Mexican Spanish vs Peruvian Spanish

When you step on Peruvian land, make sure you are prepared to learn to speak in Peruvian or your desire to have good communication (and at the same time really good friends) will be thwarted in the attempt. It'll be the funniest experience you'll ever remember. That's why I'm sharing 21 tips on peculiarities of Spanish in Peru.

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1. Peruvians (limeños) swear blind that Peruvian accent is the most neutral accent of Latin American Spanish:

Then when you hear "pijico, cujco, ajco" instead of "pisco, Cuzco, asco... Pero que chuuuca! " (fellow, Cuzco city, disgust.... what the ****! ) you'll be standing there in front of a Peruvian.

2. Ya, yaaa, yá, iaaa, ya! If you mean to keep an efficient communication, you'll learn that "ya" is a polysemic word. Don't beat yourself up if you come across any of the following situations:

Mexican: Buenas tardes (Good evening)

Peruvian: Ya (Hello yourself)

Mexican:(o. O)

Mx: Y entonces le dije a mi primo mañana vamos por unas chelas (So I told my cousin tomorrow we'll have a few brewskis)

Pe: Yaaa y qué fue? (Right and what happened? )

Mx: (x/)

Mx: Gracias (Thanks)

Pe: Iaaa

Mx: (-. -)

Mx: Vamos a Miraflores por un pisco (Let's go grab a pisco in Miraflores)

Pe: Ya! Te veo en 20 min (Yeah! See you in 20 minutes)

Mx: (; /)

3. "Mi pata del alma", forget about "compa, camarada, cuante", in Peru the closest you'll get to a real best mate will be this "pata".

4. The following point may sound a little harsh to Mexican readers... Pucha! . Indeed, in Mexico, "pucha" refers to female genitals, but fear not, it's not what you think it is in Peru.

Mx: Oye te veo para almorzar? (Listen, meet me for lunch? )

Pe: Pucha! Ya quedé con un pata de mi promoción de la escuela. (Cr**! I'm already meeting a friend from school. )

Mx: (u_u)

5. Manyas, alucina y qué chucha...

The preppy peruvian (limeño fresa) will commonly use these words, although you won't hear it from them exclusively.

Manyas: expression used to indicate that something is very cool, for example: "-En vacaciones me voy a Brasil -Ah! Qué manya" (I'm going on vacation to Brazil -Awesome! )... Or to indicate if you're able to locate or know something like: "manyas a Ricardo el pata del colombiano. " (you know Ricardo the best mate of the Colombian". )

Alucina: word used to say something like "can you believe it? "

Me tome como 7 shops (tarro de cerveza) ¡alucinaaaa! (I drank like 7 beer glasses that's crazy! )

Pero que chuucha me dices yo no fui a esa fiesta aburrida. (What the f*** are you saying I didn't go to this boring party. )

6. Whereas awesome, cool, great stuff is referred to as "chidas" in Mexico, Peruvians say bacán.

7. Gays will be called cabritas and lesbians will be your beloved lecas friends.

8. You will have to get used to going to the market and order "ají, culantro, choclo, frejol y paltao" instead of "chili, cilantro, corn, beans and avocado".

9. Educated, upper class kids are called pitucos, whose counterpart is "fresa" or "popis" in Mexican Spanish.

10. If anything annoys or bothers you deeply, you'll say "Me llega al pincho! " (Rip my **** off! )

"Esa tipa me llega al pincho! " (She really winds me up! )

11. Forget about lunches or cakes, even if it is right there in front of you. Peruvians will rather say "pan con pollo, pan con huevo, pan con tamal, pan con jodo (hot dog)".

12. "Chicharrones" will be anything which is fried.

13. Churrooo" A "churro" or "churra" is a smocking hot person which gives you chills.

14. When it comes to walking around the markets you'll likely hear "mamita, papito, caserito, caserita". Mexicans would say "güerito, güerita, marchanta".

15. "Pero que rico poto". When a Peruvian says it, they are referring to your booty.

16. Brichero, brichera. It is not unusual to call this way those Peruvians dating foreigners and seeking to fleeing the country with this kind of relationship.

17. Caleta is mostly used in the gay world and means a closeted guy.

18. Calato essentially means naked.

19. When you're giving direction to taxi drivers, make sure you'll use de frente, as saying derecho sounds weird.

20. Arrecho (horny), if a Peruvian find himself in this situation, get ready, you're about to have a very entertaining night. Well, he is excited.

21. The gravest insult, concha su mare, can also be find in Mexico as "chinga tu madre".

Something connects Latin America from North to South. This blessed language is shared and has adapted very well in every place where Spanish was accepted as a mother tongue. The extension of Spanish throughout America, often in combination with native languages, has resulted in an incredible diversity of Spanish, so we do love speaking it.

You'll always find something to talk about in Peru, when not about something very specific of your country, it'll be about anything else, like Chile or food, why not.

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