NEXT LEVEL: Say “ che” (hey) before everything you say when in Argentina and end with “ boludo” (means stupid but is used for much more). This turned into him not hearing well and not me speaking bad Spanish! Win. For example, in restaurants, I didn’t know how to say “may I order…” correctly so I mumbled (in an Spanish pitch) until I got to the food/drink I could pronounce. Really! I mumbled in a low, fast voice until I could pick up the part of the sentence where I knew the words. Like, in many Latin American countries people say “aeeeeee”.įrom there, the hardest part (for me) is starting the sentence and getting the words out correctly. Instead of saying a very english “ Ummm” as you’re thinking of what to say, learn what noise locals make when they think/talk. Once you get past the greeting your first question/remark can also be your last.
Don’t make it weird… learn how to greet without words also. “Como te fue” – how did it go (for you)?.After living in Argentina for about 6 months, I could tell where someone was from as soon as they opened their mouth 75% of the time. Really work on your hello, change up how you say it depending on the person you greet (formal, friend, etc).ĭifferent countries have different salutations, but for Argentina this how you would usually follow “Hola…” This could be the determining factor in you getting ripped off (or not) on the streets. How you say “ Hola” is very important. From taxi drivers and classmates to the hottie at the bar, a solid greeting can make or break a lot for you. You have to be able to greet anyone and everyone. These are things that I’ve done, mistakes I have made and also stuff that I have noticed other English speaking foreigners do.
Especially when it’s a waiter needing a drink or a customer wanting some food.īelow is a list of 8 things that I’ve learned along my quest to learn Spanish and become part of the community. If you say “I don’t know” or “I don’t understand” enough times people are going to just start asking somebody else. Why fake it? Well, if I didn’t pretend to know more than I really did, eventually people would stop talking to me. So what do you do until that point? I scored the bartending gig right away, but working with all Argentines made it difficult for me to communicate even at the most basic level. I dove in head first when I arrived in Buenos Aires, trying to learn the language as fast as possible, but the fact is it takes time. Before I could hold a decent conversation in Spanish, I had to come up with a few tactics to act like I knew a lot more than I really did.
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