{"id":4493,"date":"2017-09-04T18:17:46","date_gmt":"2017-09-04T18:17:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/?p=4493"},"modified":"2017-09-04T18:20:39","modified_gmt":"2017-09-04T18:20:39","slug":"10-english-influenced-terms-unique-to-dominican-spanish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/10-english-influenced-terms-unique-to-dominican-spanish\/","title":{"rendered":"10 English-Influenced Terms Unique to Dominican Spanish"},"content":{"rendered":"

Can we agree that languages are weird? They go through more experimental phases than the average teenager and tend to change before you can get a grasp on its current iteration.<\/p>\n

The result? Strange, mixed breed words.<\/p>\n

Take the Dominican Republic, for example. For one, there\u2019s the mix of Spanish, African and Ta\u00edno culture that lends a lot of flavour to its brand of Spanish. Add to that an influx in Galician Spaniards and you have an accent that sounds closer to Portuguese than Castilian.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Photo via Pixabay<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

In essence, Dominican Spanish has been its own thing for a long time.<\/p>\n

But did you know the United States occupied the territory on three separate occasions? The dates were 1904-1907, 1916-1924 and 1965-1966.<\/p>\n

Of course, back in the day, the world wasn\u2019t as Americanised as it is now, meaning Dominican natives couldn\u2019t really understand the English words the US soldiers were speaking.<\/p>\n

The phenomenon wasn\u2019t exclusive to the Dominican Republic, as US occupations were numerous and prolonged in many other Latin American countries. That being said, some of the words found below are DR-exclusive, but don\u2019t be surprised if you hear any given term elsewhere!<\/p>\n

1. Gringo<\/b>:<\/p>\n

The term comes from the words \u201cGreen, Go\u201d a common statement in Latin America demanding the exit of US military men dressed in green. It seems the little English the natives learned was immediately put into use to demand their independence. In recent times, \u201cgringo\u201d is used as an alternative to the imperialistic term \u201cAmerican\u201d or on other occasions simply \"foreigner\".
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Photo via Pixabay<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

2. Pariguayo<\/b><\/p>\n

The Military used to throw parties for the US soldiers stationed in the island. In these parties you would find people who didn\u2019t dance or engage in social activities, instead they would just watch. Do you see where this is going? A \u201cpariguayo\u201d is a \u201cparty watcher.\u201d The term has since expanded to include a shy or gutless person in any given situation.
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

3. Guachiman<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cGuachi\u201d for short, refers to a watchman. Not the kind that plays music, but rather the security staff. Guachimanes<\/em> in Dominican residential sectors usually work from 6 or 7 PM until the they\u2019re replaced in the morning by the maintenance or cleaning service. For commercial locations, they might work all day or just the night shifts.
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

Learning a new language? Check out our <\/b>free placement test<\/b><\/a> to see how your level measures up!<\/b>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

4. Zafac\u00f3n<\/b><\/p>\n

An extremely Dominican word, \u201czafac\u00f3n\u201d comes from a US recycling campaign titled \u201cSave a Can\u201d. To this day, Dominicans seldom recycle and every trashcan is a \u201csave a can\u201d or \u201czafac\u00f3n.\u201d They\u2019re working on it, though.
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

5. Jevi<\/b><\/p>\n

Again, an exclusively Dominican word. We have no idea why people heard the word \u201cheavy\u201d and decided it was equivalent to \u201ccool.\u201d But that\u2019s what it is.
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

6. Full<\/b><\/p>\n

Same spelling, but we pronounce it differently and gave it a completely unrelated meaning. Full<\/em> is another way of saying \u201cokay,\u201d and on some occasions also means that something is full. You know, for the sake of consistency.
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

7. Yanikeke<\/b><\/p>\n

Do y\u2019all know Johnnycakes? Yanikekes<\/em> are our version of those, but they\u2019re deep-fried and made out of flour instead of cornmeal. If you ever visit the Dominican Republic, you can get yanikekes<\/em> from street vendors, usually outside of baseball fields and in rest spots by the interior highways.
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Photo via Pixabay<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

8. Teipi<\/b><\/p>\n

Most Spanish-speaking countries refer to tape as \u201ccinta,\u201d but apparently we forgot how to say that and just copied off of the soldiers. In fact, I think I\u2019ve heard a Dominican person say \u201ccinta adhesiva\u201d just a handful of times. It\u2019s also the kind of colloquialism that gets you in trouble when you\u2019re speaking to someone from another Spanish-speaking country as they won\u2019t know what you mean and you\u2019ll struggle to remember the proper term.
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

9. Bufear<\/b><\/p>\n

This one\u2019s a verb, comes from \u201cgoofing,\u201d and means virtually the same thing. As with many Dominican words, the verb can also become a noun as \u201cbufeo\u201d. \u201cBufeo\u201d could be something that kind of tricked you or caught you off-guard, like a joke or video with an unexpected twist. \u201cBufear\u201d would be the act of creating or sharing said unexpected content. If used in reference to going out, it means to go out and have fun. A similar word, \u201ctripear,\u201d comes from \u201ctripping\u201d and can be used in its place instead.
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

10. Cherchar<\/b><\/p>\n

Another verb, referencing the act of chit chatting. Now, you probably won\u2019t guess where the word comes from. The correct answer is \u201cchurch,\u201d as it came from the habit displayed by African communities in the DR who would stay behind and talk after church. Presently, \u201cchercha\u201d can be used with a gossipy or imprudent connotation. For instance, one can say a group of students are failing school because they\u2019re always \u201ccherchando\u201d in class.<\/p>\n

