Porteño Corner: Author & Teacher, Walter Freiberg

Walter Freiberg, Writer & Teacher
Age: 31
Lives: San Justo, Buenos Aires

• People love your novels for Spanish language learners (which you write under the name Paco Ardit) and you’ve had a lot of success selling them. What motivated you to write books for language learners?

Back in 2012 I was learning German, and I struggled to find good reading materials for beginners. The novels and stories intended for native speakers were too hard. At the same time, I didn’t want to settle for children books: they were just too boring and uninteresting for an adult learner. After a lot of research I found a great series of easy readers for German language learners. They were both easy and fun, and had great characters and plot lines.

This was the biggest inspiration for the Spanish Novels Series. For a long time I had been really passionate about learning and I had always wanted to create an online product. So, I thought it might be a good idea to combine these two things. That’s how I came up with the idea of creating an e-book — an easy reader — to help people to practice their Spanish skills. More than a year later, I wrote a second one and that’s when I thought I could create a whole series from beginner to advanced.

• You also speak four languages. Do you have any tips for those learning Argentine Spanish or any second language? Or learning tips in general?

Get immersed in the language you want to learn. Many people think the only way to do this is to travel to the country where your target language is spoken. These days, if you have Internet access and a couple electronic devices you can recreate any language environment you want.

Someone in Argentina can design her own Japanese reality in Buenos Aires. How do you do that? Easy: you forget about your native language and consume media in your target language only, all day long (as someone suggested: “Turn the TV on [in Japanese] now and turn it off in two years”).

If your target language is Japanese, you’ll watch online movies or series in Japanese, listen to Japanese music, read Japanese articles, read Japanese comics and novels. Japanese is your main language now.“Fake it ’till you make it,” as the saying goes. This holds true even if you’re a beginner. Even if you miss a lot of what’s going on, it helps immensely. Getting massive exposure to the language we want to learn is crucial. In the beginning it’s also better to focus on passive input (reading and listening). Once you have built a large enough passive vocabulary, the active part (writing and speaking) gets much easier.

I think it’s important to take responsibility for our own learning. Learning is a very personal process, and we have to fully own it. Having access to a good teacher or a mentor is great, but we are the ones who need to put in the work and the effort. Don’t wait to be spoon-fed everything. Be curious, be proactive. Feel free to experiment. Spend a lot of time with the language and don’t neglect the practice!

• You also teach piano. What are the differences in learning a language and learning an instrument?

I think the main difference is that, to learn an instrument, we need to take care of more technical aspects. There’s this thing called ‘instrumental technique,’ and it’s important to get that right to make progress in our learning process. Unless your instrument is the voice, usually the music instrument is an external object. That has its pros and cons. It’s nice to have an external reference to see how we’re doing. When we’re learning a language though, many of the processes take place within us (think of pronunciation or how to come up with a full phrase). On the other hand, when someone is learning an instrument there are lots of new movements to integrate with our system. All in all, I think it takes more time to get really good at an instrument, than to get fluent in a new language.

Having said that, I think there are many things in common between learning a language and learning an instrument. First, in both cases we could say we’re speaking about learning a language. Music has a language of its own, and part of learning an instrument is becoming fluent in this music language. When you learn a language there is reading, listening, writing, and speaking. In music it’s the same: we read scores, we practice ear-training, we write music on staffs, and we sing and do solfeggio (solfège).

There’s a music learning approach called ‘Suzuki method’ that approaches the process of learning an instrument just as we naturally learn our native language. All of us got started in our native tongues by tons of listening and speaking. Reading and writing come much later. The ‘Suzuki method’ encourages students to listen to a new piece lots of times and then learn it ‘aurally’ with the help of a teacher. They start learning by listening and speaking (playing). Only after a while they are introduced to music scores. Even though I don’t use this method, I adapted some aspects of the philosophy to my teaching style.

When it comes to practice they’re also similar. Both if you want to learn a music instrument or if you want to get fluent in a new language, you’ll need consistent daily practice.

• You are the President of the Argentina Toastmaster’s club. How did you get involved in that and what has involvement in Toastmasters brought to your life?

