¿Vos hablas castellano?

By Djouroukoro Diallo


After some days in Buenos Aires we must learn Spanish, which is not necessarily the same one as the Spanish from Spain. Because it is called Castellano, as the one spoken in Spain, Spanish but with Argentinean particularity. One of the first questions that we can answer can be ¿Vos hablas castellano? (do you speak spanish). In the Argentinian Castellano or Spanish is spoken in such a way that the Spanish speaker of another culture understands well what it says.

When we walk for a street, we have to always count the number of cuadras (block) that separates us from our aim. It is very easy to hear in Buenos Aires “vos seguí una, dos, tres, cuatro cuadras….” And then follows the rest of the indication.
In the large avenues, cars go very fast and because of it we have to, always, run almost to cross. If we see people doing queue near an avenue it is a bus stop. It is very frequent seeing people queuing opposite to public places.

Something that can seem to be strange when we do not know it. For example, I went to a bank to change money. But the bank yet was not opened. After some minutes many people came and they started queuing and I did not understand this behavior. These little things happen and give us a strange feeling of lack of courtesy or respect in front of our hosts.

One of the most eye-catching phenomenon is the communicability of the people and their kindness. In Buenos Aires we can speak and ask without fear, unreservedly. The people give you response and give you the information that you need. But, the information asked to a cartonero, boys who sell cartons in handcart, or to a police officer, can be complicated enough to deal. After a certain time of questions and answers without being able to communicate really, a cartonero said to me " I scram " saying that he must go away because he was with his sister who is "buttoned" that means married.

Here I have been charmed with eating again in a Mc Donald. This way, I went away to the most nearby of the foundation CICLO in Ramos Mejía's neighborhood. The police officer was asking me on my origin and we began a conversation. Along this one, I was asking him on his salary and was speaking to myself about "lucas" of pesos that mean thousand in the normal language. This word was one of the numerous ones that my interlocutor was using. It is to say that it is necessary to do a course on the Argentinian lunfardos before coming in this country to be able to communicate with people of different social levels.

Here, the train like the bus comes at any time without respect of the program. Everything happens as if there was no program for public transport. Because of it we need coins, in the transport everything is paid by coins. The most difficult thing is to recognize the place where you must go down or read with attention the schedule and follow the different stops.

If we go out at night we can understand that the socialization here is very important. The people go out a lot and go eating with friends and families. In addition the frequency of couples in every place is very eye-catching. This way, a waitress can ask ¿de donde sos vos? (where are you from) Or once again ¿Vos hablas castellano? Because here castellano is spoken and not spanish.