Learning Spanish

[ant]

As far as tango goes, you will enjoy dancing more when you understand the lyrics.

Do you think it increases the quality of your dancing and/or connection considering both Spanish speaking and non Spanish speaking partners?

PS Mario I found your post very helpful, thanks.

 

[Heather2007]

I wonder how many of you started learning Spanish after you started dancing tango?

I wonder i could learn Spanish if I go to Argentina for classes and to feel songs more.

I speak Italian so understand some Spanish...but no, have no desire to go learn it full out in much the same way I have no desire to travel to BA.

Advice: learn Spanish because it happens to be an extra language to your bow and not because it helps you to better understand a song, That way, frustration and/or boredom won't set in and the mere passon of just learning another language will always be apparent. Bon chance!!

 

[DWise1]

I wonder how many of you started learning Spanish after you started dancing tango?

I wonder i could learn Spanish if I go to Argentina for classes and to feel songs more.

Actually, I had started learning Spanish long before then. I grew up in Southern California. Then I married into a Mexican family.

However, dance-related, while I have only recently started learning AT, I had always learned the Spanish terms for salsa. During one time, I was taking classes at one studio where all the lessons were completely bi-lingual, such that the teacher repeated everything he said in the one language in the other language as well , though many of the moves were still in Spanish, like "cumbia" and "cucaracha" -- to be honest, I was listening more to the Spanish than to the English. The most confusion I ever experienced in salsa was when I took a ballroom class in which the instructor only used English; half the time time I had no idea what she was talking about.

And since I know some of the language, yes, I do listen to the words of both the salsa and the tango songs. A lot of the salsa songs seem to be about love-gone-wrong, such as the salsa "Vete vete" ("go away, you're such a bad person") and Santana's cha-cha, "Corozón espinado" ("Impaled Heart"). To be honest, I haven't heard that many TA tangos yet; seems like a lot of Castillano so far.

 

[Cheery]

If you understand or have some reading comprehension of Spanish you will enjoy reading the comments on YOUTUBE on some dance videos. It gets hilarious at times reading their comments about the dancers of Cuban Salsa, and anything Latin.

There were many debates of whether the dance was Samba or not, and some post-ers had to explain that Ballroom Samba evolved from street Samba, etc.

Still it was nice to read what these natives (in those countries where the dances originated) thought of the dance videos.

If you've checked out some videos on YouTube of Latin dances you may already have seen some of these posts.

 

[jantango]

Do you think it increases the quality of your dancing and/or connection considering both Spanish speaking and non Spanish speaking partners?

PS Mario I found your post very helpful, thanks.

Learning "Castellano" (as they call it in BsAs) has helped me understand the culture. It has given me a greater appreciation for the poets of tango, such as Homero Manzi. I've gotten a glimpse of why milongueros are married to the milongas--they go to hear the music and feel the lyrics they have lived. If you don't know what is being sung, you miss the feeling of a tango. I have learned a lot about tangos and the lyrics during brief conversations between dances with milongueros.

I dance only with Argentines at the milongas. Knowing the language doesn't improve the quality of my dancing--it deepens the feeling of the dance. That's where you connect.

If you love tango, you owe it to yourself to learn it.

 

[Joy In Motion]

I would wholeheartedly agree that learning to at least understand Spanish contributes so much to understanding the music, the dance, and the culture. I would disagree with just one thing that was posted earlier, and that is the idea that you can become fluent in five months. Never! Even with complete immersion, you are looking at years to become fluent in the language. But still a worthwhile endeavor regardless.

The first dance I learned was salsa; Argentine tango was my second (but of course I'm not done yet!). I will say that I definitely have a much harder time understanding the lyrics in Argentine tango music than in salsa. Part of it I think has to do with the quality of sound recordings of course, but I think it also has to do with the way that tango is sung. I'm thinking the structure of salsa is closer to American music in that sense and so it makes it easier to understand. It seems that the cantante's voice is often made to sound like another instrument and sometimes snakes around quickly and can be difficult to follow if you're not extremely proficient. And then as was mentioned previously, the Lunfardo and slang is very heavy and sometimes needs translation even for native Spanish speakers who are not from Argentina. Any other dancers of both salsa and tango experience this? I will say that I often search for tango lyrics so I can take my time to understand them; with salsa I don't need to do this because it's much easier to take it in while dancing. Maybe it's just me... I don't speak Spanish as often as I used to, so it's fallen off quite a bit.

 

[Lui]

I learned my first Spanish while in South America (Quito, Buenos Aires). Just as Jantango said, it was the key to “... connect with people and understand the culture” or in short: fun.

Back in Germany I hardly ever used it again. Before I completely lost my skills, I started to take conversation classes in a small group.

Now my “castellano” teacher from Spain smiles about my funny accent and "Porteño" slang, while my Argentine friends are shocked to find me talking like a "Gallego". I’m trapped

 

[Angel HI]

Good post, Joy. Thanks.

 

[tanjive]

Forget the Rosetta stone and all the other stilted tapes unless you are a rank beginner. Actually, the way you were doing it (increasing comprehension thru listening to podcasts, TV, etc.) is THE way to go and you can will be fluent as a speaker once you understand most of what you hear (automatic). There is an excellent News TV internet site in BsAs
http://www.tn.com.ar/
as well as a great Tango radio station with hundreds of podcasts about tango music in Spanish.
http://www.tangocitytour.com.ar/
If you've had a couple of years of classroom Spanish and can tell a noun from a verb, I would begin there. It will be difficult at first (very) but in a couple of weeks of listening for an hour a day, you will be suprised. Don't try to translate into English..instead just try to 'get it' in Spanish..you will be fluent in 5 mos. to a year if you listen for an hour a day. Most people won't put out the effort. Try having a BsAs radio station playing when you are on the internet..just background chat and music..
http://www.radiodelaciudad.gov.ar/
This one is a government radio station but a good one.
You have to be able to withstand some initial confusion at first and then hang in there in order to get the language. You will need a year's work in the classroom or with a tutor to be able to begin this. But this approach will then get you fluent in 5 months from your own home computer. Just remember the required one (or more) hour a day. Let me know if you decide to do it and have any questions.

I was wondering if anyone had any other recommendation of internet radion or tv for immersion in the Spanish language? I am still fairly new to Spanish and still trying to collect a big enough vocab and understand the grammer rules.

Any material tango related or of the simpler children level might be useful to start with.

I would especially be interested in any responses offered by any English language expats in BA. Assuming you are not of a Spanish family, what helped you get ahead in Spanish?