I’m working on a children’s book that takes place on the U.S./Mexico border. The author’s scattered a few words of Spanish in the book. Since she works with Mexican children, it’s extremely likely that I can trust her Spanish, but it’s my job to check these things, and it would kind of insulting to the readers to get it wrong. I don’t speak a word of Spanish. I have a dictionary, but I know the language has some variations from country to country. These are the terms she’s used:
mija=the affectionate name a mother calls her daughter
mijita=another endearment for the daughter
colonia=village where the girl’s grandmother lives in Mexico
está bien=that’s fine
Feliz Navidad=merry Christmas
camión=bus
luminarios=candles inside paper bags with sand
niñita=grandmother’s endearment for a little girl
pobrecita=poor little girl
carne seca=a stew of shredded dried meat
camote=candied yam
Most of them seem pretty standard, but mija, colonia, and camote, aren’t in my dictionary, and the dictionary has luminaria. I’d appreciate any input from someone who knows what they’re talking about. Thanks.
Mija is also used more generally. It’s a contraction of sorts for ‘mi hija’ or ‘my daughter.’ I’ve heard the word used in the work place by an older woman who was the supervisor of a young woman.
The -ita suffix (or -ito for masculine words) is a way of showing affection or it can mean a little thing. Pablo is a name and Pablito is the familiar name, like John and Johnny. Perro is dog and perrito is a little dog. Like dog and doggy.
Caminon is bus. Autobus (with an accent over the second u) is another word for bus. Each word is more common in different Spanish speaking countries and, indeed, in different parts of Mexico. This is similar to truck in the U.S. and lorry in the U.K.
Pobrecita is “poor baby.” It’s used to comfort a child or to make fun of an adult. Picture and adult whining about something mundane and you responding, “pooooor baby.”
Camión is generally the word for truck, but is also used to refer to city bus. Autobús refers to “bus” in the sense of intercity transport, along the lines of Greyhound.
Thank you all very much. I feel much more confident about it now. (And I don’t know why I thought colonia isn’t in my dictionary. It is, I just missed it. The first definition I saw was cologne, and I guess I skipped over the other definition.)
In west Texas (Alpine, Marfa, Presidio, Terlingua), I also heard “mija” used frequently as an affectionate form of address from any older hispanic woman to any younger hispanic woman.
“Está bueno”, pronounced more like " 'tá-wueno ", is more common than “está bien”. It’s also used as an equivalent for something like “It’s all good!” Or as a general response for “Qué pasa?”
“Te Watcho” (phon.) is also common along the Texas-Mexico border for “See (Watch) you later!”
“Abuelita” as a form of respectful address for your grandmother isn’t just nice–it’s the norm. To not address one’s grandmother as such is a subtle insult.
There are also padrinos along the border, but they probably wouldn’t be characters in a kid’s book. I’m also guessing that you don’t need any curse words.
Buen suerte!
Pantellerite
10-year recent resident of the Texas-Mexico frontera, from a long line of family from La Valle.
and so on. These constructions seem to be more common in the Río Grande valley (actually a delta, the geologist in me has to always add) than elsewhere along the Texas border, I’ve found.
Oh: also, I don’t know about other parts of la frontera, but in Tamaulipas and that area, Enchiladas are served rolled, like you’re probably used to, but along the borders of Chihuahua and Coahuila (esp. on the Texas side), they are frequently served flat, sometimes montadas (“mounted”: flat with a fried egg on top).
You know, in case the grandma is from Ojinaga and makes the kids some enchiladas.
Sorry about nitpicking Pantellerite, but the terms you mentioned are not Spanish words, they are spanglish that are only used along the border and by chicano’s, as you stated, but they are not common usage outside the area you mention. If Alto’s book is intended for children of immigrants that did not live along the border, or are not “chicano” these would not make any sense to them.
Aside: There is much discussion about Spanglish’s status as a language. I’m on the side that states Spanglish is not a language, but an adapted form of mixed English and Spanish used by migrants to the US without a definate grammar, set vocabulary or definate spelling for the appropriated words. Nevertheless, Ilan Stavans, an author, decided to translate Don Quijote into Spanglish in an (feeble) attempt to prove its status as a language.
