Spanish speakers - Yikes!

I don't know if there are any direct equivalents, but I know some...exclaimations, I guess they'd be called.

"cielos!" is "heavens"

"dios mio" "por dios" "dios" are all like "God!" or "goodness!"

"que lastima" is "what a shame"

"que miercoles" is...well, literally it's a reference to wednesday, but it's kind of like talking about "the mondays" in English. I think it's country specific, but I can't remember exactly

people say stuff like "cool" and "wow" too

"que desastre" is "what a disaster"

"que molesta/o" (i can't remember if the a/o matters) is "how annoying"

"basta" is "enough" and you can say "ya basta" or "basta ya" meaning "enough already"

there's also "mierda" meaning "sh*t" but that might be more explicit than you want...I'm not really sure how that word is view in spanish countries. people i talk to use it and worse words, but they're all high school/college kids so it's different.

i hope I helped some. you can try searching some of the words on google and stuff and maybe you'll find some others ones. i'm sure there are lots more.

buena suerte!

reenkam said:

"que miercoles" is...well, literally it's a reference to wednesday, but it's kind of like talking about "the mondays" in English. I think it's country specific, but I can't remember exactly

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Saying Miercoles! in Spanish is like saying Sugar! in English... it's a euphemism for mierda - shit. At least thats how I know it from Argentina.
What's "the Mondays"? Never heard that before.

In Sevilla they say, "Que guay" all the time--"how cool."

I went to high school with a classmate from Mexico City. She'd say "Ay, No!" a lot, and the teachers would get confused and say, "You know? But we haven't taught this yet." Of course, she was responding to homework assignments, I think!

What about "Ay! carumba!"? Or is that just something that Bart Simpson says?

Penguin Queen said:

Saying Miercoles! in Spanish is like saying Sugar! in English... it's a euphemism for mierda - shit. At least thats how I know it from Argentina.
What's "the Mondays"? Never heard that before.

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Hmm, maybe it's a country difference. I actually hadn't heard it before but someone told me it was referencing wednesday as like an annoying day of the week, so que miercoles was like saying something was annoying, or boring, or you wish it didn't happen. something like that. he likened it to when people in the US say "a case of the mondays" as in it's something you don't really want to happen, or you're annoyed because it's monday and you don't want to go to work/school and you'd rather that the weekend keep going.

The person that told me (my teacher actually) was from Spain, but I don't think he said it was a Spain-Spanish thing. I don't know. It does still kind of make sense with the whole Sugar! thing, though. In a way.

Ah, re Mondays.

Another Argentinean friend of mine says, as an exclamation when much astonished or aghast, Díos mío de mi vida! - "Oh my god" kinda thing.

About the Wednesday thing, it's like saying Shyte/Shoot in English. (Miércoles=Wendsday, Mierda_Sh!t)

You can also use Carajo, that doesn't have an analogue in English but is used in the next context:

¡Carajo, se murió el Sr. Morón! (Damn, Mr. Morón has died!)

¿Qué carajos haces aquí? (What the f***/hell are you doing here?)

¡Vuelvan, Carajos! (Come back, bastards!)

Here is the article from Wikipedia:

Carajo means c**k in Spain, although it might also mean a small cup of coffee, or the crow's nest, the topmost part of the mast of a ship. In Latin America, carajo is a very common interjection that can be translated to "f**k!" or "s**t!", as Nos vamos a morir, ¡carajo! ("We're gonna die, f**k!") or a far away place, likened to hell: ¡Vete al carajo!. The diminutive, carajito, is used in the Dominican Republic and Venezuela to refer to (usually annoying) children, or to scold a person for acting immaturely, e.g. No actúes como un carajito ("Don't act like a brat!"). Caray is an inoffensive minced oath for this word. Ay caray could be translated "Dang it" or "Darn it!" The connotation of "far away place" is reportedly based on the name of the Cargados Carajos, which belong to Mauritius. Unofficial odes to both Cuba and Peru are common utterances in both countries: ¡Viva Cuba, carajo! and ¡Viva el Perú, carajo!




