Level of spanish needed to survive BA

[Nadiene Oz]

Hi I'm new & planning to move to BA rom Oz early 2013. Trying to prepare before as much as possible & would like to know what people think about the level fo spanish I need to attain to be able to get myself through the daily routine? Additionally was curious about the % of people in BA that speak English?

 

[arlean]

Hi Nadiene, as a relative newcomer myself (or at least one not proficient in spanish) of course the more you know, the better. I still have to get friends or one of my bilingual relatives to call the phone company for me, for example. It took me three weeks to get Internet because my spanish was so inadequate, and that is frustrating. They claimed they had no one there to speak to me in English. My guess, they did but just didn't want to go find them. I tried to hire someone from the local English school for $10.00 US an hour just to go with me to conduct common everyday business at first (like getting Internet) and had no takers, to my surprise. So the more spanish you know, the better.

Also you didn't say if you are retired and just coming for the fun of it or planning to work. That makes all the difference in the world. Many people here speak English, and a lot more do but won't admit it except if forced to. I have boarded a taxi and struggled with conversation with the driver the entire trip (and if they will talk, I practice spanish) and at the end when he gave me change, had him tell me in clear english to have a nice vacation (I LIVE here!) I would say the minumum is to be able to maneuver in the grocery store and in restaurants and to ask directions. I would aim for a lot more than that and if you have until 2013 that's time to learn a lot of spanish. But to my thinking that's the minimum. I will be interested in what others here think.

 

[Nadiene Oz]

Not retired no where near it. I have just negotiated 2 years off work for OS travel & have done a fair bit of research/spoken to quite a few people e.g. my son who just lived in Columbia for past year about where they think I should start the journey. I got onto an agency who have offered to hook me up with some volunteer work for around 6 months or more & provide accomm/food maybe monthly basic stipend. I think Beunos is a place I will like given my personality & lust for adventure. But obviously won't know until I get there.Any info, tips, advise would be gratefully received! I try not to have any expectations but more a realistic outlook on things that way you donlt get disappointed

 

[Lulu-Kyoko]

I've been in Buenos Aires for a month and when I arrived my Spanish was pretty bad. I don't find it too difficult here, but that's because you don't really need a lot of Spanish to take care of the basics-- hand signals work wonders! So, I have daily life covered (going to a cafe and pointing to the thing I want on the menu, going to the grocery store and just handing the money over when I get the bill, subte tickets don't require any kind of interaction). I find most people are pretty friendly and they seem to be used to having a lot of foreigners in their midst.

I rented my apartment through an agency and there was a liaison here when I arrived to talk to landlord. Internet etc. is included in the rent, so I didn't have to deal with any of that kind of stuff. My suggestion is to take Spanish classes before coming and to take a months worth of Spanish (at least) once you arrive. A lot of the people who are at my Spanish school are doing volunteer work and their agencies arranged for their classes.

 

[ghost]

Sounds like you are preparing so you will do OK. BA is a big city and like most cities the spoken speed goes up in relation to city size. IE Spanish is spoken fast in BA. And it's a home grown version with local codes buried in the language. You are unlikely to ever master the local accent but giving it an honest try will win big points and the locals will turn down the speed dial when they know you are trying.

 

[mellowshipslinky]

You should enrol in spanish classes after landing
a) they'll teach you the local spanish, not the generic spanish you might get back in Aus
b) it's a good way to socialize, i've made some good friends through the language classes.

In my experience here, most people DON'T speak english. When you ask , they'll say "yes, so - so" and that's pretty much the extent of their vocab.

 

[Nadiene Oz]

Do you have any suggestions about what are the spanish schools i should try & cost of an av class?

 

[Nadiene Oz]

Ok can anyone tell me about the money situation & how to avoid getting counterfit notes passed onto you in your daily transactions?

 

[Iznogud]

You'll be getting pesos for your currency. Fake pesos are rare nowadays. Paper quality is terrible so they're quite easy to spot if you're paying attention. I only worry about the fake 50$.

 

[ElQueso]

Ok can anyone tell me about the money situation

It's complicated and changes a lot. There are more than a few threads that have discussed this issue into the ground and you would probably be better off reading them than having all the diverse opinions crop up again here.

However, very short answer: Bring in as much of your currency as you can to change on the black market here. I'm really not sure about currencies other than the dollar vs peso because that's what matters to me at the moment. Certainly I would lose around 30% of my money converting into pesos if I just extracted money from the ATM.

& how to avoid getting counterfit notes passed onto you in your daily transactions?

Counterfeit notes can be a problem here. You have to examine every one of them to be certain. Counterfeits are usually easy to spot if you know what to look for. You may have to ask someone to show you a counterfeit to understand what to look for, but it could indeed be a problem.

I have changed money on Florida street many times and have never either gotten a counterfeit, or they were so good that even store owners can't tell the difference. Others have posted that it's a huge risk to change money down there.

I mention Florida because it's the easiest, though also the lowest-paying, way to find access to convert dollars for pesos on the black market for people with no contacts.

Be here for awhile and you will begin to make contacts.

Depending on how long you want to stay here for, I think a bigger problem you may have will be related to renting long term. Short term is more expensive just comparing the price of rent, but long term is extremely difficult, and I would say nearly impossible without contacts, as owners here (maybe 95%?) require a guarantee against the property and rent. The guarantee is in the form of the deed of an existing property here, usually (but not always) restricted to Capital Federal.