WE'VE MOVED!

Please, check out my new blog: Andando Around South America.

I have imported all my old posts there too.

Thanks!

Pau

SHORT COURSES

Fileteado is a type of artistic drawing, with stylised lines and flowered, climbing plants typically used in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is used to adorn all kind of beloved objects, signs, taxis, lorries and even the old Colectivos, Buenos Aires' buses.

Filetes (the lines in Fileteado style) are usually full of colored ornaments and symmetries completed with poetic phrases, sayings and aphorisms, both humorous or roguish, emotional or philosophical.

They have been part of the culture of the Porteños (inhabitants of Buenos Aires) since the beginnings of the 20th century.

If you feel confident about your Spanish for only US$60 you can take a 2 months short course on this local art and learn about it's history, technique and materials.

The group will get together once a week and it's a great way to learn a typical art, practice your spanish skills and support the community, since the course it's organized by the Almagro+ Boedo Community center!

For more info visit them at Castro Barros 236 or call 4958-1166

SHORT COURSES

Something I recommend to my spanish students while they have achieved an intermediate level it's to start immersing themselves in different activities to practise their spanish (while keping it interesting!)

Watching a spanish movie without reading the subtitles or reading a book you have already read in your own language, there are different ways of putting your knowladge in action.

If you are around Buenos Aires, the short courses offered by the National University are also a good option.

This courses are very affordable (=cheap) and allow you to combine whatever your interest is (painting, dancing, business, etc) with the practice of Spanish language.

These courses are open to all the community and again, they are really really cheap (starting at $30 pesos per month)

You are still in time to sign up for some options being offered this second semester, so go ahead, and pick your favorite hobbie and add some international education to your CV!


CENTRO CULTURAL SABATO
Courses offered in: Flamenco, Tango, Jazz, Capoeira, Yoga, Drawing, painting, Set design, pottery, writing, drama, screenwriting, Photography, Singing, guitar, tai-chi-chuan among others.
Classes start: Sep 3rd
Enrollment: Aug 27th- Sep 1st.


AGRONOMY SCHOOL
Courses offered in: Fashion, pattern making, fashion design, etc
More info: cultura@agro.uba.ar


CAO CENTER, DESIGN SCHOOL
Courses offered in: Internet, multimedia, design, illustration, etc.
More info:
cao@fadu.uba.ar


DESIGN SCHOOL
Courses in: All sorts of photography courses.
Enrollment: UNTIL JULY 27th!
More info: extensionpb@fadu.uba.ar



CENTRO CULTURAL MARTIN FIERRO
Courses in: Painting, Drawing, tango, singing, swing, drama, belly dancing
Enrollment: All year long


EL TUNEL CULTURAL (ETC)
Monthly courses offered in: Yoga, Guitar, Salsa, Drawing, painting, tango, drama, etc.
More info: informes@eltunelcultural.com.ar


CENTRO CULTURAL JOSE INGENIEROS
Courses offered in: Origami, painting, Sculpture, clown, drama, stand up comedy, bely dancing, tango, flamenco, etc
More info: cultura@fmed.uba.ar


CENTRO CULTURAL UNIVERSITARIO- PSYCHOLOGY SCHOOL
Courses offered in: Tai Chi, drama, percusion, set design, tango, etc
More info: talleresccu@psi.uba.ar

STUDY SPANISH

Whether you are coming to South America to study Spanish or Studying Spanish turns out like a good opportunity while you are visiting South America, Buenos Aires has turned into one of the most popular cities to do it!

The city’s residents, the porteños, are a warm and outgoing people. They possess an elaborate and rich cultural identity. They value their European heritage: Italian and German names outnumber Spanish, and the lifestyle and architecture are markedly more European than any other city in South America.

The city's neighbourhoods are small and highly individualized, each with its own characteristic colours and forms. In the San Telmo district, the city's multinational heritage is embodied in a varied and cosmopolitan architecture: Spanish Colonial design meets Italian detailing and graceful French Classicism. La Boca's pressed tin houses are painted a rainbow of colours, and muralists have turned the district's side streets into avenues of colour.

For all its diversity, the elusive spirit of Argentina as a country is present everywhere in Buenos Aires. The national dance, the tango, is perhaps the best expression of that spirit. Practiced in dance halls, parks, open plazas, and ballrooms, it is a dance of intimate separation and common rhythm, combining both an elegant reserve and an exuberant passion.

