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LOCAL Tuesday 26 sepTember 2023

Aruba to me

ORANJESTAD — You are ting photos, text or any oth- For today we received a
back and we would like to er materials, you give per- lovely message from Jef
portrait you! By inviting you mission to The Aruba Today Heitzer who is visiting us
to send us your favorite va- Newspaper, Caribbean from Son en Breugel, Neth-
cation picture while enjoy- Speed Printers and any of erlands.
ing our Happy Island. its affiliated companies to
use said materials, as well He wrote to us saying: “Aru-
Complete the sentence: as names, likeness, etc. for ba to me is not only one of
Aruba to me is ……. Send promotional purposes with- the most beautiful places
your picture with that text out compensation. on earth but also the island
(including your name and Last but not least: check of wonderful and friendly
where you are from) to: out our website, Instagram residents, always proac-
news@arubatoday.com and Facebook page! tively helpful.”
and we will publish your Thank you for supporting
vacation memory. Isn’t our free newspaper, we Thank you for sending us this
that a special way to keep strive to make you a happy wonderful message sharing
your best moments alive? reader every day again. what Aruba means to you
Please do note: By submit- with us and our readers!q

Papiamento words and phrases you may want to know!

(Oranjestad)—Aruba is a potting “con bay?” or “con ta?” Con bay Greetings during the day Just like “tardi”, “nochi” is ac-
melt of different nationalities, cul- is a shortened version of “con ta Most, if not all, languages have dif- tually the shortened version of
tures and languages. Primarily for bay?”, which essentially means ferent ways to greet according to the word “anochi”.
this reason, the average Aruban “how are you?” the time of day, and Papiamento
can understand and speak Dutch, is no different. Since Papiamento is Yes…no…maybe?
English and Spanish relatively well. The word “con” in Papiamento heavily influences from Portuguese The affirmative and negative ex-
However, as much as we pride means “how?” and is pronounced and Spanish, some of these phras- pression is very simple in Papia-
ourselves in being able to com- with a rounder “o” sounds, like in es may look very familiar. mento. Just like Spanish, our yeses
municate with almost everyone, the English word “cone”. “Ta bay” are “si” and our no’s are “no”. Pret-
we cherish our native tongue Pa- refers to how you are doing. 1. Bon dia is used in the morning, ty easy right? If you want to gain
piamento above all else. Want to up to about noon. Bon dia es- some extra points from younger lo-
learn some common words in our When we say goodbye, we use sentially means good morn- cals, you can also say “se”, which
language? Here are a few basic the word “ayo” (not like the Ayo ing. The word “bon” means is a more casual affirmative used
words and phrases that can get Rock Formation, but also…kinda?). “good”, and while “dia” does mostly by the younger generation.
you a hat tip from an Aruban. We may also use “te oro”, which not directly mean “morning” in However, do note: some older
means “see you later”. English, it is used often to refer generations may find this improper
When you arrive at the airport in to the morning time. and not respectful, so keep that in
Aruba, one of the first words in Pa- 2. Bon tardi. In the afternoon to mind.
piamento you may encounter is early evening hours, we use
“Bon bini.” Bon bini in Papiamento “bon tardi” to greet people, Thanks man…
means welcome, and is probably which means “good after- Lastly, a word that we can also
the most famous Papiamento noon”. “Tardi” actually comes say more often is “danki”, which
word for tourists. from the word “atardi”, which means literally “thank you”. “Dan-
directly translates to “after- ki” is derived from the Dutch word
Hi! Bye! noon”. However, the short- “bedankt”. Though we don’t really
To be fair, there is no unique way to ened “tardi” is used to keep have a translation for “I appreci-
say “hello” in Papiamento. At least, the rhythm on the phrase. And ate it” in English, we do use “ma-
not officially. We often just use the the same could be said for our sha danki” to convey the message.
English “hello” or “hey”, or Dutch last greeting of the day. “Masha” means “a lot” or “very”,
“hallo” to greet someone. We do 3. Bon nochi. You guessed it, “bon so “masha danki” means “thank
however, always follow it up with nochi” means “good night”. you very much”. q