Costeñol 102
El atardecer
When I first arrived in Cartagena, I was sooo lost. I mean I was having a great time, but I barely understood a single word of what was spoken to me! I did indeed arrive in Cartagena with some Spanish skills, but I was not at all prepared for the complexity of Costeñol, the dialect of Spanish spoken on the Caribbean coast. The dialect features many elements that make it very different from the Spanish I had learned from books, from friends who spoke Spanish, or from the practice I did online/in apps, but with time I learned a lot and was able to adjust well. I found that there tends to be some bias against Costeñol by people who speak differently in other regions of Colombia, in a similar fashion to how people may have bias against AAVE (African American Vernacular English) or other dialects of English outside of “Standard American English” in the United States, but I think the way people speak on the coast, and specifically in Cartagena, is bien bacano (super cool) and worth learning, sharing, preserving and celebrating just like any other dialect.
The first notable thing about how people speak on the Caribbean coast is the speed. Not EVERYONE speaks super fast, and people generally don’t have a problem slowing down if you can’t understand them at their normal speed, but it's truly impressive how many words some people can fit in one breath! The coastal regions of Colombia (both the Caribbean and Pacific) are the areas with the largest Afro-Colombian populations, so I blended in easily in Cartagena. However, people could tell immediately that I was not from there when I spoke. I spoke at about the same speed I speak in English, a moderate speed in my opinion, but compared to most people there I spoke pausado, too leisurely, to be Cartagenera!
Costeñol is not only Spanish spoken quickly, it's a dialect that features an accent, words, expressions, slang, sounds, and gestures that are unique to the Coast. Using Costeñol is a very expressive way of speaking in my opinion because of these various elements; elements that vary from city to city, barrio to barrio, and person to person. In fact, the accent in Cartagena is very different from the accent in Barranquilla, a neighboring coastal city just 2 hours away.
In terms of how words are pronounced, speakers of costeñol in Cartagena are known for speaking golpeado (with force), and comiendo las letras (eating letters), as in dropping Ss and only softly pronouncing or completely dropping Rs as well. So people who speak heavy Costeñol will say what sounds like “Ca’tagena” rather than “Cartagena” with the aspirated pronunciation of the R. “Más o menos” (more or less) is pronounced as “máh o menoh” with the aspirated pronunciation of the S. In words that end in -ado the d is often omitted so “pescado” (fish) sounds like “pe’cao” with the aspiration of the S and loss of the D. Additionally, the word “para” is often shortened to “pá”, so I grew accustomed to saying things like “voy pá centro” or “voy pá la U”. Are you still with me? There's still more to cover!
La Popa
Cartageneros also use a lot of diminutives, as in -ito, -ita, -cito, -cita added to the end of words, for nouns, adjectives, adverbs and even peoples names. For example, avion becomes avioncito (plane. Side note: you should check out the song “Avioncito” by Giblack a popular champeta song in Cartagena), arepa becomes arepita (round corn cake eaten in Colombia, Venezuela, and other Central and South American countries), and despacio becomes despacito (slowly).
Another element of Costeñol is that people speak really informally with each other. The pronoun “tu” (you) is used when speaking with strangers and in formal situations rather than “usted”. I know I’ll have to review how to conjugate verbs for usted in the future, because I literally never used it in Cartagena. Additionally, people speak con cariño (affectionately) with everyone, not just their close family and friends. It's not uncommon for someone you’ve just met to refer to you as mi amor (my love), mi vida (my life), mi reina (my queen), corazón (heart), nena (baby), mija (my daughter). It's also not uncommon for people to call you as they see you, like flaca (skinny), gordo (fat), morena (brown-skinned), guapo (handsome), and they’re all terms of endearment.
Gestures and facial expressions also mean a thousand words in Costeñol. People tend to direct your attention to something by pointing using their lips rather than pointing with a finger (this is something that's common throughout the diaspora actually). A hand that looks like the person is miming honking a car horn a few quick times is a gesture people will do that means they want you to hang on and wait a second. Quickly squishing your nose and squinting your eyes simultaneously is a way to express that you didn’t understand what someone has said, and you want them to repeat or rephrase. Also swiping your pointer finger across your neck like you’re cutting along with a “cccck” sound effect is a classic way to say you’re in trouble or will be!
There is truly soooo much to Costeñol, and it was fascinating to learn more and more about it each day in Cartagena by watching, listening, trying the words and gestures out myself and asking a ton of questions. My roommates, students, and friends were so excited when I used Costeñol in the right context and also got a good laugh out of the moments when I didn’t! I had a blast learning about and living with this dialect in Cartagena. The way that Cartageneros and Costeños put together the different elements of the dialect to express themselves is always so dynamic and lively. I hope this breakdown was helpful to increase understanding of the very special dialect!
Barrio Bruselas
