Rosario - La ciudad de la bandera

Some month ago we spent a weekend visiting Rosario, one of the main citys of Argentina after Ciudad de Buenos Aires and Córdoba Capital, since it is located in a strategic place regarding the MERCOSUR (Southern Common Market) and this fact places it in an important industrial and tourist level.
We took a bus at Retiro Bus Station, there are buses every hour going to Rosario. In almost 3 hours we were in the city. It is a good "escapada de fin de semana", as we the porteños say. The city has a slower pace, it resembles to Buenos Aires, in the eclectisism of its architecture, but I think Rosario may be it looks like Buenos Aires 20 years ago, with fewer grand towers. Rosario . It invites to be visited through the many historical circuits that still preserves buildings from the begining and mid 20th century. It is beautiful to walk from Santa Fé Street and Oroño Boulevard, throught the Oroño Boulevard till you get to the riverside. The walk throught the cost of the Paraná river is lovely to do it in a sunny day, and just seat for a while sorrounded by santafecinos families that gather there to drink mate or have a pic nic. Finish the walk in the impressive "Monumento a la Bandera", built to conmemorate that on 27 February 1812, General Manuel Belgrano raised the newly created Argentine flag on the shores of the Paraná, for the first time. This monument is the starting point to a walk around the city center. In the city center we suggest to make a stop in one of the many coffe shops, and ask for a "carlitos" (a sandwich made of cheese, jam and ketchup). To dinne go to Rich Restaurant (San Juan street 1031), another classic place for rosarinos, it is a meeting point for families on sunday and friday nights. The restaurant was opened in 1932, and offer tipical argentine meals: ask for the suprema meryland, costillitas de cerdo a la riojana, or suprema a la suiza.
The city has several museums, among which are to be noted: the Juan B. Castagnino Fine Arts Museum, the Firma y Odilo Estévez Municipal Decorative Art Museum, the Dr. Julio Marc Provincial Historical Museum, the Museum of the City, and the Museum of Contemporary Art of Rosario (MACRo). The Dr. Ángel Gallardo Provincial Natural Sciences Museum was reconstructed after a fire in 2003 and re-opened in a new location in 2006, and there are projects to move the National Oriental Art Museum, which currently shares a building with the National Decorative Art Museum in Buenos Aires, to Rosario.

GASTRONOMIC GLOSSARY

Asado. Barbecue. Beef and offal roasted over the “parrilla”. “Asado” is also the occasion in which this meal is prepared and served. Thus, you can frequently hear words such as: “I invite you to an asado”.

Beef. The top-notch quality of Argentine beef is known all over the world. Cow sweetbreads, small intestines and blood sausages are also delicious when enjoying the asado.

Pejerrey. The pejerrey is actually criollo; it can only be found in the Argentine maritime coasts, or mountain or plain rivers.

Pizza. It is prepared al molde (baked in a pizza pan) or a la piedra (baked placing a stone, tile or
similar in the oven floor); you may eat it with knife and fork or with the hand. Usually, the delicious
triangle of pizza is eaten accompanied with fainá.
Fainá. A very tasty, browned, thin mass made of chickpea flour served to accompany pizza.

Picada. (Appetizers). Small dishes with varied food. In general, olives, small cubes of cheese and salami, fried potatoes, cold cuts and peanuts are served. They are accompanied with beer or a good
wine.

Sweet stuff. The vigilante is a traditional dessert a slice of cheese with a slice of jam (quince or sweetpotato jam). The dulce de leche (“milk jam” milk thickened by hours of simmering with a lot of sugar, pasty consistence and caramel-colored) is used as a filling for cakes and chocolates and as the main ingredient for ice creams, dessert sauces and candies. But usually it is spread on bread, with butter or alone, for breakfast or tea time. You may even eat milk jam with a tablespoon.

Mate. The local characteristic infusion. It is prepared by pouring warm water into a gourd, also called mate that contains yerba mate.Some people add sugar, but most prefer "un amargo" (a mate without sugar).

Insider´s tip:Where to drink mate: La Cholita, Address. Rodriguez Peña 1165. 4815-4506. Recoleta. La Peña del Colorado, Entre Ríos 1444, San Cristóbal. 4304-3884.

Tips on Eating in Buenos Aires

TIME TO DINNER

In Buenos Aires, people usually have dinner around 10 pm, and some restaurants are open until dawn.

