Glossary of Neutral Spanish – Part 1
An additional note on Neutral Spanish. I’d like to share with you the first part of a list of neutral terms (not exclusive), complied for the use of the movie industry, mainly for subtitling and voice over. As I mentioned in a previous article, these terms are only a standardized version, that is, the translation most commonly used by the largest amount of people. There are other possible translations.
Some terms might sound strange and you might think that “yours” is the better word. In other cases, you’ll think it strange that you already use what’s considered to be “neutral”. Whenever you need to translate into Neutral Spanish, you should look for a term that has the same meaning for an Ecuadorian, Uruguayan and Hispanic speaker in the United States and Spain. Even if a word sounds more lindo, chulo, mono, majo or rico than the other, you should choose el más bonito (the “prettier” one).
This list can help you with this task. Here’s the first part (letters A and B):
acera (sidewalk, pavement)
adinerado (rich)
afortunado (lucky)
aguacate (avocado)
aguardar (wait)
alardear (brag)
alcalde (Mayor)
amar (love)
amarrar (tie, tie up)
anciano (old person)
apartamento (apartment, flat)
apenado (embarrassed)
apodo (nickname)
apresurarse, darse prisa (hurry)
arete (earring)
atemorizar (to scare)
ático, desván (attic)
atrapar, sujetar, tomar, asir (catch, grab, hold, take)
automóvil (car, automobile)
autobús (bus)
ayuntamiento (city hall)
barbacoa (barbecue)
barbilla (chin)
barniz de uñas (nail polish, nail barnish)
batería (battery)
beber (drink)
biberón (bottle [baby])
blusa (blouse, shirt)
boda (wedding)
boleto (ticket, plane ticket)
bolos (bowling [game])
bolso (purse, handbag)
bonito (pretty, cute, nice)
bragas (panties, knickers)
brincar (jump)
We’ll continue with this later.