Am I a little nuts to choose BA? Help.

[fuccolini]

listening to k on the front page of clarin rabbiting on about malvinas and all this hot air man... lets face it, we came 10 years ago to catch some hemingway times here, but lets face it, you don't need cuba to get a tan if you feel me

 

[Sockhopper]

I heard a voice behind me say "pardon, me puedes decir donde hay taxi?" in a pure GEM (Gringo En Mexico) accent.

I heard a woman reply "Que? No le entiendo."

This guy said the words pretty good though, clear even with the accent.

Please explain how the foreigner sounded both like a gringo in Mexico and simultaneously said words 'pretty good'. Isn't that contradictory or am I missing something?

That the visitor wasn't understood isn't surprising. Vowels and consonants need to be learned in each of French, Italian, Spanish in Spain and again in Latin America. Locals speaking any one of those languages in each country that uses one or the other do not hear mispronounced sounds as meaningful. People coming from the English language, say, can find it hard to understand that it's not a matter of just mouthing 'decir' from its beginning to end by using English sounds. It's more helpful to hear in your head what the hearer will hear rather than just the sounds you make yourself and their meaning to you alone.

I studied Volumes 1 + 2 of "Learning Spanish Like Crazy". These are the only audio courses I know that use (4 different) South American Spanish accents. I figured out which speaker was speaking Castellano from things portenos had told me in BA about this dialect on my first trip to BA. So, I obliterated all 3 other voices from my mind and heard only his. I was soon returning to BA and was fed up on first visit with my not knowing a word of Spanish and so I bought and did these courses at home while walking around town. Even though my Spanish grammar and vocabulary hardly even exist yet, a BA taxi driver on my second trip (he was my first guinea pig) told me these things didn't matter because what I did know and said was the perfect Castellano of a university professor. (Maybe in certain circles in BA, that would not be cool!) I owe this compliment completely to LSLC, nothing else. The driver wouldn't take my tip. He said the pleasure of hearing a foreigner who knew almost no Spanish but who had found a way to speak Castellano was alll his. I recommend these courses for this reason.

Now that I'm about to retire to France instead, I'm just beginning to relearn all my vowels which is really hard because everything I do wth my mouth and tongue plus the nasality are taking me 12-50 times of saying per word before it begins to sound maybe okay. If only those financial controls hadn't come in, I would already be retired in BA without this harder challenge of learning French and not sounding so off. If I don't manage to reshape my mouth when I speak within just the next 8 weeks, I may have to consider plastic surgery when I arrive in France if there's any money left after this relocation!

Portenos and Italians are the 2 most forgiving groups of people language-wise I've met in the world. I EXPECT to have a far harder time in France for the first couple of years. I've had it easy in BA in comparison to my past experiences in France!! But I have a little hope that things may be easier there language-wise nowadays.

Recently I was dealing with a lingerie seller in France by 'phone. Of course the company had an English-speaking rep who I sorta got to know after a few calls. With no one to practise France's French where I still am, I got up the courage to tell that rep that I was going to tell him my 'phone number in French because I was desperate to practise with a real person. He told me not to try to speak French!! I insisted and sweated myself into courage. I did my very best and thought it was 90% correct. But that rep responded nothing when I asked him how I did.

That's very different from portenos. In BA, I always apologize for not knowing Spanish when a local doesn't initiate a conversation in English. Always that person then apologizes to me 6 times for his/her not speaking English!! I don't know another country whose people are this tolerant, patient and kind. In fact, it's never harmed me anywhere to open with an apology for my not speaking the local language. It often breaks the ice and then both people laugh and then feel more comfortable trying to figure out what the other is saying or gesturing.

 

[dennisr]

Am I nuts to ........
"Buy the Ticket, and Take the Ride"

HT

 

[willwright]

You can sum up the arguments here in about 2 sentences. 1. Age group 20-30 single. B.A. is a great city for parties and having a good time. This group basically usually drops in for a few weeks/months until the money runs out then heads home raving about the virtues of the city. 2. Over 30 married, possibly with kids, needs to make a living and quality of life means something beyond nightlife. For this group B.A.'s attractions are limited with the negatives becoming more prominent trying to get by doing things people do trying to build a life. They usually become disillusioned after a year or two and return home repeating horror stories of their life in Argentina. This is a generalization, but I think it fits 80% of the people.

 

[Mark2012]

I wonder why some locals don't have the sense to use the spell check feature of this site while claiming their English is better than my Spanish.

Simple spelling mistakes may have the power to make at least one of them look like a bafoon (aka idiot)...or should I say a brigadier (another alias along with Mark2012).

Just wondering...

Its too obious at this point that Steve (alias the grumpy old man) hates me. And he just cant aboid distill it from his pores.
It seems you are forgeting tree accounts more that I have...
I sujest you to get yourself to a nursing home and stay there for your remaining days because no one used to read the resentful and unhappy opinions of an grumpy old man.

...It would be good for your healt.

 

[fifs2]

I've gone from using this forum for a fact finding to reading it purely for entertainment purposes. It's really not a useful tool for research. Read the papers, if you can talk to some locals. I really would recommend not making major decisions based on what anonymous posters on the internet tell you!

Don't throw the baby out with the bath water just yet Dublin2...finding this site 6 years into my 8+ years in Bsas this site helped me find 2 great employees, bagels, tortillas, a hairdresser, closed door restaurants, a beautiful pastel etc etc not to mention privately provide help to some people looking for help on various items. For sure it's entertaining, and useful and as much as anything it helps to validate your sanity particularly after the first 2 years have passed and you start to feel like youre insane because all your Bsas friends keep telling you their pizza, cheese, bread etc is the best in the world and you may not have met any expats to actually confirm that your memory of such items in Europe isnt flawed...
As you say, asking total strangers on the internet to opine as to whether you should move country is beyond bizarre. Asking and searching for specific questions to be answered will usually bring at least 1 valid answer per every ten totally subjective but entertaining ones.. .

 

[Gringoboy]

Its too obious at this point that Steve (alias the grumpy old man) hates me. And he just cant aboid distill it from his pores.
It seems you are forgeting tree accounts more that I have...
I sujest you to get yourself to a nursing home and stay there for your remaining days because no one used to read the resentful and unhappy opinions of an grumpy old man.

...It would be good for your healt.

I'm pleased to note that your English has improved in direct relation to your intellect.
Well done!
Now go and stand in the corner until your turn is called, there's a good lad.

 

[Mark2012]

I'm pleased to note that your English has improved in direct relation to your intellect.
Well done!
Now go and stand in the corner until your turn is called, there's a good lad.

How much is Steve paying you for to be his lawyer??... I hope it worth enough!. Maby my intellect is improved in direct relation to my english. Or maby not, who knows?. But the only thing I can be sure about, is that it should be at least 5 times bigger than the yours.

 

[sleslie23]

How much is Steve paying you for to be his lawyer??... I hope it worth enough!. Maby my intellect is improved in direct relation to my english. Or maby not, who knows?. But the only thing I can be sure about, is that it should be at least 5 times bigger than the yours.

Oh, the irony!

And no, Mark2012/Flowerpower, that's not what you do with your wrinkly clothes.

 

[ElQueso]

How much is Steve paying you for to be his lawyer??... I hope it worth enough!. Maby my intellect is improved in direct relation to my english. Or maby not, who knows?. But the only thing I can be sure about, is that it should be at least 5 times bigger than the yours.

Some people just don't seem to know when their ass is hanging out in the wind...