ASKING FOR THE CHECK AT A RESTAURANT

People generally use the almost universal gesture of “writing” on the hand. Sometimes, and in some
places, the waiter is called by saying "jefe" or "maestro". "Mozo, la cuenta, por favor"

Tip. It is a custom to leave 10% of the check in cafeterias and restaurants and give a tip to doormen, porters and show ushers. We don´t give tips to taxi or remise drivers.

EATING OUT!

In Buenos Aires you can enjoy food from different regions and several typical specialties. The city has specific areas where you can choose from a wide range of restaurants.

Costanera Norte and Puerto Madero districts are renowned because of their parrillas (barbecues), and international food. Puerto Madero is a zone where most tourist go to feel at home when asking for food.

Avenida de Mayo surroundings is the place to taste Spanish food. Many restaurants around this area were opened by Spanish immigrants, mainly gallegos and Austrians, that arrived to the country

the first half of the 20^th century.

The most traditional pizzas can be found in Corrientes Avenue, known also as “the street that never sleeps”, because once it was narrower and had many nightclubs, cafés and bars in which you could stay all night long dancing or listening to the new wave in music: tango. Guerrín and Banchero are classic pizzerias, where you will taste a greasy and thick pizza. Try the fugazza at Banchero.

Palermo Hollywood and Soho, Recoleta and Las Cañitas neighborhoods offer gourmet specialties: elaborated, refined and exotic dishes.

Palermo viejo (soho and hollywood) now it’s the place where in-the-know travelers and hip locals alike go for their shopping (specially in Palermo SoHo) and night-life fix. It’s also home to the city’s liveliest dining scene. The area’s trendy status has brought many restaurants, Palermo has more than 600 restaurants, cafes and bars. Some of my favorites are Central, Olsen (where you can eat Norwegian food, in a excellent decorated place, I love its front garden)

In these neighbourhoods there are also a handful of new restaurants that give tribute to argentine tradition. A classic for argentine food is La Cholita in Recoleta, or Las Cholas in Las Cañitas. The food is very good an cheap, but it is always packed up with groups of friends, and the attention is not quite good. There you can eat, parrilladas (I suggest the “matambrito de cerdo”), empanadas, humitas, locro, and in tea time you can ask for mate. In 1810 in Palermo, you can have excelent empanadas tucumanas. And for San Juan empanadas, and traditional food, go to El San Juanino in Recoleta (Posadas entre Ayacucho y Callao)

In Palermo you have Jangada, where locals go for the pacú, a cousin of the piranha that can grow as large as 60 pounds, very succulent. It has also other species from the rivers of the Litoral Area.

Parrillas, are places where you may find the authentic local cooking, they offer all kind of grilled meat cuts, mostly vacune, but you may also eat pork and chicken. You may have, bife de chorizo, lomo, matambrito, morcilla (blood sausage), chorizos (big sausage, mainly eaten with bread – choripan), chinchulines (chitterlings), mollejas (cow glands – exquisite when they cooked to golden brown and with tons of lemmon juice), bondiola de cerdo (pork shoulder)... You eat the meat with salads, or french fries (papas fritas). Puerto Madero, has a lot of parrillas, packed with tourist, like Siga la Vaca, Happening, Cabaña Las Lilas, La Caballeriza. In Palermo viejo, La Cabrera has many juicy stakes you can eat with a lot of different sauces, vegetables... very tasty. For starters ask for a provoleta with olive oil (grilled cheese).

Patagonic food is another trend that is growing in Buenos Aires restaurants. At Divina Patagonia in Palermo, offers a refined introduction to the ingredients of the south: an assortment of sausages, cheeses and cured meats, including smoked deer. Main courses are— Patagonian lamb, deer loin, wild boar braised in beer. In San Telmo, you may eat delicius picadas at Mistica Patagonia, and El Territorio: with deer, smoked salmon or trout, smoked cheese, jabalí meat. For dessert try any dish with frutos del bosque (berrys). For drink, pinot noir wine, or home made beer.

A wave of Italian immigration in the late 1800’s left a lasting impression on Argentina’s culinary landscape: an argentine house always has pastas, in all its ways: spaghettis, lasagna, cannelloni... In Palermo, one of my favorites restaurants is Bella Italia Cafè. A small cozy place.

