Chile: The Essential Apps

Technology is a wonderful thing. I think we all know that technology (the internet and the accessibility of computers and smartphones, specifically) has made education, communication, and general connectivity easier, faster, and more broadly available to the general public.

Technology has helped me in Chile a lot, mostly for personal reasons. I have an iPhone, which is deactivated but alive right now. That means that it's still connected to my US number, it's just not acting like a phone right now; it's more like a little iPad. When I'm on wi-fi, I can send iMessages to other Apple users, I can FaceTime with other Apple users, and I can use apps.

Which apps are the best to use here in Chile? 

Some need internet access, and some don't. I'll make the clarification for each as we go through the list. Also, I'll only be talking about free apps. 

This is the Transantiago app. I talked about Transantiago in my transportation post. This app has a map of the city, a bus stop locator, a routes locator, and a way of looking at your Bip card points. This app requires internet access.

I love this app. It's called Chilenismos, which means "Chileanisms." It's a great mini dictionary that explains vocabulary and phrases that are particular to Chile. Sort of like how in the south, we say "y'all," but it's not said in other parts of the country, or how the British say "biscuit" for cookie. I speak fluent Spanish, but there will always be regionalisms that I won't understand right away. Some of these are just purely Chilean creations within the Spanish language, and some are variations of the indiengous languages that still exist in Chile. I especially like that the inflammatory words and phrases have the flame next to them so that you know the appropriate setting to use them in. This app does not require internet access.

I have spoken on behalf of Word Reference so many times that I think they should give me a salary. Word Reference is an online dictionary (NOT translation service) that is free and multilingual (www.wordreference.com). I love Word Reference because it's so thorough. For example, there is no one word that means "was" in Spanish. Was can be fue, fui, and estaba. "Can" can be like the verb "I can speak Spanish" (Yo puedo hablar español) or it can be like a "can of soup" (una lata de sopa). A translator (like Google Translator) doesn't take that into account. That's why online translators are bogus. You have to do your research. 

Word Reference also explains idiomatic expressions, sayings, and proverbs. In English, we say "it's raining cats and dogs!" We don't mean that cats and dogs are falling from the sky, so when we want to express that same idea in Spanish, we have to look up an appropriate equivalent. In the screenshot I took, I was looking up the phrase "first come, first served." 

Word Refernece also has forums that are moderated by language specialists. Anyone can post a question or reply to someone else, but they are moderated by people who know what they're talking about. Word Reference is a great tool, whether you're working with English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, or any langauge that uses the same alphabet. This app requires internet access.

Oh, my sweet Snapchat. Snapchat gets a bad reputation sometimes, but it shouldn't. Snapchat is an app that lets you send pictures, videos, and now even texts that disappear about 10 seconds after you open them. The middle school set might use it for sending secrets, and the adult set might use it for photos they want to share but don't want saved, but in general it's a great app to stay in touch with people. It's  nice for me to actually be able to see and talk to my friends back home. I love Snapchat. This app requires internet access.

You always need a weather app! Mine came loaded with my phone, but I believe it's the  Yahoo Weather app. It shows pictorally what the weather looks like. It gives the high, the low, the temperature by hour, the temperatures for the week, and, if you tap on the top of the screen, it gives you the humidity, the direction of the wind, the chance of rain, and the "feels like" index. The dots at the bottom of the screen indicate that I have other cities bookmarked. I like to see what the weather is like in the cities that the people I love live in, like Midlothian, Powhatan, Kansas City, and Pittsburgh. This app does not require internet access.

Units Plus is really essential. Chile uses the metric system, which mean I'm exposed to the world of kilometers, kilograms, liters, and Celsius. Despite popular belief, you can't just "multiply by two" to convert Celsius to Fahrenheit. So, this app is extremely helpful. It also calculates pesos to dollars using up-to-date exchange rates. One thing to note is that Chile often uses military time, which is easy to calculate if you're familiar with it, but this app can help with that, too, if you're struggling. This app does not require internet access.

CalendarioCL is a Chilean calendar app. Notice that the week starts with lunes, which is Monday. Our calendars in the US all start with Sunday... just a difference to keep in mind!. The red days indicate days off (including Sundays), and days with boxes indicate special days, like holidays. If you click on a day, it tells you the number the day is in the year, how many days are left in the year, how many more days until the weekend, and famous events that have occurred on that day. It also gives the phases of the moon. It's really nifty! This app does not require internet access.

The Chilean news apps would be interesting, but they aren't free, and I don't always have wi-fi available, so it wouldn't update for me unless I were at home. So these are the apps that I am finding most useful. Those who are planning a trip to Chile (either to visit me or otherwise) should consider giving these apps a try.