I learned about Toastmasters thanks to Steve Pavlina’s blog. In February 2015, one month after I moved downtown, I went to a meeting as a guest. The next day I joined the club as a member. In the beginning, I was interested in developing public speaking skills while getting some English practice. After a few months I was hooked on the leadership part as well. I was invited to join the Executive Committee of the Morris Gellman Toastmasters Club (the first English club in Argentina), and fast forward three years and I’m serving as the President of the club.

Toastmasters helped me on so many levels. I’m super grateful. I got to know fantastic people, made new friendships, and explored different life paths. I always approached it as a training ground. As I got involved in different roles and functions during these years, I had the opportunity to learn and practice many skills that helped me both to grow my business and to improve as a person. I can’t recommend it highly enough!

• You are interested in meditation and have done meditation retreats. Can you tell us a little of about how meditation can aid in learning?

Meditation is a great tool to develop mindfulness — awareness of the present moment — and concentration — the ability to focus our mind on a single object. These are crucial skills to learn virtually anything. When you’re learning something you need your full attention there, moment to moment. If your mind drifts you’re wasting your time; you’re deluding yourself thinking you’re practicing or learning when you’re not. Mindfulness helps us to be aware of what we’re doing, and how we’re doing it. With concentration, on the other hand, it’s important to stick with the object of our practice and to focus our mind as if it’s a laser beam.

• You are also a vegan, which must be a challenge in one of the world’s most carnivorous countries. How do you do it and what do you eat everyday? Does being vegan in the land of asados affect your social life at all?

In the beginning it takes a little bit of self-discipline, but then it gets easier and easier. I used a gradual approach: first, I cut out all meat. After a few months, I stopped eating eggs, and then continued dropping other animal products. It didn’t happen overnight. I introduced new foods and recipes to my diet gradually. I was saying goodbye to many things, but at the same time I was introducing a lot of new things. There are so many tasty and healthy fruits, veggies and plant-based products. It’s insane!

I also took it as a learning challenge on health and nutrition. Intuitively, the idea of getting all the nutrients I needed without using animal products felt right. I thought: if I can get everything I need on a plant-based diet, why would I continue supporting an industry (meat and dairy production) that causes so much suffering to so many beings? It just feels out of alignment with my personal values. I’m lucky enough to be able to choose which foods I want to eat. So, I choose plant-based foods.

What I eat everyday varies. For breakfast I usually have a big bowl of oatmeal with soy milk (or another plant-based milk), nuts, chopped fruit, corn flakes, and granola. Some days I might have a huge smoothie (plant-based milk, a few bananas, cacao and cinnamon), or either a coffee with soy milk, and some toast with peanut butter and jelly. For the main meal I usually have a couple veggie burgers (made out of quinoa, lentils, chickpeas or some other legume/cereal combination), a salad, and some rice, potato or yam.

• You’ve also volunteered with the housing non-profit organization, Un Techo para mi Pais. Can you tell us a little about your experience with Techo?

It was great. I found them after searching for volunteering opportunities in my area. I completed a form telling them I was interested in helping out. Soon after that I received a message from the organization and scheduled an interview. In a couple weeks I was volunteering in a neighborhood where they did social work. My main task was acting as moderator/facilitator for a group of neighbors to carry out small projects to improve their living conditions. I volunteered there for almost two years. I learned a lot about working with groups of people, leadership, and communication. It was a fantastic experience.

• Since you’ve had success as an author, you’ve been able to travel overseas. Can you tell us a little about your travels? Where was your favorite place?

My favorite place so far has been Toronto, Canada. I loved the cleanliness of the city, the kindness of the people, and the availability of healthy food options all around. It seems like a very advanced city. The people I met there were super friendly and always willing to help.

• As a life-long porteño what Buenos Aires’ attractions do think visitor’s can’t miss seeing while visiting the city?

Two places I really like are the ‘Jardín Botánico’ and the ‘Jardín Japonés,’ both in Palermo.

⇒ Read about Walter’s Spanish novel series and other resources to help learn Argentine style Spanish.

Where to Learn Spanish in Buenos Aires

If you’re going to spend anytime in Argentina it is a great opportunity to study Spanish. Even if you already speak Spanish, you may want to take a couple of classes to learn about the regional use of ‘vos,’ Argentinismos and a bit of Lunfardo, the unique slang used extensively throughout the country, and especially in and around Buenos Aires.

