i hear that south america is coming into style...

miss buenos aires · Post by **miss buenos aires** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 9:32 am

I just gave notice at my job and am moving to Argentina in a month and a half. Thought you guys should know that I will finally be living up to my name...

Post by **spooky girlfriend** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 9:51 am

OMG! Are you serious ? ? ? ?

mood swung · Post by **mood swung** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 9:58 am

wow! that's fabulous! what, why, with whom etc.

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 10:11 am

Congrats on the move! Sounds very exciting.

Post by **BlueChair** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 10:31 am

You rock, MBA.

verbal gymnastics · Post by **verbal gymnastics** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 10:36 am

So are you going to be in a world of lacy lingerie?

Congratulations on making the decision although the possibility of you making a London meet up is even more remote

RedShoes · Post by **RedShoes** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 12:20 pm

Yeah, what everyone else said.

Maybe someday Blue & I can visit you there

Post by **BlueChair** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 12:27 pm

Doesn't girl out of time live in Argentina? You should look her up.

bobster · Post by **bobster** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 12:29 pm

Wow. I must echo Moody's curiousity. What gives?

miss buenos aires · Post by **miss buenos aires** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 1:33 pm

mood swung wrote:wow! that's fabulous! what, why, with whom etc.

I'm just done with New York for a while. I feel like I had this whole idea in my head of what my life here was going to to be, and some parts of it have worked out, but many others, not so much. I just ended up stuck in a rut, in every which way, so I wanted to make a big, dramatic change. Now that I know parts of Europe pretty well, I want to explore South America a little bit; it's certainly more manageable, linguistically, than many other areas. And Argentina is very cheap, but also pretty safe. And of course, Buenos Aires is considered the Paris of South America...

So I'm going to be in a monthlong English as a Foreign Language teaching program, and then hopefully get a job teaching English. (In marked contrast to Europe, work visas are not a big deal in Argentina.) In any case, I'll have enough money saved up (thanks, dumb job!) to stay at least a couple of months, avoid the yucky NYC winter.

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 1:42 pm

miss buenos aires wrote:I'm just done with New York for a while. I feel like I had this whole idea in my head of what my life here was going to to be, and some parts of it have worked out, but many others, not so much. I just ended up stuck in a rut, in every which way, so I wanted to make a big, dramatic change. Now that I know parts of Europe pretty well, I want to explore South America a little bit; it's certainly more manageable, linguistically, than many other areas. And Argentina is very cheap, but also pretty safe. And of course, Buenos Aires is considered the Paris of South America...

So I'm going to be in a monthlong English as a Foreign Language teaching program, and then hopefully get a job teaching English. (In marked contrast to Europe, work visas are not a big deal in Argentina.) In any case, I'll have enough money saved up (thanks, dumb job!) to stay at least a couple of months, avoid the yucky NYC winter.

Ah, freedom. I remember that!

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 2:34 pm

Cool! As someone who went this way post-university (Madrid, Berlin, Barcelona), and has subsequently made a career editing texts on this front for secondary school-aged kids, which involves visits to places like Argentina (twice), I can relate and condone! I love BA. It reminds me of Madrid 20 years ago, when I first went there, and the telephone boxes are the same, due to Spanish Telefonica controlling them. It helps if you love slabs of steak and red wine. I ate and drink nothing but for a week. And the tango is fun too. The Spanish is amazing - the 'vos' form for 'tu', with the verb form stressed on the final syllable ('like 'estás'), and 'll' has the sound of 's' in 'pleasure', so '¿Como te llamas?' becomes '¿Como vos llamás?' It's amazingly European in its heritage. I don't think I've met anyone there who didn't have Italian or Gallego (as in Galicia, north-west Spain) blood. I have heard nothing of late regarding the economic sitaution, which was of course seriously bad 2-3 years ago, but think it's generally on the mend. Desperate situation of a country with rich resources and the potential to have the highest GNP per capita getting bankrupt due to complete and utter mismanagement.

selfmademug · Post by **selfmademug** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 4:11 pm

Congrats to you!! The travel instinct should be obeyed, if you are unfettered enough to do it! I have every intention of moving, at least part-time, to London or Glasgow the minute my son goes to college.

I look forward to hearing tales of a Jersey Girl in South America!

idle hands · Post by **idle hands** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 5:12 pm

Buenos Aires is a terrific decision. Is heaven for any literature lover, unbelievable bookstores and really cheap books... although 2000km to the west, only after a 2 hours flight, near the ocean pacific, is even better

And you'll be right on time for the BUE Festival on late October, Elvis is coming, and with some luck I'm coming also.

Good luck!!

