18 year old coming to learn Spanish

[PhilipDT]

Oh I am sure they chuckled and had plenty to say about you and your group, but being European they tend to be polite and discreet. On the other hand if you are from Spain or the USA and you come to Argentina they will be sure to call you Gallego or Yanqui to your face every time they make reference to you.

I'm just curious do any Americans or Spaniards actually get offended at being called Gallego or Yanqui?

 

[Hache]

if you are living and learning spanish in Captial Federal, there is a great deal of lunfardo used that no other spanish speaker from any other country could possibly know.

With all due respect, David, that's like saying "if you are living and learning English in London, there is a great deal of cockney used that no other English speaker from any other country could possibly know."

 

[Hache]

I'm just curious do any Americans or Spaniards actually get offended at being called Gallego or Yanqui?

Let me make this clear: Gallego or Yanqui are NOT offensive per se. They could be made offensive by pronunciation and phrase context, though.

 

[JoeBlow]

Here the words and sentences are different, no matter what accent you put on it, if the words are different and you are not familiar with them you will not be able to understand.

The amount of slang used in Buenos Aires is no greater than that used in any other dialect of Spanish. Every regional dialect of Spanish and English has lots of words that outsiders won't understand the first day they're in their new city/town.

 

[sesamosinsal]

Please, I sound like a total Argentine. I have no "American accent" whatsoever. I'm in Ecuador, and I meet with Ecuadorian government officials all of the time. The only people to ever point out to me that I sound like an Argentine are taxi drivers. And if the 18-year-old ever becomes good enough to use it professionally, you can neutralize it. (In everyday convos, I've switched to using tu.)

I would say that Buenos Aires isn't a great place to actually learn Spanish. I've met numerous people who've come to Buenos Aires to "learn Spanish," and all they really do is blow hundreds of dollars to legitimize their trip to Argentina. They never learn much.

 

[syngirl]

In Spain the guys try to mimic the Argentine accent to pick up girls. My brother-in-law lives in Barcelona, he says there's no making fun of his accent -- until he tries to speak Catalan, and then they think it's kind of funny. But they're usually so impressed that he's actually making an effort to speak a bit of Catalan that they soon forget about it altogether.

I concur with the statement re: cockney in London. It's not as if Argentines (or Portenos) walk around speaking 100% lunfardo.

Outside of Argentina I get the same reaction as when I hear an Argentine start speaking English with an English accent instead of an American one -- maybe a question with a smile -- where'd you learn your Spanish? And then they quickly move on... if I'm misunderstood at all I know enough about Spanish at this point to switch to Tu instead of Vos (and Vos is so rarely misunderstood) and soften my LLs and Ys instead of zhzh-ing them, and to avoid using Argentine slang and stick to "proper" Spanish.

 

[Davidglen77]

The amount of slang used in Buenos Aires is no greater than that used in any other dialect of Spanish. Every regional dialect of Spanish and English has lots of words that outsiders won't understand the first day they're in their new city/town.

I am not referring to slang. I am talking about everyday things that if you learn spanish here you will not be well understood in other countries. Argentina and especially not Buenos Aires capital federal are good places to get a baseline use of spanish or "castellano" as they say here.

For example go to a verdulería in any other country in latinoamerica or the carribean (except maybe chile where they are used to hearing this strange use of español) and ask for ananá, damasco, frutilla, pomelo, frutos del bosque, chauchas, and nobody will know what you are talking about.

(The correct words are piña, albaricoque, fresa, toronja, frambuesas, and judías verdes)

Go to a real estate agency in any other country in latinoamerica or the carribean and ask for 2 ambientes living con placard, y amoblado con sommier and see if they have any idea what you mean.

The correct way to request this would be departamento con 1 dormitorio, sala con armario y amueblado con colchón y marco de resortes.

These are everyday things that people ask for and do and if you get your baseline spanish from here you will only have to re-learn it somewhere else. If that doesn't matter to you then go for it! There are lots of things that are worth learining here, like tango, how to make different repulgues for different kinds of empanadas, authentic parrilla argentina, however language is not one of their finer points.

 

[katti]

I dont think that this girl will learn much here that can not be relearned at some other point; She does not speak a word of Spanish now. She is choosing for an international career and will be spending 3 months abroud every year for the next 4 years, so this one month of 'Castellano' will do no harm.

I agree that (especially in the beginning) accents can cause difficulties. My daughter learned English as a little child when we had Canadian au pairs. When we met English people on holiday, she didn't understand them. That only changed when she had her first lesson of English in school (when she was 14). In Belgian schools they teach British English and say American "dialect" (!) is wrong. ALthough my kids (especially my son) spoke fluent English with a heavy Canadian accent, he never had good results for oral because he had 'the wrong accent'.

Just to show how short sighted people can be...

 

[Hache]

For example go to a verdulería in any other country in latinoamerica or the carribean (except maybe chile where they are used to hearing this strange use of español) and ask for ananá, damasco, frutilla, pomelo, frutos del bosque, chauchas, and nobody will know what you are talking about.

(The correct words are piña, albaricoque, fresa, toronja, frambuesas, and judías verdes)

Dave, please search the Real Academia Española de Letras dictionary (which is the ultimate official castellano dictionary) and you'll see the "argentine" words are all there. As of frutos del bosque, I'll venture to guess it's a marketing term for all berries.

But you're right when you say those words may not be known in other places, and I have to admit I had no idea of what albaricoque meant.

 

[Davidglen77]

I don't doubt that the Argentine words are in the diccionario de la Academia Real Española. However, I am referring to what is commonly used in all other countries minus Argentina. Unfortunately people don't carry a dictionary to consult all over latin america or any other country either.
Regarding frutos del bosque, people here don't even know what they are, it's a very silly term if you ask me, sounds like something from the Pitufos (smurfs)......."Quiero frutos del bosque encantado.......ok Pitufina (smurfette) ahora voy al bosque y le pediré a la lechusa mágica que me consiga los frutos mi amor eterno......."