Expanish presents; Mastering the Argentine Dialect

Argentine vocab is characterized as being informal and politically incorrect. This is not to say that there aren´t circumstaces where a more formal discourse is utilized. Argentine´s are a very proud people, but there is certainly a difference between being proud and cocky. That being said, if you try and discuss Argentine soccer or the best cuisine they will certainly not hesitate to argue their superiority.

In order to master Argentine Spanish there are two important aspects that are particularly unique. These aspects are the ¨Vos¨form used instead of the ¨Tu¨ form and a particular pronunciation change that can be hard to understand if you are not sure what to listen for. The ¨Vos¨ used in Argentina is known as Rio Platense form of Castellano Spanish. The changes that occur with this form are in the simple present as well as commands for some verbs. Vos takes the place of the tu pronoun and is not to be confused with the Vosotros form used in areas such as Spain. The pronunciation change specifically is notable with the letter ll. Instead of the more commonly pronounced ll as an English y, here in Argentina the ll is pronounced with a sh sound such as that in show.

verb	vos	tu	imperative vos
Ser - (to be)	Vos sos	Tu eres	Se!
Estar - (to be)	Vos estás	Tu estás	está!
caminar - (to walk)	Vos caminás	Tu caminas	caminá!
Tener - (to have)	Vos tenés	Tu tienes	tené!
Querer - (to want)	Vos querés	Tu quieres	queré!
Subir - (to go up)	Vos subís	Tu subes	subí!
Venir - (to come)	Vos venís	Tu vienes	vení!
Pensar - (to think)	Vos penás	Tu piensas	pensá!
Decir - (to say)	Vos decís	Tu dices	decí!
Contar - (to tell, count)	Vos contás	Tu cuentas	contá!

Table extracted from ¡Che Boludo! By James Bracken p.11

Useful Argentine slang (lunfardo)

- Afano – theft

- balurdo – lie

- chabón – guy

- chamuyero – smooth talker

- che - hey

- copado/a – cool (person, object, etc)

- cortado – espresso with milk

- fiaca – tired, to feel the inability/motivation to do anything

- guita – money

- dopado – drugged

- encurdarse – to get drunk

- mina – lady

- mozzarella – silence

- onda – vibes; de onda – to do a favor

- pilas – literally batteries but used as energy of a person; ponete las pilas – do your best or sacate las pilas – relax, chill out

- piola – clever

- opa – idiot

*Boludo/a – literally large testicles. Is used for both sexes and amongst children as well. Intended to mean – fool or idiot.

- Che boludo – definition depends on usage. Amongst friends can mean hey buddy to hey idiot or asshole when used with strangers.

- Hacerse el boludo – to play dumb

- boludez – anything trivial or that comes with ease.

- Buenudo/a – dumb-witted friend

Expanish student:David, 21
From Long Island, NY

David chose to travel to Buenos Aires, Argentina to investigate his heritage. David´s father was born in Buenos Aires and he has come to see if this city will live up the hype he has heard so much about. For David the most difficult part of learning Spanish has been corresponding the proper pronouns and confusion of tenses.

Expanish student:Lina, 26
From: Norway

Cultural aspects such as the language, tango, and the food have brought Lina to Buenos Aires. The aspects of Argentine dialect such as pronunciation and local vocabulary have been the main obstacles for Lina.

Who are we and what do we offer?

Hola and once again let me welcome you to Expanish, http://www.expanish.com/, and the Expanish Blog. What is standing in the way between you and Argentine culture and further comprehension of the Spanish language? Here at Expanish we pride ourselves in knowing that our knowledgeable and professional staff will be able to address whatever concerns or doubts you may have. The purpose of this blog is to offer some insight, cultural advice, and general information as to what Expanish and Buenos Aires is all about.

Expanish offers week-long (extend-able) Spanish courses that begin every week as well as the traditional study abroad programs. The Spanish courses that we offer are in groups of 2-6 people, individual courses, or a combination of the two. Group courses are set up for 20 hours a week and meet in our main office with our highly qualified Spanish professors. The individual courses are offered at either 10 or 20 hours per week. Also we offer private and personalized courses that can range from 2-20 hours per week. Please note that these personalized lessons can be added on top of other lessons at your own discretion. Furthermore, there is a combined program of 20 hours in group lessons and an additional 10 hours of individual lessons. This program is extremely beneficiary as you will have exposure to both a group speaking environment as well as a personal level where any inadequacies or questions can be addressed.

Our Study Abroad program, http://studyabroad.expanish.com/, is also well adapted to fit every need of a potential student. We offer semester, summer, and long term Spanish programs. These programs are offered at either Universidad de Belgrano or Universidad Torcuato di Tella. The Universidad de Belgrano is a private university that caters to a diverse student body. Their professors are trained in teaching subjects such as Art History and Latin American history to students speaking Spanish as a second language. Universidad Torcuato di Tella is also a very popular university amongst locals as well as ex-patriots focusing most of their studies on social and business sciences. Also there is the traditional semester at either of these universities as well as a month long prep course for those who wish to improve their comprehension of the Spanish language before entering the Semester program. Our summer options are a Latin American Studies program, Spanish language program, and a split time commitment between Spanish language and two other courses that fit their interest. These programs are offered at increments of 4, 8 and 12 weeks. The Spanish Language program is available in Quarters (Winter and Spring), Semesters, as well as the Short Term program for 4 weeks. Finally we have also set up many volunteer positions that may be used to supplement any course of study in our Buenos Aires Spanish school. There are many different options to consider such as Noche de Caridad which consists of distributing baskets of food to the homeless and low income families in Buenos Aires.

Are you looking for something specific and exciting while studying Spanish in Buenos Aires? If so, then our Special Package option might be for you. Expanish is proud to offer packages such as Spanish and Tango. With this program you will have 40 hours of intensive language lessons as well as 2 individual and 4 group tango lessons. Throughout the 2 weeks you will also have the opportunity to have a homestay accommodation. Another one of our special packages is Spanish and Wine. This program is also 2 weeks in length with 40 hours of Spanish language courses, 4 wine tasting lessons, and the accommodation of a homestay. Finally we have our Spanish and TEFL program that consists of 4 weeks intensive Spanish lessons (80 hours) and then a 4 week TEFL certification course (150 hours) throughout which we will place you in a homestay accommodation.

Regardless of which program you decide upon we offer many workshops, activities, and excursions that are available to anyone. Weekly activities include staff and student dinners, soccer games, Asados (Argentine BBQ), excursions to Tigre, Tango show and classes, and cooing to name a few. Our workshops include tango, cooking, wine tasting, SCUBA diving, and polo matches. Also we organize several excursions to various destinations around Argentina. The upcoming excursions are Colonia in the middle January, Iguzu waterfall at the end of January, and a trip to the wine country of Mendoza at the beginning of March. All of the excursions are included in the price of the Study Abroad programs and can be added for those taking weekly Spanish lessons. As far as accommodations are concerned there are the options of a homestay (with or without meals), a shared student apartment, or a private apartment.

I hope that this edition of the Expanish blog has answered some of your questions as to what Expanish is all about. Do not hesitate to contact info@expanishfor any further questions and we look forward to starting you adventure in Buenos Aires, Argentina!

Muchas Gracias,

Expanish

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