Posted in Art on April 15, 2010
FILETEADO. What is it? Well if tango is the distinctive porteño dance, and steak-and-Malbec is the distinctive porteño meal, then fileteado is the distinctive porteño artwork. But actually, it takes a while to realize that fileteado is a distinctive style at all. That’s probably because it’s a style of artwork that decorates things – buses, cars, signs, shop windows etc. – and so it takes a back seat to what it’s decorating. You’d never see fileteado hanging in a gallery; it lives on the street.
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Posted in Spanish on March 30, 2010
Download the complete dictionary of Argentinian Slang! Only $2.99! It is called
¡Ni En Pedo!: Argentinian Slang Dictionary
. The content on this page is just a taste of what you will find in the this complete dictionary!! It is available for the kindle, but can be used on any type of device using a kindle reading app!!
You might have noticed that Argentinians love to talk: all day, every day, with anyone who’ll listen! For this reason it’s no surprise that the Rio Platense Spanish that has developed in Buenos Aires is full of unique words and idiosyncrasies. Unfortunately that can make things difficult for the Spanish leaner who wants to be able to communicate here.
Explaining all of the differences between the Spanish in Buenos Aires and the Spanish in, say, Madrid would of course fill an entire book, but then again some words are much more common and important to know than others. Here are the top five:
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Posted in Theater on March 19, 2010
Like every big city, Buenos Aires has a thriving theater scene. The ‘Broadway’ of Buenos Aires is the section of Avenida Corrientes that’s between Avenida 9 de Julio and Callao. Most of the city’s 40-odd theaters are located here. They show musicals, plays, opera and music revues, just like similar areas in other parts of the world. The vast majority of the productions are, of course, in Spanish.
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Do you have a favorite building in Buenos Aires? Mine is the one on the corner of Belgrano and Perú in San Telmo (see a picture of it here). The bottom two floors are nothing special – just roller doors that are always closed and then a set of shuttered windows – but on the third floor there appear a series of giant stone men who are carved so that they seem to be supporting the floors above on their shoulders. Then there are five or six floors of pretty balconies, and then it gets really wacky: three or four more levels built into a steeply sloping tiled roof topped by a pair of cupolas. It’s brilliant.
The architecture in Buenos Aires is easy to love. But how did it get that way?
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Posted in Film on March 2, 2010
The following is a guest post by Christi Hedke from BananaWho.com, a wonderful film blog.
When it comes to South American cinema, don’t let Brazil steal all the thunder! Here are 5 films to watch that represent a wide cross-section of Argentine viewpoints. The following films are not necessarily made by Argentines, but rather movies that focus on Buenos Aires. Ranging from foreign films to documentary, each of these films focuses uniquely on Buenos Aires, showing her many faces, both unpleasant and pristine.
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When we’re in our own country, and speaking in our native language, tactfulness and saying what we mean are things that come naturally to us (…well, most of us). But expat life in Argentina is a whole different kettle of fish!
To help you navigate these treacherous waters, here are 10 things that you shouldn’t say while you’re in Buenos Aires. Some of them are culturally offensive; some are mistranslations that Spanish speakers will find puzzling and/or hilarious, and some just reflect a mindset that will prevent you from having as good a time in Buenos Aires as you otherwise might.
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