Colombia is a privileged country in different ways. It is bordered by two oceans, Atlantic and Pacific, you can find different climates from eternal summers to eternal springs. It is also a country rich in biodiversity as well as being multi-ethnic. To these natural privileges is added being considered the country with the best pronounced and most correct Spanish. As stated by Pablo Montoya, a Spanish teacher, who says that there may not be a “better Spanish” but it seems that Colombian Spanish is  "Very clear: usually with complete pronunciation of phonemes and letters, with conventional and correct syntactic and grammatical constructions, facilitating understanding and leaving little room for misunderstandings." * With this background it is logical that many foreigners decide to come to Colombia not only to enjoy the natural beauties that the country has but also to learn in spanish.

One of the cities where students decide to take the beautiful path of learning our language is Cartagena, city ​​surrounded by the sea, with a hot climate, streets full of stories, colorful houses and happy people with that calm air that characterizes the people of the Colombian Caribbean, but what a surprise that after several weeks of intensive course in the spanish school They encounter the first obstacle when starting a conversation with a local, the speed with which he speaks, this is what Ana, who has been in school for more than two months Nueva Lengua Cartagena, and it is difficult for her to understand the people of Cartagena and she must constantly ask them to repeat what they have said more slowly.

Another aspect is added to the speed with which the people of Cartagena speak: pronunciation. Soon the students notice that the Cartagena does not pronounce everything so completely, omits phonemes or reduces words, as was noted by the husbands Michelle and Lukas, also students of Nueva Lengua Cartagena

But then, what happened to that Spanish of complete pronunciation and correct grammatical construction that Professor Pablo Montoya told us about? As mentioned at the beginning of this article, Colombia is not only rich in natural diversity but also in dialect diversity, therefore, each region of the country has its own particular touch of speaking.

Cartagena has a characteristic “punch” in his accent, especially when it comes to phonemes like / r / / s / / l /. It is common for the pronunciation of these phonemes to present a phonological process called gemination of consonants after the liquid ones R, L, and the loss of these. A good example of this phenomenon is with the word Cartagena. A net Cartagena will not tell you "I'm from Cartagena" the most certain thing is that he will tell you: "I am by Cattagena”. Another phonetic phenomenon is the aspiration of the S, then the public transport called bus, happens to be simply "Bu´".

The Cartagena is an expert in reducing words, or as it is said colloquially, the Cartagena eat the words, so if you left your bag behind the table, a cartagenero will not speak to you in a formal way like this: "Excuse me sir, your bag is behind the table ”, for nothing, on the contrary, it will bring out all the naturalness that characterizes it and will call you with a " hey my ok "Or a" hey, my queen " (depending on whether you are a man or a woman) followed by the indication "Your bag is off the table." 

If you ask Cartagena about his food, don't expect him to tell you “it's very tasty”, you will most likely hear a “so rich ”.  The preposition PARA, is reduced to a Pa. "Spanish is so that you enjoy it".

Yeísmo (excessive use of the sound of the letter Y where it is not necessary) is also widely used in Cartagena, so do not be surprised if they tell you "Do you want your water with yelo?" instead of “Would you like your ice water? The truth is that in Cartagena little or no difference is made between the sounds of the consonants Ll and Y, hence, for the people of Cartagena the pronunciation of horse or herd is it the same or rather, "same thing"

In short, Cartagena has its dialect and this is to speak well "hit". It is not impossible to learn, in the Nueva Lengua School Cartagena We have had many students who have passed the test of being able to understand Cartagena. As Ana, Michelle and Lukas told us, it is only a matter of time and tuning your ears.