One goal of immersing ourselves in the Buenos Aires culture was to learn as much Spanish as possible. We began by placing a Craigslist ad for a Spanish tutor that received unexpectedly rich results. We narrowed the respondents down to four or five and then scheduled interviews. That process worked really well, and we chose to work with Maria.

Learning a second language anytime if you’re not 5 years old or growing up in a bilingual household is difficult, but learning when you’re in your 50s can be paralyzingly intimidating!

Our Spanish teacher, Maria

Maria seemed to understand; she didn’t giggle or laugh too much at our Mark’s horrible pronunciations, or even at our inability to carry on anything approaching a meaningful conversation.

Let’s stop here for a second. Verbs in Spanish are amazingly effective and unbelievably complex. They convey meaning far beyond English verbs. The concept is easy: verbs convey gender, context, relationships, all the tenses, etc., so If you can’t conjugate verbs effectively, get out of the room.  The rest of the language is relatively easy.

After roughly two months of three-day-a-week, two-hour classes, we had mastered present and some past tense conjugations. We could — for the most part — convey what we wanted or needed to in stores, restaurants and taxis. It wasn’t pretty but we were understood. Well, Betsy was understood, Mark was struggling with the “T” sound.  As Maria kept reminding us, no “cha cha cha.”

It drove us mad once trying to convey that something made us triste (sad). Looking straight at the person, we made faces, ran fingers down our cheeks to illustrate tears, and repeated the word several times but could not make the person understand. That is how important pronunciation is. The “t” sound seems simple but it isn’t, and you have to roll the “r”. We don’t realize how subtle these sounds can be.

It was particularly funny as we practiced our burgeoning language skills that when we failed to understand what someone was saying to us in Spanish the first time, they would repeat it louder and then again louder. If you are ever guilty of this behavior to a non-English speaker, believe us, repeating things louder and louder does not help the other person understand.

We had so many funny and trying experiences with everyday communication. Our portera (doorman) was a super person, and we came to really enjoy him. He spoke almost no English. We saw Ruben several times a day and became friends but never communicated very well verbally, although you can’t say we didn’t try really hard.

Classes were intense. Brain matter was pulsing, neurons flashing. After two hours, if felt like someone had been walking on your skull. It was the definition of “brain dead.”

We laughed, worked hard, practiced, used our knowledge every day, and in the end, we can say this much, we had fun and did the best we could. They say learning a second language is one of the best mental exercises. That may be true, and for us, it was all of that plus making a new and forever friend.

Need a wonderful Spanish teacher?

So if you’re looking for a great Spanish teacher in Buenos Aires, no matter what your skill level, we recommend Maria!  (Yes, she’s a real Spanish teacher with great credentials and not to be confused with Maria in The Sound of Music.) And the name wouldn’t be pronounced the same in Austria, either.

The Spanish we did learn while in BA is a credit to Maria, and what we didn’t learn can only be blamed in our case on the students.

Maria speaks four languages and is also conveniently a travel agent who can help you with your travel plans in Argentina and other countries. She’s an excellent source of local information as well, and what she doesn’t know, she will try to find out for you. Her e-mail is majo1313@arnet.com.ar.

Maria is so much more than a Spanish teacher. Muchas gracias to our friend, Maria!