El Spanglish

The reader Silvana Paternsotro targets for her memoir is someone who wants to understand Colombia, its culture and its internal armed conflict. A good way for her to do that is to use the language Colombians use. As she writes about a country that doesn't speak English, part reading her book, if one isn't Colombian, is to learn the Colombian slang, especially that of the costeño elite. The following words show how she uses Colombian words for the reader to understand the Colombian culture:

Finca: Paternostro probably uses this word in Spanish to show its connotation. As opposed to simply writing farm, she wants to show that fincas are simply giant tracts of land that families rule upon. An American farm would be devoted for agricultural production as a company, not like the Colombian feudal finca.

Corroncho: This words is used by upper class costeños as Paternostro says, to describe low class or nouveau riche things. I don't think there is a term in English that translates the Colombian classism, so the author uses the word without translation.

Costeño, cachaco: Paternostro, in order to show the way Colombian politics and society work, shows the largely felt regionalism. She uses the local slang for describing each region's inhabitants and to show what they mean. She describes the way the costeño personalities of her family affect they way they are.

Negrita: Paternostro refers to the street sellers that sell alegrías as the negritas. She is not being racist but instead showing the racism behind Colombian slang. White people often refer to blacks in an alienated way that shows compassion. Those poor, little and distant negritos.

Choferes: Instead of translating this word to chauffeur or driver, Paternostro keeps the Spanish word to show the special status that drivers have in the Colombian societies. They aren't people who work as drivers as they are choferes. As Paternostro describes, they wait outside museums or wherever their employers are and relate with other choferes.

All these words as used by Paternostro play an important role in understanding the way people like her family in Colombia think. The words she uses in Spanish show cultural, political and historical aspects of Colombia that wouldn't be otherwise understood.