Parchitas and Even More! Additional Notes on Translating to/for Venezuelans
by Thomas Hansen & Gabriella Fangiat
We recently did a piece on the different slang and grammar of Venezuela—so important to helping the brand new homeless in our city (https://streetsense.substack.com/p/parchitas-and-more-translating-tofor).
This has prompted a lot of interest, and right out on the street people have stopped us to tell us more words, tell us different meanings for some of the words we mentioned, and to give us some ideas on what should be in a follow-up article.
Especially teachers of Spanish have mentioned the challenges of trying to understand words—and pronunciations—that are a little “different” from the Mexican Spanish they are used to hearing or the “general American” Spanish they learned through textbooks, videos, and many of their instructors.
Let’s look at some words and issues in Venezuelan Spanish.
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Parchitas means “popcorn,” true, but it does apparently have additional meanings… for example, it can mean “passion fruit.”
However, “parchitas” and “parchas” are also derogtory terms for gay men. Parcha can mean “f*g” and parchita then would mean a “sissy or smaller f*g.”
Are there lots of additional meanings for all the words in Spanish? Well, Venezuela is a big country—with a lot of speakers. Not all words have dirty meanings, of course. Think of English and how we have so many words that can be used to mean something else…
Remember, also, that the Spanish in that country is used by the over 28 million Venezuelans—with linguistic roots from Italian, French, native languages (e.g., Wayúu and Pemón) and others—Arabic for one.
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Venezuelans have quite a few words and phrases that are slang or idiomatic, some coming from Italian, some everyday casual utterances…
“Balurdo” just means idiot, probably from Italian “balordo.” “Josue es un balurdo notorio.” Josue is such an idiot you can’t miss it.
“Bolo” is slang for money… a bolívar meaning dollar there. It means something else also (hint: guys have one, girls don’t) so avoid saying it yourself.
“Chinazo” means something that has another meaning and should be avoided—so a good word to know for this article—and write those “double-entendres” down asap! Once you know a word means something else… simply avoid using it.
“Chulear” is used a couple of ways—meaning to rip off somebody or to make fun of them. Giving somebody a hard time is another use. Avoid this term, because it is used sometimes as an off-colored euphemism for another verb that is very similar.
“Coronar” can mean to get lucky—getting a good deal or getting somebody into bed. However, it can also mean something a little stronger: to score or conquer sexually. To be avoided, though some native speakers use it a lot when talking about free dinners or coupons, etc.
“¡Está pelú’o!” means something is very difficult. It has nothing to do with hair.
“Gafo” means fool or idiot. Maybe from Italian “cafone” meaning slow or dense.
“Mango bajito” is of course simply a good deal, within reach, that you cannot pass up. Free dinners at the church one block away! ¡Que mango bajito!
“Marico” means male buddy for some speakers, and “marica” female buddy. However, “marica” also means a gay person… so even if native speakers use it, avoid it, lest you be misunderstood. Using “marica” is similar to saying, “Hey girl!” in English.
“Palo” can be an intensifier, as in “un palo de dinero.” This means a whole lot of money. Also, you will hear “un palo de hombre,” meaning he is a super good guy who is generous with others.
“Pavo/a” can mean dressed up or even overdressed. Refers to Sunday best, also, as in “Tengo que vestirme de pavo pa’ ese meeting?”
“Recoger los macundales” means to pick up and leave. You will hear this a lot—many Venezuelans having simply fled their country. High costs, lots of chaos, and a great deal of frustration have driven many people out of their homes—where they could no longer afford to pay for even basic needs—and onto the journey bringing them here.
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A lot of times you will hear some words that constitute “chinazos” and you can overlook them in translating. Avoid using those words yourself, however, because “better safe than sorry” when you are acting as interpreter.
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Pronunciation in Venezuela is also interesting to consider. Remember that in the US, people from Boston and Chicago and Atlanta and Seattle are all going to sound different. Some will sound extremely different, and others just a bit.
That is the case in Spanish also, in Venezuela. People from Caracas will perhaps sound different from small-village speakers from near Maracaibo and from the border with Colombia. People from the Andes region are said to have a very different “kind” of Spanish and “sound weird” (said one friend). This may be partly because the speakers might speak an indigenous language as their first tongue and not much Spanish.
(Note, Gabriella is from Caracas and admits sometimes when she hears people speaking she has trouble understanding and is not even sure they are Venezuelan until they mention it…)
A common pronunciation note to consider is that you will notice a “sing-songy” rhythm to the Spanish, not a very technical explanation but nonetheless a description often used. Italian contributed to the way modern Venezuelan Spanish sounds. There are books about this.
Interesting to read about is the Italians who went to Venezuela in more than one wave. The country’s name itself references “Venice!” (Italians in Venezuela – The Italian Diaspora in South America (dickinson.edu))
You may hear some speakers sounding almost Puerto Rican as they say something like “eh-to” instead of “es-to” for “esto” and “Dioh” instead of “Dios.” This is common for some Venezuelans—not all.
We mentioned some other differences in our first piece. Note another one, a difference from many other dialects of Spanish: There is the tendency for syllable-final N to sound almost nasal (as happens in French and Portuguese) so that cantan and comprenden become something like “cantang” and “comprendeng.”
For translators and teachers who are speakers of Castillian Spanish you will note that such differences between callo and cayo are simply the same sound in Venezuelan: “cayo.” Also, there is no distinction made between the sounds in zapato and saltando. Both s and z sound like “s” as in most American Spanish dialects.
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In our first piece we mentioned some grammatical differences in Spanish. For example, Venezuelans use “ico” and “ica” for diminuitives. So they say “momentico” for just a minute, or hold on.
There are some other interesting grammatical points. However, the majority of Venezuelan speakers seem to speak a clear and comprehensible Spanish close to that of the textbooks. Many people who have been translating for and with them have mentioned that.
Grammatically many, many speakers use “vos” verb forms for the singular instead of tú—but NOT vosotros for the plural. They understand “tú” forms, of course, so there is no problem if you use it. Be prepared for them to continue using “vos” throughout a conversation.
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Our thanks go out to all of the people out there on the street who are helping the Venezuelans communicate and find what they need. I often mention to them they are lucky they are in a city with not only so very many speakers of Spanish, but also so very many people who wish to help and who give their valuable time to do so.
Thank you, language teachers, volunteers, students, social workers, street helpers and advocates and counselors and professors and grass-roots organizers! As always, your hard work helping those in need will pay off!