Argentine/Rioplatense Spanish

gatoandaluz

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Anyone care to share their notes on quirks of the Argentine dialect? I am vaguely familiar with it, and can imitate the accent (although am not very comfortable with voseo). Still, my default accent and slang are Mexican, which can sometimes make other Spanish speakers cringe. Any recent movies from Argentina worth watching, so I can retrain my ear?
 
I suggest Nueve Reinas, a thriller from a couple of years ago. And for the accent, listen to the radio. I did it when I lived abroad and helped.
 
Already seen Nueve Reinas, but it's been a few years. Thanks for the other recommendation.
 
Musica en espera was another good one that came out recently (within the last year).
 
(1) I walked passed a girl yesterday or the day before and her arm NOT CONNECTED to the hand holding her cell phone was moving about twice as fast as her lips were. And she was talking quickly.

ALSO-

(2) Stretch the ever-living-crap out of the second-to-the-last vowel sound in every 3rd or 4th word.

"No, no, no pasa naaaaaaaada. Para-para-para, era muy tranquiiiiiiiiiiiilo. Estabamos tomando cerveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeezas y comiendo picaaaaaaaaaaaaadas."

(3) And, for no reason what-so-ever, just a little less frequently send your voice up about 3 octaves until your voice cracks. Do this over and over and over even though there is absolutely no reason what-so-ever to emphasize these words/syllables. And if it ends up that that part of the word is absolutely unintelligible? No p^sa naaaaaaaaaaada, porque ^toy todo tranquiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiilo.

(4) Oh, and drop your "S"s all the time. The more street you want to sound, the better. And then claim that you ARE pronouncing your "S"s, but that it's simply a soft S.

(5) Consider buying this book. http://www.amazon.com/Che-Boludo-Gringos-Understanding-Argentines/dp/9872173125

(6) Before you say something, make kind of a <tsk> sound by sucking air into your mouth as you separate your tongue from the top of your mouth right behind your upper front teeth.

(7) Start most of your statements with a negative sound. "Nooooo, no, no..." or "Naaaahh, naaa..." or "Para, para, para..." Start with something negative even if you are going to give an affirmative answer.

(8) Kiss every living thing within 10 feet of you on the right cheek before you even say a single negative thing.

(9) Shrug the hell out of your shoulders and tilt your head to the side often as you talk, because this will affect your speech in a way that I can't explain.

(10) Touch people with your hands as you are talking to them. Touch their arm, their shoulders, and if you're sitting, you can even put your hand on their thigh. The lack of awareness of personal space will be detectable in your speech pattern.

(11) Throw in some "Y, y, y.... nada."s and a few "Viste?"s when they least expect it. Use "dale" for "ok?" or "let's go" and really try to use a "che" soon after it so they don't think that you're just some poser.

(12) Take about 30 seconds to get off the cell phone. Never mind that cell phone rates are astronomical, (especially for those of us without a plan) it is always best to end a cell phone conversation like this-

"Dale, dale, dale... listo, listo, dale, listo, dale... bueno, listo, bueno, dale-dale, listo-dale, chau, dale? Bueno, bueno, listo, dale, dale, ch-listo, noooo, nooooo, nada... dale, listo, bueno, bueno-bueno, listo-bueno, dale, dale, listo, y... y... y... y... nada, bueno, bueno, listo, bueno, listo, dale, dale, bueno, listo, dale, chau, chau, chau-chau, listo-bueno-dale, chau, chau, un beso/abrazo, chau, chau, chau."

I cut it a little short, but you get the point. DO NOT HANG UP QUICKLY OR YOU WILL BE DEEMED AS HAVING MALAAAAA UNDAAAAAAAAAAA!!! And you'll probably never be invited to another asado again if you're deemed to be in proud ownership of mala unda.

(13) If you're a 13-15 year old girl, shuffle your beaten up Chuck Taylor All-Stars (or imitation) canvas high-tops, as you play with (one of) your (pieces of facial metal) [CHOOSE ONE: lip pierce; tongue pierce; push-pin-jabbed into your face a centimeter above or below your actual lip] while saying "boluda" like you just learned the word 9 days ago and it's your new favorite word FOREVER!!!... "PFPS"... Palabra Favorita Para Siempre.

Once you've mastered all of this, come back and I'll give you some more tips on how to sound autentico.

-Napoleon
 
Epitafios is on HBO in the US, and some seasons are available from Netflix- more serial killers in one season than have actually existed in Argentina in about 50 years, but fun to watch and listen to. They seem to spend a lot of time driving down Libertador, and every serial killer somehow lives in a palace in Palermo Viejo, and the cops are all good looking.

I just watched El Secreto de sus Ojos, and the characters in it all really remind me of various friends of mine in BsAs- except the enforcer hit man thug- I have been lucky enough not to meet him yet...

But the speech patterns, accents, and vocab are all totally Porteno.
 
There is a local TVchannel that shows only argy movies (oldies but goodies), some are comedies of low taste (Olmedo and Porcel), some are old tango movies, they all will help.
good luck
 
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