Colombia, a country with its own unique jargon.
Learning Spanish with Slang
Parlache is a form of slang that originated in Medellín around the end of the 80s. It’s directly influenced by the Spanish paisa typical of the marginal areas of the city. In the beginning, it was used by young people who came to the area with their parents who were in search of new opportunities. Currently, parlache is characterized by being a slang mostly used by the youth and it is also present in coffee culture cities like Pereira, Armenia and Manizales.
Besides being a form of Colombian slang, parlache has words whose etymology is impossible to trace. They are original and belong solely to this form of Colombian slang. Words like parce or parcero (friend), melo (to be well), nea (someone with a bad appearance), parche (group of friends), are 100% unique to parlache and in turn, Colombian Spanish.
Parlache also has over 2000 words that are officially recognized by the Real Academia Española. They have their own dictionary and professionals from the Universidad de Antioquia and Medellín who constantly seek to update the dictionary. Because parlache, is part of a living language, it is constantly changing. It has its own expressions, nouns, verbs, and adjectives that acquired their meaning through resemantization (words that adopt new definitions) or completely new words, as well as the revitalization of others (words that were not used much and that parlache brought back).
When learning Spanish, some useful expressions to remember are: ¡Qué caja! (what a laugh), qué va, malparido (someone annoying), and dar piso (kill someone). Verbs like: chimbiar (to annoy), patrasiar (to regret something), gurrear (to flirt with a gurre). Some adjectives: guisa/o (ordinary person), gurre (unattractive person), calidoso (person good at something). And lastly nouns: firma (the boss), gasimba (soda), mecha (clothes).
Young people and even people in their 30s, 40s, and 50s, use parlache slang daily, despite the fact that it originates from areas of Medellín where there was a massive gang and drug trafficking presence. Many of these words are used by people who do not even know the origin thanks to the role of social networks and television where expressions and vocabulary from parlache have been used and modernized.
When learning Spanish at Mr. Fox Spanish School, you will learn parlache slang terms which is another excellent reason to choose us to learn the Spanish language. With Mr. Fox you not only learn formal Spanish and different expressions to establish conversations with strangers, but also the frescas and relajadas ways to speak as well.
About Mr. Fox
Mr. Fox Spanish School is a space created and developed by native Spanish language professors directly from the heart of the Colombian coffee region: the city of Pereira. All of our teachers are university graduates who are qualified and experienced in teaching the Spanish language and are ready to help you to achieve your language learning goals and learning objectives.US Homebuilding — The Pandemic’s Effect on the Industry
