Spanish level after one year in Argentina?

Question

Hello,

I was hoping i could get some good answers.

I have a job starting in Buenos Aires soon, lasting one year. I have studied spanish on and off for four years (2 years in school, 2 years evening classes). I consider myself decent level yet when i do online assessment tests i generally come out at intermediate(lower) level. Pretty dissapointing but there we go.

My job will be only partly talking in spanish, in the office, needing enough to get by. Mostly i will be talking in english to british clients.

However, i will be likely to have an argentinian girlfriend i have met out there before.

After one year of living in buenos aires, with an ok standard to begin with, what sort of level do you imagine i will have by the end? in general i am fairly good with languages. Any advice welcome....!

Answer 1

Well... First of all, try to find a girlfriend who talks to you in Spanish...; if you fall in love with a girl who speaks English, she will probably talk to you in English many times, so you will learn more slowly.

In one year, speaking everyday, you will be very good speaking "argentino". Maybe you will feel that if you try to talk with people from Spain, Colombia, or other countries, your Spanish is not so good for that... But that´s because they speak a bit different from us.

Answer 2

I am jealous! I no speaka enougha espanola! I am moving to Guatemala in just a few weeks and will need to know a lot more rather quickly. Unfortunately, I am a very slow learner...

Sounds like you will do fine! Most people tell me they are proud of me for just trying to talk to them, and they think I am 'cute' when I mess up.

And thanks, above, for the answer! I do use the accent properly, and I know tons of songs... I just don't know what most of them mean.....

Answer 3

It all really depends on you.  You say that you're good at learning languages-- this is excellent!!  Some people can pick up the language and even the local accent within a matter of months.  Others spend a year there and are still clueless.  Rule number one:  you must listen.  Learning a language is not just about communicating.  It's like trying to imitate a rap song.  You're not just going to repeat the words...you have to learn where to dip, where to pause, which words to cut off, which words have a cetain twang, and which words just aren't said at all.  If you think of a sentence as a precise melody that you have to reproduce and not as some individual words thrown together, you will learn the language so much faster.  Along with listening, you must think in Spanish.  This may seem ridiculous if you don't think you know that much Spanish, but it works for any level.  Try to think everything that you think in Spanish.  (This means you might have to think more slowly, by the way) Whenever you don't know a word in Spanish, fill it in with the English word.  After a while, the same word will appear time after time, and you'll get so annoyed that you'll have to look it up.  That's how you build your vocabulary.  This inner monologue is extremely effective in learning a language, because you're essentially practicing 24/7.  Oh, and the girlfriend will definitely help.  You're a lucky guy.

Answer 4

I don´t. You should have to write something or i have to listen to your spanish. I think you have already study a lot. if you can talk fluently, you are ready to everything. If you want to find some hotel, restaurant, travel agency, shoes, clothes and more in Buenos Aires and in Argentina see http://www.eventos.info

Answer 5

You MUST continue to take classes, maybe an hour every morning.  You will never get the proper grammar (especially verbs) right if you don't.  Too many people think they'll just learn it through osmosis or something.  You will advance so much quicker with formal training for the year.  It's a small investment but well worth it.

I took classes every weekday in Argentina for my first year and was reasonably fluent at the end.  I know people who lived there for 5 years or more and could barely speak well because they thought they would just "learn it on the street", etc.