Les & Diana Morris

A rose by any other name would still smell as sweet … or so Shakespeare has told us. Yet, there are many interesting nuances in the rich definitions of words. Spanish / español is a language of verbs, where English is centered on nouns + adjectives + and especially prepositional phrases.  As Christians, we want to use words wisely and well. Our heart is to be able to communicate God’s love.  Often, we hear the quote, “Preach the gospel always and when necessary use words.” This quote is often attributed to Francis of Assisi, but its origin is actually unknown.  Of course, James 2: 14-18 says,

“What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if people claim to have faith but have no deeds? Can such faith save them?  Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.  If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?  In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.”

So often, God talks to us about what we say and how we say it. And yet, obviously, he is just as interested in what we do and how we live out our lives. Both are equally important.  Both go hand in hand. Words versus actions is not an either or choice.  They’re BOTH important and in many ways inseparable.  And so, here we are in our late 50’s learning another language, in order to to follow Him and live and share His words and His way of life.  It is for this reason that we have come to love a particular passage in the Spanish NVI Bible, which says in John 1: 1-2,

“En el principio ya existía el Verbo, y el Verbo estaba con Dios, y el Verbo era Dios. Él estaba con Dios en el principio.”

The Spanish text so beautifully illustrates God as an active living doing Word.  And all the verb tenses (existía, estaba, era, estaba) are a continuous ongoing past tense, once again showing that He Existed, He Was all the while showing that He Does Exist Today and He Is.

Words and verbs have become the focus of our lives, with the full hope and expectation that they will simply be one more tool to show the love of Christ and to speak His words.

All seriousness aside, we thought you migh enjoy having some fun looking at the following English/Spanish words!

Many Spanish words are the same or similar to English words.  It should be noted that some are only used in some Latin American countries (in our case Costa Rica). Some are pronounced the same, while others are pronounced very differently.  There are a whole host of other words that have the same root word as the English, but an entirely different meaning. Exercise extreme caution when thinking that words are the same just because they look or sound similar.  This can get you into a lot of trouble!  Following is just a tiny sampling.  There are actually hundreds of them!

Similar Words, Spelled the Same, Pronounced Slightly Differently

• animal (pronounced ah – nee – mahl)
• bus (pronounced boos)
• chocolate (pronounced choe – coh – lah – tay)
• color (pronounced co-lohr; but opposite English forms, if a letter ENDS in a consonant, you must add an ES for plural to form colores pronounced co-lohr-ace)
• director (pronounced dee-rake-tohr)
• doctor (NEVER pronounced like the English dahk – tohr; pronounced dohk-tohr – this is a dead give-away that you’re a Gringo!)
• error (pronounced eh roll your r’s-ohr)
• hospital (pronounced with a silent “h” ohs-pee-tal)

Then, there are words that vary from one latin american country to the next and in some cases (like in Costa Rica) sound completely like the English version.

Look Alike / Sound Alike

• Windows (as in MS Windows) is pronounced, well …  like Windows.
• In many neighboring countries, a computer mouse is what they call a mouse, so it’s a ráton. In Costa Rica, you guessed it, it’s a mouse!
• In Spanish, there is no “sh” sound, but they spell shampoo the same and pronounce it champoo.

So please bear with us when we have an extended visit with friends and family in December and January. We’re likely to talk a finely tuned form of Spanglish!

Finally, there are what are known as False Friends. These innocent words look like they could be one thing, when they’re really another word entirely different! Or, in Spanish they’re way to close to another Spanish word you don’t want to use.

• embarazada – no, it’s not embarrassed, it’s pregnant
• miedo (fear)- vs. mierda (sh*t)
• do say tengo calor when you’re sweating and it’s hot out. never say estoy caliente (I’m hot – 3 guesses why?!)
• compromiso means a promise, obligation, or commitment … not a compromise
• decepción means disappointment, not deception
• delito is not delightful, it means crime
• en absoluto – does not mean absolutely it means not at all

And so, I encourage all of our friends to leave comments with words they know that fit any of he above categories.  But PLEASE, only real words and no cheating using Google Translate!.  Just leave it as a comment and let’s see what you can come up with to share in the fun!