For thousands of years previous to the European exploration, natives lived and prospered here in South America. But after decades of slaughter and integration, many parts of different indigenous cultures are being lost or forgotten. The very fabric on which an entire population is based is slowly being pulled out from under their feet.

However, the national government is willing to halt that decay by establishing the first ever bilingual school in Chaco where the students will learn both Spanish and their native language Qom. The hope is that through education students will be able to educate and eventually employ themselves while still maintaining a piece of their heritage. Similar instances have been tried in various countries, like the Maori people in New Zealand, and have been very successful. With the proper teachers and some government support, an entire generation will live on to pass down their culture and hopefully in turn send their children to the same school.

The Argentina Independent visited some of the parks in Buenos Aires to find out what people think about the government’s role in maintaining the language and culture of its indigenous peoples.

Paula Judkin, 42, Professor of Marketing, Palermo

I think it is a good idea. I like that the government is interested and active in maintaining the culture of the original people of the country. The indigenous people form an intricate part in our history and it would be a shame to lose any of that knowledge. The truth is there is not a lot of information or respect for native people here in Argentina. Schools have classes about indigenous people but it is not enough, it is very late in the education system. I think the natives have a right to learn both their language and Spanish. They should be able to preserve their language but I also think they need Spanish. I think it would be impossible to live and work in most parts of the country without knowing Spanish. I also think tourism is a great way to teach people here in Buenos Aires about the indigenous people in the interior of the country. People should be able to travel and learn about the different cultures that come with the different parts of our country.

Bessard Lynne Circee, 20, Occupational Therapy Student, Balvanera

I think this is very good because the indigenous people of Argentina were the first people to live here. They were here before Europe decided to explore, so technically this is their land that we live on. It is also good for children today to help teach them the history of the natives of Argentina. The school will help educate the people about the Qom language and the culture that comes with that language’s history. I also don’t think the cost is too much because it is the cost of education. This is going to help people understand, I think it will be very good and that school is the best way to do this. I don’t see anything in the near future that could overtake school as the best way to educate a country about its indigenous people. School is good because you start at a young age and by doing so you create a knowledge and respect of certain aspects of society like the natives and their culture.

Gabriel Rozengzeir, 44, Professor, Palermo 

 I think the school is great because I think indigenous populations should have the right to have their own language. They should be able to learn their original language in a school and should be able to use that language everyday. Maintaining the culture of the indigenous people is very important also. They were the first people here and right now I think they have the worst education across Argentina. At least the worst access to education in a cultural perspective. I also think using the taxes is a good idea to raise money for the cost of building the school. The most important thing is to educate the indigenous people about maintaining their land, their language, and their culture but it is difficult. How do you educate them about their financial problems? How do you decide what to educate them about and what not to? They must also learn their rights but it is difficult.

Agostina Lanzone, 21, Music Student, Palermo

I think this is a good idea because they should be able to speak in their own language. However, I also think they will need knowledge of Spanish because it is the official language of Argentina. It is fantastic that the government is willing to spend time and money on preserving the culture of the natives of the country. I think it should be a right of everyone that the government try to maintain his or her culture, not just Qom in Chaco but elsewhere in the country as well. I think here there are people who know about the different cultures and people who don’t know, it depends on the situation but most people don’t know. I think though that this kind of education should be in every school in Argentina, not just in Chaco.

Joaquín Bondoni, 22, Musician, Palermo

For me, yes, I think it is important to support the correct culture, and by that I mean the culture that applies to the people who are living in a certain area. The indigenous are people as much people as you and I are. They were the original inhabitants of this land. It is ironic because now we come and take their natural resources and pretend like they have no right to argue. It is also important to maintain their culture because if we integrate their children too much that culture could be lost for the future generations. I think the best way of maintaining that culture is through education. We need to create a respect for these people, we need to respect them and their land like visitors coming into a foreign country because really that’s what it is. Not everyone here is white. Anyone who’s travelled will know about the different cultures in Argentina but the people who stay in certain areas only learn from online, the internet; we are lacking that education in schools in general.

