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local Saturday 30 december 2023

Papiamento words and phrases you may want to know!

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

Birds of Aruba

ORANJESTAD — On May 11th, 2010, the Aruba descriptions from the foundations Facebook Our Canadian friends know exactly where they
Birdlife Conservation was founded with the aim page. can do so best. A Greater Yellowlegs rediscov-
of protecting the biodiversity in general and ering Aruba’s Bubali Wetlands.
birds in and around Aruba in particular. The Great Egret
Serenity in Aruba’s National Park, a Great Egret Cabochon
Among other things, the foundation will focus flying in peace. When it is peaceful and quite, In its living form of so much more value than
on increasing the survival chances of species beautiful things start happening in nature. any gemstone. Aruba’s smallest and most mas-
of wild birds by promoting their preservation ter of flight. A top pollinator. A hovering Blenchi
and conservation. The foundation publishes the Canadian in the house inspecting the human who just entered his ter-
most beautiful pictures of local birds on their so- The breeding season is over and it’s getting ritory.
cial media that show us the beauty of Aruba’s pretty cold in North America. Shore birds have English: Blue-tailed Emerald (male) Dutch: Blau-
birds and nature in general. Aruba Today gives started moving southwards as early as July. This wstaartsmaragdkolibrie (mannetje).
you a little peek with the following pictures and wetland beauty wants to keep its toes warm. Aruba’s to enjoy. Aruba’s to protect.q