BsAs Traveller Tips: Learn a little Spanish
I didn’t know any Spanish before I got to Buenos Aires – nada. It was a little rude really, but I booked my ticket less than a week before I arrived so it didn’t leave me much time for classes. Luckily most people speak a little English and I didn’t starve; I managed to do my shopping, wash my clothes and rent an apartment with perhaps five Spanish words, a lot of hand gestures, Google Translate and the kindness of the porteños.
The first week would have been a lot more enjoyable – and a lot less embarrassing – if I’d learn at least some basics. I had many cringe-worthy moments, many blank stares, even a few shakes of the head (but don’t worry, I was always sure to wear my Obama shirts so’s that they would think I was American). And so, in the great tradition of don’t do what I did advisitorials, here is some basics to get you started.
First up, three great resources:
- Coffee Break Spanish podcasts
- SpanishDict.com online tutorials, flashcards, exercises
- Ultralingua Dictionary an expensive but very handy iphone app
The basic basics
I won’t bother with the pleases and thanks yous and how muches, there are a million other websites for that. But here’s a couple of quirks particular to Argengtina.
Hola ¿Qué tal? Is the most commonly used greeting, as opposed to ¿Que pasa? in Mexico. Also, lo siento is not used so much in Argentina, it’s usually reserved for something serious like a death, so lo siento, no hablo español can be a little over the top. It’s much more common to say disculpa or perdón - at least, that’s been my experience.
Some verbs I use every day
Querer – to want. eg: in the form quiero (I want) or quisiera (I would like). Quisiera ver una camisa de la vidriera.
Tener – to have. eg: in the form tengo (I have), tengo que (I have to) or ¿tienes? (Do you have?). Tengo hambre.
Ir – to go. eg: in the form voy (I go), vas (you go) or vamos (we go). Voy al supermercado, ¿quieres algo?
Poder – can. eg: in the form puedo (I can, or can I?) or puede (you can, or can you?). No puedo, tengo que trabajar.
These are just some that spring to mind, I may add some more shortly. Also, at this stage I only really speak in the present tense, except may be for fui (I went) and a few others. In the early stages it’s much more important to learn as many verbs as you can and worry about the tenses later.
Vos and the whole sh thing
So you’ve got your pronouns, right? I, you, he/she, we and they. In Spanish these are yo, tú, ello/ella, nosotros and ellos/ellas… except in Argentina where tú is vos. They still use tú in some cases, but most often it’s vos.
Then you’ve got the ‘sh’ thing. Y is sometimes pronounced ‘sh’. Yo, for example, is pronounced ‘sho’. The same goes for the ‘ll’ sound, where calle is usually pronounced ‘caye’ in Spanish, it is pronounced ‘cashe’ here in Argentina. Parilla is ‘parisha’ and so on.
Some words you won’t learn in class
Resaca – a hangover. Disculpe, tengo una resaca.
Borracho – drunk. El caso es que ando borracho siete días a la semana.
Me puse “en pedo” – shitfaced. El viernes me fui a una fiesta y me puse en pedo.
