Peru

[Psyonide]

I'm going to live in Peru next year to help out in an orphanage in Lima. I was wondering if anyone knew any important or interesting facts about Peru, and if there are any major changes in pronunciation or dialect to Castillian Spanish which I learn at school.

[Rusty]

All Spanish is Castillian Spanish. El castellano is one of the two official names of the Spanish language (español is the other one).

Your other thread lets on that you're from England. I'm guessing that the Spanish taught in the UK is probably peninsular Spanish (the Spanish spoken in Spain). This means that you were probably taught the second-person plural (vosotros) conjugation for verbs. This is only used in Spain in everyday speech. In Latin America, the third-person plural (ustedes) is used instead.

The Peruvians don't pronounce the 's', 'c' and 'z' differently. These three letters all sound like the 's'. They may pronounce the 'll' differently, but I'm not certain. They apparently don't drop a lot of letters like people in other countries do.

As far as vocabulary, every country has its own repertoire. There will be different words for some vegetables, fruits and foods. And it doesn't stop there. I'll let others who have been there give their observations.

[poli]

Peruvian accents are often stecatto, and I find Peruvian Spanish easier to
understand than most. Native American culture is very strong. If you go to the mountains away from Lima, Quechua is often spoken instead of Spanish. Many things are purple in Peru like corn and potatoes and just about everything else. Peru is not a wealthy nation, but, like Mexico, has an imperial past. The loss of the ancient Inca empire, and Pizarro's conquest loom large. Peruvian food has a deservedly good reputation and often with some Chinese influence. Afro-Peruvian music is wonderful and unlike music elsewhere. It never rains in Lima, but like many parts of the Pacific coast, it gets fogged in. Although much the country is located near the equator, a lot of the country has a cool climate either because of cooling water currents or high altitudes.

Avocados are paltas and they sometimes have a purplish/brow shade. Tio which in Spain means bloke, in Peru means old man.

[chileno]

Originally Posted by poli

Peruvian accents are often stecatto, and I find Peruvian Spanish easier to
understand than most. Native American culture is very strong. If you go to the mountains away from Lima, Quechua is often spoken instead of Spanish. Many things are purple in Peru like corn and potatoes and just about everything else. Peru is not a wealthy nation, but, like Mexico, has an imperial past. The loss of the ancient Inca empire, and Pizarro's conquest loom large. Peruvian food has a deservedly good reputation and often with some Chinese influence. Afro-Peruvian music is wonderful and unlike music elsewhere. It never rains in Lima, but like many parts of the Pacific coast, it gets fogged in. Although much the country is located near the equator, a lot of the country has a cool climate either because of cooling water currents or high altitudes.

Avocados are paltas and they sometimes have a purplish/brow shade. Tio which in Spain means bloke, in Peru means old man.

All good, except the Chinese influence, it should be Japanese as far as I know.

[poli]

Originally Posted by chileno

All good, except the Chinese influence, it should be Japanese as far as I know.

Japanese too, but foodwise fried rice and panfried noodles are popular at restuarants called chifas. Even in metro NYC there are chifas that specialize in comida china/peruana.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

@Hernán: Playing the enfant terrible again?
Ex-president and his daughter are not cooks.

[poli]

Originally Posted by AngelicaDeAlquezar

@Hernán: Playing the enfant terrible again?
Ex-president and his daughter are not cooks.

cooks no
crooks yes

[Don José]

Vargas Llosa, who won a Nobel Prize in literature last year, was born there.

I think you can learn some "peruvian words" in some of his works. I would recommend Pantaleón y las visitadoras and La tía Julia y el escribidor, as they are set in Peru. I think Los cachorros and Los jefes too.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Mario Vargas Llosa is hardly a "localist" for vocabulary, and the country has changed a lot since he wrote those novels, but it's indeed an enriching reading.

@Psyonide: We all speak some standard Spanish, but of course every country have their own colloquial words and expressions.
You can take a look at some Peruvian media, like:
El Comercio (newspaper)
La República (newspaper)
or
TV Peruana
Televisión Peruana
Radios del Perú


@Poli: Absolutely.

[chileno]

Originally Posted by poli

Japanese too, but foodwise fried rice and panfried noodles are popular at restuarants called chifas. Even in metro NYC there are chifas that specialize in comida china/peruana.

Originally Posted by AngelicaDeAlquezar

@Hernán: Playing the enfant terrible again?
Ex-president and his daughter are not cooks.

OK, I did not read well about the food influence...

Originally Posted by poli

cooks no
crooks yes

That's for sure.

[Don José]

Originally Posted by AngelicaDeAlquezar

Mario Vargas Llosa is hardly a "localist" for vocabulary, and the country has changed a lot since he wrote those novels, but it's indeed an enriching reading.

Just from the first half page, chapter 1, Los cachorros:

Apareció una mañana, a la bara de la formación, de la mano de su papá...

y en la clase el Hermano Leoncio lo sentó atrás, con nosotros, en esa carpeta vacía,
(In Spain, carpeta=folder)?

Era chanconcito

Qué trome

Él se lustraba las uñas enla solapa del saco
(Nobody wears a "saco" here)

loquibambio

nos convidaba chupetes, ricacho, tofis



They may be old words, they may be found in different countries, but for somebody who has learnt the Spanish spoken in Spain, they sound like:

Searching in Google, "chanconcito" and "trome" are used nowdays in Peru. I haven't looked the others. I would say words like those are frecuent in the novels or tales set in Peru. But I'm not going to do a research on every word he uses.

I agree that reading or listening the media is the best choice.

[aleCcowaN]

Originally Posted by poli

cooks no
crooks yes

To practise Spanish it is very interesting reading Sinlogismos from Peruvian writer Sofocleto, which includes a very applicable one that says "en política siempre se corre el riesgo de pertenecer a las mayorías".

Those who go to Peru should be aware of the little availability of hot water. You may find bathrooms with Italian marble but lacking hot water and long showers using 60 or 80 gallons might be considered sort of a "criminal waste" of both water and fuel.