Can you think of any other Anglicised terms belonging to the Spanish language? Let us know in the comments!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Can we agree that languages are weird? They go through more experimental phases than the average teenager and tend to change before you can get a grasp on its current iteration. The result? Strange, mixed breed words. Take the Dominican Republic, for example. For one, there\u2019s the mix of Spanish, African and Ta\u00edno culture that(\u2026)<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t \t\t\t\tCONTINUE READING »<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":4497,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,13],"tags":[708,706,707,476,286,21,372,37,709,710],"class_list":["post-4493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-everyday-language","category-language-learning","tag-caribbean","tag-dominican-republic","tag-dr","tag-language-classes","tag-latin-america","tag-learn-spanish","tag-slang","tag-spanish","tag-spanish-classes","tag-spanish-slang"],"yoast_head":"\n10 English-Influenced Terms Unique to Dominican Spanish<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Like many other Latin American countries, the DR is home to a number of unique, borrowed words. Check out these 10 English-influenced terms and their origins.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/10-english-influenced-terms-unique-to-dominican-spanish\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"10 English-Influenced Terms Unique to Dominican Spanish\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Like many other Latin American countries, the DR is home to a number of unique, borrowed words. Check out these 10 English-influenced terms and their origins.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/10-english-influenced-terms-unique-to-dominican-spanish\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Listen & Learn\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-09-04T18:17:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-09-04T18:20:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/dominican-republic-2131168_640.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gabrielle van Welie\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gabrielle van Welie\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/10-english-influenced-terms-unique-to-dominican-spanish\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/10-english-influenced-terms-unique-to-dominican-spanish\/\",\"name\":\"10 English-Influenced Terms Unique to Dominican Spanish\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/10-english-influenced-terms-unique-to-dominican-spanish\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/10-english-influenced-terms-unique-to-dominican-spanish\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/dominican-republic-2131168_640.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-09-04T18:17:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-09-04T18:20:39+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/77024a581310150fc14c87d1d50cdaed\"},\"description\":\"Like many other Latin American countries, the DR is home to a number of unique, borrowed words. Check out these 10 English-influenced terms and their origins.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/10-english-influenced-terms-unique-to-dominican-spanish\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/10-english-influenced-terms-unique-to-dominican-spanish\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/10-english-influenced-terms-unique-to-dominican-spanish\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/dominican-republic-2131168_640.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/dominican-republic-2131168_640.jpg\",\"width\":640,\"height\":480},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/10-english-influenced-terms-unique-to-dominican-spanish\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"10 English-Influenced Terms Unique to Dominican Spanish\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Listen & Learn\",\"description\":\"Language Courses and Language Services UK\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/77024a581310150fc14c87d1d50cdaed\",\"name\":\"Gabrielle van Welie\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/720a06d9328b129fe6de3dd3056e152f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/720a06d9328b129fe6de3dd3056e152f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gabrielle van Welie\"},\"description\":\"Gabrielle van Welie is a giant nerd from the Dominican Republic currently based in Madrid. She's the editor of http:\/\/thenerdleague.com and runs a writing blog over at http:\/\/literallywrite.com. If you need to spot her in a crowd, she's the one with the deadpan expression.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/thenerdleague.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/author\/gaby\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"10 English-Influenced Terms Unique to Dominican Spanish","description":"Like many other Latin American countries, the DR is home to a number of unique, borrowed words. Check out these 10 English-influenced terms and their origins.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/10-english-influenced-terms-unique-to-dominican-spanish\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"10 English-Influenced Terms Unique to Dominican Spanish","og_description":"Like many other Latin American countries, the DR is home to a number of unique, borrowed words. Check out these 10 English-influenced terms and their origins.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/10-english-influenced-terms-unique-to-dominican-spanish\/","og_site_name":"Listen & Learn","article_published_time":"2017-09-04T18:17:46+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-09-04T18:20:39+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":480,"url":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/dominican-republic-2131168_640.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Gabrielle van Welie","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Gabrielle van Welie","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/10-english-influenced-terms-unique-to-dominican-spanish\/","url":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/10-english-influenced-terms-unique-to-dominican-spanish\/","name":"10 English-Influenced Terms Unique to Dominican Spanish","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/10-english-influenced-terms-unique-to-dominican-spanish\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/10-english-influenced-terms-unique-to-dominican-spanish\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/dominican-republic-2131168_640.jpg","datePublished":"2017-09-04T18:17:46+00:00","dateModified":"2017-09-04T18:20:39+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/77024a581310150fc14c87d1d50cdaed"},"description":"Like many other Latin American countries, the DR is home to a number of unique, borrowed words. Check out these 10 English-influenced terms and their origins.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/10-english-influenced-terms-unique-to-dominican-spanish\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/10-english-influenced-terms-unique-to-dominican-spanish\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/10-english-influenced-terms-unique-to-dominican-spanish\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/dominican-republic-2131168_640.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/dominican-republic-2131168_640.jpg","width":640,"height":480},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/10-english-influenced-terms-unique-to-dominican-spanish\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"10 English-Influenced Terms Unique to Dominican Spanish"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/","name":"Listen & Learn","description":"Language Courses and Language Services UK","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/77024a581310150fc14c87d1d50cdaed","name":"Gabrielle van Welie","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/720a06d9328b129fe6de3dd3056e152f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/720a06d9328b129fe6de3dd3056e152f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Gabrielle van Welie"},"description":"Gabrielle van Welie is a giant nerd from the Dominican Republic currently based in Madrid. She's the editor of http:\/\/thenerdleague.com and runs a writing blog over at http:\/\/literallywrite.com. If you need to spot her in a crowd, she's the one with the deadpan expression.","sameAs":["http:\/\/thenerdleague.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/author\/gaby\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4493"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4493"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4493\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4500,"href":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4493\/revisions\/4500"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}