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Thursday 11 January 2024 locAl
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            Papiamento words and phrases you may want to know!




            (Oranjestad)—Aruba  is  a                                                              may look very familiar.      The  affirmative  and  nega-
            potting  melt  of  different                                                                                        tive  expression  is  very  sim-
            nationalities,  cultures  and                                                          1.     Bon  dia  is  used  in  ple in Papiamento. Just like
            languages.  Primarily  for                                                             the  morning,  up  to  about  Spanish,  our  yeses  are  “si”
            this  reason,  the  average                                                            noon.  Bon  dia  essentially  and our no’s are “no”. Pret-
            Aruban  can  understand                                                                means  good  morning.  The  ty  easy  right?  If  you  want
            and  speak  Dutch,  Eng-                                                               word “bon” means “good”,  to  gain  some  extra  points
            lish  and  Spanish  relatively                                                         and  while  “dia”  does  not  from  younger  locals,  you
            well. However, as much as                                                              directly mean “morning” in  can also say “se”, which is
            we  pride  ourselves  in  be-                                                          English, it is used often to re-  a  more  casual  affirmative
            ing  able  to  communicate                                                             fer to the morning time.     used mostly by the younger
            with  almost  everyone,  we                                                            2.     Bon tardi. In the af-  generation.  However,  do
            cherish  our  native  tongue                                                           ternoon  to  early  evening  note:  some  older  genera-
            Papiamento     above    all            Hi! Bye!           the  English  word  “cone”.  hours, we use “bon tardi” to  tions may find this improper
            else.  Want  to  learn  some  To be fair, there is no unique  “Ta bay” refers to how you  greet people, which means  and not respectful, so keep
            common words in our lan-     way  to  say  “hello”  in  Pa-  are doing.                “good  afternoon”.  “Tardi”  that in mind.
            guage? Here are a few ba-    piamento. At least, not of-  When we say goodbye, we  actually  comes  from  the
            sic words and phrases that  ficially.  We  often  just  use  use the word “ayo” (not like  word “atardi”, which direct-   Thanks man…
            can get you a hat tip from  the English “hello” or “hey”,  the  Ayo  Rock  Formation,  ly translates to “afternoon”.  Lastly, a word that we can
            an Aruban.                   or  Dutch  “hallo”  to  greet  but also…kinda?). We may  However,  the  shortened  also say more often is “dan-
                                         someone.  We  do  howev-     also  use  “te  oro”,  which  “tardi” is used to keep the  ki”,  which  means  literally
            When you arrive at the air-  er, always follow it up with  means “see you later”.      rhythm on the phrase. And  “thank you”. “Danki” is de-
            port  in  Aruba,  one  of  the  “con  bay?”  or  “con  ta?”                            the same could be said for  rived from the Dutch word
            first  words  in  Papiamento  Con  bay  is  a  shortened  Greetings during the day     our last greeting of the day.  “bedankt”.   Though   we
            you may encounter is “Bon  version  of  “con  ta  bay?”,  Most,  if  not  all,  languages  3.   Bon   nochi.   You  don’t really have a transla-
            bini.” Bon bini in Papiamen-  which  essentially  means  have  different  ways  to  guessed  it,  “bon  nochi”  tion for “I appreciate it” in
            to means welcome, and is  “how are you?”                  greet according to the time  means  “good  night”.  Just  English, we do use “masha
            probably  the  most  famous                               of day, and Papiamento is  like “tardi”, “nochi” is actu-  danki” to convey the mes-
            Papiamento word for tour-    The  word  “con”  in  Papia-  no  different.  Since  Papia-  ally  the  shortened  version  sage.  “Masha”  means  “a
            ists.                        mento     means    “how?”  mento is heavily influences  of the word “anochi”.          lot”  or  “very”,  so  “masha
                                         and  is  pronounced  with  a  from Portuguese and Span-                                danki”  means  “thank  you
                                         rounder  “o”  sounds,  like  in  ish,  some  of  these  phrases   Yes…no…maybe?        very much”.q



            Visit the natural bridges of Aruba!



            (Oranjestad)—After  you’ve  length and 7 meters in height,  can also still visit the souvenir
            visited the Alto Vista Church,  making it the biggest natu-  shop on the left of the bridge
            the Bushiribana Gold Mill Ru-  ral bridge in the Caribbean  entrance.
            ins and the mini natural pool  at the time. For many years,
            that is located right next to  this site was also a frequently  While the natural bridge no
            it, you’re next up around the  visited beach, as the bridge  longer is functional, there is
            northern coast line must be  had a small opening through  now a smaller natural bridge
            the Natural Bridge. Once the  which the water would flow  very close. This bridge is often
            largest natural bridge in the  into the tiny beach.       called the “Baby Bridge” or
            Caribbean, this bridge has                                “Daughter Bridge”.q
            been a tourist attraction for  Unfortunately  in  2005,  the
            many years.                  bridge  collapsed,  and  the
                                         little  beach  dried  up.  De-
            The bridge was formed dur-   spite this, this site remained
            ing thousands of years, cut  a  tourist  attraction,  with
            and  crafted  by  the  wild  many visitors walking along
            waves  that  crash  into  the  the coral cliffs of the bridge
            coral  stone  walls  of  the  to see the spectacular view
            coast. Before its collapse, this  of the northern coastline and
            bridge measured 30 meters in  the Caribbean Sea. Visitors
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