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Costa Rican Spanish 101 CostaRicanSpanish101.com Costa Rican Spanish 101 Bilingual Dictionary and Phrasebook for Spanish Learners and Travelers to Costa Rica Costa Rican Spanish 101 Copyright © 2018-2020 CostaRicanSpanish101.com All rights reserved. Costa Rican Spanish 101 Preface Costa Rica, officially known as The Republic of Costa Rica, is located in Central America. It’s a sovereign nation, organized as a unitary presidential republic composed of 7 provinces. The fourth smallest Hispanic group are the Costa Ricans. They are also thehe smallest population in Central America. Costa Rica, like many other countries, is rich in expressions or idioms. Costa Ricans are colloquially called "ticos" because of their frequent use of the diminutive ending -ico. Colloquial expressions characteristic of Costa Rica, or tiquismos, are used frequently in the country. Pachuquismos, on the other hand, are street Spanish expressions that can be considered vulgar and offensive if used in the wrong context. Many of these words when found in a standard Spanish dictionary, don't have the same meaning in Costa Rica. Learning colloquial expressions can be helpful to understanding the humor and character of the Costa Rican culture. This book is your insider’s guide to decoding the language spoken by Costa Ricans, from jerga (slang) to everyday words and common expressions. i | P a g e CostaRicanSpanish101.com Why I Created this Book I grew up in the United States speaking only English. When I first learned Spanish, I learned from a textbook in a public school classroom. I quickly found that when I left the country for the first time, I was ill- equipped to speak Spanish with real people. And I had completed through level 6 of Spanish at the academic level. When I became a language coach, I realized that many of my clients faced the same issue. Since then, I have been passionate about teaching people authentic Spanish the way it’s spoken by real people. This book is one in a series of bilingual guides that provides insight into the Spanish language as it is spoken in daily life. What this Book Is Not This book is not a Costa Rican travel guide or history book, although it will explain some of the historical influences on the language. It is also not my opinion of Costa Rica, or an outsider’s view of the country. I did not come up with the phrases in this book; rather, they were sourced from native Spanish speakers living in Costa Rica that are intimately familiar with the language and use it every day. ii | P a g e Costa Rican Spanish 101 What this Book Is This book is a curated list of common Costa Rican Spanish phrases and expressions compiled by Ticos living in various parts of the country. Each entry is provided in both English and Spanish, with several examples to give you the real context in which the words are used. I hope you enjoy this opportunity to get insight into the language of the land of pura vida. Tamara Marie Certified Language Coach iii | P a g e CostaRicanSpanish101.com Join SpanishPod101.com and get access to Costa Rican Spanish course (part of the Regional Spanish series). https://www.spanishpod101.com Enroll now and master Spanish for as low as $2.80/month The course includes 32 dialogues, each lesson comes with: Audio recordings of Costa Rican Spanish versions of conversations. Complete line-by-line transcript of each dialogue in standard Spanish and Costa Rican Spanish with English translation. GET 25% OFF! USE COUPON CODE: SPANISHCONSALSA iv | P a g e Costa Rican Spanish 101 Table of Contents Preface ........................................................................................ i An Overview of Spanish Pronunciation ................................ 1 What is Costa Rican Spanish?................................................. 3 Costa Rican Spanish Words and Expressions ....................... 6 Achantado ....................................................................................... 6 Agarrado .......................................................................................... 7 Agüevar ............................................................................................ 7 Apear ................................................................................................. 8 Apretar .............................................................................................. 9 Acuantá .......................................................................................... 10 Argolla ............................................................................................ 10 Atollar ............................................................................................. 11 Bañazo ............................................................................................ 12 Bateador ........................................................................................ 12 Bicho ............................................................................................... 13 Birra ................................................................................................. 14 Bocas............................................................................................... 15 Bochinche ..................................................................................... 15 Bombeta ........................................................................................ 16 v | P a g e CostaRicanSpanish101.com Bostezo ........................................................................................... 17 Bote ................................................................................................. 18 Brete ................................................................................................ 18 Brocha ............................................................................................. 19 Cabanga ......................................................................................... 20 Cabra ............................................................................................... 21 Cachos ............................................................................................ 21 Cagada ........................................................................................... 22 Canalla ............................................................................................ 23 Cañas............................................................................................... 23 Carajillo .......................................................................................... 24 Carbonero ..................................................................................... 25 Casado ............................................................................................ 26 Cáscara / Cascarudo .................................................................. 27 Chaine ............................................................................................. 27 Chancleta ....................................................................................... 28 Chante ............................................................................................ 29 Chao ................................................................................................ 29 Chapa .............................................................................................. 30 Chapulín ......................................................................................... 30 ¡Charita! .......................................................................................... 31 Chavalo........................................................................................... 32 vi | P a g e Costa Rican Spanish 101 Chema ............................................................................................ 32 Chepe ............................................................................................. 33 Chiverre.......................................................................................... 34 Chicha ............................................................................................. 34 Chinamo ........................................................................................ 35 Chinear ........................................................................................... 36 Chingo ............................................................................................ 37 Chiquito / Chiquita .................................................................... 37 Chiva ............................................................................................... 38 Chorizo ........................................................................................... 39 Chorpa ........................................................................................... 39 Choza .............................................................................................. 40 Chunche......................................................................................... 41 Chuzo ............................................................................................. 41 Cleta ................................................................................................ 42 Coco ................................................................................................ 43 Colado ............................................................................................ 43 Colgar los tenis ........................................................................... 44 Compa ...........................................................................................
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