Going local: Expats arrimando el bochin to real Argentine Lunfardo

Did you ever hear Argentine expressions such as “tirar la casa por la ventana”, “arrimar el bochin” or “mandar fruta”? ...Well, neither our expat participants ... until last Friday evening´s coffee Meeting.

Curious and open-minded as they are, Newcomers in Buenos Aires usually fall for making their living abroad experience as real as possible.  One of the most effective ways to achieve this is by improving their knowledge of Argentine Spanish - the hidden side of the local slang that you won´t easily learn in your formal language training. 

So this was the focus of  last 5th March´s Coffee Meeting & Training Session on Lunfardo in Palermo:

We started the training session with some fun icebreakers, revealing the most instinctive & animal aspects of ourselves. Don´t say it--- draw it!

From left to right: Kim (US), Dina (Canada), Kendra (US), Jim (US) and Kirsty (Scotland), figuring out the ins and outs of Argentine Spanish & Lunfardo

Afterwards, we explored the origins of Lunfardo and the level of familiarity of participants with the local terminology, usually overheard among Porteños, whil watching an Argentine movie or when talking to the "tachero" or taxi driver- only to find out that their Lunfardo language skills needed some improvement...

To learn to speak like locals do, they had the chance to explore the 50 most popular Lunfardo words & expressions and work in small groups to reveal its meaning through dynamic exercises - in a creative way.

Kim & Kirsty, wondering how to draw a "brasuca" (Brazilian native) and a "gallego" (a Spaniard)

Many questions, coffees and drawings later, the group had successfully learned some of the main Lunfardo expressions. And with it, they achieved a better understanding of Porteños communication style, which takes them one step further in their immersion process to the Argentine culture.

Living abroad can be a quilombo sometimes... so our training sessions aim to help expats make their global transition ... un toque más facil.

Thanks Jim, Kendra, Kim, Dina and Kirsty!

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