LANGUAGE LEARNING:
Spanish in Buenos Aires
 Alex
Wolfson, Language Travel Advisor for Cactus Language, on Buenos
Aires.
I have been to Buenos Aires 3 times (in its hot humid summer
and its mild winter) and on each visit I have come away with
a marked improvement in my Spanish.
Buenos Aires is often called the Paris of South America,
but I’m not sure that’s a strictly accurate description.
For a start they speak Spanish in Buenos Aires, not French,
and although Argentinian steak is good, it doesn’t offer
the same gastronomic experience as a trip to France. I would
say it’s more of a fusion of Europe and South America.
It has everything that you would expect of a modern European
city, but retains its South American craziness. However, like
Paris, it is a highly cultured city and contains a wide variety
of things to do in terms of the arts. It also has a vibrant
café culture and when your feet get tired from all
the sightseeing there’s always a cozy café where
you can sit down, enjoy a cup of coffee and watch the world
go by.
The best thing about Buenos Aires is the buzz of the city;
the Porteños are a vibrant, passionate and friendly
bunch. People told me before I went not to say I’m English,
but in reality saying you are from England just encourages
people to talk to you about some guy called Maradonna and
some goal he scored in a football match in Mexico in 1986.
It’s also great for shopping (according to my wife,
who knows more about these things) and has lots of great places
to eat Argentinian and International food. While my wife was
shopping I checked out a football match between Boca Juniors
and another Buenos Aires team – awesome stadium with
a wall of sound from the “hinchas” as background
and a must for any footie fan.
If you want to get away from the big city, that’s easy
too. You can just go out to El Tigre and take a boat ride
around the Parana river delta, where you can just chill with
your yerba mate and look out for wildlife and watch the other
boats go by.
At night too there’s plenty to do, though don’t
even think of going out before midnight, whether you want
to check out a tango show in San Telmo or hang with BA’s
trendy beautiful people at the pumping nighclubs and “boliches”.
Being a big city Buenos Aires has something for everyone,
young or old, and you can enjoy it whoever you are - there will
always be something for you to do.
If you are thinking of taking a Spanish course in Buenos
Aires you’ll find the Spanish they speak quite easy
to understand because of the clear pronunciation, but the
way of speaking is very different from other Spanish speaking
countries. My Argentinian friends describe it as Spanish spoken
with an Italian accent but it’s great to listen to and,
as I say, easy to understand.
Buenos Aires is a great place to do a Spanish course because
you need about 2 weeks to get to know the city properly and,
as in most of South America, the more Spanish you speak, the
more you’ll get out of your stay.
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