CHILEAN GRAMMAR, PRONUNCIATION AND GESTURES
Gramática, Pronunciación y Gestos Chilenos
by Jared Romey
Published by Jared Romey
Smashwords Edition
Copyright 2011 Jared Romey
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Cover Design: Diana Caballero
Cover Photo: Chilean Flag. globetrotter_rodrigo
via Flickr
TABLE OF CONTENT
ENGLISH VERSION
SPANISH VERSION
Other
Books From Speaking Latino
It’s been almost 12 years since I first arrived in Chile. At the time my Spanish was semi-functional, slow and, according to my then recently-acquired Chilean colleagues, somewhat Mexican (NOTE: Yesterday I was informed it’s apparently now Central American!). Since then I have lived in two other Spanish speaking countries, lost the Mexican accent and am often more comfortable speaking Spanish than English. My Spanish, at this point, is a hodgepodge of vocabulary, pronunciation and grammar pulled from several countries, which may only be described as, well, a hodgepodge.
I still remember that one of the strangest things for me to accept during my learning process had to do with why the hell I’d spent years in classes, and yet a large portion of the words I’d learned didn’t do me a damn bit of good in Chile. At the time it annoyed me more than anything, but since then I’ve learned to enjoy those differences, and have, in fact, spent a significant part of my time learning about them. It still amazes me that depending on where you are chiringa, barrilete, papalote, cometa or volantín all mean the same thing. Or that bicho in some places can turn a fast food employee blush-red, while in others it’s a mere bug (my sincere apologies to the young lady).
Surprisingly, this has turned into a long-term project for me, with four books soon to be available, as well as learning aids and a website. My hope is to help people communicate more easily and to have fun during the learning process.
Chile is an amazing place where I can walk off the plane and in five minutes feel at home. I have some of the best friends in the world here. Santiago is an entertaining place to visit, to relax and to socialize. For me, it is always a wonderful escape.
Jared
Santiago, 27 January 2009
Without a doubt, it would have been impossible for me to publish this book had I not had the help of Jessica Liberona. She spent countless hours with me expanding, explaining and understanding the material found in this book. Rosa Ester Zuñiga also proved to be of vital importance, especially in the late stages. In addition, Daniel Felipe Muñoz, Pilar Morán and Paula Parra helped me along the way. Thank you to all five for spending their precious little free time to teach me something of their language.
Anyone who knows Claudia Bravo will not be surprised to hear that she contributed vastly to the garabatos throughout the book. It is a sincere compliment to say that she has the mouth of a salty old sailor and has provided me endless laughs throughout our friendship.
Thanks to Diana Caballero who helped me at the end to make this book more concise.
Mercedes López Tarnassi (mmlopeztarnassi@gmail.com) translated the beginning sections into Spanish wonderfully.
I must also include an expression of gratitude to John Brennan and Alvaro Taboada, the authors of an amazing book called How to Survive in The Chilean Jungle. Their book not only helped me along during my first months in Chile, it also guided me into publishing my first book for Puerto Rico.
This book actually began, unbeknownst to anyone, including myself, in July 1997 when I arrived in Chile. From my first few hours here when my pizza was served with an egg on top (silly me thought that huevo was a euphemism for some typical pizza ingredient… who the hell puts egg on their pizza!) to my current visit learning about tribus urbanos, ponciar and the dieta del gringo, Speaking Chileno has been a collaborative effort.
Everyone that pushed, prodded and poked me along
into understanding Chileno should take some of the credit. To
each of you, my gratitude.