Learning Spanish in Buenos Aires: Public Schools

• Laboratorio de Idiomas, Universidad de Buenos Aires

The University of Buenos Aires Language Laboratory is an obvious option for very inexpensive and high-quality Spanish classes. Here you get a feeling for what its like to be a university student in Argentina — classes are excellent and the bar is set high, but inscription is a bit chaotic, the classrooms have paint falling off the walls, and it’s a miracle if the bathrooms have toilet paper. Students are not given the course material, but in charge of making their own photocopies of the study aids at a nearby copy shop.

Regular courses begin in March and August every year and have four hours of instruction per week for one semester. Their ‘super-intensive’ one-month courses, with 15 hours of instruction per week, are a little more expensive. The university can also provide a certificate confirming that you passed either the basic, intermediate or advance Spanish to provide for school or work.

For those with advanced Spanish they also offer excellent courses in Spanish for foreigners including, ‘Spanish through Cinema,’ ‘Literature of the Rio Plate,’ ‘Culture and Conversation’ and ‘Immigrants in Buenos Aires.’

Language Laboratory of La UBA
25 de Mayo 221
Microcentro
Tel: 4343 1196 / 4334-7512 / 4342-5922

• Instituto de Enseñanza Superior en Lenguas Vivas ‘Juan Ramón Fernández’

Founded in 1904, the Instituto de Enseñanza Superior en Lenguas Vivas, commonly called ‘Lenguas Vivas’ is a school set in a beautiful historic building in the Retiro neighborhood. It functions as a secondary school and provides adult education.

They offer two-month courses with eight hours of instruction per week or four-month courses with four hours of instruction per week. These courses are great for those who speak well enough to get around, but want to keep improving at a steady pace. They also offer more advanced classes than the University of Buenos Aires, which only goes up to ‘level seven’ Spanish.

Their Spanish classes, taught by ex-University of Buenos Aires professors, tend to be slightly less expensive than the university. As with many state institutes, the professors are excellent but the administrative department is a disaster.

Lenguas Vivas
Carlos Pellegrini 1515
Retiro
Tel: 4322-3992 /96/ 98

— Learn Spanish Online! —

Private Schools

Private Spanish schools are a good option for those who don’t want to deal with the bureaucracy of a state school or whose schedules don’t fit with the classes offered at those institutes. Additionally, private schools tend to offer a smaller class size for more personalized instruction, extracurricular activities, and creature comforts such as nice chairs, classrooms with heat and air conditioning and beverages.

• Expanish

There are many private institutes in Buenos Aires. One of them, Expanish is one of Buenos Aires’ most successful and well-known private Spanish schools. The school is located downtown in an historic UNESCO World Heritage building.

Expanish offers an intensive Spanish course of 20 hours per week, an intensive Spanish Plus class, which combines group classes with one-on-one instruction for a total of 30 hours per week and tailor made one-on-one classes.

Other courses include Spanish & Tango and Business Spanish. Class size is small, with a maximum of nine students per class.

Additionally the school has a student lounge, a study room and library, free wifi throughout the building and is fully accessible for wheelchair users. Extra curricular activities include film screenings, city tours, workshops and group excursions. A big bonus is the rooftop terrace with awesome views and a cafeteria to get something to eat and hang out between classes.

The school can also arrange homestays with an Argentine family or a room in shared apartment as well as volunteer opportunities that will allow you to improve your language skills while helping out the community.

Expanish is accredited by The Association of Language Centers (SEA) and follows a curriculum set by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEF).

Expanish Spanish School
Tte Gral Juan D Perón 700
Microcentro
Tel: 5252-3040
From abroad: 1-888-EXPANISH

→ Read our guide on how to learn Argentine Spanish online on Wander-Argentina.org

→ also see ‘How to Speak Spanish like an Argentina‘ on Wander-Argentina.org

Do you want your private Spanish school listed here? Get in touch to arrange a visit.

Lunfardo: The Dirty Slang of Buenos Aires

Lunfardo is a jargon of about 5,000 words that emerged among the lower classes in Buenos Aires in the second half of the 19th century. The slang first grew out of cocoliche, a pidgin used by immigrants during the first wave of immigration to Argentina. The Argentine Creole was born out of a need to communicate among people who had different regional dialects of their respective languages, mostly Spanish and Italian.

