BA—which is what Argentines were calling their capital nearly 30 years ago when I first visited from my home in LA—was Spanish-Spanish with a strong overlay of Italian and looked quite like Grenoble, France. The Anglo-Argentines would slip Spanish into their conversation, such as saying they’d been out to the camp (campo = country) for the weekend.Now skyscrapers outshine the River Plate, the capital has “Malls,” as well as traditional “Galerías,” and many shop windows proclaim “Sales” instead of “Liquidación.” Of course there are Starbucks (many) and a Hard Rock Cafe, et al., but you still need Spanish.
Which brings me to 1066 and my lazy (efficient?) method of communicating. Rather, let’s jump ahead to 1266. By then, the French language of the Normans who conquered the Anglo-Saxons and the English language of the vanquished flowed alongside one another, which is why there often are two words for the same thing, one “elegant” (French) and the other, “basic” (English).
Here’s the trick: When you want the Spanish word, grab the longest or most complicated English word and pronounce it in Spanish. Since French and Spanish come from Latin and Spanish, your guess might come close.
Although, guessing can be tricky with cognate/cognado Spanish.
On my first visit to BA, I thought most of the stores downtown were going out of business because of the liquidación signs and misinterpreted that the economy had collapsed. That would come later. Embarrassingly, I also discovered that embarazada is pregnant. Also embarrassingly, people who understand my Spanish best, speak some English.
