Some Things are Better Left Untranslated

I’m sure you can pretty much imagine the Spanish vocabulary that a group of college students wants to learn. (Hint: Dónde esta el baño? took a backseat to learning the names of body parts that are in use during your visit to the baño). To begin with, they learned useful Spanglish phrases such as “Que sexy!” or “Mister Músculos.” “Puchica!” (wow) and “Twane” (cool) were popular with the students simply because they liked the way it sounded rolling off their tongues, so I think their host families were a bit confused as to why they were so excited about everything. "Tengo hambre" (I’m hungry) and "Tengo hombre" (I have a man) were often mixed up, so that was a big hit with girls and guys alike. My personal favorite: the Williams group somehow managed to translate “Ballin” into “Boliche,” which literally means bowling instead of balling, but they still continued to say it in the same ridiculous tone of voice that one must use when shouting Ballin’ or Bowling or whatever it was that ended up being said. In short, I love college students.