Buenos Aires is one of the most exciting and dynamic cities in Latin America and without a doubt, the heart and soul of Argentina.

Now to the options!

As a basic rule, remember that teaching Spanish shouldn't be a business but a service, so stick to schools that specialize in one thing. When they start offering you tours, housing, activities, etc you know you have just turned into "just a customer".

When studying abroad you should also make the best of your time. You can find classroom based classes anywhere in the world. You don't need to come all the way to South America for that. Choose courses that take you out there. Courses that encourage interaction with locals. Courses that offer different activities and ways to put your Spanish in practice!

Group or one-on-one? I would say BOTH! Group classes are good for interaction, for practice and of course, for meeting other students but one-on-one offer the possibility of working with your specific needs. A good combination of both it's the best!

Some options I personally like to recommend:

UNIVERSIDAD DE BUENOS AIRES
The benefit of studying at the National University it's obviously the quality of tuition and the access to an international certificate you can use back home.
2 (intensive) and 4 (regular) month courses start at US$300

CENTRO UNIVERSITARIO DE IDIOMAS
Also sponsored by the National University and taking place in different Extension centres around the city. Big and informal language school. Six levels available!

UNIVERSIDAD DE BUENOS AIRES LAW SCHOOL
Among its different extension courses, Spanish for foreigners its available for only US$30 per level!

ASOCIACION ARGENTINA DE DOCENTES DE ESPANOL
This organization links all the Spanish teachers in Argentina. They have their own teacher training and are engaged in different research programs. Classes start at US$10 per hour.

ESPANOL ANDANDO
Our "off the beaten track", funky option! Espanol Andando takes you out of the classroom for real life experience, using the city's resources to learn and practise Spanish! Classes start at only US$5 per hour!

READING

I'm sure you've thought of reading a short story, book or even the paper before, looking to practise your Spanish.

Well, the Centro Virtual Cervantes had the same idea and designed a couple of lesson plans based on a list of short stories!

They divided the texts in three levels (Beginner, Intermediate and advance)and made them available on their website, too! How convenient is that? ;)

So go on...and enjoy your reading!

GRAMMAR

POR vs. PARA

A little help for the intermediate level today, let's review the rules for the use of POR and PARA!

"Por" and "para" have a variety of meanings, and they are often confused because they can each be translated as "for" in English!

Gracias por la información.
Thanks for the information.

Este regalo es para Juan.
This gift is for Juan.

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To learn to use "por" and "para" correctly, you need to do two things:

1. Learn the rules for how por and para are used.
2. Memorize model sentences.

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"POR" has many uses, and so it is the more problematic of the two.

Rule: to express gratitude or apology
Model: Gracias por la ayuda.

Rule: for multiplication and division
Model: Dos por dos son cuatro.

Rule: for velocity, frequency and proportion
Model: Voy al restaurante cinco veces por semana.
El auto anda a cien kilometros por hora.
La receta dice un kilo de azucar por cada huevo.

Rule: meaning "through," "along," "by" or "in the area of"
Model: Andamos por el parque.
Vamos por la calle Chile.
Juan vive por el barrio de Recoleta.

Rule: when talking about exchange, including sales
Model: Él me dio diez dólares por el libro.
Lo compré por dos pesos.

Rule: to mean "on behalf of," or "in favor of,"
Model: No voté por nadie.
Lo hice por ella.

Rule: to express a length of time
Model: Yo estudié por dos horas.

Rule: to express an undetermined, or general time, meaning "during"
Model: Se puede ver las estrellas por la noche.

Rule: for means of communication or transportation
Model: Prefiero viajar por tren y hablar por teléfono.

Rule: in cases of mistaken identity, or meaning "to be seen as"
Model: Me tienen por loco.


Rule: to show the reason for an errand (with ir, venir, pasar, mandar, volver, and preguntar)
Model: Paso por ti a las ocho.
Necesitas preguntar por Juan en la puerta.


Rule: when followed by an infinitive, to express an action that remains to be completed, use por + infinitive
Model: La cena está por cocinar.
Ella esta por venir.

Rule: to express cause or reason
Model: El hombre murió por falta de agua.

Rule: "estar por" means to be in the mood, or inclined to do something
Model: Estoy por tomar café.

Rule: in passive constructions
Model: El libro fue escrito por Octavio Paz.

