Where's your Grammar? In the Kitchen

Time to address a very important aspect of Argentine culture:

THE WEIRD "SH" SOUND

 

In your average Spanish-speaking country, double "l's" are pronounced like "y's." A well-known example is the nearly-Americanized word "quesadilla." We don't say "kay-suh-dill-uh" now do we? No, we fight our impulses and our phonics training to order "kay-suh-dee-yahs" at Chipotle instead of sounding like culture-ignorant monsters.

 

However, in Argentina you might have to RE-retrain your brain, for here in this vast land neither the usually-correct pronunciation of the"y" nor the "ll" will get you a quesadilla. (Okay, it will, but they'll correct you and also maybe make weird, skeptical gestures at you with their eyebrows) (OKAY, they probably won't insult you with their eyebrows. But they'll know you're a foreigner.) (Let's be real: they'll know you're a foreiger anyway)

 

So forget EVERYTHING YOU EVER KNEW about Spanish! But only the pronunciation of those two letters!

 

 

Say the word "dungeon." Feel how that soft "g" sounds as it rolls off your tongue. Isolate it. "Juh." "Juh." "Juh." Welcome it like you would welcome a friend who brought pizza to your apartment, or who offers to drive you places that are too far for your wussy little feet to carry you.

 

Now take that soft "g" sound and stick it in front of the letter "o." It should sound more or less like one of the following:

 

jo

sho

zho

Bethany is a hottie-mcbodypants

djoh

 

Yaaaaay! You have succeeded in forcing your mouth to adapt itself to a new accent! Now you can forget everything we just did, because you will most likely never be in a situation that requires you to say the Spanish word for "I," and ONLY THAT WORD, to an Argentine.

 

Because I like to embed things, here are two videos that will unnecessarily re-emphasize everything I just said:

 

This is a typical Spanish accent, as spoken by a gringa.

Who can spot the grammatical error?

 

This is an Argentine accent, as spoken by some awesome mystery person.

There is actually very little exaggeration in this video.

 

On a vaguely related topic, but mostly because I just REALLY like to embed things, I have pronounced for you some of the more interesting street names we have enountered.

 

 

 

Hipólito Yrigoyen

 

The first few times I heard this, I was pretty sure I was never going to be able to say it. Which is unfortunate, because most of my classes are on this street and it would be useful to be able to say "HELP I was going to Hipólito Yrigoyen and I accidentally wound up in the red light district!" (Coincidentally, if you haven't been reading Rachel's blog, catch up on that) But I finally mastered it:

 

Uriburu

 

Whoever named this street deserves, like, a chocolate or something.

 

Azcuénaga

and finally,

Pueyrredón

 

This concludes one more informational lesson from The Girl Who Probably Shouldn't Be Teaching Anyone Anything Except About Which Flavor of Ramen Noodle is the Best (Indubitably Beef)