PANAMENIAN SLANG - Jerga Panamena

Before you go, take the time to learn Panamanian-Spanish words and phrases so you can speak street Spanish like a local. Unlike most foreign language books, with their sterile lists of words (yawn), this one includes cultural references (food, dance, sex) that make the words come alive and be more easily remembered.

Panamanians will be the first to proclaim the fact that they speak Castellano (Castilian), the purest form of the Spanish language. Or do they?

That said, over the past 500-odd years the Panamanian dialect has absorbed a significant part of its vocabulary from other languages. For example, American English from the Panama Canal Zone.

And in addition to English, Panamanian Spanish has also borrowed words from the languages of its many immigrants to the Isthmus, most notably: Africans, French, Italians, Greeks, Chinese (Hakka and Cantonese) and both Hindi and Gujarati East Indians. Also important to note: Contemporary Panamanian Spanish coexists with 19 other languages including indigenous Bugle, Ngäbere, Embera, Wounaan, Kuna, Naso Tjerdi, Bribri and English Creole. Learn how to speak like a local.