They Speak Spanish, Don't They?

Argentina is a country full of Italians, who speak Spanish and live in French buildings.

The language is the most obvious way I know I am in Latin America... except the Portenos (as the people of BsAs are known) have their own way of speaking. And, it makes me smile. Start with a stereotypical Italian accent - very expressive with elongated syllables. HO-Laaa. CoMo Estaaas? Very melodic with lots of intonation. Very Italian. Except it is Spanish, and, more like Castilian Spanish where the s and z sound more like a soft "th." That assumes the "s" is pronounced at all. Si, quiero dos facturas (pastries) por favor, sounds a bit more like "Thee, quiero do factura por favor."

But the best part: two LLs sounds like "sh" but only in Buenos Aires (not the rest of the country.) Pollo sounds like "po-sho," caballeros is "cabasheros" and como se llama is "como se shama". It ith difficult to underthtand what the Portenos thay thometimes, but I'm thtarting to get the hang of it.

 All of the signs are in Spanish at Plaza de Mayo (pla-tha de ma-jyo), named for May 25^th, 1810 the date that independence from Spain was declared - and ground zero for political protests and rallies. They really do speak Spanish here. Even if it’s not the Mexican Spanish I’m used to in California and from the telenovelas. It’s “Porteno” Spanish. And when I hear “bye” a hundred times a day, I will remind myself it’s not Italian “ciao” but rather Argentino “chau.”

Chau for now.