Looking For German (Or Other) Speaking Neighborhoods

[racecapet]

I am moving to Buenos Aires in June and am hoping to take advantage of the city's diversity to ease my transition. I speak very little Spanish but I am fluent in German and hear the occasional cryptic reference to Belgrano-Deutsch. I would really appreciate any tips as to where (more specifically than just "Belgrano") I could rent an apartment and expect to be able to hold a conversation in German at the corner cafe. On a related note, my passive understanding of Yiddish is pretty high, so that would be almost as good.

I also speak a fair amount of French and suspect, being as there is a French-language paper, that there must be a substantial speaker base in the city. Is there any particular area in which they are concentrated?

Thanks so much!

 

[Rich One]

Barrio Once is a Jewish/Yiddish enclave... a little too Orthodox perhaps?

 

[Ries]

less than 5% of the population of Argentina is of German extraction, and most of them are now 4th or 5th generation native castellano speakers.
I have never heard of a German neighborhood. There are a couple of german restaurants, and of course there is an embassy.
http://www.buenos-aires.diplo.de/
there are some bookstores-
http://www.buenos-aires.diplo.de/Vertretung/buenosaires/es/06/Kopie_20von_20Deutsche_20Buchhandlungen__Seite.html
and there is this- the federation of german associations
http://www.faag.org.ar/newwebsite/

really, though, you will do fine with english- I mean, obviously, learning castellano should be a priority, and your life will be much easier and fuller if you do, but you can get by, at least in the centro, with english.

 

[sleslie23]

I think you've been misinformed about Buenos Aires' diversity. Despite being a country of immigrants, most Europeans have long past integrated in terms of language and (sadly) cuisine. To find German-speaking communities where you could "hold a conversation at the corner cafe" you would have to go to the provinces, and even then you would probably have a hard time finding someone who can converse with you in German as spoken in Europe today.

You would have more luck speaking Yiddish in Once, but I doubt many people would be willing to hang out and have a conversation if they don't know you. I know multiple people who speak Hebrew/Yiddish as a first language, but I've never heard either spoken on the street. Buenos Aires isn't New York, though that doesn't mean you shouldn't give it a shot.

You'll be better off learning Spanish as quickly as you can. Until then, you will primarily be conversing in English, though you may find the occasional German or French speaking expat or Argentine who has studied those languages.

On the other hand, if you speak Guarani or Quechua, you're in luck. Those are the non-Spanish languages spoken my more recent migrant communities.

 

[RichardP]

There is a Goethe Institute in BA that hosts many cultural activities and you could likely meet some locals who are interested in German language and culture.

http://www.goethe.de/ins/ar/bue/esindex.htm?wt_sc=buenosaires

As you are already multi-lingual, you should have no problem picking up enough Spanish to get by rather quickly.

 

[DerAchtundzwanzig]

There's no such thing as a "German-speaking neighborhood" and everyone I know who has dual German-Argentine citizenship only speaks German because they went to a German school, but they speak Spanish as their native language, they don't even speak German with their German grandparents.

Same thing happens with Yiddish speakers... Most Eastern-European jews (who were, at most, the grandparents of today's 30-40 year-old's) didn't pass on the language to their kids. This is either because they wanted their kids to integrate to the Argentine society or, as some like to say, because they didn't want their kids to understand Yiddish so they could use that language to fight. The result is that not even 50-60 year-old's (these immigrant's children) speak Yiddish (there are always exceptions, but most of them don't), except for some words that they use when they speak Spanish (i.e. they say "zeide" instead of "abuelo", "tuches" instead of "culo", etc.). But they don't speak the language.

Even if you go to Once, you will find that most orthodox jews are interested in speaking and learning Hebrew... not Yiddish.

Anyway, as mentioned above, you will be speaking English most of the time at first and your best bet is to learn Spanish as fast as possible.

 

[Rich One]

There's no such thing as a "German-speaking neighborhood" and everyone I know who has dual German-Argentine citizenship only speaks German because they went to a German school, but they speak Spanish as their native language, they don't even speak German with their German grandparents.