A boy sits nervously listening to the first question, he leans forward and replies, “Ignacio.”
“How old are you Ignacio?” the examiner asks.
“Eleven.”
“And can you tell me about the penguin?”
“Yes.” He shuffles in his wheelchair to get comfortable. “The penguin knocks at the door. I open the door and I can see the penguin. The penguin is lost.”
“A penguin in downtown Buenos Aires?”
“Yes!” His eyes open wider in mock surprise. His eagerness of expression is only accentuated by his bald head and puffed out face – both effects of recent chemotherapy.

As the Drama in English exam continues, Ignacio gains more confidence. Despite suffering from a rare form of cancer, he is acting and chatting away like any other child.

Ignacio is also the recipient of rare form of education, without which, he would never had the opportunity to sit in the Ministry of Education, taking an exam on the English Language. You see, before the English in Action program began in 2010, learning English was not available for children like Ignacio in Argentina.

“Special needs and education students have never been taught English because they couldn’t think of a way of doing it that would suit these kids,” explains Susan Hillyard, the co-ordinator of English in Action. “We teach English through drama to these students… using techniques that are completely unique in Argentina.”

By taking away the desks and using pupil interaction, Susan’s network of 20 teachers has successfully tapped into an innovative way to engage and get children learning – through drama.

“The problem with schools is they don’t understand how the child’s brain works, and they have this methodology they’ve been using forever. They kick out the creativity and the individualism, and try and get them to be the same so they can teach the same level. When you do that it stops children developing.”

So how is Susan’s methodology effective? “What do children do? They imagine!” Susan exclaims, as though she’d hit upon the most common-sense answer. Drawing on a natural behaviour, drama acts as the catalyst for children to understand English.

And… Action!

English in Action came about after the Argentine government created the Law of Inclusion, calling for equality of opportunity and inclusion for all children despite their ability. The Department of Special Education and the Department of Foreign Languages at the Buenos Aires Ministry of Education recognised the potential in one of Susan’s similar, previous projects to fulfil this pledge. Together they created English in Action, opening a new world of learning to disadvantaged students.

Two years on, the group now teaches at least once a week to around 400 students in 20 institutions – including children suffering from phobias, emotional problems, physical disabilities, general learning difficulties, long term illnesses such as cancer, HIV, or those waiting for organ transplants who cannot attend regular school for a period of time.

To teach these children, the teachers use concentration exercises, role-play, songs, and acting out authentic stories. Each teacher creates their own ‘action sack’ made entirely by themselves full of props to engage the children with. One sack contains puppets for example, where each child has to act out the role of the puppet. Another has hats and wigs.

“We use ‘masks’, and paradoxically, in hiding behind the mask, you really find yourself. It’s cathartic,” Susan explains. “You’re actually playing out your own emotions.” She recounts the story of one boy who, before beginning the lessons was a self-imposed mute, and now talks away in English, even building a relationship with his teacher.

And this technique has proven to work academically too. Besides from Ignacio, the Trinity College London recently granted scholarships for five more pupils to enter the English in Drama exam at the Argentine Ministry of Education. All passed, and Ignacio and Millie – who is school phobic and suffers intense anxiety whenever separated from a parent – gained merits.

Although she is evidently glowing from these achievements, Susan is keen to emphasise the English in Action program is more than just exams or even teaching a subject. “The teaching of a language promotes social and personal development through interaction and active language acquisition. But through drama, the pupils get an idea of human behaviours and the world we live in.

“Our motto is, ‘From I can’t, to I can’. All these kids in special education have very low self esteem, and lack confidence because they have always been told, ‘you cant do it, you’re lousy at this, you can’t learn.’ This is the message they are getting. Maybe subliminally, but that’s the message.”

Susan clearly has an immense amount of drive and is passionate about English in Action and the effects it has on the children. “I think we need to get into many more special schools, and I would like to see the program reach primary schools and take off in the mainstream. It needs to happen because many students are failing to learn English – basically because the methodology doesn’t work.”

Mandarin Chinese, Japanese and Korean became the most popular non-European languages to study in Buenos Aires in the past five years.

