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My Background I have always been a fanatic of living language. I learned to say "ain't" (despite my father's sharp reproaches) when I realized that most of my neighbors in Pittsburgh spoke that way. And when my family went to the beach in North Carolina for summer vacation, I was speaking with a southern twang by the end of a week. Not that I don't recognize the value and importance of speaking "correctly", but I've always been personally interested in language the way it sounds and expresses--gliding, oozing, spraying, or bouncing off the lips of real people. In school I studied German, French, and Arabic (as well as Spanish), and I was fascinated by the different tonalities and disctinctive expressiveness of each language. When I first traveled in South America, I found that it was a real challenge to learn Spanish while the accents, slang and grammar were changing every couple weeks, as I moved from one country to the next. I enjoyed every variety of Spanish, but I fell in love with the Argentine language. And so I decided to stop and learn Spanish in Buenos Aires. And I stayed.

In my quest to speak like a native I discovered that I was way more interested in the slang, expressions, and colloquialisms than in anything one might call traditional Spanish. I started to take notes in the streets, cafes, and backyard asados (barbeques) of Buenos Aires. My pocket notebooks multiplied and filled with interesting Argentine facts and cultural tidbits related to the slang and expressions I was jotting down. Friends noticed my obsession and, slightly alarmed, began to suggest that I do something constructive...like write a dictionary.

What's the purpose of this dictionary? This dictionary is meant foremost to be a practical guide for English-speaking foreigners in Argentina. These are the words and expressions that don't appear in your handy pocket dictionary of standard Spanish. It also includes encyclopedic descriptions of cultural items, including important people, places, music, food, history, politics, and more. The B.A.Bible is also useful to Argentines for looking up the American English equivalents of their own colloquialisms. From another point of view, this book is a reference tool for learning about the Argentine people and culture through the spoken language.

Why? As you now know if you've traveled in Spanish-speaking countries, the language that people actually speak (and therefore the one you're most interested in if you want to communicate) varies drastically from one country to the next. Think about English: have you ever spoken much with someone from the other side of the Atlantic? Well, in South America there are major changes just crossing the border in accent, common vocabulary, and of course slang and idioms.

When I arrived in Argentina I was dumbstruck (pun intended) by how different the Spanish was from what I had learned and heard in the states. Sure, I had a handy pocket bilingual dictionary. But even if I could understand what word they were saying well enough to look it up, usually the translation made no sense. Argentine Spanish is conspicuously different from other Latin American varieties because of two major characteristics: the ?vos? form of ?you? and its conjugation, and the pronunciation of ?ll? and ?y?, which is a simple english ?y? sound everywhere else, but in the River Plate region becomes a cross between ?sh? (shoe) and ?zh? (pleasure). Argentine Spanish is instantly recognized by other Spanish speakers because of these two differences with the rest of the Spanish-speaking world.

The Tano Factor The local slang vocabulary, known as lunfardo, is in large part the result of heavy Italian immigration. The Italians arrived alongside equally large numbers of Spanish immigrants, but the gallegos (Spanniards) had the one-up because they spoke the language. The tanos (Italians) managed just fine, but the influx of Italian people and culture had its influence, from the fabulous pasta down to the word on the street. I would even venture to say that if, walking down a street in the states, an American passed two Argentines speaking their native tongue, he would think they were Italians. The pronunciation, tonality, rhythm, and especially body language (see Body Language) is much closer to the gringo conception of Italian than Spanish. There?s a saying in Buenos Aires that goes "Porteños are Latin Americans who talk like Italians, act like British, and think they live in Paris."

Types of Information There are several kinds of entries in the dictionary:

Lunfardo: the traditional Argentine slang, sanctified in the lyrics of classic tango songs (see lunfardo)

slang: derivations and inventions of more recent years

idiomatic expressions: things like hacerle la gamba (see gamba)

refranes (sayings): the few sayings used frequently in Argentina, most of which have classic Spanish origins and can be heard in any Latin country

cultural references: important people, places, and things

everyday stuff: food, clothing, etc. that are different from what one would find in a standard pocket dictionary

descriptive language: similes, metaphors, sensual compliments (see piropo)

Porteño vs. Provincial I?ve elected to concentrate on the capital of Argentina, Buenos Aires. One should be aware, however, that the spoken language of the provinces can be quite different. Some have distinct accents, for example the Cordobeses have a sing-song way of speaking, and people in the northern provinces pronounce the rolled ?rr? similar to the Argentine ?y?. In general the language outside the capital is more rich in sayings and colorful expressions, whereas the porteños use more slang. You may find this dichotomy in any country when comparing the major cities to the interior, and Argentina is no exception.

Last updated 11/14/2005