No menu items!

COSTA RICA'S LEADING ENGLISH LANGUAGE NEWSPAPER

HomeArchiveOfficial Spanish dictionary adds bagel, pretzel, van

Official Spanish dictionary adds bagel, pretzel, van

For a long time, Spanish-speakers struggled to describe “bagels” or “pretzels” to those who didn’t know the English word. Now, the task of describing the bread-based snacks just got easier.

The official Royal Spanish Academy dictionary will include several new “estadounidismos,” or words commonly spoken by Spanish speakers in the United States, according to El País.

The next edition of the dictionary will have the English terms bagel, pretzel, van, Latino, paralegal, email and phishing. (Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “phishing” as a scam by which an email user is duped into revealing personal or confidential information.)

Also, several Spanish cognates of English words will be added to the dictionary, including: billón (billion), trillón (trillion), rentar (rent), agencia (agency), podiatría (podiatry), departmento (department, as in State Department) and parada (parade).

With more than 55 million Hispanics living in the U.S., the academy thought it was important to recognize these words in the dictionry, Gerardo Piña-Rosales, president of the North American Academy of Spanish Language, told El País.

“They are Spanish terms that reflect the national character [in reference to the U.S.],” Piña-Rosales said. “These are forms of the language that Spanish speakers in the U.S. have become accustomed to.”

Piña-Rosales said it’s important to remember there exists a separate Spanish subculture in the U.S., just as there is in Mexico or Argentina. In Spain, if you say the word departamento instead of ministerio (ministry), nobody will know what that means. But in the U.S., departamento is a commonplace Spanish word, he said.

The Royal Spanish Academy tries to keep its finger on the pulse of contemporary language. In August, the academy decided to add the words tuitear (Twitter), tuit (tweet) and tuitero (Twitter user) to the dictionary – referencing the ubiquitous social media site, Twitter. Words like blog, libro electrónico (e-book) and tableta (tablet, as in electronic devices like the iPad) already are in the dictionary.

As El País stated in its article, soon phrases that seem like a bad translation of English will be accurate Spanish, such as: “He enviado un ‘email’ con una ‘aplicación’ para ‘rentar’ un piso frente a la tienda de ‘bagels’”.

Translation: “I sent an email with an application to rent a floor in front of the bagel shop.”

Trending Now

Costa Rica 2026 Elections Kick Off: 20 Candidates Vie for Presidency

Costa Rica's electoral season began yesterday with the Supreme Electoral Tribunal's official call for the 2026 national elections. Eugenia Zamora, the TSE president, described...

5 Top Costa Rican Restaurants on TripAdvisor’s Best List

Costa Rica's restaurants have landed spots on TripAdvisor's global list of top dining spots this year. Five local places made the cut in the...

Costa Rica Faces a Must-Win for a Place in 2026 World Cup

Costa Rica's national soccer team faces a defining stretch in their bid to reach the 2026 World Cup. With just two points from their...

Costa Rican Hotels Warn of Job Risks Amid Drop in Tourists

Hotels across Costa Rica face mounting pressures as tourist numbers dip and a sluggish dollar exchange rate eats into their earnings. From January to...

Costa Rica Police Investigate Buried Body as Possible Gringo Tico

Police in Costa Rica are checking if a body dug up from a farm belongs to Daniel Francisco Vargas Salas, a 71-year-old man locals...

Riu Guanacaste Hotel Reopens in Costa Rica After Renovation

The Riu Guanacaste hotel in Costa Rica has reopened after a complete renovation, welcoming guests back to its beachfront spot on Matapalo Beach. The...
spot_img
Costa Rica Coffee Maker Chorreador
Costa Rica Coffee Maker Chorreador
Costa Rica Travel Insurance
Costa Rica Rocking Chait
Costa Rica Travel

Latest News from Costa Rica