American New To Buenos Aires..seeking Advice And Friends!

[travelbug234]

Hey expats!

I just got to Buenos Aires on Wednesday from Peru, where I visited for about 10 days. I'm from Florida and plan to stay in BA until July. My main goal is to learn Spanish. Since all of you are probably much more experienced than I am in all of this, I'd LOVE your advice on these things:

1) Learning Spanish. Almost everyone (including a porteño Spanish tutor I met with a few days ago) says Colombia is the best place to learn Spanish because of their clear accent. A lot of people told me Argentina isn't the best place for learning Spanish--and so far, I think they were right. I realize every country/region will have a different accent, but this one is just very different...and I'm worried I'll sound strange to Hispanics in the States, and they won't be able to understand me. Is the Argentine accent a big deal? Or will I still be able to get by in other Spanish-speaking countries? Would love your thoughts...

2) Where to live. Right now I'm in Monserrat and I love being downtown! But the original plan was to live in Palermo/Recoleta because I heard it's quieter and safer. However, I'm falling more and more in love with Monserrat. I did find a 1 bed/1bath furnished apartment in Villa Crespo (near Palermo) for $600USD/month. There's also a studio in downtown that's about $600USD/month. I'm having a hard time finding a place on Craigslist because everyone's demanding US dollars, and I don't have many with me.

3) Should I even stay? I love Buenos Aires so far (except for the Argentine accent!), but this is my first time traveling solo AND my first time in South America, so I'm open to other places. Do any of you have recommendations on a good place in S. America to live and work (I work remotely as a freelance writer) for the next 2 months?

Phew! That's all for now. Can't wait to meet some of you.

 

[Redpossum]

Welcome to BsAs!

We usually have a get together we call Coffee Chat at 4pm on Wednesday and Friday every week. Look for the thread called Coffee Chat for details about where; it changes every week. I'd suggest you drop by this coming week, meet the regulars, and ask questions.

There's an unfortunate lot of asshat behavior on these forums, ignore that. The folks who come to Coffee Chat are usually quiet on these forums, (except me), and the ones who act like jerks on the forums never come to Coffee Chat, thank god.

As for your three specific questions, I'm too new here myself to really offer wise and informed answers.

 

[DontMindMe]

Hey expats!

I just got to Buenos Aires on Wednesday from Peru, where I visited for about 10 days. I'm from Florida and plan to stay in BA until July. My main goal is to learn Spanish. Since all of you are probably much more experienced than I am in all of this, I'd LOVE your advice on these things:

1) Learning Spanish. Almost everyone (including a porteño Spanish tutor I met with a few days ago) says Colombia is the best place to learn Spanish because of their clear accent. A lot of people told me Argentina isn't the best place for learning Spanish--and so far, I think they were right. I realize every country/region will have a different accent, but this one is just very different...and I'm worried I'll sound strange to Hispanics in the States, and they won't be able to understand me. Is the Argentine accent a big deal? Or will I still be able to get by in other Spanish-speaking countries? Would love your thoughts...

Bogotá has a ton of call centers because of their relatively neutral accent. When people talk about Colombian Spanish being clear or neutral, they are talking about Bogotá and surrounding towns. Spanish there is also extremely formal (as are the people to a certain extent; language is culture and all that.) Don't think you'll find the same Spanish in, say, Medellín or Cartagena. The dialectical variation in Colombia is astonishing.

You as a grown adult will not speak perfect porteño Spanish in a matter of months, especially not if you're starting from 0. If anything, non-rioplatense Spanish speakers in the U.S. will find it amusing that you use the voseo and pronounce your y and ll like sh, and figure maybe you studied abroad down here.

With that said, I studied abroad here years ago and took a great intensive grammar course at Universidad de Belgrano. I had wanted to live in Buenos Aires since I was 10, so I did, linguistic challenges be damned. I've since lived in other Spanish-speaking parts of the world and while there's always a period of adjustment to a new dialect, I don't think learning Spanish here will screw you over the way some people do. The basics are pretty much the same everywhere.

 

[Joe]

You might try AirBNB. You can pay with a credit card. Also ByT Argentina lets me pay with PayPal (but I am a well established customer) if done more than a week in advance. ByT has an incredible selection of apartments.

