Is there a “Colombian accent”?

For a few years now, Colombia has seen its international fame grow exponentially. Thanks to tree of musicians, athletes, artists, and all kinds of digital celebrities that have recently emerged in the country, his name is reaching further and further each day, reaching corners of the world that we would never have imagined reaching.

Interestingly, along with the growth of the country's fame, it has become common among foreigners to hear of a alleged Colombian accent. However, and despite what many people tend to believe, speaking with a single Colombian accent is truly impossible; There are so many regions of the country, and so much its social and cultural diversity, that different variants of Spanish are spoken in each area of ​​Colombia, with their own linguistic characteristics that make them unique and distinguishable from each other. Thus, in reality, this so-called "Colombian accent" is not a common dialect throughout the territory, but belongs to a very specific area of ​​Colombia: the paisa region.

On this occasion we will tell you about this paisa accent, so that you become familiar with it and can recognize and understand it perfectly during your visit to Colombia.

Origin of the paisa accent

The Paisa region is an immense land made up of the departments of Antioquia, Quindío, Risaralda and Caldas, as well as a portion of northern Tolima and Valle del Cauca. It is located between the central mountain range and the western mountain range, a privileged area for its landscapes, its variety of climates and ecosystems, and the immense amount of resources provided by its fertile mountains. But, precisely because of its geography, the paisa territory is difficult to access, and getting to and from there was and continues to be a challenge for both locals and travelers.

Before the construction of the complex system of roads and tunnels that today connect the paisas with the rest of the country, western Colombia was reached by skirting the mountains. For centuries, the only access routes to the region were the colonial roads, opened by machete and mule back between rivers and jungles, with which traveling from one town to another became a journey like no other and could take days and hours. even weeks, depending on weather and terrain conditions. Truly, moving around the region could end up being a risk to one's life.

Due to these geographical difficulties, the inhabitants of the region opted for a long time to remain on their lands, without moving through the national territory, thus producing a kind of isolation that kept them physically and culturally separated from the rest of Colombia. As early as the fifteenth century, and thanks to the rapid expansion of the Spanish empire in America, Spanish began to undergo rapid changes. However, as a result of geographic isolation, and unlike what happened in the rest of the planet, the Spanish spoken by the paisas was preserved. Words, expressions, and even phonetic variations that today are considered archaic, remained intact among the Colombian mountains, and are still more alive than ever.

Pronunciation

The first settlers of the paisa region came mainly from northern Spain, from kingdoms such as Castilla y Aragón or the current Basque Country. For this reason, the paisa accent retains today some of the characteristics of the Spanish spoken by those people.

• El voseo: The first and perhaps most recognizable of these characteristics is the marked use of voseo, that is, instead of using the second person through words like "tú" or "usted", the paisas will say "vos" to you when they talk to you.
• Concave S: another of its most striking characteristics, also imported from the north of Spain, is that of pronouncing the sound of the letter S as /sh/. The intensity of this /sh/ sound can change depending on where you are in the region, but it will certainly be easy for you to recognize when you hear it.
• Drag: It is common among the paisas themselves to refer to their own accent as dragged. This refers to the fact that, usually, paisas do not pronounce the letter R with the intensity so characteristic of Spanish. Instead, the paisas "drag" the tongue across the palate when pronouncing the R, almost like whispering it instead of making it vibrate.

vocabulary

In addition to their very particular way of pronouncing words, paisas also have a number of popular terms and expressions that make their accent almost their own dialect. So that you don't feel so out of place when you're traveling through Antioquia, northern Tolima or the Coffee Zone, here we show you a few examples of the paisa vocabulary.

• Well: it is used after a verb to emphasize it. "Come on for to Colombia!".
• Parcero: term imported from Portuguese partner. Means "friend" or "partner," is popular with younger people or in informal contexts, and is usually shortened to pare. «Partner, See you tonight at the party."
• Oe: interjection equivalent to "ey" or "hey". A way to greet or also to call someone's attention. "Hey, watch out for that puddle!"
• Berraco: a tenacious, persevering, courageous person who does not give up easily or is scared by difficulties. If used as an adjective of a situation or scenario, the term can mean difficulty. "Colombian cyclists are some boars. Did you see the race? she was very barraca».
• Charro: humorous event or person. Did I tell you what happened to me at school today? It was very "charro."

Spanish paisa en Nueva Lengua

At school Nueva Lengua We recognize the importance of language rules and grammar when learning any language, but we also believe that languages ​​are much deeper and more complex than this. For this reason, we seek that our students have direct contact with real Spanish, the one that people speak in their day-to-day life and the one they use at work, at school, with their family and with their friends.

Nueva Lengua It is much more than a Spanish school. Here we learn and practice through immersive cultural experiences, with professional teachers and in direct contact with native speakers. Come learn Spanish with us while getting to know our culture from the inside.

Check the plans that we have for you in the paisa region, or write to us at info@nuevalengua.com For more information about our Spanish courses with cultural immersion.