Is There Another Language Apart From Spanish Used in Argentina?

[Sancho Panther]

My (Spanish) wife and I watched a tv interview with a relative of that poor, deceased footballer Emiliano Sala the other night, neither of us could understand a single word he said, nor even what language it was - is there a language other than Spanish used in Argentina?

Such a dreadful tragedy - he seemed to be such a modest, charming chap with a great future ahead. I'd hate to think there was anything sinister in his death as the papers here are suggesting.

[aleCcowaN]

Just like in Spain, there are another 100 languages or so spoken in Argentina, but the interview was surely in Spanish.

Don't worry. When they started to screen a lot of films and TV programs from Spain in 1983 I couldn't understand spoken Spain's Spanish (Italian was a bit easier to me, even without having studied it). Later I grew accustomed to new sounds and lots of new words like canijo, cubata, tiquismiquis, cateto, bombona, guindilla, friqui, etc. Even now I stopped watching La Casa de Papel in episode number 3 just because the language was taxing to me, even being it slightly neutralized. But I enjoyed watching Merlí in Catalan with English subtitles.

[Sancho Panther]

My wife (born in Extremadura) lived for thirty years in Barcelona and cannot understand a word of Catalan. Our daughter spent a 'gap year' (which lasted for fourteen!) in Benidorm, Alicante, her partner had many friends from Columbia, I understood them perfectly; their Spanish was more 'sing-song' but perfectly comprehensible.

The first time I heard Catalan I thought it was Portuguese!

The worst Spanish I ever heard was in a documentary on UK tv featuring a minor nobleman in Córdoba (Sp.) who had transformed his stately home into a small museum. He was well-educated and quite rich but his diction was quite appalling.

I called my wife from the kitchen and asked "Has this poor bugger got a deformity in his mouth or something?". "No" she said "That's how they talk in Córdoba! Don't worry I can't understand him either!".

[ROBINDESBOIS]

Today I watched an argentine film called "desaparecida" sometimes I had to read the subtitles to identify what they were saying , it was the words we usually use but they spoke very fast and it sounded different.
I din´t know there were different languages in Argentina, rather than Spanish, with its characteristics.

[pjt33]

Originally Posted by Sancho Panther

My wife (born in Extremadura) lived for thirty years in Barcelona and cannot understand a word of Catalan.

Curious. I can more-or-less follow it without taking any lessons. Maybe it's because I know more French than her?

The first time I heard Catalan I thought it was Portuguese!

I often get the impression that Castilian has diverged the most from the common ancestor of the Romance Iberian languages. I live in a Catalan-speaking area of Spain and visit Portugal for a few days most years, and I can confirm that Portuguese sounds closer to Catalan than it does to Castilian.

[Sancho Panther]

Many years ago I watched (and really enjoyed) an Argentine film "Bonbon el Perro" and understood most of it. I wish they'd put it on again!

I especially loved the tender, romantic scene where the dogo escapes to the builders' merchants yard and meets a scruffy old perra caliente, so romantic (not)!

[ROBINDESBOIS]

Originally Posted by Sancho Panther

Many years ago I watched (and really enjoyed) an Argentine film "Bonbon el Perro" and understood most of it. I wish they'd put it on again!

I especially loved the tender, romantic scene where the dogo escapes to the builders' merchants yard and meets a scruffy old perra caliente, so romantic (not)!

well, it is the same language for sure, maybe I didn ´t express myself well, I said I didn´t know they spoke as many different languages as in Spain: Like Basque, Castilian or Spanish, Catalan and Galician.
Regional variations don´t count.

[poli]

Originally Posted by ROBINDESBOIS

well, it is the same language for sure, maybe I didn ´t express myself well, I said I didn´t know they spoke as many different languages as in Spain: Like Basque, Castilian or Spanish, Catalan and Galician.
Regional variations don´t count.

There's a big Native American population in Argentina that has a big influence on the country, and native languages (Quechua and Guaraní among others) are spoken maybe not so much in Buenos Aires but more likely in areas north and west.

[Sancho Panther]

I could never understand my father-in-law (muy extremeño) and my wife used to laugh at me, saying my Spanish wasn't as good as I thought it was! One year we stayed at his home in Barcelona for a few days before catching the train to stay down on the beach in Tarragona.

We took a taxi to the ralway station and my F.I.L. sat by the taxista, and jabbered away to him all the way. As we neared the station the taxista said "¿Perdón señor, es usted extremeño?", y le contestó, "Sí, ¿porqué?". "¡Pues es que no entiendo ni siquiera una palabra que Ud dice!".

Estaba un poco cabreado, ¡pero yo estaba reindo a carcajadas!

[pjt33]

Originally Posted by poli

There's a big Native American population in Argentina that has a big influence on the country, and native languages (Quechua and Guaraní among others) are spoken maybe not so much in Buenos Aires but more likely in areas north and west.

Argentina is also home to the largest Welsh-speaking population outside of Wales.

[aleCcowaN]

Besides the well known languages from the pueblos originarios like Kechua and Guarani, we have Mapuzungun, Q'om, Aymará, Mocoví and a dozen more, and lots of vocabulary from those entered the language (pampa, cancha, chacra, ñaupa, yapa, locro, chauchas, guano, garúa, zapallo, pilcha, pucho, poncho

But most of the languages that are natively spoken in Argentina come from the Old World. Maybe 1 in 150 native speaker of Welsh live in Argentina, however there are other languages spoken in large numbers like French, Mandarin, Cantonese, English, Plautdietsch or Yiddish. All dialects in Italy are represented and there are numerous groups who speak Lao, Farsi and many more.

Lots of slang words come from those languages, and English speakers surely (or probably) would understand these very common ones: tuje(s) (the arse, the buttocks, from Yiddish "tuches"), bondi (bus, from English "bond" -financial term-), bacán (rich person, from English "back hands"), chimichurri (from "Jimmy" Curry, official from the 71th Regiment on Foot); or contemporary, like chatear (just last night I heard estandapero -stand up comedian- for the first time).

[Sancho Panther]

Originally Posted by pjt33

Argentina is also home to the largest Welsh-speaking population outside of Wales.

I would be inclined to say it's the only Welsh speaking community outside of Wales. Apart from that many Welsh people don't speak Welsh.

[poli]

It seems so rare, like Catalan in Sardinia. I have read that there is an Italian/Spanish dialect called Lunfardo spoken in Buenos Aires and Montevideo. I have also heard of Portuñol which Wikipedia states is used in parts of Uruguay and Brazil. Working for years in Union City, which at the time was a Cuban community with a Brazilian immigrant population, I have had the exhausting but fun task of speaking with people who have used what I believe to be Portuñol as a lingua franca. As Anglo with no working knowledge of Portuguese, this was an added layer of complication for me. I wouldn't be surprised if this pidgin language is also spoken in border towns in Argentina and Brazil.

[JaneAzuka]

Living in Argentina now, I would say the largest spoken language is Spanish or Castellano. The lumfardo is very different than all other forms of Spanish in Latin America. Words that are normally pronounced with a y, here are spoken with a shhh. They also use the vos much more than tu.

[I am learning spanis]

Muy guay, no se ese Nativos Americanos tienen un grande influencia a el idioma en Argentina. ¿Sabes algunos palabras ese ellos tienen influenciado en Argentina?

[poli]

Es seguro que hay muchas palabras. Palta, mandioca y choclo son tres comestibles conocidos en Argentina.