A poster on the smoking ban topic questioned my view that argentine spanish is polite. i thought i´d open up another topic to discuss this. this is my response to what he wrote.
Yes, i speak pretty much fluent Spanish, and can switch between
Chilean and Argentine intonation and pronunciation when i need to as
well (despite having an english accent at the same time...). I've learnt my spanish in a few different countries and so am able to compare differences in the way they speak in ecuador and chile or argentina and peru for example.
Argentine
Spanish is the politest Spanish around. Argentines are famous in Latin
America for being over the top polite and not nearly as direct when
talking as most other Spanish speakers. My chilean girlfriend sometimes
gets exasperated by the amount of time it takes an Argentine to ask the
time. "Disculpáme, serias tan amable de decirme la hora por favor¨she
was asked the other day. ¨Why can´t they just ask what they want
instead of going round in circles for so long? I had to stop in the
street and just missed my bus due to the time it took her to ask me
that ´, she asked me when she got home...in Chile, Peru and Ecuador
you´d simply ask ¨¿Tienes la hora?¨, no please, no conditional tense. Direct and to the point. Not necessarily rude but also not as polite as the way an Argentine would often ask.
When you walk into a shop
here, you are invariably greeted by a ´Buen dia´, ´Buenas tardes´,
´Como estas´or ´Que tal´ and then by ¿Én que te puedo ayudar? Cualquier
cosa, me avisás, ok? When you get into a lift, it´s common to say ´Buen dia/buenas tardes and hasta luego on leaving.When someone knocks you in the street, most of the time they'll apologise. I Santiago and Lima it's pretty much a sport to see how many people you can knock over when walking around and a 'sorry' will never be uttered. These
are forms of politeness (expressions, not just usted) that are simply
not used in many other Spanish speaking countries. It certainly doesn´t
happen in Chile, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador and much of Spain.Usted
is not the be all and end all of being polite. Using usted does not
mean, de facto, that you are being polite. In fact, many spanish speakers only use
usted when they are angry and are insulting the other person. In parts
of many countries, usted is used unilaterally instead of ´tu. friends,
family members, everyone is addressed as usted. In most of spain, usted
is used only in the most formal of occassions.The argentine use
of expressions and phrases to be polite rather echoes british english.
british english is less direct than US english. that doesn´t mean that
americans are being rude when they talk, just that to the british
they´re more direct which is something we´re not used to in england. In
the same way, chileans are sometimes seen as being rude here in argentina due to
the directness of their speech. They´re not being rude, they´re just
speaking in the way they´re used to but to argentines that way of
speaking is too direct and to them, rude. Many non-spanish
speakers and spanish learners think argentines are rude and blunt
because they haven´t experienced spanish in other countries. Spanish is
a more direct language than english and that can take some getting used to for
native english speakers. Not always needing to say ´please´ all the time is one
thing that often confuses many learners.Anyway, i thought i´d respond
to the poster´s comment. I´ve heard so many expats complaining about
how rude argentines and porteños in particular are and it is simply not
true. it´s one part of the argentine culture that i, as a nice polite
english boy, really appreciate. Visit santiago, lima, la paz or quito
and you´ll understand.
Yes, i speak pretty much fluent Spanish, and can switch between
Chilean and Argentine intonation and pronunciation when i need to as
well (despite having an english accent at the same time...). I've learnt my spanish in a few different countries and so am able to compare differences in the way they speak in ecuador and chile or argentina and peru for example.
Argentine
Spanish is the politest Spanish around. Argentines are famous in Latin
America for being over the top polite and not nearly as direct when
talking as most other Spanish speakers. My chilean girlfriend sometimes
gets exasperated by the amount of time it takes an Argentine to ask the
time. "Disculpáme, serias tan amable de decirme la hora por favor¨she
was asked the other day. ¨Why can´t they just ask what they want
instead of going round in circles for so long? I had to stop in the
street and just missed my bus due to the time it took her to ask me
that ´, she asked me when she got home...in Chile, Peru and Ecuador
you´d simply ask ¨¿Tienes la hora?¨, no please, no conditional tense. Direct and to the point. Not necessarily rude but also not as polite as the way an Argentine would often ask.
When you walk into a shop
here, you are invariably greeted by a ´Buen dia´, ´Buenas tardes´,
´Como estas´or ´Que tal´ and then by ¿Én que te puedo ayudar? Cualquier
cosa, me avisás, ok? When you get into a lift, it´s common to say ´Buen dia/buenas tardes and hasta luego on leaving.When someone knocks you in the street, most of the time they'll apologise. I Santiago and Lima it's pretty much a sport to see how many people you can knock over when walking around and a 'sorry' will never be uttered. These
are forms of politeness (expressions, not just usted) that are simply
not used in many other Spanish speaking countries. It certainly doesn´t
happen in Chile, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador and much of Spain.Usted
is not the be all and end all of being polite. Using usted does not
mean, de facto, that you are being polite. In fact, many spanish speakers only use
usted when they are angry and are insulting the other person. In parts
of many countries, usted is used unilaterally instead of ´tu. friends,
family members, everyone is addressed as usted. In most of spain, usted
is used only in the most formal of occassions.The argentine use
of expressions and phrases to be polite rather echoes british english.
british english is less direct than US english. that doesn´t mean that
americans are being rude when they talk, just that to the british
they´re more direct which is something we´re not used to in england. In
the same way, chileans are sometimes seen as being rude here in argentina due to
the directness of their speech. They´re not being rude, they´re just
speaking in the way they´re used to but to argentines that way of
speaking is too direct and to them, rude. Many non-spanish
speakers and spanish learners think argentines are rude and blunt
because they haven´t experienced spanish in other countries. Spanish is
a more direct language than english and that can take some getting used to for
native english speakers. Not always needing to say ´please´ all the time is one
thing that often confuses many learners.Anyway, i thought i´d respond
to the poster´s comment. I´ve heard so many expats complaining about
how rude argentines and porteños in particular are and it is simply not
true. it´s one part of the argentine culture that i, as a nice polite
english boy, really appreciate. Visit santiago, lima, la paz or quito
and you´ll understand.
