Cuba - Lonely Planet [399]
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PRONUNCIATION
Spanish spelling is phonetically consistent, meaning that there’s a clear and consistent relationship between what you see in writing and how it’s pronounced. The pronuciation guides included with all the words and phrases in this chapter should help you get the hang of it all.
Spanish-language soap operas (tele-novelas) are probably the best vehicle for getting a grip on pronunciation – the actors tend to speak overdramatically and a lot slower than the Spanish speakers you’re likely to meet on the street – it’s also easy to follow the plot. Just be careful you don’t get hooked!
Vowels
a as in ‘father’
e as in ‘met’
i as in ‘marine’
o as in ‘or’, without the ‘r’ sound
u as in ‘rule’; the ‘u’ is not pronounced after q and in the letter combinations gue and gui, unless it’s marked with a diaeresis (eg argüir), in which case it’s pronounced as English ‘w’
y at the end of a word or when it stands alone, it’s pronounced as the Spanish i (eg ley); between vowels within a word it’s like the ‘y’ in ‘yellow’
Consonants
While the consonants ch, ll and ñ are generally considered distinct letters, ch and ll are now often listed alphabetically under c and l respectively. The letter ñ is still treated as a separate letter, and it comes after n in dictionary listings.
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CUBAN SPANISH
Cuban Spanish is rich, varied and astoundingly distinct. Slang and dichos (sayings) dominate daily conversation so much that even native Spanish-speakers sometimes get lost in the mix. Borrowing words from African languages, modifying English terms (‘Spanglish’) and adopting language from movies, marketing and sports, Cuban Spanish is constantly evolving, with new, invented words surfacing all the time. Indeed, the origins of some relatively new slang words seem to have been lost entirely. Ask a Cuban where rickenbili (the word for those motorized bicycles you see around town) comes from, for instance, and they’ll laugh and shrug. Here are some of the most common slang terms and colloquialisms travelers are likely to hear; see also the Glossary.
asere – man, brother
bárbaro – cool; literally ‘killer’
barro – money (dollars or pesos)
brother – as in English
compay – brother, friend (frequently used in the Oriente)
¡Coño! – frequently used exclamation akin to ‘Damn!’; used for good or bad things/situations
cubalse – plastic bag (in the Oriente); see also nylon
dame un chance – let me pass, excuse me; literally ‘give me a chance’
está en llama – it’s screwed/messed up
fiana – police cruiser
fula – dollars
güiro – party
jamaliche – food; also translates as ‘food junkie’
kilo(s) – centavo(s)
la lucha – daily struggle
loca – homosexual, queer
mamey – mommy; used as term of endearment for females
nylon – plastic bag
papaya – vagina; the fruit itself is called fruta bomba everywhere except in the Oriente, where it’s called papaya
papi – daddy; used as term of endearment for males
pepe – someone from Spain
pincha – job
pollito – pretty girl
por la izquierda – attained through the black market
prieto/a – dark-skinned
puto/a – gigolo/prostitute
¿Qué bolá asere? – What’s happening, man/brother?
¿Qué es la mecánica? – What’s the process here?, How does this work? (eg when buying bus tickets, entering a crowded club or renting a catamaran)
tortillera – lesbian, dyke
yuma – someone from the US
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b similar to English ‘b,’ but softer; referred to as b larga
c as in ‘celery’ before e and i; otherwise as English ‘k’
ch as in ‘church’
d as in ‘dog’; between vowels and after l or n, it’s closer to the ‘th’ in ‘this’
g as the ‘ch’ in the Scottish loch before e and i (‘kh’ in our pronunciation guides); elsewhere, as in ‘go’
h invariably silent; worth noting if your name begins with ‘h’ and you’re waiting for public officials to call you
j as the ‘ch’ in the