Posho

Argentine Spanish, especially in the vicinity of Buenos Aires, is so unlike any dialect in the rest of Latin America or Spain that I'm afraid I won't comprehend the simplest statement. The ll and y are pronounced with a "sh" sound. Instead of ordering an empanada con pollo (po-yo) I need to remember its "posho." And after all this time conjugating verbs in the standard manner, I have to relearn it using vos instead as the Argentinians do. Perhaps it will be in vain since the accent is notoriously difficult to understand, even for those with a decent grasp on the language. Not me.

If this weren't enough, I recently discovered a new twist on the language in case I wanted even more of a challenge. According to this article, word inversion (think: pig latin) is quite common in Argentina. Taking common words, the ones I managed to learn, and flipping them into unrecognizable ones that can't be looked up in the dictionary or phrasebook. Not only will I be seeking directions to the nearest bano, but also the "nabo." My morning copa de cafe is also "feca." Hmm...maybe it has something to do with the coriolis effect.