As many of you born and raised in NYC know, this city is particularly diverse when it comes to Spanish dialects. The diversity in Spanish dialects is enormous, making it challenging to keep up with the different words and expressions, especially for those who are not bilingual.

As a future translator and interpreter, it’s crucial for me to be aware of the various formal, informal, and slang words and expressions used by Spanish-speaking audiences to effectively bridge communication between individuals. The goal of translators and interpreters is to ensure that the message in one language is conveyed accurately in another language without altering its meaning. Failure to do so risks breaking the communication bridge.

This is why it’s essential for us, translators and interpreters, to know when to make the registry change and be aware of any positive and negative connotations certain words can have on the target audience. 

The goal of my project is to provide an easier and readily accessible version of an English-Spanish dialect thesaurus for everyone to use when communicating with Spanish-speaking individuals. I focused on translating basic everyday English words into seven different Spanish dialects commonly used among Latino communities. While there are numerous other dialects, time constraints limit the scope of this thesaurus for now.

The Spanish translations I selected are primarily in slang form, reflecting common everyday expressions used by Spanish-speaking audiences. It’s important to note that using slang is common and acceptable, but it’s essential to be conscious of its usage.

Many of the following words, particularly the Dominican Republic and Cuba, share similar words. This is due to their caribbean aspect. However, it doesn’t mean that all the words share the same connotation. Let’s look at a few Spanish dialects and their words. 

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