Tim(e) · Post by **Tim(e)** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 5:16 pm

Fortunately with the internet being a global resource, the old axiom hopefully will be re-written as: You can take the girl out of the country but you cannot take the girl out of the EC Fan Forum

I shall try my hardest not to cry for you.

bobster · Post by **bobster** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 5:58 pm

Stand back, Buenos Aires....

pophead2k · Post by **pophead2k** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 6:19 pm

This was a pleasant discovery after my recent post defending Madonna on another thread. Bully for you MBA!

I want to be a part of BA, Buenos Aires, Big Apple.....

so lacklustre · Post by **so lacklustre** » Thu Aug 18, 2005 3:51 am

Good luck!! A brave decision, just hope you can keep posting.

bambooneedle · Post by **bambooneedle** » Thu Aug 18, 2005 10:33 am

Best wishes for your stay in Argentina Miss BA.

Otis Westinghouse wrote:The Spanish is amazing - the 'vos' form for 'tu', with the verb form stressed on the final syllable ('like 'estás'), and 'll' has the sound of 's' in 'pleasure', so '¿Como te llamas?' becomes '¿Como vos llamás?'

It's not really Spanish anymore then, is it, especially as, besides the different pronunciations, many words belong specifically to the particular variation of it depending on the South American country. It should really be called Argentinian, or Urugayian, or Chilean etc... like Brazillian as opposed to Portuguese.

miss buenos aires · Post by **miss buenos aires** » Thu Aug 18, 2005 10:36 am

bambooneedle wrote:Best wishes for your stay in Argentina Miss BA.

Otis Westinghouse wrote:The Spanish is amazing - the 'vos' form for 'tu', with the verb form stressed on the final syllable ('like 'estás'), and 'll' has the sound of 's' in 'pleasure', so '¿Como te llamas?' becomes '¿Como vos llamás?'
It's not really Spanish anymore then, is it, especially as, besides the different pronunciations, many words belong specifically to the particular variation of it depending on the South American country. It should really be called Argentinian, or Urugayian, or Chilean etc... like Brazillian as opposed to Portuguese.

I guess the question is, does Argentina have an army? Because they say a language is just a dialect with an army...

selfmademug · Post by **selfmademug** » Thu Aug 18, 2005 11:09 am

Right, and we don't speak any English, just American without tears.

Elvis quotes aside, that seems a very patronizing view of language, Boo. One of my French teachers in college was Haitian and I was much the better for it. I have a much easier time with Caribbean French, and even African French, for having had the exposure.

bambooneedle · Post by **bambooneedle** » Thu Aug 18, 2005 11:53 am

selfmademug wrote:Right, and we don't speak any English, just American without tears.

Elvis quotes aside, that seems a very patronizing view of language, Boo. One of my French teachers in college was Haitian and I was much the better for it. I have a much easier time with Caribbean French, and even African French, for having had the exposure.

The learning curve for someone new to French would be steep though, wouldn't it... so of course you'd grasp a great deal of the use of French from some initial exposure even from varying dialects. But I don't think my comparison is patronizing because, being pretty familiar with classic Spanish (Castellano, with a 'y' sound as in yours for 'll'), I find it difficult to understand many South American's use of "Spanish" when many of their words (that aren't slang) are alien to me and I need clarification on their meaning. And it especially bothers me if, at the same time there's an insistence that they speak Spanish there's a selective emphaticness when pressed on the point about how different they are as peoples to the Spanish. Especially of course whenever there's a hint of contempt about it (far from always and anyway not related to my main point).

selfmademug · Post by **selfmademug** » Thu Aug 18, 2005 1:21 pm

I didn't mean that it helped me learn French; I'm saying that the French I know is broader and more interesting for having included both a European version and a Caribbean version.

I'm just saying that, given the state of the world, what constitutes Spanish is bigger than what is spoken in Spain. It may be a different Spanish, but it's Spanish, same as the language I speak is English. Americans use and accept different emphases, pronunciations, vocabulary, meanings and even different grammatical constructions from those used in the UK, but I seriously doubt anyone would say that what we speak over here is not English.

so lacklustre · Post by **so lacklustre** » Thu Aug 18, 2005 1:29 pm

but I seriously doubt anyone would say that what we speak over here is not English.

Anyone apart from me of course!!

What you speak over there is not English. It's Japanese.

bambooneedle · Post by **bambooneedle** » Thu Aug 18, 2005 1:31 pm

SMM - I must assume by that that you know a lot of French then, that you are especially sensitive to most differences of it and so your use isn't impeded by them. But there are big differences between South American' use of Spanish and the Spanish's use of Spanish, so it helps if differentiations are acknowledged-- to learn Spanish for Chile is not necessarily to learn Spanish for Spain, or vice versa for that matter. Ok, how about 'Chilean Spanish' or 'Argentinian Spanish'...