¡Hola!
I’m Izzy and I am currently a Junior Spanish major with a minor in Secondary Education studying abroad through Academic Programs International (API) at Universidad Pablo de Olavide (UPO) in Seville, Spain for the Spring 2018 Semester.
Seville is part of the region of Andalucía, which is located in the south of Spain near Portugal. In Seville, locals speak a dialect of Spanish known as Andaluz. In my five years of learning Spanish I have never heard anything so complicated as Andaluz. Sevillians not only speak fast, but they cut off the ends of words while also adding a lisp to certain C, Z, and S sounds. This makes trying to communicate in Seville slightly more difficult than what I’m used to.
I have been living in Seville for almost four weeks now and there are still some days that I struggle to understand the locals. What keeps me going is that although it has only been three and a half weeks, I have learned a variety of new phrases and words that are used in daily conversation that help me communicate better.
For example:
¡Qué mono! / ¡Qué guapo(a)!
USE: when something/someone is cute or attractive
¡Qué guay! / ¡Qué chulo!
USE: When something/someone is cool or wonderful
¿Qué tal? / ¡Dime!
USE: waitors may use this to ask what you would like to order, they’re not asking what’s up
¿Una bolsita?
USE: cashiers may ask you this to know if you want a plastic bag for your things (you need to pay for plastic bags at grocery/convenience stores)
¡Buena!
USE: when walking into a store most of the time you will here this instead of ¡Hola! , this can replace ¡Buenos(as) días/tardes/noches!
¡Gracia!
USE: when saying thank you, you may have learned to pronounce it with an “S” at the end (as ¡Gracias!), but most people cut off the “S”
These are only a few of the phrases and words that I have learned that have helped me immensely in my daily life. I have always heard that immersing yourself in a culture will help you learn a language better, and I couldn’t agree more. If you are thinking about studying abroad in a Spanish-speaking country, I would highly recommend Spain and more specifically — Seville! If you can understand the complexity of the Andaluz dialect, you will have conquered the world.
¡Hasta pronto!
Izzy
A lookout point from La Giralda in Seville, Spain
If you’d like to see more pictures of my adventures, follow my Study Abroad Instagram @AbroadWithIz
Comments are closed.