 

[Noruega]

Agree with the above posters! You can learn here but since you won't be here for that long I don't think it will take too long to turn off the vos and the shhhh if necessary. Personally I think BA is a more fun city than Bogota so I'd stay!

I live in Villa Crespo and really love it, but of course it is a little further away from downtown and Recoleta. If you already like it in Monserrat I don't see why you shouldn't stay there?

 

[Tommy1978]

hi Travelbug234

welcome along tot he party.

I am just here a week and can only really offer one piece of advice: when choosing a location ensure it suits your everyday needs above anything else.

I came here to write and landed up in Retiro.

From London it seemed a reasonable decision based on rent and being in the hub of activity (theater district mainly) with "quick" access to Palermo / Recloleta etc. all this is indeed possible but I don't have the cafes I need to work in on my doorstep. annoying.

it is a very interesting place to live and I am happy but I might need to travel farther afield to get to work!

 

[ElQueso]

I learned Spanish in Texas, in high school and later working construction jobs. To me, trying to change the accent now is much more difficult than it's worth. Nor would I want to - my Spanish will be more clearly understood in other Spanish-speaking parts of the world than Argentine Spanish. It is, indeed, significantly different than just about anywhere in the world.

As far as changing the accent later to get rid of "vos" and "shhh" - I doubt that will ever be a simple matter. Some of the words I picked up here, as opposed to those I learned originally as long as 30 years ago, I do indeed have a bit of the "sh" going on there and I have to consciously think about not using "shhh" with these words. I rarely use "vos" and the different conjugations that go with it (vos tenes, for example - I always say tu tienes) - it just doesn't come to mind because I learned in high school that those forms were rarely used in the rest of the Spanish-speaking world.

I have friends who learned Spanish here, and although their Spanish is not all that great, they put their gringo accent on top fot he Argentine accent they've learned here and many people can't understand what they're saying when in other Spanish-speaking countries.

I wouldn't stay here to learn Spanish, if that were my primary goal. However, if I was learning Spanish, I'd spend a whole lot more than two months or so. My Spanish from 30 years ago stuck with me because I spent two years studying it in high school, and about 5 years making it stronger with with laborers, digging ditches alongside the Mexican immigrant (and often illegal) laborers. Two months might get you started but it won't stick with you most likely.

As far as just staying here - two months could be really cool here. If you like where you are, why change?

As far as other places, I'm personally very partial to Paraguay, for a number of reasons, but it's not a choice many people would make. I'm not a party-er particularly, even when younger (though I have been known to party, even now, just not my main focus). I like quieter places. The main reason I'm still here is my family, who are Paraguayan, but who I met here.

At the end, do what feels right for you. You can hardly make much of a mistake in only two months.

 

[Montauk_Project]

Another good place to learn Spanish is Xela in Guatemala, kind of a their main industry.
In two months the most you can hope for is to move up one level, maybe two, if you study 3-5 hours per day and avoid English speakers. A city with lots of English speakers (expats and locals who know a bit) will probably make things a bit harder. That doesn´t mean you should leave, but keep it in mind.

 

[ajoknoblauch]

Another good place to learn Spanish is Xela in Guatemala, kind of a their main industry.
In two months the most you can hope for is to move up one level, maybe two, if you study 3-5 hours per day and avoid English speakers. A city with lots of English speakers (expats and locals who know a bit) will probably make things a bit harder. That doesn´t mean you should leave, but keep it in mind.

Antigua Guatemala also has many language schools, but the gringo presence can be an obstacle.

I learned Spanish primarily by using it - in the US, I took less than a year of community college night classes - but then I traveled extensively through Mexico and Central America, spent several months in Chile during the Pinochet dictatorship when few foreigners were around, which amounted to a 24/7 immersion class. Then I married an Argentine, and I've spent several months every year in southernmost South America since the early 1990s. My accent has become more Argentine, but I still use Mexican and Chilean idioms, and can understand (and be understood by) anybody. When I'm in Chile, I tend to speak more Chilean.

 

[travelbug234]

Thank you all SO much! You've been a big help. I almost want to stay just for the awesome community here. I have a dilemma indeed...although it's a good one. I'm now considering returning to Cusco, Peru (where I was just before coming to BA).

Thanks again!