{"id":10114,"date":"2016-09-28T08:00:09","date_gmt":"2016-09-28T12:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/?p=10114"},"modified":"2016-09-28T08:31:43","modified_gmt":"2016-09-28T12:31:43","slug":"paisa-pues-how-to-speak-spanish-like-pablo-escobar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/paisa-pues-how-to-speak-spanish-like-pablo-escobar\/","title":{"rendered":"Paisa Pues<\/i>: How to Speak Spanish Like Pablo Escobar"},"content":{"rendered":"

This month a new season of Narcos took Spanish learners and narconovela addicts back to 1980s Medell\u00edn, home to Pablo Escobar and one of the bloodiest episodes of the 52 year-long conflict that formally ended on Monday. The Netflix original is a bingeable opportunity to learn Spanish with TV<\/a>, but it’s missing more than colorful slang by leaving out the notorious Paisa accent of Medell\u00edn and the cartel that was named after it.<\/p>\n

In Cartagena on Monday, after the months-long Colombian di\u00e1logos de paz<\/i><\/a>, the final peace accord was signed<\/a> in Cartagena between the Colombian government and the FARC, ending more than fifty years of conflict in Colombia.<\/p>\n

It’s hard to watch an episode of Narcos today and reconcile\u00a0the images on your screen\u00a0with the fact that 20 short years ago, it wasn’t just a novela<\/i>,\u00a0but daily life in Medell\u00edn.<\/p>\n

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The historic handshake between President Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia and Timochenko of the FARC upon the official signing of the peace agreement. Photo by Presidencia de la Republica Mexicana<\/a> via Flickr\u00a0under CC BY 2.0.<\/small><\/p><\/div>\n

Throughout the Colombian Internal Conflict, Medell\u00edn and the department of Antioquia, of which it’s the capital, have been some of the areas most severely affected. Warring drug gangs, guerrilla movements, rogue paramilitaries, murders, kidnappings, and large-scale displacement of Colombians have plagued Medell\u00edn for so long\u00a0that narco culture is now often seen as almost inseparable from the culture of the Paisas, as the people of Medell\u00edn are known.<\/p>\n

Ask anyone in Latin America what their first association with a Paisa accent is and they’re more likely to answer Pablo Escobar and the Medell\u00edn Cartel than\u00a0they are world-famous hospitality<\/a> or social urbanism<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This is because Paisa Spanish and the parlache<\/i>\u00a0street slang of Medell\u00edn are\u00a0replete with idioms referencing\u00a0death, slang reflecting the violence of everyday life, ironic usted<\/em>-induced\u00a0formality, and an unmistakable accent that sounds as provincial as it does predatory.<\/p>\n

Netflix’s series, inspired by one of the many telenovelas<\/i> that were better in Spanish<\/a>,\u00a0does a good job of bringing us the vibes and visuals of Pablo Escobar’s Medell\u00edn, but without the trademark speech of a true Paisa, half of the story is lost in translation.<\/p>\n

The Sibilant Sounds of Paisa<\/i> Spanish<\/h2>\n

Narcos has gotten rave reviews in the States and the English-speaking world, but some Spanish-speaking audiences haven’t been quite as impressed.<\/p>\n

Many articles have appeared in hispanophone\u00a0media\u00a0since the show’s debut criticizing it for its “p\u00e9simo acento<\/em><\/a>“, its poor attempt (or lack thereof) at a Paisa accent. But what’s the difference\u00a0between an authentic accent and the ones that leave Latino viewers giggling and switching over to watch\u00a0Patr\u00f3n del Mal\u00a0<\/em>instead<\/a>?<\/p>\n