"Chau, Che"

Wow! This was easily the best and most useful class yet. I really enjoyed it and didn't want it to end. It was very fast-paced and filled with great vocabulary for informal conversation --> something I absolutely did not get with Rosetta Stone. It is the colloquial sayings that often leave me feeling lost and speechless when talking to Argentine friends. For instance, I usually meet up with friends at a local bar on Thursdays and they will often great me with a "Che (dude)" followed by some slang I have never heard before. My reply usually consists of a smile and head nod, hoping that they were just saying hi, followed by a more formal greeting that I learned in high school Spanish. Sure, it does the trick, but it's a little awkward. Learning local slang is crucial when traveling if you are going to be having a lot of informal interactions, however, it is so hard to learn this stuff ahead of time. It's nice how Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish weaves slang into its classes early on, especially slang that is specific to Buenos Aires.

In addition, the class covered other useful material like body parts (of course, in a sexual and entertaining way), more numbers, and several more basic (but vital) verbs. Again, getting exposure to several key verbs early gives you the tools to have everyday conversations. While there is some early exposure to non-present-tense verbs, as I mentioned in a previous post, I would like to see more past and future tenses worked into the initial curriculum.

Can't wait to go to the local empanada joint tomorrow --> no more "hasta luego for me," it's "'ta luego" from here on out.