Castellano, not Español

As an English speaker living in Buenos Aires, I feel like a post entirely devoted to the language is desperately needed.  

Because of Argentina's insistence on being unique, their language is also unique to every other Latino country. For one, Argentines speak castellano, not español even though the language is, in the bigger schemes of things, essentially the same.  Now this is not completely an Argentine phenomenon since Spaniards also speak castellano (cah-stay-ya-no) and many capital cities in Latin America also follow suit.  However, just to make sure that Argentina isn't lumped into a category with these other exceptions, Argentines change the pronunciation of castellano (cah-stay-sha-no) to differentiate.

In fact, Argentines pronounce everything with a "ll" or a "y" as "sh."  This means that "calle" or street is (cah-shay) and "ayuda" or help is (ah-shoo-duh).  This can be problematic.  For example, it took me an hour to realize that my friend was talking about a pier, "muelle." 

But the Argentines don't stop at phonetics; even the vocabulary is different.  To name a few: "niño"is "nene," "piña" is "ananá," "hombre" is "barón," and "manteca" is "mantequilla."  The list goes on and on.  And why not add a word with no real meaning at all?  Argentines love to throw a "che" in just for good measure.  What it means exactly, not even the most Argentine of Argentines will be able to tell you, but, "che," it sounds great. 

And  if you thought verbs were safe, you thought wrong.  Argentines like the conjugation "vos" rather than the "tú" you learned in high school Spanish.  Want to tell someone to come here?  The standard "ven" or the more formal "venga" just won't do.  "Vení" is more like it. 

And then, if all of that is not enough, don't forget the quirks.  Argentines have a nasty habit of changing the order of the letters in a word.  Don't be surprised if an Argentine orders a "feca" instead of a "café" at a coffee shop. 

All this to say that as a semi-fluent (if such a thing exists) Spanish speaker, it is a little disheartening to arrive in Buenos Aires to find that the people speak a language quite different than the one you have studied in your three years at the university.  It can be even more frustrating when you start speaking like them yourself. 

Argentina is defined in a lot of ways by what it is not, but I'm more interested in what it is.  It's true; Argentina is not like everyone else, but it is like Argentina.  The quirky language, the Boca-River rivalry, the breakfast medialunas, the daily demonstrations, the public transportation (Bondi or Subte), the national color of celeste--this is Argentina.  This is what I have come to know and love about this wonderful country. 

Instead of getting caught up in who we are not, we can hold on to who we are--children of God.