According to a study released today by the University Language Centre (CUI), these languages are growing rapidly in comparison with English, French, Portuguese and Italian, which in the past have been the more traditional choices when learning a language.

The number of students enrolled in Chinese increased by 124% since it was first offered at the CUI in 2004. Twice as many people study Japanese, and next year Korean will be offered because the demand is so high.

Roberto Villarruel, director of CUI, said “Of the 16 languages we offer, Chinese is the fifth most popular.” He stated this was due to commercial and cultural relations between the two countries. Today there are roughly 1,700 people studying Chinese at CUI.

The Korean community in Buenos Aires has helped increase the number of students studying the language. CUI states there is a heightened interest in the country from a business perspective because of the textile and produce industry.

According to CUI, Japanese has grown in recent years because there is a specific demand for highly trained young people in science, technology and engineering. These industries in Japan have experienced significant growth during the last decade.

So, you’ve made it to Argentina, armed with advanced grammar lessons, Spanish words for everything you imagine you’ll need (check, hostel, steakhouse), and you’ve got your pocket dictionary in your bag just in case. At this point you have to admit you’re feeling mighty proud of yourself.

That is, until the first time you speak to someone. Suddenly it feels less like a conversation and more like you are on the other end of slingshot that is sending foreign vocabulary towards you at lightning speed. All you can think to do is duck and hide, all the while wondering, was that actually Spanish they were speaking to me?

It was probably a mix of terms and phrases that were too Argentine for your Spanish teacher to know, or too embarrassing for her to teach you.

Luckily, a new set of flashcards, Go Flash, gives you a leg up to successful navigation of Argentine Spanish in three vital areas: “everyday talk”, “slang and swear”, and “sex and romance”.

Two young English-speaking expats developed Go Flash to help others transition into Argentine colloquial Spanish. ‘

“When I first arrived in Buenos Aires,” Go Flash co-creator Isabel Glover, 23, remembers, “I couldn’t understand anything! The vocabulary was completely different: my years of studying Spanish at university in the UK got me nowhere.”

With these elegantly designed cards even though you’re totally screwed (en el horno) by the lack of Spanish you arrived with, you can relax and realize that unfortunately, that’s just how it is (es lo que hay). You might even get the confidence to start chatting up (chamuyando) some folks along the way and perhaps feel like a bit less of a knob (un tarado).

In addition to demystifying Argentine slang (lunfardo), the sex and romance deck provides some important vocabulary for intimate settings, such as “have you got protection?” (¿Tenés forro?), he’s such a “player” (pirata), “one night stand” (touch and go) and perhaps most memorably, “strap on” (cinturonga).

The decks are also completely reversible and bilingual, so Argentines learning English can also benefit.

And what’s next for these young entrepreneurs? They plan to release applications for the iPhone and Blackberry, and perhaps branch out to slang from other Spanish speaking countries.

For now, Go Flash can help you escape a complete nightmare (un re quilombo) during your first weeks in Argentina and you might have an awesome time (cagarte de risa) in the process. And, ok, I’m just going to come right out and say it, these flashcards are the shit (la posta)!

On arrival in Buenos Aires one thing to get used to is the language. Even if you learned Spanish as they speak in Europe, the porteños will have a few surprises to throw your way and send you off track.

On the other hand, if you’re a Spanish beginner and just need to learn a few quick phrases to help you get around and do the important things – eating in restaurants, ordering drinks in bars, shopping, asking for assistance – then help is at hand.

The established Expanish language school has recently started a new course aimed at helping both groups – the Spanish Crash Course. It focuses on practical Spanish and aims to provide the tools to get by in Argentina, in short, sharp, energetic lessons.

Courses are scheduled in the afternoon from 4pm until 6pm, so fit in with the timetable of students taking morning group lessons. Indeed, the four other students taking the ‘Eat, Drink and Practice your Spanish’ module with me one Monday took these as additional classes to their two weeks of morning group lessons, and in preparation for two weeks of volunteering at a local school.

The crash courses started in May this year and have proven popular. There is no need to take all lessons in any one week, and it is possible to sign up and pay the $80 per lesson just minutes before 4pm. Limited to a maximum of 15 students per group, we were luckily enough to be just five. The teacher, Clara, started off talking with us about food in Argentina, asking our preferences and guiding us through the types of food (in Spanish), the customs, and the reasons behind them.