Lunfardo’s Criminal Roots

Lunfardo is closely tied with the tango culture and has roots in the criminal underbelly — much of the dialect was developed in the prisons as a way for inmates to speak amongst themselves without being understood by guards.

Lunfardo later incorporated smatterings of words from other immigrant groups, the gauchos, or cowboys, of Argentina, the indigenous of the country and African slaves.

Lunfardo is employed in the River Plate region and although it has permeated Argentine culture, the vocabulary is not widely understood in other Spanish-speaking countries with the exception of Uruguay.

noenamorasedeunboludo — ‘How to Not Fall in Love with a Boludo’ —Lunfardo in popular culture

Italy’s Influence on Lunfardo

In addition to Italian words that have been imported directly into the Argentine lingo, such as, ciao (spelled ‘chau’ in Argentina), to bid farewell, there are a plethora of Lunfardo words with easily traceable Italian roots. The word mina, commonly used to refer to a woman, comes from the Italian word ‘femmina,’ the verb ‘laburar,’ meaning ‘to work’ and derived from the word ‘lavorare,’ is frequently used in place of the verb trabajar. Fiaca, used to describe a state of laziness, comes from the Italian word ‘fiacco.’

An Argentina making ñoquis (gnoccis) at home in Argentina — Making ñoquis on the 29th of the month

Similarly, ñoquis is the Argentine version of the Italian ‘gnocci.’ Besides describing the pasta dish that has become common to eat on the 29^th of each month when money is tight, the term can also make reference to the size of genitalia or be applied to someone who gets paid for a job they don’t do.

Another term almost as ubiquitous as ‘che,’ despite its rather impolite implications is the word boludo/a, used incessantly by teenagers, much to the torment of teachers and well-meaning parents. Although literally referring to the size of someone’s testis (yes, references to genitalia are abundant in Lunfardo) it takes on the meaning of ‘idiot’ or ‘jerk’ and is used by friends to playfully address each other or as an insult in a heated conversation. Synonymous with boludo is the word pelotudo/a, although this word usually has harsher implications.

African influences in Lunfardo can be heard with the use of quilombo, a heavily colloquial term that has found its way into everyday use. Originally, a quilombo was a gathering place for slaves, and in some areas referred to a brothel, but over time the word took on a meaning more synonymous to a ‘total mess’ or ‘disaster.’

Another word that sounds so pretty but can turn out ugly is chamuyo. This can be innocent sweet talk from a guy trying to score with a girl or out-right scheming and scamming. The verb for the word is chamuyar and a person who does it is called a chamuyero. A worker who talks about what a great job he’ll do while dollar signs are rolling in his eyes, an acquaintance who swears they’ll do a favor and then evades phone calls, or a guy who swears he’ll love a girl forever and then abandons her after she’s knocked up –- all fall within the chamuyero spectrum.

Vesre in Lunfardo

Fundamental to Lunfardo, and characteristic of the wordplay it is recognized for, is vesre. Vesre is a feature of Lunfardo that can be likened to Pig Latin for adults, formed by switching around the syllable of the words, similar to the verlan of French. An example is the word vesre itself – switch it up and it becomes revés, meaning ‘reverse.’ Suddenly the reason this slang is named vesre is no mystery. Thus in Lunfardo, café (coffee) becomes feca, mujer (woman)/ jermu, amigo (friend)/ gomía, pizza /zapi (also the name of a major Argentine pizza chain), pagar (to pay)/gapar, abajo (down)/ajoba, tango/gotán (providing the origin of the name of the well-known musical group, Gotán Project.)

Some other vesre terms, such as bolonqui (quilombo) maintain their significance while others such as telo/hotel, take on a slightly different meaning when reversed. A telo is a hotel for couples to escape to for a night or just a few hours specifically to have sex –- useful to know in case a chamuyero invites you to one when you’re in a boliche (club).

Understanding Lunfardo may take some time — even those who have perfect Spanish skills have trouble following Lunfardo-laced conversations, especially when the colloquial banter includes vesre.

