Learning Argentinian Spanish (app)

Some Argentinians resent the use of Lunfardo by English Speakers, particularly if Mispronounced..!
(I do) The use of the "Che" to address people, needs expertise to determine when it's appropriate..?

Yeah true but there are words that can be used that no one in my experience will turn their nose up at such as quilombo, minas, lucas, fiaca, pelotudo, pibes, boludo etc. and at the very least for everything else it is good to know what they mean because a lot of people will say them to you constantly and you will need to understand them. Using Che is a step too far for me, I would feel like a fraud.

Clearly its good to get a grasp of voseo and the difference in the Argentinian use of the imperative tense too. I find reading Argentinian crime novels helps. I like Claudia Pinero, Kike Ferrari and Sergio Olguin in particular as they use Argentinian Spanish and set their novels in Argentina.
 
Last edited:
This one?


What do you call neutral (English)/Spanish? The one from Spain?
Neutral Spanish is what is used on Telenovelas, and across the US Spanish TV channels.
Argentinian actors in Mexican novelas must learn neutral Spanish, lunfardo not allowed.
Excelente ejemplo.
 
Last edited:
Argentina has a very active TV and film industry which helps with getting up to speed on the local accent and dialect. "El Marginal" on Netflix is perhaps a step too far at the beginning, "Maria Marta, El Crimen del Country" could be an interesting introduction to Argentinian society and how things work here, and "El Encargado" on Star+ could be a good place to begin. And there are lots of Argentinian films on most of the streaming services.

My experience is that the voseo and Rioplatense dialect fade, the further you get from Buenos Aires, particularly to the north. People from the provinces bordering Paraguay are perfectly happy using "tu" (the accents get a bit strange, though, especially the pronunciation of "r").
 
Mrs. Pintor hates me for saying this, but I've found that the Bogota accent and vocabulary (NOT the Medellin / Paisa variant) to be the most neutral. Though Mexican Spanish is strongly accented, @Rich One is correct in saying that most of Mexico's international output is neutrally accented, and they use many non-Mexican actors as well. Both Colombia and Mexico have huge TV (telenovela) outputs.
 
Though Mexican Spanish is strongly accented, @Rich One is correct in saying that most of Mexico's international output is neutrally accented, and they use many non-Mexican actors as well.
...but not neutrally accented enough for some of the Buenos Aires parents with young children I come into contact with. They say that because of their children's exposure to television, they are all starting to talk like little Mexicans. (There is a simple and obvious solution to this but so far I have resisted suggesting it.)
 
...but not neutrally accented enough for some of the Buenos Aires parents with young children I come into contact with. They say that because of their children's exposure to television, they are all starting to talk like little Mexicans. (There is a simple and obvious solution to this but so far I have resisted suggesting it.)
Some international films and series dubbed in Spanish in Netflix have choices such as "Español de España " or "Español Neutro" To date "Español Argentino" is not available yet.
 
Mrs. Pintor hates me for saying this, but I've found that the Bogota accent and vocabulary (NOT the Medellin / Paisa variant) to be the most neutral. Though Mexican Spanish is strongly accented, @Rich One is correct in saying that most of Mexico's international output is neutrally accented, and they use many non-Mexican actors as well. Both Colombia and Mexico have huge TV (telenovela) outputs.
Here is an interesting video on Neutral Spanish, does it resemble Bogota accent ? Notice the body language i.e, face expressions

 
Last edited:
Some Argentinians resent the use of Lunfardo by English Speakers, particularly if Mispronounced..!
(I do) The use of the "Che" to address people, needs expertise to determine when it's appropriate..?
"Boludo" is still the most difficult slang word for me to understand the usage. It's sometimes friendly, sometimes offensive and certainly requires expertise. My wife hates to hear me cuss in spanish and swears they are "stronger" than English curse words 🤷‍♂️
 
Back
Top