to be in a romantic relationship
Pucho: cigarette
Raja: feeling exhausted
Regalonear: to spoil or pamper somebody
Roto(a): clumsy or a low-class person
Sonar: to fail
Taco: traffic jam
Tuto: to sleep
Other links:
Cola de Mono a Chilean Christmas Cocktail
5 Things Learned from Living in Chile
Do connect with us:
ResearchGate: James M. Wise
Author´s page: James M. Wise
Photography page: JamesM.Wise.com
Author´s page: Yanira K. Wise
South America seems to refuse to show its inexhaustible creative force.