For example, when taking us through the various cuts of bife, we were told the reasons behind the name matambre. It is the part of the cow that is easily accessible and cooks quickly. It is eaten by gauchos while they wait for other parts to cook on the open fire. The word itself is a mixture of mata (dead) and hambre (hungry) – matambre.

This followed with a role play situated in a restaurant. All were given parts to play and a script in English, and given time to prepare our lines in Spanish before acting out a typical restaurant scenario. A great and fun way to learn, especially from both your own and others’ mistakes, and in a lively environment. The only way we could learn more about Argentine food would be if the bife de chorizo and vino tinto I ordered physically appeared.

The modules cover a different area each day, ranging from eating in restaurants, shopping, travelling, everyday fundamentals and socialising. Its a fun and flexible way to get to grips with the basics of castellano without taking formal lessons where the focus is more on grammar and long term learning. And for those wanting to spend more time studying each topic, the hand-outs contain enough vocabulary and further information to keep them busy for hours.

Meeting foreigners in Buenos Aires is easy enough. There are many expat or gringo organisations that arrange regular drinks and networking events in various bars around the city, but everyone inevitably ends up speaking in English and discussing Buenos Aires and Argentina from a foreigners point of view. All of this is fine, but for those looking to indulge in local culture, to meet porteños, to practise and improve their Spanish, and to take part in trips and events more off the beaten track, then Mix Up Exchange provides answer.

Mix Up was founded in 2009 by Argentine Félix Diaz De Elizalde and is run by himself and Alejandro Chacra. With many years spent travelling the world and his background as a travel agent, Félix knows what his customers are looking for when they come to Buenos Aires.

Félix works closely with local businesses and institutions provide various supplemental services to their customers and students. He partners with language schools to offer accommodation to pupils, either with local families, fully-furnished apartments, or a room with other students. He offers hostel guests trips and excursions in and around the city, and he works with Buenos Aires universities to offer their students the opportunity to meet foreigners. All events are intercambio and allow all parties to practise their Spanish and English and to learn about different cultures, but most importantly to socialise and have fun.

In fact, fun is central to all Mix Up events – the company’s slogan is ‘The Funniest Concept Of Exchange’. And the effervescent Félix manages to bring everyone together to ensure they feel part of the event and have a good time. The two regular social events are Wednesday and Saturday drinks held at a variety of bars and clubs across the city allow just this. Through its relationships with bar owners, Mix Up offers its guests free entry and promotions on drinks in a VIP area and allows the mix of guests, locals and foreigners, to chat and learn about each other’s cultures in a very informal way. In the summer months these events are supplemented by hugely popular boat parties in Puerto Madero.

One other popular summer activity are trips to the campo, to a large house with gardens where visitors get a taste of life outside of Buenos Aires. Asados, football, mate, pool and ping pong are the order of the day, and in the relaxing atmosphere it is easy to forget only that morning you were in the hustle and bustle of central Buenos Aires.

Given the popularity of football in Latin America, the recent Copa América was a very important event in Argentina and an ideal opportunity for visitors to partake in the passionate atmosphere of matches. Mix Up arranged transport and tickets for each of the six matches in La Plata, a city 60km south of Buenos Aires, and for the final match at the River Plate stadium in Buenos Aires itself. During the domestic season, there are regular trips to matches at La Bombanera, the stadium of Boca Juniors.

Next year is an important one for Mix Up as Félix plans to build on his success so far by adding further activities. Mix Up Towns will offer excursions to nearby places such as San Antonio de Areco and Chascomus – both of which can be difficult to travel to independently and are off the typical tourist route. Mix Up Beaches will offer summer weekend excursions to Mar del Plata in Buenos Aires province, while its obvious what Mix Up Carnival will cater towards each February.

So, if you’re in Buenos Aires for a week, a month, or six months, getting in touch with Mix Up can envelop you in local cultures and events and introduce you to local people who are as keen to find out what they can about you, as you are about them.

