To get the most out of your trip to Argentina, you'll need to have a decent smattering of Spanish . Though you'll frequently come across English-speakers who'll be more than keen to try out their language skills on you, you can't rely on there always being someone there when you need them. In general, Argentinians are appreciative of visitors who make the effort to communicate in castellano - a great confidence booster for those whose language skills are limited. Any basic Spanish course will give you a good grounding before you go. A good pocket dictionary , such as Collins, is a vital accessory, while of the bigger dictionaries Collins, Oxford and Larousse are all good - make sure your choice covers Latin American usage. If you really want to refine your grasp of the subtleties of the language, a comprehensive grammar such as the excellent A New Reference Grammar of Modern Spanish by John Butt and Carmen Benjamin (Edward Arnold, London 1988) is a good investment.

Argentinian Spanish is one of the most distinctive varieties of the language. Dominating the country's linguistic identity is the unmistakeable Porteño accent , a seductive blend of an expressive, almost drawling intonation, combined with colourful colloquialisms. Linguistically speaking, the capital's sphere of influence spreads out for several hundred kilometres around Buenos Aires; beyond this, subtle regional variations begin to take hold, though certain grammatical constructions and words hold for the whole country. If you've learnt Spanish in Spain, the most obvious difference you will encounter (true for the whole of Latin America) is the absence of the th sound for words like cielo (sky, pronounced SIE-lo in Argentina). In Buenos Aires, in particular, you will also be struck by the strong consonantal pronunciation of "y" and "ll", as in yo and calle , a completely different sound to the weaker vowel-like sound used in Spain and much of Latin America. Another notable difference is the use of vos as the second-person pronoun, in place of tú , with correspondingly different verb endings. As in the rest of Latin America, ustedes is used as the third-person pronoun instead of vosotros . In general, Latin American speech is slightly more formal than Spanish, and usted is used far more commonly. A good guideline is that vos is always used for children and usually between strangers under about 30; though within circles who regard themselves as politically progressive vos is used as a mark of shared values.

Argentinian vocabulary is often quite different to Spanish, too and the use of " che " (a vocative used when addressing someone, very loosely it approximates to something like "hey" or "mate" or "oi" in British English, used at the beginning of a phrase; ¿che, qué decís? - "hey mate, how's it going?") in particular is so much identified with Argentina that some Latin Americans refer to Argentinians as "Los che". The word was, of course, most famously applied as a nickname to Ernesto Guevara, popularly known as Che Guevara.