While Lunfardo adds a unique and sometimes plebeian flare to the already unique identity of Argentina, it also contributes a dynamic twist to everyday life. Slang is constantly influencing speech and vesre makes the creation of new — although not official — words endless.

Although purists believe that a word cannot be considered Lunfardo unless tied to its tango or immigrant roots, Argentines are taking liberties with the vernacular, making it a challenge to ever really get a strong handle on the lingo — and that’s half the fun.

— by Jenna Frisch with Ande Wanderer
(← cont. from Argentinismos)

Argentinismos: Weird Words Found Only in Argentina

The most Argentine word in existence is che, a filler word that was maladapted from Mapuche tribe’s language, and has since become widely used across the country. It’s commonly used to call someone’s attention, express surprise or emphasize a statement and it oddly seems to resonate with the English word ‘hey!’

Although used to a lesser extent in some neighboring countries, this term has become closely associated with Argentina as a result of its use by Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara, who said the word so much on his travels that others began to refer to him as ‘Che.’ In its normal application, to address someone with the word ‘che’ is gender neutral.

WA-che-red — Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara popularized the use of the ‘che’

Other vocabulary words one may hear for the first time in Argentina include ‘piscina’ for ‘pool,’ ‘departmento’ for apartment, ‘vereda’ for sidewalk, ‘bondi’ or ‘colectivo’ for bus and ‘computadora’ for computer.

Something heard in everyday language is the use of ‘re’ not only in its normal use as a prefix to verbs but in place of ‘muy’ (very) as in an Argentinean-ized phrase such as, “(Vos) hablás re bien el Castellano.”

Political Argentinismos

Thanks to Argentina’s unique politics which sometimes harks back to the caudillos of past centuries, and other times resembles the political turbulence of Italy Argentinismos include many evocative political terms. Gorila and facho are terms that gets thrown around a lot, these days toward those who support President Macri. The terms refer to someone who is right-wing. Their opposite is a ‘zurdo/a‘ — someone who is far to the left and usually supports the policies of ex-Presidents Nestór and Cristina Kirchner.

‘Trosko’ may also be used to refer to those politically on the left, in reference to the Marxist movement of Leon Trotsky. Lower-class leftists who show up to protests because they are paid and famously given a choripan sausage sandwich for participating are called choripaneros by the ‘gorilas,‘ as Anti-Peronists are called.

‘Mendes’ is the name most Argentines use to refer to the ‘unmentionable’ ex-President Carlos Menem, whose privatization policies are frequently blamed for the 2001 economic crisis.

Special Argentine Food Terms

When it comes to dining in Argentina, you can pretty much leave your Spanish dictionary at home — it won’t help much. Essential vocabulary words in a traveler’s repertoire include the words medialuna (sweet croissant) and empanada (savory turn-over) and every time you see the word factura (a general term for pastries that also means receipt) you’ll be tempted to wander in that direction. Similarly the most Argentine of all sweets is dulce de leche, a sweet milk paste that is eaten on bread, incorporated into pastry recipes or used to fill alfajores, a beloved shortbread cookie usually found by the check-out in virtually any convenience store. (Check out our guide to Argentine desserts to learn more about Argentina’s sweets).

Along with these delicacies, there are some basic food items that are different from regular Spanish. One is butter, it appears in Spanish dictionaries as manteca, but is called mantequilla in Argentina. When buying fruits and vegetables make sure you ask for frutillas instead of fresas for strawberries. Avocados are called paltas instead of aguacates in the rest of Latin America. Additionally when drinking some birras (beers) at a bar, make sure you ask for maní instead of cacahuate to get some more peanuts at your table.

Some of the culinary specialties unique to Argentina include puchero, a vegetables and meat stew that often includes garbanzo beans and is perfect for a cold night. Another not-to-miss dish is locro, a thick corn soup that is often eaten on patriotic holidays. You can try these dished at Cumaná in Recoleta or La Carreteria in San Telmo while visiting Buenos Aires.

Among the pre-Colombian food found in the Northern regions are two dishes that are rather similar: the tamale and humita, corn-based dishes wrapped in steamed corn husks, to be discarded before eating. The main difference between the two is that a tamale generally is filled with meat or cheese.