Argentina Spanish

[marcwilkenfeld9089]

Hello all,

I have been working throught the upper intermediate lessons and have been able to mostly understand lessons from Mexico and Spain. However, I have a real problem understanding the lessons from Argentina, even after reading the transcripts.

I was wondering if there is anything different about the Spanish that is spoken in Argentina that would make it difficult for me to understand.

Thanks for any thoughts.

Marc

[jpv206]

Hi marcwilkenfeld9089
Thanks for your question! It's difficult to understand new accents especially if your first exposure is a recording. I'll list some important differences here; then you can listen again and see what you catch. When you get a chance to have a real conversation with a real live argentinian person, you'll make the adjustment quickly.

Pronunication

/y/ and /ll/ are prononced with what we percieve as [sh]
syllable final /s/ are pronounced [h] or dropped altogether, especially before a consonant

Intonation
Argentinian sentences are often described as having an "Italian" or "dracula" intonation.

Lexicon
Like all regional varieties, Argentinian Spanish has specific words that only they say... Just one example: we joke that Argentinians are always saying "che," which is their version of "dude."

Grammar
Argentinians use the pronoun "vos" for 2nd person singular familiar (Mexicans and Spaniards would say "tú"). This "voseo" has unique conjugations in the present tense and the imperative.... but they are not hard to learn or understand at all!

Let me know if you want me to go into more specifics, but I'm sure there are plenty of websites that cover this topic as well!