In addition to Dutch, Papiamento, and English, most Arubans can also speak perfect Spanish, as Landa Henríquez attests to by singing it with ease. The island has deep seated and ongoing ties with Venezuela, only fourteen miles to the south, and neighboring Colombia. So it should be of little surprise that Landa peppers her song with a common Colombian expression.

Ya sabes, te vas de Barranquilla y te pierdes tu silla.
You know, you leave Barranquilla and you lose your chair.
Caption 30, Landa Henríquez > Mujer Cuarenta

The expression is actually a take on a popular saying from Spain which goes Él que se va a Sevilla, pierde su silla ("He who leaves Sevilla, loses his chair"). Either way, the meaning is the same: if you're not vigilent, you'll lose what is yours.

There is another way to express the same sentiment, and we hear it in a cumbia song playing at that disco that Milagros and Gloria have snuck out of the orphanage to visit in Muñeca Brava. 

Camarón que se duerme se lo lleva la corriente.
 The shrimp that sleeps is taken away by the current.
Caption 30, Muñeca Brava > Pilot > Part 6

American English also expresses this idea with an analogy to sleep: "You snooze, you lose."

Another interesting phrase to tumble from Landa Henríquez's lips is:

La mujer a los cuarenta, ya sabes está requete-buena.
A woman in her forties, you know she's very hot.
[Caption 25, Landa Henríquez > Mujer Cuarenta]

"Estar buena" is "to be hot," as in sexually attractive. It's got little to do with the temperature on those sweltering Caribbean nights. (Meanwhile, the sand might be hot under foot, but you'd use "estar caliente" to describe that.) But what's "requete"? According to the authoritative Diccionario de la Lengua Española (by the Real Academia Española), "requete-," "rete-" or "re-" are prefixes that intensify the meaning of what follows -- like "very" in English, or "muy" in Spanish

Celebrating women of a certain age, Mujer Cuarenta is an invitation to party, dance, fool around and enjoy life, Caribbean style. Listen in:

Baila y canta y vive sin pena, si te enamoras, en hora buena.
Dance and sing and live without worries, if you fall in love, good for you.
[Caption 8, Landa Henríquez > Mujer Cuarenta]

"En hora buena" literally means "at a good hour," but it's understood as a congratulations -- as in, "Good for you!" or "Congrats!" You hear this in Spain and throughout Latin America -- from the Caribbean coasts down to the Southern Cone.

When it's used as a noun, "enhorabuena" is usually written as one word. For example:

Todo el mundo quería darle la enhorabuena después del partido.
"Everybody wanted to offer congratulations to him after the match."

But as an interjection, you'll see both "en hora buena" and "enhorabuena" (both are correct). Here are a few more examples:

En hora buena, Elena, tu hija es hermosa.
"Congratulations, Elena, your daughter is beautiful."

¡Llegaste! ¡Enhorabuena!
"You arrived! Congratulations / At last!"

Queremos que Julio venga enhorabuena, porque ya han pasado dos semanas.
"We want Julio to finally come back, because it's already been two weeks."

Note that in the last example above, "enhorabuena" is an adverb, modifying the verb "venir." In this usage, "enhorabuena" comes closer to its literal meaning of "at a good hour."

Meanwhile, Spanish has two other congratulatory interjections: "Felicidades" and "Felicitaciones." There's some overlap between the three words, but "enhorabuena" and "felicitaciones" tend to congratulate accomplishments or achievements while "felicidades" might celebrate an occasion like a birthday. For proficient Spanish readers, there's an interesting discussion here.

There's also a bit of lunfardo

-- that is, slang particular to Argentina and Uruguay -- that slips into the Biography of our Uruguayan-born, Argentinean-raised Natalia. For example, listen to this line:

Yo creo que tuvieron una relación muy linda, muy intensa, muy... muy copada
I think that they had a very nice relationship, very intense, very... very cool
Caption 25-6, Natalia Oreiro > Biografía > 10

The adjective copado/a is translated as cool, but what does it mean exactly? As in English slang, cool can be hard to capture. "Cool!" can mean "great!" (or "chévere," "guay" or even "chido" in Mexico). A cool kid could be laid-back or up on the latest trends (or "en la onda"). He or she could also be someone who helps his friends ("genial" or "macanudo" in Latin America). So, what is "una relación copada" trying to convey? Well, the relationship wasn't cool in the sense of temperature, obviously. It wasn't laid-back if it was also "very intense" ("muy intensa"). That leaves us with the kind of cool that's great ("genial"). There are a number of lunfardo dictionaries online with different shades of the meanings of copado. Cool?

In the latest installment of Natalia Oreiro's Biography, we learn more about the young actress and singer's accomplishments. For a vocabulary boost, let's listen to some of those sweet words of success.

In the very first line, we hear:

En muy pocos años, Natalia Oreiro logró convertirse en una auténtica diva de la televisión y de la música pop.
In just a few years Natalia Oreiro managed to become a true television and pop music diva.
[Captions 01-2, Natalia Oreiro > Biografía > 10]

"Logró," past tense of the verb "lograr," should sound familiar to our devoted subscribers: In videos Yabla posted during the campaign of the current President of Mexico, Felipe Calderón, we heard the verb "lograr," oh, six or seven times

in less than five minutes of tape. The verb means "to achieve," to obtain," "to manage" or "to succeed in." As with the English words "achieve" or "succeed in," the Spanish "lograr" implies that there was a purpose or goal in mind and, further, it also implies effort. So, note that Natalia Oreiro quickly succeeded in becoming a big star -- which was not only her aim all along, but something she put a lot of work into.
 
[Usage note: If you're wondering what to say at a graduation ceremony or at the end of a marathon in the Spanish-speaking world: "¡Felicidades! ¡Lo lograste!" ("Congratulations! You did it!") usually does the trick.]

An approximate synonym for "lograr" is "ganar," which has several shades of meaning -- including "to win," "to gain" or "to earn." In our new Natalia Oreiro video, a few lines later, we hear that her show was a winner (un ganador):

"Muñeca Brava" ganó en dos ocasiones consecutivas el Martín Fierro a mejor novela.
"Muñeca Brava" won the Martín Fierro award for best soap opera two consecutive times.
[Caption 14, Natalia Oreiro > Biografía > 10]

Note that one may, for example, win a prize (ganar un premio) with hard work and talent, win the election (ganar las elecciones) with popular ideas or win the lottery (ganar la lotería) by pure chance. To clarify that something was won with intention, you may hear "logró ganar" which means "managed to win" or "succeeded in winning." For some context, check the sports pages for a story of a deserving team that managed to win (logró ganar) an important game or match.

Keeping following the beautiful Ms. Oreiro and you'll encounter more sweet words of success. For now, we'll leave you with two more lines from Part 10 of our Biography video:

Natalia había superado sus sueños
Natalia had surpassed her dreams 
[Caption 17, Natalia Oreiro > Biografía > 10]

 

Muñeca BrCon su música, Natalia había conquistado mercados alreadedor del mundo
With her music, Natalia had conquered markets around the world
[Caption 29, Natalia Oreiro > Biografía > 10]