¿Cómo se dice ____? How Do We Say What In Spanish?
By Samya Rosario
One language, countless ways to say the same thing. Barry University students explore how Spanish vocabulary, slang and expressions differ across cultures and countries.
Growing up Dominican, I thought I knew Spanish until I left Washington Heights, Manhattan and started talking to Spanish speakers who weren't Dominican.
Ask me what you use to drink a soda, and I’ll probably say Sorbeto. Ask someone from another Spanish speaking country the same question, and suddenly you might hear five completely different answers like “pajita,” “popote,” or “pitillo."
They all mean straw, but sound nothing alike. We are all speaking Spanish, so how can one simple object have so many different names?
That is one of the most interesting things about Spanish. Across Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Spanish-speaking communities in the United States and elsewhere, vocabulary, accents and expressions can change depending on where someone is from.
For Dominicans, our Spanish has a personality of its own. We speak fast, shorten words, drop certain sounds and use slang that might leave another Spanish speaker confused with eyebrows raised. A Dominican might say “¿Qué lo qué?” as an informal greeting, call a friend “mi loco,” or say “Cuéntame ese bochinche,” when you want tea or some hot gossip.
Growing up around Dominican Spanish, these words feel completely normal. It is not until I was surrounded by Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Colombians, Venezuelans, Mexicans and other Spanish speakers that I realized how different everyone’s Spanish can sound.
Barry University is the perfect place to hear those differences.
With students, professors and staff from all different backgrounds, a normal conversation can quickly turn into a debate over the “right” way to say something. But is there actually a right answer?
I asked Spanish speakers from different nationalities to identify the same everyday objects. Something as simple as a straw, bus, banana, beans or avocado can produce completely different answers.
Oscar Lopez, a freshman from Guatemala majoring in computer science, uses the words frijoles, pajilla, and banana for beans, a straw, and a banana. Meanwhile, Marco Valencia, a sophomore from Spain majoring in digital media production, uses judías, pajita, and plátano to describe those same items.
Although both students speak Spanish, their word choices show how vocabulary can change depending on where a Spanish speaker is from.
Dr. Beatriz Calvo Pena, associate professor of Spanish at Barry University, explained that these differences developed naturally over time. As Spanish spread, it came into contact with Indigenous American languages, African languages and later languages such as Italian and English.
Still, those differences do not prevent Spanish speakers from understanding one another.
“There is no single ‘correct’ Spanish against which all other varieties should be measured,” Calvo Pena said.
According to Calvo Pena, each variety of Spanish developed through its own history, culture and contact with other languages while remaining part of the same language.
She pointed to everyday words as some of the best examples. A bus might be autobús in Spain, camión in Mexico, guagua in Cuba and Puerto Rico, or colectivo in Argentina.
Food can get even more confusing.
Beans can be frijoles in Mexico and Cuba, habichuelas in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, porotos in Chile and Argentina, and judías, fabes, or alubias in Spain.
Calvo Pena sees these differences firsthand at Barry.
“One of the most interesting things about teaching Spanish at Barry is precisely the diversity of Spanish that students bring into the classroom,” she said.
In fall 2025, Hispanic students made up 34% of Barry’s total enrollment making Hispanic students the university’s largest racial or ethnic group. Barry also reported students from 81 foreign countries with an international rate of 8%. According to Niche.com Andrews University was ranked #1 in diversity for the “2027 Most Diverse Colleges in America” even though the international rate is only 13%.
Some Barry students grew up speaking Spanish at home, while others learned it in school. Many regularly switch between English and Spanish. Being in Miami, a city that is over 70% Latino, also exposes students to varieties of Spanish outside of their own families and cultures.
Those differences are more than funny misunderstandings. They show how language carries culture.
For students who grew up speaking Spanglish at home, they can also raise an important question: What counts as “proper” Spanish?
For me, being Dominican means understanding that the Spanish I grew up hearing may not always sound like the Spanish taught in a textbook. That does not make it any less meaningful. Our accents, expressions and slangs are connected to our culture and the people who taught us how to speak.
Maybe that is what makes Spanish so interesting. Millions of people can speak the same language without speaking it exactly the same way.
So, the next time someone looks at you confused after you ask for a calimete, do not be too quick to correct them or yourself.
Instead, ask: “Bueno… ¿y cómo tú le dices?”
Check out our Instagram to see how Barry University students say words in Spanish.
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