MCLENNAN COUNTY, Texas — There are between 20 and 30 different dialects in the Spanish language. So what might mean one thing to someone from Mexico might mean something totally different to Puerto Rican's.
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“How do you say banana?”
“how do you say straw?”
“Translation is not say the word and that’s it, translation is use all the vocabulary words and find what’s in common for everyone,” said Carmen Diaz, Bilingual Coordinator for Waco ISD.
There are between 20 and 30 different dialects in the Spanish language. So what might mean one thing to someone from Mexico might mean something totally different to Puerto Ricans.
“How do you say backpack?” asked Neighborhood Reporter Dominique Leh.
“Mochila”
“Bulto”
One word, but several different translations,
“The thing is, everybody’s right,” said Diaz.
Honduras, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and Costa Rica are just a few Latin and Hispanic countries with different dialects. But that’s not all that’s different.
“We have a very strong culture and traditions,” said Waco ISD teacher Rosemarie Sierra.
Each country has its own customs making them distinctly unique to other cultures.
“Hondurans we love to eat there’s always gotta be food,” said Waco ISD teacher Abel Castro.
“When people come to our country to visit us they always say Puerto Ricans are the happiest,” said Sierra.
“I’m from Nicaragua, we’re a very happy people, we love music, Folklorico is really important for Nicaragua,” said Grace Benson.
From food to dance -
“Just like in Mexico, they have tamales, we have Nacatamales, our nacatamles are different because they’re made with banana leaves instead of corn husks,” said Director of Bilingual Education, Grace Benson
- they even have different nicknames for each other.
“Mexicans are Chicanos, Puerto Ricans are Boricuas, Honduras, we’re Catrachos.”
And even with separate backgrounds and dialects, one thing these people do share is the love for their culture.
“We get to celebrate the diversity, but we also get to celebrate the things we do have in common, it creates a good community,” said Tifeny Chen Wu.
