learn Spanish in Quito or Buenos Aires?

Buenos Aires!

I studied for about 3 weeks in Buenos Aires and I am currently studying in Quito, Ecuador. If you have never been in either of the two cities I don't think that you should prejudge either. In fact, on a pure experience level, I think that it would be great if you could visit both because each city has it's own unique character and its positives and negatives. B.A. is a huge metropolis and, as you say, it has more of a European facade but culturally B.A. is very much South America. Ask any European that has spent more than 4 weeks there and they will tell you the same thing. There are tons of things to do: free museums, clubs, live music, etc. Unfortunately, inflation in B.A. is totally out of control and it is getting really expensive these days. Quito, which is also expensive by South American standards, in a lot of ways is actually cheaper than B.A. now even though they use the dollar as their standard of currency. In fact, the cost for a foreigner to rent is MUCH cheaper. Its gotten to a point now where the food in Quito is about the same or cheaper. When you think of Ecuador you think of indigenous people playing flutes in the streets and Colonial style buildings against a backdrop of mountains.That exists in the Old Town but there is a New Town in Quito, also called "gringolandia" where you have KFC, Fridays, Applebee's, Papa John's, in addition to International cuisine from all over the world. This area is also packed with clubs playing all of the modern music that you would hear in any club of the same sort in the U.S. or Europe. Then to the north around parque Carolina you have four or five modern malls with pretty much the same stuff that you have at home. My point is that if you have a stereotypical view of what "the true South American experience is" and are looking for this in particular I am not sure that either of these places is going to deliver. Both cities have development, both cities have nightlife, both cities have economic problems, and both cities have social problems. They both have extremely interesting cultures and histories and both cities are populated by people who have serious identity issues.
As for the Spanish, there are some concrete reasons why you might want to spend time in one place or the other. The people of Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay actually speak a dialect of Spanish that is called "rioplatense". On the surface this translates to the Argentines using a "sh" sound for the "ll" and the "y" sound in Spanish but there are other sonic differences as well that will make it hard for you to understand in the beginning. In addition, they have a huge reperatoire of slang called "lunfardo" which is only used in this region. They also use ellisions a lot so that phrases bleed together and "s" and syllables of words can be dropped. It takes a while for your ear to adjust to these differences. There are also grammatical differences in rioplatense such as the use of "vos" instead of "tu" and a different verb conjugation as well as different command forms. If you don't make these adjustments the people in Buenos Aires are NOT GOING TO UNDERSTAND YOU. This is a big difference between people in B.A and people in Quito. I have seen Americans and British people in both places speaking grammatically correct Spanish but with a thick American or British accent (I have seen the same thing with people from other countries as well but it is much more obvious when you are listening to your own language) and in B.A. these people are generally not understood whereas in Quito these people are usually at least partly understood. It also seems to me that the foreigners have an easier time understanding the people of Quito when they are speaking. Now whether this is a positive or negative is up for debate. I can tell you for sure that being in B.A. increased my awareness of the importance of trying to speak a language with the proper accent and intonation because it was difficult for me to survive there without focusing on that. Also, for some reason, after being in B.A. for a while I now find it easier to understand the Spanish, Colombians, and Chileans (I always had a hard time understanding certain people from Chile before living in B.A.) I have noticed that some of my fellow students who have only studied in Quito have a difficult time understanding Latin Americans from other countries because Quitenos speak so clearly. When I came to Quito I was told by my host family that the pronunciation habits that helped me to survive in B.A. were now wrong and "low class" and I am still trying to change them. I am now learning a bunch of local slang that for the most part is generated by the indigenous language "Quechua" and I know that people from other Latin American countries are not going to know what any of this stuff means either. I can hear in the Argentine accent a mixture of the accents of the Spanish and Italians whereas in the accent of Ecuadorians I here the influence of indigenous languages, not so much in the accent but in the intonation.
The language learning industry in Quito is, in my opinion, much more developed than in B.A. There are over 80 schools in Quito alone and all of the competition between them does a good job of keeping the prices down. Classes in B.A. are generally at least twice as expensive as classes in Quito now and my experience has been that the quality of the instruction is much better in Quito. Because the language industry is older in Quito, it is easier to find a teacher here who might have 20 years or more experience in teaching Spanish as a second language to foreigners and, as a result, knows the mistakes that we tend to make and even better yet, knows how to explain the grammar of Spanish to someone with an English brain. I think that this is largely lacking in B.A. and if you could find it there you would have to pay a lot more for a teacher with this kind of experience. I got the impression that the teachers that I studied with in B.A. were more accustomed to teaching Spanish as one's primary language.

The Spanish spoken in Quito and Ecuador is closer to the Castillan Spanish from Spain and I must admit a lot clearer to understand. The Colombian and Peruvian Spanish is also similar. However I found the so called 'lower classes in Ecuador didn't speak too much differently than the so called 'upper classes. Both were very different to the Argentian, Uruguayan and Chilean Spanish.

i'm off to learn spanish in B.a at the end of the year and then off to quito. Gerally how much a week do they charge for spanish classes?? say per week, ill probaby look at doing 1 month in b.a. Just while we are on the subject.

M :)

Hi Mike,

Have a look at the prices for Spanish schools in Ecuador here. You will see the prices vary a lot.

cheers dude,

I did a two week intensive Spanish course in Quito, and thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent there. Quito is a cool place, and the Old Town is VERY latin American. You've also got Otovalo a bus ride away for the weekend highland market, and of course the equator just outside town.
Buenos Aires definitely has more going on, but then most nights there were a blur of fine red wine and good food until well into the early hours, so the last thing I would've been good for the next morning was Spanish lessons!

I studied Spanish in Quito for six weeks and loved it. It's a fun city and you can do interesting (and inexpensive) weekend trips to places like Otovalo, Banos and Mindo. Riding on the local buses through the Andes is an experience by itself.

If you haven't studied Spanish much before I am certain that you will find the Spanish spoken in Quito and throughout Ecuador easier to understand than the Spanish in BA. People speak more clearly and there is less slang. The quality of Spanish instruction available is high. I studied at La Academia Latinoamericana and had excellent private instructors. The cost for 20 hours per week with a private instructor AND living with family was only $345 per week-- great value. I have no problem now speaking Spanish with people from other parts of Central and South America.

You'll have a great time whether you go to Quito or BA. Quito gets my nod though.

I studied Spanish in Quito but have also spent quite a bit of time in B.A. I think B.A. is a much nicer, more interesting city but it's also much more expensive for lessons and most other things. I also understand the comments about the Spanish being a little easier in Quito; I agree.