WHERE TO EAT

La Cabrera Cabrera 5099; 011-54-11-4831-7002;

Divina Patagonia Honduras 5710; 011-54-11-4771-6864;

Jangada Honduras 5799; 54-11-4777-4193

Banchero | Av. Corrientes 1300. Centro. Tel. 43824669 | Cocina: Italiana - Pizza

Bella Italia | República Árabe Siria 3285. Palermo. Tel. 4802-4253 | Cocina: Italiana

Cabaña Las Lilas | Alicia Moreau de Justo 516. Puerto Madero. Tel. 4313-1336 | Cocina: Parrilla

Cumaná | Rodríguez Peña 1149. Puerto Madero. Tel. 4813-9207 | Cocina: Argentina

La Caballeriza | Alicia Moreau de Justo 580. Puerto Madero. Tel. 4514-4444 | Cocina: Parrilla

La Cholita | Rodriguez Peña 1165. Barrio Norte. Tel. 4815-4506 | Cocina: Argentina

Las Cholas | Arce 306. Las Cañitas. Tel. 4899-0094 | Cocina: Parrilla

Olsen | Gorriti 5870. Palermo. Tel. 4776-7677 | Cocina: Nor-europea

Tips on Studying Spanish as a Foreign Language

Learning a second language isn’t easy especially if you are an adult. You may certainly feel mental blocks, frustration, lack of aptitude, lack of memory for learning new words and structures... but, don’t worry it is normal to feel that way. Most can learn a second language, if they are willing to put in the necessary time and effort. Here you will find some practical suggestions. If you are living in a Spanish speaking country try to make the most of the great opportunity that is being able to have contact during all the day with the language you are learning.

1. STUDY EVERY DAY. Studying a foreign language is different from any other subject you study. Language learning is cumulative, and frequent practice is the only solution to remember and incorporate new structures and vocabulary. Try to have contact with the language every day, at least 20 minutes per day.


2. DISTRIBUTE YOUR STUDY TIME in 15- to 30-minute periods and focus on a different task each time: vocabulary now, grammar next, etc.


3. ATTEND AND PARTICIPATE IN CLASS WITHOUT FAIL — even if you are not well prepared. Class time is your primary opportunity for practice. Learn the grammar and vocabulary outside of class in order to make the most of class time.


4. LEARN HOW TO USE WHAT YOU KNOW. Grammar is the skeleton of a language, its basic structure: you must learn it. But, it isn’t just everything. Speaking a language is the combination of learning grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation and the proper social use of the language.


5. DEVELOP A GOOD ATTITUDE. Have a clear personal reason for learning the language. Set personal goals for what you want to learn.


6. DON`T PRETEND TO SPEAK CORRECTLY ALL THE TIME. Leave perfectionism at the door; give yourself permission to make mistakes and learn from them. Students in foreign language classes often have difficulty hearing and speaking because they are anxious about making mistakes. Give yourself permission to be spontaneous and to take risks. Sometimes it is more important to be fluent when speaking than having everything grammatically correct. Argentines like to talk a lot and are impatience, they won’t wait for you to say everything correctly, they expect you to just talk, so do it. If you confuse they will help you and correct you.


7. SPEAK AND PRACTICE!!! Although many Argentines know English and will try to use you to practice their English, use them you instead for practicing your Spanish. Ask them to have the conversations in Spanish, and to correct you when you make mistakes.


8. READING and WRITING a foreign language are analytical skills. You may be good at these if you are a logical person who attends to detail. Train yourself through practice to notice and remember details such as accents and gender agreement.


9. AVOID WORD TO WORD TRANSLATION: try to understand the general meaning of what you read or hear.


10. MAKE THE MOST OF BEING IN A SPANISH SPEAKING COUNTRY: talk to people, watch TV and DVDs in Spanish, read the newspapers, adds, books, any thing that comes to your hand; listen to the radio, and to Spanish speakers conversations.


11. USE A NOTEBOOK: use a little pad to write down any new word you learn, read or listen during your day, to look it on the dictionary or ask a friend the meaning. Write down any phrase native speakers use frequently and that may be useful to you.


12. EXCELENT INVENTION TO PRACTICE A LANGUAGE: MOVIES ON DVD!!! Watch DVDs of argentine movies, or any movie spoken in Spanish. If it is hard for you to understand the hole movie in Spanish put subtitles in Spanish too. After watching the movie, you can select scenes listen to them without subtitles to see what you can understand, then put Spanish or English subtitles. Pay attention to any new vocabulary, or grammar structure, and in pronunciation.


