Expert: Juraj - 1/25/2004

Question
Hello! I plan on doing a 6 month internship in Buenos Aires and have a few questions: I plan on doing an internship for 2 reasons; to get experience in finance and to further my fluency in Spanish. Hopefully you speak Spanish and will know how to address my question. I hear from my friends that Argentina's Spanish is quite different than the Spanish spoken in United States (I live in Los Angeles). I am wondering how true that was and if I would be wasting my time by studying in Argentina. Other than the "sh" sound for the letters "y","ll", what else is different? I also hear they speak a lot of slang, but how much? I have studied a lot in Spain and found that there are a lot of terms they use there that they don't use here. However, that is normal.
Is Buenos Aires dangerous?
How friendly are the people? I hear they are a little snobby, is that true?
I think that's all for now, thank you for your time!

Rodger

Answer
Hi,

Thanks for your question and I am glad to reply.

1) Learning Spanish - I don't think it will be a big problem for you. Actually, myself, I learned Spanish in Argentina, and I am proud of that.
Even if you gain Argentine accent, you will NOT have any problems understanding other Spanish, and other people speaking Spanish will NOT have any problem understanding you.
The grammar is a LITTLE bit different, or better to say word forms. For example, they change a little bit the 2nd person of familiar form in some verbs:
puedes->podes, sales->salis, vienes->venis, mueves->moves, etc. Basically they change "ue" into "o" at verb-ending, and the verbs that end with -ir, they end the 2nd person into -is instead of -es.
They also have a different "you are" from "tu erres" -> they say "vos sos" which is the only unique expression that is "distinct" from everything else. (I think this comes from Brazil). So instead of "tu" they have "vos".
The little difference is in the imperative for the familiar form, they end imperative for verbs ending with -ir and some -er into í.
Example (verb->regular Spanish imperative->Argentine imperative): venir->ven-vení, salir->sal->salí, poner->pon->poní
This all is actually kind of exciting.

As far as slang is concerned, they use it, but who does not? Mexicans use it, Venezuelans use it, Colombians use it. I think the slang will be easy to come by. Words like "mina" (chick), "chorro" (robber), or "plata" (money) are easy to get form context, learn them, and use them.
Mexicans use for example "chava" for chick which not many in Argentina would understand. Grapefruit is "pomelo" but in Mexico they don't know the word (but in Spain they do) and in Mexico they call it "toronja" - which in Argentina means man's reproductory organ :)
Soda is "gaseosa" in Argentina but "refresco" in Mexico, but everywhere Spanish is spoken they will understand both.
Plata is money in Argentina but lana is money in Mexico.

So yes, there are many differences, but you can count them. Even when you speak Argentinean Spanish, they will understand you well everywhere you come.

One more important thing - if you are used to "northern" Spanish - Mexico, Central America, etc. - the northern Spanish is slow. Argentineans speak Spanish the way the Italians speak Italian - they speak fast, and they have the same intonation of words (up and down, up and down) as Italians do. But people actually like it.
My cousin who lives in Europe spent the summer in Argentina last year studying Spanish, now got some Argentine accent and "expressions" and likes it quite a lot.

But I tell you, the Spain's Spanish has at least so many differences, accents, intonations (especially with letter "c") compared to "American continent" Spanish, that there really is no right way or place to learn. You learn in Spain and you will get Spanish accent and expressions. You learn in Argentina and you will get Argentine accent and expressions. You learn in Mexico and you will get Mexican accent and expressions. There's really nothing like "neutral" Spanish. But everybody understands the others well.

Now to other things - Buenos Aires is a Paris of the South. The city is beautiful, the girls even more, and it is NOT dangerous. Mexico City is more dangerous. Lima is more dangerous. I think the only less dangerous place in whole Latin America including Brazil would be Montevideo or Santiago. Buenos Aires has places where there is crime, (the western and southern "barrios" - boroughs). If you will get an apartment, get in Recoleta or Retiro zone (old-fashioned and very safe zones) or in the Northern Zone (Bario Norte, Palermo, Palermo Viejo, Palermo Chico, Palermo Hollywood, etc.) Basically, center to north is safe, center to west and center to south gets more dangerous the farther you go.
Buenos Aires has a lot of things to do in spare time, LOTS of parks, basically the whole Northern Zone is parks, it's a 40 minutes train ride to Tigre, to Delta de Rio Parana, which is a wonderful outing area for weekends, you can take a boat ride and then picnic on some of the many islands in the delta or you can stay in B&B for 10 dollars a night.
People are VERY friendly and when they will see you try to speak Spanish they will be even friendlier. When you stay there, never say cab drivers or (other service people) that you are a tourist, or they will try to take (monetary) advantage. Just tell them that "now you live in Buenos Aires" and it will do. There is a lot of foreigners there, Asians and Russians/Ukrainians, so foreigners living there do not raise an eyebrow.
Buenos Aires people - called "porteños" think of themselves a bit more than the people in the interior (they would call the others "gente de interior" or "gente de provincia" - even the Cordebeños from Cordoba or people from Mendoza, the two other biggest Argentine cities). But porteños are also very friendly and will welcome you as a foreigner living there.

I hope this has helped you. If you have any questions let me know. I really hope you will decide for Argentina, because it's a country of thousand wonders. You find every climate area and every natural beauty you can think of in one country. You will enjoy the life there and your 6 months stay will pass as nothing. I have been to many countries in Central and South America, but I love Argentina and always come back very happy.
If you decide to go and take the internship in Buenos Aires, you will not regret it.
So, if you go, and you are there, drop me a line to my_cjusa@hotmail.com and maybe we could go for a drink some time during my next visits to Argentina. I visit quite often.