Not what is said, it is how I say it

Instead of getting credit for knowing the word socarrat – the caramelized goodness found on the bottom of paella pan – Despite the fact no one had previously heard, spoken or read this word, there was an instant and unanimous consensus among my wordie companions that I had obviously misspoken or misused the word.


Socarrat, like many words I know the definition of but don’t use conversationally, was garnered from book and committed to memory without ever having pronounced the term out loud. Uttering words out loud for the first time has proved embarrassing so many times in my life, I try to only use monosyllabic utterances punctuated with the occasional high five at the dinner table and content myself with scoring well on written tests.

Added to the degree of difficultly, socarrat comes from a Latinized/Romance language, instead of a nice and familiar Anglo/Germanic vocabulary - words I can bark out with confidence. Instead there are rules, seemingly arbitrary rules of about dropped vowels, rolled r’s, silent consonants and regional pronunciations that fill my nasal voice with dread.

Quick, to the Internets

The LA Weekly features a column for the culturally inquisitive called Ask a Mexican. Typing Ask A Spaniard dot com into the browser window was not quite the information extravaganza I was hoping for*. Cooking terms, especially foreign words and techniques can be especially vexing – the specialized language of the kitchen is too archaic for either English and Native dictionaries but specialized cooking jargon gets used without its own reference book, footnoted database or even a wholly unsubstantiated wiki - whose mere availability on the web lends it credibility.

Because I pronounce French words like a Midwesterner, I located this helpful website that offers an audio guide for common French cooking terms. The exception - French (and I am sorry, so very sorry) is the linga franca of fine dining with endless resources, Kitchen Spanish seems relegated to the need to communicate with cooks and dishwashers.

For a language as spoken as much as Spanish is, finding help with the pronunciation of words on the web was much more difficult than finding resources for the aforementioned French or Klingon. You’d think there are more people who cook paella than speak Mr. Worf’s native tongue, and how to say socarrat would funnel its way onto the web. Yet is easy to believe Klingon enthusiasts are more tech savvy and have a greater web presence than, well anyone but especially kitchen rats.

Eventually, I abandoned the web and found a word Sucarrar, in a collegiate Spanish/English dictionary on my shelf. The word was defined as ‘To scorch’ but the book was all about translation, not pronunciation, giving no clues on how to say the word correctly.

The conversation moved on and normally that would be the end of it until the next time I attempted saying socarrat or some other word or term with any degree of difficulty and the circle of mocking could commence in earnest. Instead, I called in help: my sister in common law (SICL). In addition to being my brother’s long term cohabitant, she is also a fluent Spanish speaker, degreed in the language and spent time in Spain speaking a continental version of the language rather than the west coaster buying a pair of Guatemalan drawstring pants dialect that is the standard in this part of the world.

It turns out, my mumbling, few drinks into the evening attempt at the word was pretty close: So•ka•Rot – SICL rolled her ‘r’, lightly accented the word and made it sound pretty. I am happy to get the syllable placement right.

Because I still can’t get the word quite exactly right when I say it aloud, I have taken to calling the goodness found in the bottom of the jambayala, risotto, pilaf pan as ‘so, carrot’. At least by comically misspeaking the word I avoid some editorial commentary, well save that for more commonplace words I get wrong.





* Playing with variations: I did learn runlikeaspaniard.com is an available domain and is seemingly the perfect spot for the Portland Trailblazer’s second year point guard, Sergio Rodriquez to blog bilingually about the nuances and theory of the great sport of basketball.