Learning Spanish in a classroom can never really prepare you for life in a foreign country, especially doing biology fieldwork every day. I have begun to put together a dictionary of my own most commonly used Spanish phrases from sitting on a hill everyday, using telemetry to track radio collared degus, watching owls and foxes, and walking around town. Here is a sampling of the collected works:Oh chasquido! = Oh snap! As in, “oh snap, owl! You just tried to eat my degu!”
Oh Chasquido! (proper noun) = name given to said burrowing owl
Tu travieso pequen = you naughty burrowing owl (usually in reference to Oh Chasquido)
Phantasma degu = ghost degu (we think he was eaten by Oh Chasquido a few days ago)
(Searching Oh Chasquido's burrow for the remains of Phantasma Degu, who we are now quite certain got eaten)
Cortecésped degu = lawnmower degu (his radio signal sounds like he is mowing the lawn)
Extraterrestre degu= alien degu (sounds like an aliean)
Taxista degu = taxi driver degu (we pick up some taxi driver static on this degu frequency)
*For fantastic drawings of our favorite degus, check out Morgan's blog!!!
El zoro = the fox
Bocando = snack (update. Apparently in Chile, "snack" is also used, as is aperitivo which is harder for us to say and thus not as popular).
Perro con Manoplas = Mitten Dog (the oldest, fattest dog who has incredibly fluffy paws that look like mittens)
Juliano = Military Dog (not really vocabulary, but actually his name. We know that because he has a military name tag sewn onto the back of his military dog jacket. He also usually wears a purple scarf, depending on how cold it is).
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