Reason #7 why Colombia is awesome: Spanish
Barranquilla — By Ryan on April 30, 2010 4:18 amA perfect language for a culture that is so vibrant, genuine and expressive as this. The one thing I’ve taken notice of as I travel around is how dull English, or at least North American English really is. Practical yes, easy for people to pick up and learn, yes but romantic? Sensual? Beautiful? Not in the least when put up against some of these other languages. Especially the South American spanish, which as I understand it, much like Brazilian Portuguese compared to traditional Portuguese, takes the language to new heights of sexiness.
I was hanging out with some people from my gym last night just talking about simple things like names and how they’ve got us Western English folk beat. We have names like Ryan, Jack, Jon, Nancy, Joanne, Bob. Our names, apart from meaning absolutely nothing, just sound like we are blurting out sounds, there is nothing put into them, no particular annunciations that make them sound like anything but a blurted out collection of syllables.
Spanish names however, like Samuel, Milaina, Orlando, Ganzalo, Arlai, Sophia, Karina, Erwin, Andres, or Carmen all just dance off your tongue when you say them as they were meant to be said with that sensual flow that makes your tongue dance with rolling R’s and elongated vowels. It’s really those rrrrrrr’s that spice it up so much. It’s fitting for a culture that embraces and celebrates the dance and music to make their language such a sensual melody that dances out of your mouth.
Tags: awesome, colombia, language, names, reason, spanish
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5 Comments
LOL! Thanks for the compliments to Spanish
I’m Venezuelan, and most people in lower middle/poor classes tend to prefer foreign sounds, so we have extreme clases like Usnavy (pronounced Oos-nah-vee), or combinations of parents’ and grand-parents’ names. In my videogames course, my students usually resort to English to name their projects, something that I recommended them not to do, or at least try to think up names in Spanish too.
Guess sometimes the grass is greener on the other side, eh?
Well I suppose it might depend on the situation.. When you are whispering in a beautiful woman’s ear Spanish fTW. When you are discussing Video Game methodology, and technical details, maybe english might work. However when you are getting your arse kicking in a video game and you want to express your frustration, man oh man, nothing beats Spanish. My room mate is Venezuelan and listening to him loose at PES 2009 just makes my day. Que PUNTA… STUPIDO!!!!
OMGG !!! i am from Colombia & i love this article/// you are totally right ! I am so glad an american gets this part about Spanish as a language .. translation isnt enough is the way you say things that makes the difference ..english is so practical … but when comes about expressing your feelings .. how happy you are .. THERE AREN’T ENOUGH WORDS !!! like ..consentido .. you will say spoiled in english i guess but is the real meaning is wayyy different in spanish !!
and about the names your are right again !!!
When i came to the states I wondered why you call someone Alex or Lily .. Or Jeff ….i mean ..You will b called like that your whole life … do those names say anything special to you ??? NO!!
at least not to me
you know people in Colombia is always very worried about the names meaning .. because “CON LA IMPORTANCIA QUE ESCOJAS EL NOMBRE DE TU HIJO ASI DE IMPORTANTE SERA EL EN LA VIDA”
Well sorry to disappoint but I am a Canadian, not American
Although I am living in the USA now.