How to improve your conversation in Latin American Spanish

If you are a student of the Spanish language and want to improve your conversation in Latin American Spanish, you should always try to learn new Spanish words. In this online Spanish lesson you will learn at least 3 new Spanish words.

1. Bland – Tasteless – Tasteless

Although “bland” can be used to describe food, in Colombia I have only heard this word used figuratively to describe a person. “Desabrido” reminds me of how I used to hear Latinos in the United States use the word “sabroso” to describe a person, even though “sabroso” literally means “delicious.”

That girl is rude.

That lady doesn’t have any flavor (figuratively speaking).

2. Landslide – Made to sink or demolish a construction. Landslide.

The earthquake caused a landslide.

The earthquake caused a landslide.

By the way, I had never heard the word “derrumbe” before when I lived in the Colombian coastal city of Barranquilla. But after moving to the interior of the country or Medellín, “derrumbe” became a word that I am now well accused of hearing.

Instead of “derrumbe” in some Spanish-speaking countries, you may hear them use the word “derrumbamiento.”

3. Caricature – Cartoon or comic drawing. Cartoon

I like to watch cartoons on television because they are very funny.

(I like to watch cartoons on TV because they are so funny.)

“Cartoon” can refer to a comic strip such as a drawing or it can refer to cartoons.

In New York, the word I heard the Learning Spanish Like Crazy Mexican instructors and voice-over talent use was “cartoons,” literally cartoons.

Although I learned the word “caricature” in Colombia, I quickly learned that hardly anyone here says the word “caricature.” Almost everyone in Colombia, especially children, but including adults, uses the word “amiguitos”, literally, “little friends”.