Paraguayan Congress has approved the Law of Languages. The law obliges public institutions to use Guaraní as stated in the national constitution. Now the executive has to decide if the law will be enacted.

Under the law, public bodies must use Guaraní in all documents which are currently only written in Spanish.

In an interview with Radio Viva, Perla Álavarez, an activist for linguistic rights, highlighted the importance of the law in a country where “discrimination still exists in relation to which language you use”. She explained that they talk of discrimination “when the State is not guaranteeing nor respecting the rights of people”, and added that “in the case of linguistic rights, it is when the State does not guarantee the right of the citizen to live in their language”.

Álvaez explained that the Paraguayan State works solely in Spanish, meaning that some citizens can not work in their own language and must substitute it, whilst the country’s Magna Carta establishes that Guaraní is also the official language of the country, along with Spanish.

According to the 2002 census, 27% of the population solely speak Guaraní, although they understand something of Spanish. The majority of these people do not reach sixth grade level education and in hospitals they are attended without their language being respected. As for the judicial branch, statistics show that in more than 90% of cases, the victims and perpetrators only speak Guaraní – and those from the poorer sectors of society don’t have access to translators and all of the testimonies and witness statements are written in Spanish.

As a result, the Language Law aims to guarantee that people have the right to public translation, and even for all public officials to be bilingual.

Story courtesy of Agencia Pulsar, a news agency run by AMARC-ALC network of community radios.

I am back in my first Spanish lessons, flicking the pages of my exercise book fervently to the mark of my latest vocabulary test. I am disappointed by a low score. The devil red of my teacher’s pen marks the creamy paper, carving large accents over vowels where I have carelessly omitted them.

This is the memory that haunts my investigation into an interesting social campaign known as Acentos Perdidos(Lost Accents) who correct Spanish language where accents are missing in public view on anything from door signs to political propaganda. Various branches of the movement exist all over Latin America and in Spain. With 13 blogs in 11 different countries where contributors collect photos of their corrections, Acentos Perdidos has grown to international heights.

Founder of the project, Spaniard Pablo Zulaica Parra, 28, now living in Mexico, says that it started like “a guerrilla campaign”, which quickly accumulated support. Having been a publicist and also an editor for various travel magazines, it is no surprise that he has an entrenched passion and respect for correct language.

Those familiar with the Spanish language will recognise that omitting an accent can change verbal tenses and cause grammatical faux pas, usually with humorous or embarrassing consequences.

Pablo tells me of signs that have had their meaning transfigured. Amusing examples include ‘bebe al bordo’ meaning ‘drink on board’ when an accent over the second e in bebe would translate to the common safety message used on cars, ‘baby on board.’

But this seems too little a cause for the launch of an international campaign to get the Spanish-speaking world to communicate correctly. Therefore the question remains. Why are accents on Spanish words so important?

No Accent, No Attitude

“For me, writing is an attitude. In the lack of accents I see the lack of an attitude and respect towards the language,” Pablo says, implying that the way in which one writes is a reflection of personality and that carelessness with accents can make one seem lazy. Pablo sees beyond their pure function as a small building block in the make-up of languages to their symbolic meaning. Nor is he alone.

Nineteen-year-old Rodrigo Maidana from La Plata initiated the movement in Argentina after seeing Pablo’s work in Mexico. He too believes that “it’s really important to write and speak well” as “it defines the personality of each person.” The problem runs to a deeper level; the loss of accents can indicate not just the negligence of a few individuals, but a large body of people in the modern world. This in turn raises political and social questions about education, the notion of communication and cultural preservation in the Hispanic world.

Policing Politics

One of the greatest targets of Acentos Perdidos  is arguably the language of politics. The campaign sees language and politics as firmly related in an almost Orwellian sense. Sloppiness in language equals sloppiness in politics. Rodrigo speaks about how he started the initiative in Argentina, tackling posters in the street first because “it was an easy way to make people take notice and learn.” To learn what?

