HolaRuta / Travel Spanish for Latin America
Dominican Spanish is fast and heavily marked by the Caribbean accent, with the 's' swallowed at the end of a syllable (e.g. 'lo niño' instead of 'los niños'). The 'r' often becomes 'i' or 'l' (e.g. 'puelta' instead of 'puerta'), and many words are heavily shortened. There are numerous Taíno and…
Dominican Spanish is fast and heavily marked by the Caribbean accent, with the 's' swallowed at the end of a syllable (e.g. 'lo niño' instead of 'los niños'). The 'r' often becomes 'i' or 'l' (e.g. 'puelta' instead of 'puerta'), and many words are heavily shortened. There are numerous Taíno and African loanwords.
The Dominican Republic shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti and tempts you with palm-fringed beaches, the Pico Duarte mountain range and the historic Zona Colonial of Santo Domingo. Beyond the package resorts, backpackers also find authentic spots like Las Terrenas or the Damajagua waterfalls.
The island was settled by the Taíno when Columbus landed in 1492, and Santo Domingo became the oldest permanent European settlement in the Americas. After Spanish and a brief Haitian rule, the country gained its independence from Haiti in 1844. The 20th century was marked by Trujillo's brutal dictatorship, before a democracy and a tourism-driven boom took shape.
For short trips, use the cheap conchos and guaguas, but it's best to agree the price beforehand.
Dominican Spanish is fast and heavily marked by the Caribbean accent, with the 's' swallowed at the end of a syllable (e.g. The HolaRuta app drills exactly this accent and vocabulary before you land.
Common examples include: „¿qué lo que?" (What's up? (greeting, often 'klo ke')), „chin" (a bit, a small amount), „guagua" (bus), „vaina" (thing, stuff (all-purpose word)). HolaRuta turns these into flashcards so you have them ready on the road.
In local Spanish: "¿qué lo que?". You can practise this exact phrase as a flashcard in the HolaRuta app, pronunciation tip included.
In local Spanish: "chin". You can practise this exact phrase as a flashcard in the HolaRuta app, pronunciation tip included.
La bandera — A national dish of rice, red beans and meat. HolaRuta also teaches you the matching Spanish phrases to order it.
No. With HolaRuta you learn the situational phrases you actually need in Dominican Republic — at the bus terminal, in the hostel, at the market — instead of classroom grammar.