Actually, Caramba is an euphenism for Carajo. Carajo is literally translated as Crow's nest/Penis

"Dios Mio" is a good one, and used pretty much everywhere. It's the equivalent of us saying "good grief" or "oh, my god".

However, if you want something a little different, then there is my favorite: "Chispas".

"Chispas" is spanish for "sparks", but it can be used as a mild exclamation, like in the sentence: "Chispas, no sabía eso" (------, I didn't know that).

I'm not sure how widely the word is used, but I know it's commonplace in Peru and Chile. It'll add a bit more regional flavor than "dios mio", but it's less likely that the average person will know it. Personally, I like it a bit more because it doesn't have a direct English translation, which makes it feel a bit more authentic.

Hope this helps

A lot of this stuff is regional as well. Even in Mexico things like that differ from region to region. In Guadalajara, my family say things like cafe con mocos to avoid saying bull*%$, but my grandmother in Cozumel would call me vulgar for ever saying anything like that. Pisado means stepped on to everyone in Guadalajara, call someone pisado in the Yucatan and it's very very bad. If you need anything from either of those regions, though, I can probably give you a hand.

You do need to check the geographic setting in your book/ WIP for the terms.
For Mexico: Caray and Hijoles both are non curse words expressing suprise or frustration. Dios Mio is good for surprise. The funny thing about Caramba is that in 30 years interpreting and living in South and Central America, I have never heard it said by a non English speaker..

Well, above all,have fun with this. Are you planning on self publishing this or have you been contracted by a publisher for this book?

talkwrite said:

The funny thing about Caramba is that in 30 years interpreting and living in South and Central America, I have never heard it said by a non English speaker..

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I had someone yell 'Ay, caramba' at me from a truck last week as I jogged by.

From my husband, a Mexican:

pa'su mecha = like Holy Sh¡t but not as bad

ay, cabron = you f*cker but not as bad (we have a theme here)

Ostras! - is the expression a 10-year-old would use in this case. It means just that - Crikey! Blimey! Gee Whizz! (with an upside-down exclamation mark at the beginning - sorry - can't find out how to do that here)

Caramba! is popular but almost getting a little antiquated (in Castellano, that is). Where's your character from? Latin American Spanish is worlds apart from Spain! It's an expression of surprise, though - wouldn't suit your needs here.

'Jeez Louise, just leave her alone, will ya?' = Oye, dejala ya, quieres?
(Oye - to us meaning simply 'Listen', is used in a different way in Spanish and generally comes out more like 'For goodness' sake') I would definitely go with this - it's the most direct translation that suits the tone.

Symphony
(feel free to PM me with any other queries. I'm bilingual - no problem translating for you, unless your character is South American)
xx

Symphony said:

Oye, dejala ya, quieres?
(Oye - to us meaning simply 'Listen', is used in a different way in Spanish and generally comes out more like 'For goodness' sake') I would definitely go with this - it's the most direct translation that suits the tone.

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I hear that ALL the time here! Good suggestion.

Nope, she was correct. Estaba muerto, as in, I looked in the car and he was dead. That's how you'd say it in English, but you could pick that apart as well and say, what, he's not dead anymore? But grammatically speaking, estaba muerto is right.

Kathie Freeman said:

The character is a 10-year-old boy who is trying to get his little sister to stop harassing a cat that is hiding out under the front seat of a jeep. As in "Jeez Louise, just leave her alone, willya?"

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¡Basta!, dejála ya porfa

or if he is a Mexican I recomend to use Hijole or Orale

maxmordon said:

or if he is a Mexican I recomend to use Hijole or Orale

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Yes, also hear those ALL the time! We've already taugth our 2-year old nephew Orale.

Actually, it would be, era doctor or fue doctor. Estuvo would be, cuando estuvo en la escuela or cuando estuvo en ese lugar. When he was in school or when he was in that place.

estuvo is when it's in the past, but finished. estaba is on going from the past. When you die it's not like you die and come back. You die and it keeps going from the past, so it's estaba. It's kind of confusing if you're going from English because it seems like someone should just die and that's it, but if you look from the spanish side it makes sense that it never stopped.