Do they speak standard Spanish in Chile?
Chileans speak Castellano (Spanish) with quite a few local features. They speak fast but most people will slow down if they realize you aren’t a fluent speaker. A common feature of the local dialect is dropping syllables in common words – Usted becomes something like u’te’, para becomes pa’a, etc. They often say “buen da” or just “da” for good morning, and almost always “chao” (ciao) for goodbye. Avocados are “palta” (the word is apparently used everywhere but Mexico, but it was new to me) and fresh corn (especially on the cob) is “choclo” which may be widespread in South America too. Draft beer is always “schop” or “shop” (pronounced approximately like the English word “shop”) and taverns usually “shoperas.” I’m guessing these words come from the German “schoppen,” meaning half-pint. English isn’t widely spoken – I’ve met only a few Chileans who were very fluent. However, if I’d been around more university students I’m sure they would be likely to speak more English.
