Chile/Argentina anyone ever lived in either?

scruff321

Anyone have any experience living in these countries? i am planning on going to one or the other next year and have friends in both place (more in Chile). Im not sure at this moment which im going to chose, il be going there to learn Spanish, can anyone shead some light on both places, most likely i would go to Santiago or Buenes Aires..

ibh

I would love to get the chance to move to Arg, but at the minute it isn't going to happen. There are lots of jobs in Buenos Aires teaching Engish and it is apparently v cheap to get Spanish lessons. Teacher's get paid around $15-25ARG per hour it seems, and it is possible to live very cheaply.

I am always looking out for Engineering opportunities in Argentina in the hope that i'll find something. The best place to keep an eye on jobs and apartments is Buenos Aires Craigslist.

Don't think you really need a teaching qualification to teach these courses either so it's quite easy to get into it.

Hope you get a chance to go for it.

R.D. aka MR.D

I’m currently living in Buenos Aires for over 6 months now.

Number one thing:
Buenos Aires is not cheap!!!! The change in the value of the Euro and the fact that inflation is nearly 30% here means things have gotten ridiculously expensive.

You definitely need a tefl qualification in Bs As. You also need Spanish to deal with the schools etc. it’s not easy and a lot of the info that is currently on the internet is outdated. Pretty much anything older than 3 months is outdated. Bs As is certainly ‘dynamic’!

that’s not to mention that they perfer an American accent and you have to work for years to get as many students to make a good wage. Most of my friends have to leave because things in ARG are getting bad for everyone including the people paying for English lessons…

I’ve only visited Chile but it seems much more ‘liveable’. For example there is a policy in ARG that nothing can be imported that can be made in the country therefore the choice of products is tiny and anything that does get imported is expensive. More than you would pay in Ireland expensive!

When we were in Santiago we walked into a bar and they had beers from all over the world and we nearly fainted! That’s not to mention decent food etc..
Also the Spanish in Buenos Aires is weird! It’s ok for me because I did all my learning here but in chile they looked at us like we had two heads. Two pale folk with argentine accents! The verb forms are different and the pronuciation.

Although saying that an intensive course in Madrid when I return to Europe will fix that hopefully. it' even musch more 'normal' outside Bs As)

Feel free to ask any specific questions but I would not recommend Buenos Aires. Especially not to teach English or learn Spanish. Great for a visit though!

scruff321

Cheers for the reponse R.D! what about other cities in Argentina? ive heard the Buenes Aires accent and one or two others from diffferent places in Argentina and they were all completely different sounding suppose similar to any place really. Yea the Chilean accent is real weird their pronunciation is mad! Santiago would be the definite choice if i was going to Chile as i have plenty of friends there who can help me out so i reckon i will go there but if you could tell me about of any other cities in Argentina that would be good in your opinion? because my mates from Chile and Argentina both tell me that Argentina is dirt cheap in comparison to Chile and Europe (although Chile is still way cheaper then Europe)

R.D. aka MR.D

I would agree with your friends in terms of Argentina being ‘cheaper’ than Chile but it’s all relative. A Chilean guy was telling us the average wage when we were there and we nearly died! It explains the prices!

Also outside of Bs As is cheaper. Rosario is a lovely city. Your close to the international airport in Bs As 4ish hours by direct bus. The city is nice, the people are friendly!

Mendoza is also great but expensive as it’s a big tourist town.

However, I’ve only been on holiday to these places and one thing I’ve learned from being here is that you never can judge a place until you’ve lived there!

The thing about comparing things to Europe, as I have learned, is that unless your earning European wages then you might as well be comparing it to the prices on the moon. If your earning a local wage then you’re a local trying to survive.

I can name at least 10 things (basics, milk, bread, vegetables) I can get cheaper in Ireland than in Argentina right now. It wasn’t like that when we came here.
The only thing that is significantly cheaper (and how!!!) is rent. What I was paying in Dublin per month last year would keep a roof over my head for 6 months here. (if only I had that 8.60 Euro an hour job here!:p)

If you could understand the Porteñ o/a you spoke to then don’t worry about the accent. I’m from Donegal and I always wonder why so many Spanish students go there to learn English. They manage and we’ve managed here too! It’s just annoying where your talking to a coloumbian or something and they have no idea what your trying to ask them because the tu form in Buenos aires is vos, so that comes with it’s own set of ending/irregular forms etc! e.g I would ask de donde sos? But the rest of the Spanish world would say de donde eres? messes up direct conversation! but as i said easily fixed and i'll NEVER lisp, the south americans think it's hilarious!

As I said maybe look into Rosario or Mendoza. I wouldn’t recommend cordoba though.

Apparently Patagonia is even more expensive but Salta juyjuy are supposed to be great but I haven’t made it that far.

Chile is more expensive but as I say it depends which currency you would be spending. Where do your friends in Argentina live? I think it’s always good to get advice from people you know personally.

Other things you have to consider in Argentina is corruption, crime and bureaucracy like you’ve never seen in your life. If you think the Irish government is a corrupt shambles then you ain’t seen nothing yet.


I don’t know as I only visited but Chile seemed to be a tad more upstanding (they can afford to be they have less poverty) but I stand to be corrected. And that I guess is something your friends can tell you.

I think this all sounds so negative but as I said in my last post there is so much outdated information about Buenos Aires. I don’t regret coming here as it has given me such a great perspective on life and such a different culture. I’ve learned more here than I did in 5 years of college. I just wish I had been more prepared for the realities.

scruff321

Appreciate the detailed response, R.D. Nice to get a perspective of someone not from Argentina, il probably go to Chile because i have more friends there but i suppose il see what happens closer to the time.

Tchaikovsky

Best of luck with the move, OP. I have a TEFL cert and am pretty fluent in Spanish (without having been immersed in the language) so I'm planning on going to South America in the New Year. I've heard that Argentina is still pretty bad since the currency collapsed, although maybe cities such as Cordoba and Rosario might be ok for work.
Everyone I know who's been to Chile has loved it- the people are amazing (especially the chicas!) and Santiago is very Europeanized. There are alot more teaching jobs for foreigners since the earthquake too.