Llanito

Gibraltar National Day has been celebrated on Wednesday 10th September, so this week's entry goes to the llanitos (the Gibraltarians).

The official language in Gibraltar is English, as its sovereignity belongs to the United Kingdom, but Spanish is also widely spoken due to the geographical proximity to Spain (the city is located in a peninsula connected to Spain).

The mixture of Andalusian Spanish, spoken in the neighbouring Spanish region of Andalusia and British English comprise the Gibraltarian dialect "Llanito". This dialect also takes some loanwords from other Mediterranean languages such as Hebrew, Genovese or Maltese.

This dialect sounds utterly weird for either Spanish or English native speakers (including myself, as I perceived few days ago during a short visit to the city), as both languages are mixed in mid-sentence. For instance:

English: Man, I'm telling you (that) you can't...

Spanish: Hombre, te digo que no puedes...

Llanito: Hombre, I'm telling you que no puede...

Other expressions translated into Llanito, Spanish and English that prove this peculiar mixture are:

English: I'll call you back.

Español: Te llamo de vuelta.

Llanito: Te llamo pa tras (literal translation of back from Andalusian Spanish).


English: Apply for a job

Español: Apuntarse a una oferta de empleo

Llanito: Aplicar para un puesto de trabajo (literal translation from English)


English: credit card

Español: tarjeta de crédito

Llanito: cartón


English: plumber

Español: fontanero

Llanito: plomero


English: pigeon

Spanish: paloma

Llanito: palomo