A makeshift dictionary of spanglish terms can be found here . An excerpt from the Don Quijote spanglish translation, by Ilan Stavans can be found here
luminarios=candles inside paper bags with sand
This must be regional, I never heard it before in Mexico City, but it sounds OK, since it is related to light.
During Christmas in El Paso TX you cannot escape these things. They sprout on sidewalks and driveways. They run around the mountain on Scenic Drive. They circle churches holding Midnight Mass. Rich neighborhoods, poor neighborhoods, it doesn’t matter. They’re everywhere.
I once thought luinarios were New Mexican, but when you go north those same sacks of sand and candles become farolitos.
Stews made of shredded dried beef are actually fairly widespread in Latin America. Here in Panama (also in the Caribbean) the local variety is known as ropa vieja (“old clothes”).
Exactly correct. I started longing for the border and got carried away! Ah… it was like when I was taking my final oral exam for second-year (college) Spanish. The professor tells me: “John, you speak excellent street Spanish… but this is not a class in street Spanish.” I get a “C” on the final.
Pantellerite, another thing Spanglish has against become a language is that it varies from place to place. The Spanglish used by immigrants in New York is not necessary the same Spanglish used by immigrants near the Mexican border.
OK . .I think most of the OP has been answered, but I just couldn’t resist adding some comments:
Correct in the inproper way. The correct way is “Mi hija” (my daughter). Usually, in the Chicano community it is spelled as “mi 'ja” or “mi 'jita” to indicate that there are letters missing and denote shortening of the word. It is usually done in such words as “Para aca” is shortened to “Pa’ ca” like in “no tengas miedo mamacita, vente pa’ca.”
Not exactly. In Mexico, at least in northern Mexico, “colonia” refers to the middle to uppler middle class neighborhoods such as in the US we speak of the “suburbs.” Usually the poorer neighborhoods are referred as “barrios.” Also, “colonia” in South Texas refers to “rural unincorporated subdivisions” where low income farmworkers/workers live. Fore more info click
[/QUOTE] TDHCA. For what you are referring, we are talking about “un pueblito”, “rancho”, or “ejido”. These refer to rural towns or ranch collectives.
Very regional. Here in South Texas we just speak of “velas” and for Mass we use “veladoras” (votive candles).
And in proper context, it can also be used for an older woman such as in “pobrecita, quebro con su novio.”
It’s just dried meat. In Northern Mexico, or at least in Tamaulipas and South Texas, dried meat is cooked with eggs to give you “machacado con huevos” or “machaca con huevo”.
xicanorex, the grandmother in question lives in a small, dark house with no electricity, on the top of a hill, surrounded by shacks. She has an icebox for which ice is delivered every other day. Her daughter helps support her with money from a job in a hotel bathroom in California. I’m not sure at what point middle class could be said to begin. Do you think* colonia* would be inappropiate?
I was going to say, do you think we can get away with mija without the apostrophe? We want to be correct, but I don’t want the author to think I’m being pedantic.
Well, if you are talking about the U.S. California . .well . .that ain’t middle class by any stretch of the imagination (even my Mexico standards). So, yes, the grandmother is very low-income/poor. Now, the word issue is this.: Is “colonia” used in California based on the definition/descritpion on the link I cited earlier? From a Texas p.o.v., “colonia” is fine.
In most Mexican cities colonia is an official designation for a neighborhood, used in mailing addresses and any time you give your address to anyone else… akin to giving your address as “5400 North Sheridan, Edgewater Neigbhorhood, Chicago, IL”.
Obviously this will lead to class distinctions, but, at least on this side of the border, generally everyone who lives in a municipal setting lives in a colonia.
Since it’s not proper grammar or “official” grammar, I have seen it spelled mija, mi ja, mi’ja, and mi 'ja. I did a quick Google, and found more hits for mi’ja and mi 'ja. So o o o, I guess the preferred spelling is mi’ja or mi 'ja.