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"POR" also appears in many idiomatic expressions:

por adelantado in advance	por lo visto apparently
por ahora for now	por medio de by means of
por allí around there; that way	por lo menos at least
por amor de Dios for the love of God	por lo tanto consequently
por aquí around here; this way	por mi parte as for me
por casualidad by chance	por ningún lado nowhere
por ciento percent	por otra parte on the other hand
por cierto certainly	palabra por palabra word for word
por completo completely	por primera vez for the first time
por dentro inside	por separado separately
por desgracia unfortunately	por supuesto of course
por ejemplo for example	por suerte fortunately
por eso therefore	por todas partes everywhere
por favor please	por todos lados on all sides
por fin finally	por último finally
por lo general generally

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"PARA" -- in contrast, has relatively fewer uses.

Rule: to indicate destination
Model: El hombre salió para Madrid.

Rule: to show the use or purpose of a thing
Model: El vaso es para agua.

Rule: to mean "in order to" or "for the purpose of"
Model: Para hacer una paella, primero dore las carnes.

Rule: to indicate a recipient
Model: Este regalo es para ti.

Rule: to express a deadline or specific time
Model: Necesito el vestido para el lunes.

Rule: to express a contrast from what is expected
Model: Para un niño lee muy bien.

Rule: "estar para" to express an action that will soon be completed
Model: El tren está para salir.

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It is quite important to learn to use these two prepositions correctly, because if you inadvertantly substitute one for the other, you might end up saying something altogether different from what you had intended. Study the two examples:

Juan compró el regalo para María.
Juan bought the gift for Maria.
(he bought it to give to her)

Juan compró el regalo por María.
Juan bought the gift for Maria.
(he bought it because she could not)

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"Por" and "para" can also be used in questions. "¿Por qué?" means "Why?" (for what reason) while "¿Para qué?" means "Why?" (for what purpose).

¿Por qué estudias español?
For what reason do you study Spanish?

Possible answer:

Porque es un requisito.
Because it's required.


¿Para qué estudias español?
For what purpose do you study Spanish?

Possible answer:

Para ser profesor de español.
In order to become a Spanish teacher.

Check out http://www.studyspanish.com/practice/porpara.htm for some practise!

GRAMMAR

CASTELLANO or ESPAÑOL? VOS or TU?

An ever recurring questions among students of Spanish is wether in Argentina they speak "Español" or "Castellano".
"Castellano" was originally the dialect of the Castilla region in Spain, where the crown was seated. Talking "Castellano" meant talking "the king´s" Spanish.
Nowadays the two terms mean EXACTLY the same, though people might have their own definition of terms. In Argentina, most people will refer to "Spanish from Spain" with "Español", while they consider themselves talking "Castellano".

So...Is Argentinean Spanish different to other Spanish?
Yes it is. But you never will have problems to communicate with people who speak European Spanish or other Latin American Spanish, nor in speaking neither in written communication.
Spanish is Spanish, and important is that you know it, which "local Spanish" you know, doesn‘t have any importance.

So, why does Argentinean Spanish sound so different?
Voseo is the use of the second person singular pronoun vos in Argentina instead of tú.
The voseo predominate in Central America, also on the Canarty Islands of Spain and the voseo is used in Buenos Aires and Argentina.
It‘s estimated that about 30% of all Spanish native speakers around the world are using vos in instead of tú.
Only in Argentina the voseo forms also part of the written language.
My experience shows that for communicating with Spanish speaking people it‘s not important if you are accustomed to use vos or tú, they will understand you in any case.

The conjugation of verbs for tú and for vos changes:
Verbs in -ar and -er in the second person singular in the case of using vos get stressed (get an accent) in the last syllable:
tú hablas >> vos hablás
tú comes >> vos comés …

Verbs in -ir change from -es using tú to -ís using vos (note the accent):
tú vienes >> vos venís
tú vives >> vos vivís

In the case of changing the stem vocal to diphthong or other vocal using tú, this conversion will not happen if you use the vos:
tú vienes >> vos venís
tú tienes >> vos tenés

At the beginning your attention maybe caught by the use of sos instead of eres:
tú eres >> vos sos


Does that come from Spain?
Not sure, you are probably thinking about "vosotros" , the informal second person plural currently used only in Spain.
Therefore the majority of the Spanish native speakers don‘t use the verbs in second person plural.


Anyways, I know it all look very confussing, but I promise is not!
Find the form in which you feel the most confortable, no matter what second person you use (vos or tu) you'll always be understood among Spanish/Castellano spakers!