This April on Quiet Laughter it's all about Curaçao. More specifically, the vocabulary of Curaçao.
You may or may not know that Curaçao has its own language. Papiamentu. It's not a dialect but a language in its own right, and if you're going to spend any amount of time in Curaçao and expect it to be a happy time, you best get that straight.
But no, my A-to-Z series this year isn't a crash-course on Papiamentu (you can actually find those online). Instead, I've picked some of the most unique, most representative expressions that people use here... Things like dushi (which we've talked about before) or the confusion with the two meanings of sushi. The posts will be short and sweet, mostly, and will come with photographs... You see, like most languages, Papiamentu has a distinctive place-sourced feel to it. At least to me it does. More than teaching you a new word, I'd like to open a window, maybe even--if both you and I get lucky--a door, even for just a moment, to the world where the soul of these words resides.
I'm looking forward to it. I hope you are, too.
Quiet Laughter. Musings and stories on blurred cultural boundaries.
What a fun theme you picked... I know nothing about Curaçao, so I'm looking forward to learning through your blog!
ReplyDeleteI'm, The Chinese Quest, is participating in our first #AtoZChallenge. I hope you like Chinese food and will want to come and check us out. The best thing is that an hour later you'll want to come back and read another article!! ;)
Cool! I'll look forward to "showing" you Curaçao as best I can :) And I loooove Chinese food! Look forward to your April posts, Lonnie.
DeleteSounds great Guille I'm looking forward to it!
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear it, Susan! And I'll be looking forward to your visits--and to your own posts :)
DeleteA very specific, but an intriguing theme. I certainly didn't know that about Curaçao!
ReplyDeleteBest wishes for a great A-Z,
Nilanjana.
Madly-in-Verse
Thanks, Nilanjana! You're not alone... I didn't know Curaçao even existed before coming here, haha. But it's a wonderful place, so rich in cultural diversity... A micro-cosmos of sorts, and I love it. I'm glad I get to share that love with newcomers like you :)
DeleteHi Guilie ... sounds sort of along the lines I'm doing .. but I'm broadening mine a bit - so I shall look forward to your Papiamentu ... loved your A-Z last year .. cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteSo cool, Hilary! I'm off to catch up with your blog now, but not before saying thank you for the visit and for your continued appreciation of these ramblings of mine :) I love that we've managed to stay (somewhat--my fault) in touch.
DeleteHi Guilie, Thanks for visiting my theme reveal on Sue’s Trifles and leaving a favourable comment. Your theme looks fascinating. Languages are one of my interests. Sue
ReplyDeleteThanks for dropping by, Sue! I'm looking forward to your posts this April :)
DeleteI love learning new languages, Guilie! Being a native English speaker, the strangest class I ever took was a Russian language course that was taught in German. And then there was the Fresh professor that said I was speaking with a Spanish accent (and I'd never taken Spanish at that time)! Looking forward!
ReplyDeleteLearning Russian in German--wow! We were in India a few years ago and bought a Kannada phrase book -- but realized the explanations were in Hindi only after, haha. We kept it, of course... It's possibly the best souvenir of our trip :D
DeleteSounds a great idea :)
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting theme. 2 of my cousins recently moved to Curacao. I look forward to your posts in April to dazzle them with my knowledge of Papiamentu. Cheers!
ReplyDelete*Shantala @ ShanayaTales*
Found your blog via the A-Z list and I'm so excited to keep up with it! I'm a speech-language pathology major, so language stuff always really interests me, plus I've actually been to Curaçao but to scuba dive so I was away from locals and don't know anything about their language.
ReplyDelete