Worrying as it is, mistakes in campaign materials leads to a distrust in politics. I realise that rather than just to teach correct language, Rodrigo has a slightly more important lesson on his agenda. The art of correcting the language is a bold, symbolic statement that aims at equipping people with the consciousness of their own terrifying powers in democracy. By not correcting the mistakes and by not making people aware, one only serves to empower potentially idle politicians that could cause more damage than they are worth.

Pablo exclaims that “electoral propaganda on the whole is shameful: the printers print them badly, the leader doesn’t care and nobody in their party puts one eye over them to verify that they are well written. These are the people that we want to represent the masses!” In essence the populous can hardly expect decent, responsible politics from a party that will not even double-check its slogans and banners.

Technical administrator and teacher of accountancy and economics, Fernando Catelotti, who also works for Acentos Perdidos in Entre Ríos states “I prefer to trust in those that can improve the writing of their messages,” implying that accents and grammar should play an important role in initially securing the public’s trust of a political figurehead or organisation.

The origin of the problem still remains unearthed. District attorney’s offices in Peru, town halls in Spain and even CNN’s broadcasting network across Latin America have made mistakes in the negligence of accents in Spanish. How is it, if the mistakes are so basic and easy to spot, that these organisations still convince the public of their stature?

The Role of Education

Pablo tells me that he “relates education to a socioeconomic context” in Latin America. According to UNICEF, nearly one in ten adults are illiterate in Mexico today, with the worst rates in Latin America existing in Guatemala where more than one in four adults are illiterate. Pablo speaks of language, for the working classes in Mexico, as only “serving a basic function,” which is communication. However, he also says that “there are many people of the upper class with titles, skills, degrees and in prominent positions that don’t know how to write,” which feeds down to children in schools, thus perpetuating a problem that transcends social class.

As well as being an indicator of irresponsible politics in the Hispanic world today,  Acentos Perdidos  serves to assess the standard of education in these countries. Rodrigo says that “accents are being lost and many times it isn’t the fault of those that commit the error but those that teach the rules,” implying a horrifying irony that poor education is causing the spread of an issue fuelled by ignorance and misinformation.

Refined Versus Restricted Language

As aforementioned, the implications of the loss of accents in the world of politics and society are great ones. They evoke an image of one signing a contract without reading the small print. However it is also possible to see this change in Spanish as a cultural occurrence in response to technology, which plays an important role in our communication today.

“I don’t think that they [technologies] are enemies of language. On the contrary, they can be allies,” says Fernando, referring to how advances in technology have assisted communications in the 21st century with the use of the internet, email and mobile phones. Many argue that the abbreviation of words in emails and text messages implies disrespect to the language in its purest form. On the other hand there are others that say that using the correct form of the language inhibits communication as accents can take too long to type. Moreover, the loss of accents and other grammatical changes can be seen as a part of a process of adaptation for the language to survive in modern times.

The art of correction that Acentos Perdidos undertakes also suggests streamlining of the language. Spanish exists in different forms and dialects all over the world and accents are employed in some counties where they are not in others. Both are considered acceptable variants of the language due to different cultural factors during the language’s development. Technology can be considered a said factor.

“Language is give and take. This project has taught me that you need to be respectful with language and also tolerant,” says Pablo, affirming that there is space for language and technology to co-exist without too much of an invasive interchange where technology eventually substitutes one’s brain and thus thought.

The Future for Accents

Despite the political symbolism that the loss of accents infers to, Pablo believes that “Spanish will live on the same without accents but it will be a lot poorer, it will have a lot less characteristics and less poetry.” This perhaps highlights a cultural loss in years to come as great works of recent literature by the likes of Pablo Neruda, Julio Cortázar and Isabel Allende will belong to a bygone era of language that will read strangely to the contemporary eye. Come to think of it, even Cortázar’s name could lose its true pronunciation.

Pablo and the many people around the world that work under the cause of Acentos Perdidos are dedicated to the survival of accents. One of the newer methods is to tackle the spread of incorrect language at the source, in local primary schools. Pablo has written a book for children, named after the project, which is “a subtle critique of the disinterest for the things that are of our cultural heritage.” He says that “it calls to the noble causes and the fight for what one believes in. The driving thread is the accents, but as I have said on other occasions, the accents are symbols for many things.”

