HolaRuta / Travel Spanish for Latin America
Puerto Rican Spanish has a Caribbean feel, with a swallowed 's' and the typical shift from 'r' to 'l' at the end of a syllable (e.g. 'puelto' instead of 'puerto'). The 'r' at the start of a word is also often pronounced guttural, almost like a throaty French 'r'. Because of the US connection…
Puerto Rican Spanish has a Caribbean feel, with a swallowed 's' and the typical shift from 'r' to 'l' at the end of a syllable (e.g. 'puelto' instead of 'puerto'). The 'r' at the start of a word is also often pronounced guttural, almost like a throaty French 'r'. Because of the US connection, there are many English loanwords (Spanglish).
Puerto Rico is a US territory with Caribbean flair, from cobblestoned Old San Juan to the El Yunque rainforest and the bioluminescent bays. As a backpacker you travel without a visa (if you're allowed into the US) and pay conveniently in US dollars.
The Taíno called the island Borikén before Spain began colonising it in 1493 and heavily fortified San Juan. In 1898, after the Spanish-American War, Spain ceded Puerto Rico to the United States, whose citizens Puerto Ricans have been since 1917. Today the island is an unincorporated US territory with its own culture and an ongoing debate about its political status.
Hire a car for day trips, as public transport is barely developed outside San Juan.
Puerto Rican Spanish has a Caribbean feel, with a swallowed 's' and the typical shift from 'r' to 'l' at the end of a syllable (e.g. The HolaRuta app drills exactly this accent and vocabulary before you land.
Common examples include: „wepa" (exclamation of joy / 'awesome!'), „boricua" (Puerto Rican (what they call themselves)), „chévere" (cool, great), „guagua" (bus). HolaRuta turns these into flashcards so you have them ready on the road.
In local Spanish: "wepa". You can practise this exact phrase as a flashcard in the HolaRuta app, pronunciation tip included.
In local Spanish: "boricua". You can practise this exact phrase as a flashcard in the HolaRuta app, pronunciation tip included.
Mofongo — A mash of fried plantains with garlic and pork crackling. HolaRuta also teaches you the matching Spanish phrases to order it.
No. With HolaRuta you learn the situational phrases you actually need in Puerto Rico — at the bus terminal, in the hostel, at the market — instead of classroom grammar.