13. PRACTICE PRONUNCIATION, by studying out loud! Mimic the sounds of the language. Don't mumble. Although most people feel embarrassed making strange sounds, the language will soon feel more familiar to you.

READING SKILLS TIPS:

• Isolate new grammatical forms and study them separately. Write the pattern on a flash card and memorize it. Write out and label a model sentence. When you encounter the form while reading, pause and recite the pattern to recognize the form.

WRITING SKILLS TIPS:

• Pay attention to detail: notice accents, order of letters, etc. Compare letter-by-letter different forms (singular, plural, gender, etc.). Write out conjugations of verbs, declensions of pronouns, etc., and check your endings. Memorize irregular verbs.

• Write (in your own simple foreign vocabulary words) a story you have just read.

Numbers of Spanish Language

• 2^nd place as communication language in the world
• There are more than 400 million native Spanish speakers in the world.
• 14 million Spanish as a second language students in the world
• 6 million students in the United States
• 2 million students in France
• 1.5 million students in Germany
• 1 million students in the United Kingdom
• more than 500.000 students in Africa
• By 2050 Spanish native language speakers will lightly surpass the english speakers, only in the USA there will be 100 million speakers.

New Spanish Language Certificate

On March 2007 will be officially introduced by the Cervantes School, in Colombia previous to the IV International Language Congress in Cartagena de Indias, the first unified spanish language certificate, Sistema Internacional de Certificación del Español como Lengua Extrajera (Sicele).

Right now there are several Spanish Language Certificate belonging to different Universities or Language Schools, for example the DELE Certificate, from the Cervantes School in Spain. In Argentina the most important Cerfiticates are the ones of the UBA, (CEB – Certificado de Español Básico-, CEI – Certificado de Español Intermedio-, CEA – Certificado de Español Avanzado-). In 2005 the CELU (Certificado de Español Lengua y Uso) had been introduced by UBA jointly with the Universidad Nacional del Litoral and Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, its main objective is to examine the use of the language. This certificate is an equivalent to the Brazilian Certificate CELPE BRAS, argentine students of Portuguese take.

This new certificate will start on the first semester of 2007. The main objective of its creation is to expand the number of Spanish students in the globe and to have a unified parameters to determine the students levels and proficiency, like the Tofle or First Certificate for English language. The Sicele, had been approved by 50 Spanish and 80 Latin-American universities. The UBA is discusing whether to consider it or not.

Nuevo exámen de la lengua española

Un sistema unificado de certificación que se presentará oficialmente en marzo próximo en Medellín, Colombia, el Sistema Internacional de Certificación del Español como Lengua Extranjera (Sicele). Se conocerá días antes de la apertura del IV Congreso Internacional de la Lengua en Cartagena de Indias, y comenzaría a funcionar en el primer semestre de 2007. El idioma de Cervantes marcha hacia la meta de incrementar exponencialmente el número de hablantes en todo el mundo.

El Instituto Cervantes presentará el Sicele, una certificación unificada, consensuada con universidades españolas y latinoamericanas que, en los hechos, procurará ser en español el equivalente del reconocido certificado Toefl, que se concede para certificar el nivel de conocimiento en inglés americano como lengua extranjera, y el First Certificate, que rinde para igual propósito en inglés británico.

En marzo próximo, en Medellín, las academias de la lengua española, junto con la Real Academia Española (RAE), presentarán además la primera gramática panhispánica que sigue el camino abierto por el Diccionario Panhispánico de Dudas (DPD), surgido de un consenso entre academias.

El español en cifras

Son seis millones los estudiantes de castellano en los Estados Unidos, un millón en el Reino Unido, dos millones en Francia y medio millón en Alemania, entre otro países. En Africa, más de medio millón de personas aprende lengua y cultura en español. En Senegal hay más de 100.000 estudiantes, y en Costa de Marfil, 235.000. Para el 2050 se prevee que el español superaría levemente en hablantes al inglés. Sólo en los Estados Unidos habría una media de 100 millones de hispanohablantes.

En la India, donde se abrirá próximamente una sede del Instituto Cervantes en su capital, Nueva Delhi, la reciente selección de estudiantes de español se vio limitada a las 100 plazas por falta de profesores. Ello provocó una manifestación masiva de los que quedaron fuera de la selección.