A good attitude towards accents is instilled in children from an early age by the book and will help contribute towards their cultural survival. So far the book has received a warm reception and Pablo soon hopes to publish in other countries outside of Mexico so that accents “will have a long life” in the Spanish language. Hopefully, when this generation seeks the mark of their latest grammar exam, the accents will have been remembered without the assistance of the scarlet inked pen.

The old adage goes: hath thy facebook, and hath thy a job, delete your account. It’s true. Ask your friends, ask your teachers, (don’t) ask your boss. It’s ancient folklore.

Strictly speaking I don’t have a job. However, I like to imagine that I’m forging a path. It’s very windy, and I still don’t have diamonds on the soles of my shoes. But for me, the journey started in Guatemala, where I began work on my Spanish. It was also here that my proverbial knowledge of Facebook was addressed.

I had this realization when Lesvia, my favourite teacher – patient, clear, enthusiastic, time enough for an hour per sentence – added me on Facebook. At first I was proud. I received my first message in Spanish. I replied in Spanish. I was corrected in Spanish. But then came our last day together, and, too distraught to learn any more, we turned to Facebook. Lesvia scrolled through all 1,157 photos of mine as I sat next to her cowering with shame. Of course, I had considered how I looked in the eyes of my peers, but to my favorite Guatemalan maestra? For some reason, it had never crossed my mind.

As we skimmed through, the blinking, green hued computer cast my photos in an even more ugly light – Bebidas, mas bebidas. Mas. Every picture, she informed me, tipping her head back, and motioning towards her mouth with a pretend pint. And then, ‘Raquelllllll, what is this!? Raquel!’ There I was, pointing at the butt cheek of a boy who was gleefully mooning the photographer. And then again, a huge grin across my face. She kept going, her computer clicks drowning out my desperate explanations in broken Spanish.

We said goodbye that day, joking about my ‘sordid’ past, automated and ordered on Facebook. “Que tu extrañes sobre Inglaterra?” Lesvia asked. Extrañes. I filed through the Spanish words that I had stored in my head over the past weeks. Extrañes…? extraño! ‘Strange.’ “Los hombres quienes quiten su ropa!” I replied, affirmatively. My one last dash at dignity. Yes, that’s what I find strange about England! The men who take off their clothes all the time! “Es muy extraño, si?” Lesvia’s face lit up, “Ah Raquel. I see. So that’s what you miss?”

Mixing up your ‘boludos’ with your ‘bondis’? Can’t find ‘quilombo’ in your dictionary? Wondering why the grumpy bus driver just told you to ‘walk to your mother’s shell’? We’ve all been there, stuttering ‘no entiendo’ as a porteño makes a mockery of last week’s intense Spanish course. That’s why I’m down in Bariloche, looking for James Bracken, the man who literally wrote ‘Che Boludo’, an (illustrated) book on Argentine slang.

Originally from Connecticut, James, 41, developed a passion for mountaineering while living in the tiny town of Silverton, Colorado. On a climbing trip to Chile’s Torres del Paine in 2002 he met his love, Damiana, and the two hiked back over the Andes to her home town of Bariloche. The couple now live there with their two children, Kai and Lilen, in a wooden house that James, a carpenter by trade, built from scratch himself.

How was your Spanish when you first came down here?

I had a fairly wide vocabulary but I couldnt conjugate verbs so I would just comunicate in the simple present tense. But I got by, and Damiana didnt speak much English. She has been my mentor all along, for Spanish and slang.

So you didn’t know any Argentine slang at first?

No, the Spanish I had learned was through some of the Mexicans that I used to work with in the construction business and my travels to Peru and Central America, where the language was very different. I’d go out with Damiana and her friends, taking a little notepad and writing down any word I didn’t recognise or couldn’t find in the dictionary.

And how did that turn into ‘Che Boludo’?

Well, I ended up with pages and pages of words, and a friend said I should compile a dictionary with them. It made sense. I mean, if somebody had all this organised it would be a much quicker learning process for foreigners. And also it’s just funny. You translate some of these words and phrases literally, and it’s hilarious.

What’s your favourite bit of slang?