Same thing happens with Yiddish speakers... Most Eastern-European jews (who were, at most, the grandparents of today's 30-40 year-old's) didn't pass on the language to their kids. This is either because they wanted their kids to integrate to the Argentine society or, as some like to say, because they didn't want their kids to understand Yiddish so they could use that language to fight. The result is that not even 50-60 year-old's (these immigrant's children) speak Yiddish (there are always exceptions, but most of them don't), except for some words that they use when they speak Spanish (i.e. they say "zeide" instead of "abuelo", "tuches" instead of "culo", etc.). But they don't speak the language.

Even if you go to Once, you will find that most orthodox jews are interested in speaking and learning Hebrew... not Yiddish.

Anyway, as mentioned above, you will be speaking English most of the time at first and your best bet is to learn Spanish as fast as possible.

Very valid comments Eastern European jews in Argentina, not only didn't pass on the Yiddish, but also changed their last names to Italian Versions like Viale or Scioli , or many other TV characters that adopted christian screen last names.

 

[HenryNisental]

I have met many German speaking ladies in Montecarlo, Misiones. Lots of german, swuiss, danish, etc, there.
Also check Ciudad Belgrano in Cordoba, and of course, Bariloche.

 

[Aleina Dee]

I think Henry hit the nail on the head. What you heard about Belgrano Deutsch probably refers to Villa General Belgrano in Cordoba where they still preserve some German tradition.I agree with Ries though that spoken German is almost lost here. However people surprise you . I was surprised by the owner of a panaderia. Once she realised wher my accent is from she started to converse in fluent German.However this is not the rule.
You could try to go to Villa Ballester.It is the historical stop off point wher you can still ask for ein kleines Roggenbrot but I doubt that the conversation after could extend to argentine agricultural policy with regards to wheat if you get my drift.

 

[Napoleon]

less than 5% of the population of Argentina is of German extraction, and most of them are now 4th or 5th generation native castellano speakers.
I have never heard of a German neighborhood. There are a couple of german restaurants, and of course there is an embassy.
http://www.buenos-aires.diplo.de/
there are some bookstores-
http://www.buenos-ai...gen__Seite.html
and there is this- the federation of german associations
http://www.faag.org.ar/newwebsite/

Just wondering where you go that "less than 5%" statistic.

I'd say that probably about 20% to 25% of Argentina is "of German extraction". That's an even higher percentage than the US, where for a long time people of German heritage made up the largest single group of any heritage group in the US. You might be confusing "Argentina" with "Buenos Aires".

Wiki says this:

Germans
German Argentine are one of the largest ethnic groups of Argentina and they had one of the biggest impacts in the Argentine culture.

The influence of German culture has also impacted Argentine cuisine; this trend is especially apparent in the field of desserts. The pastries known as facturas are Germanic in origin: croissants, known as medialunas ("half-moons", from German "Halbmond"), are the most popular of these, and can be found in two varieties: butter- and lard-based. Also German in origin are the "Berliner" known as bolas de Fraile ("friar's balls"), and the rolls called piononos.

The facturas were re-christened with local names given the difficult phonology of German, and usually Argentinized by the addition of a dulce de leche filling. That was also the case of the "Kreppel", which are called torta fritas in Argentina, and were introduced by German immigrants, and similar case with the "Achtzig Schlag" cake, which was translated as Torta Ochenta Golpes in the country. In addition, dishes like chucrut (sauerkraut) and many different kinds of sausage like bratwurst and others have also made it into mainstream Argentine cuisine.
German immigration to Argentina occurred during 5 main time periods: pre–1870, 1870–1914, 1918–1933, 1933–1940 and post–1945. During the first period until 1870.

Argentina and Germany had close ties to each other since the immigration of Germans to Argentina to this day. A flourishing trade developed between Germany and Argentina as early as the German Unification, Germany had a privileged position in the Argentine economy.

Later on, Argentina maintained a strong economic relationship with both Germany and Great Britain and supported them with supplies during World War I.

There are around 50,000 German citizens living in Buenos Aires. Argentina, United States, Canada and Brazil have the biggest number of German descendants in the world.

They arrived in the 19th century and before and after WWII. Their arrival continues over an extended period, from middle to the end of the 19th century until 1960 of the 20th century. Germans, Swiss, Belgian, Luxembourg and French people founded the Colony of Esperanza, establishing the first agricultural colony and kept founding others.

This doesn't even include the "Volga Germans".