Everybody asks me this and I always give the same answer: pedo (fart). When I first heard it, I couldn’t understand how it could be used in so many expressions: estar en pedo (to be drunk), ni en pedo (no way), al pedo (not doing anything) etc. But pedo is old news. Bronca is currently the word I enjoy hearing most. It means anger, rage, the pissed off feeling you get when dealing with Argentine bureaucracy or when someone cuts you off in traffic. Its almost an onomatopoeia. say it: BRONCA. It’s a good release.

Do you still take the notebook out with you?

Oh yeah, I actually heard a new expression yesterday. ‘Estar en curda‘, it means to be drunk. I don’t have as much time these days given my family and house, but it’s still interesting when you hear something new.

What about when you travel around Argentina – do you listen out for the different regional accents and slang?

Absolutely, one of the friends who helped me with this book is from Córdoba, where they are really big on word play. Everybody tells me its a whole different book waiting to be written. I havent been there myself, but Cordobeses have the reputation of being the true ‘chamulleros‘ in Argentina. Most people from Bariloche or further south come from Buenos Aires or Mar del Plata, and speak the Rio Platense dialect. If you go further north, to Mendoza, they speak more with a Chilean accent, though they hate it if you tell them that. In San Juan they dont have the ‘jj’ sound for double ‘ll’. And then Chile is a whole different world…

Do you know any Chilean slang?

They say ‘huevon’ a lot, and ‘yapo’, which is like ‘che’ in Argentina. Chile has a really unique culture: very indigenous but with a strong German influence. Argentines love to diss them, but they kind to have their shit together a bit more I think.

Do they diss you for writing this book?

No, I wrote this for gringos but the Argentines love it. I don’t know percentages of who buys the book, but for them it’s a strong sense of their identity. Even those who don’t speak English or understand the translation rave about the book, they just love that there is a collection of these expressions and words. I get mainly good feedback, though my editor once showed me a blog, which was written by an Argentine, who said things like: ‘this gringo studies us like rats in a lab, makes millions, and then fucks off’. I was having a bad day and left an aggressive comment on his blog. I’ve not checked back to see if he responded.

Anyone with your book will know a few local gestures you can give him. Was it your idea to include the drawings?

I got a friend of mine, Martín, who is a classic ‘hippie artist’, living in a school bus and constantly moving around, to draw them. It was like pulling teeth trying to get him to do it. I’d go to pick up the drawings and his bus would be gone, so I’d have to ask where he went and find him again. I actually got to know Bariloche by looking for Martín. At one point I considered calling the book ‘Buscando Martín’.

How are your Argentine gestures?

I actually learned a new one the other day [taps two fingers on shoulder]. That means the cops are coming. It from the stripes they have on the shoulder. A friend of mine was telling me that when he was in Spain some guys busking in the train station and he was trying to signal to them that the cops were coming, but they didnt have a clue what he meant. There was a point where I was confusing ‘que te pasa’ with ‘quiqui’, which means fear. I don’t know if that is supposed to be like your sphincter tightening… I haven’t gotten a straight answer about it.

It wouldn’t surprise me. In the book’s intro you talk about political correctness, or lack of it, in Argentine speech. How did you find it when you arrived?

I thought it was interesting because in the US and UK in the last 20 years political correctness has gone mad. I mean, it’s good up to a point, but it’s gone a bit over the top. It hasn’t eradicated racism, or touched anywhere near the root of the problem. Here everything is taken with a pinch of salt, though of course racism exists here too and some words are still used in a derrogatry fashion. It all depends on the context, which for me is the way language really works.

Were you ever worried that foreigners would read your book and start sprouting terms out of context?

Yeah, that’s why I included a warning at the beginning. At one point I thought I may have created a bit of a monster. I met someone who was throwing words around, and they had my book and I thought, ‘oh god what have I done’. They were saying a bit of everything without having a good grasp of the language. Then again, I think I might have been the same. For me, it was hard to differentiate between slang and normal Spanish. I mean, how do you define slang? Is it anything not found in the Spanish-English dictionary or just that spoken by kids on the street? And it’s always changing, which is what keeps it interesting.