Comments on: why do people in argentina speak spanish not italian?

By: jose garcia

jose garcia — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 04:32:56 +0000

after various generations, the mother tongue of the grandfathers is lost

I can ask you:
why do people in New Jersey speak english if many of them are from italian origin???

Its the same case in Argentina

By: giuseppe

giuseppe — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 09:34:13 +0000

@ dulce lily, how can you understand italian? it’s a different language from spanish. i speak slow italian (STANDARD italian AND i live in california and i know standard italian along with the sicilian dialect) sometimes for fun to friends of mine who speak only spanish and they can only understand about 30% of what i say. about 5 mexicans have told me that they understand little italian.

By: Leonardo C

Leonardo C — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 17:33:10 +0000

It is true, 60% of argentinians have italian blood, but that doesn’t necessarily mean "full blooded", there’s people with only a grandparent who was italian and so on. Besides, italians arrived little by little, it’s not like they came and took over. Also there’s was a bunch of people who immigrated from other countries and mingled, and spanish was like the "lingua franca" inside Argentina, and the one already spoken by the majority.
Some people do speak italian though, from families who sought to preserve their heritage and so on.

An example that I find interesting to think about by comparison is the USA: the largest ancestry group among the white population is german, nonetheless almost no one speaks german there.

By: The Bricklayer

The Bricklayer — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 17:33:10 +0000

The country was originally colonised by Spain,ergo Spanish became the main language.
A lot of immigrants to Argentina may have come from Italy, but also a large number came from Wales,(welsh can be heard being spoken there)

By: Bill M

Bill M — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 17:33:10 +0000

Spanish is the official language in most South American countries other than Brazil. In 1494 Spain and Portugal signed the Treaty of Tordesillas, which gave Spain the right to all lands west of a certain line, and Portugal could claim land east of that line. Most of South America remained as colonies of Spain and Portugal until the 19th century. Argentina declared independence in 1816.

By: DULCE LILA

DULCE LILA — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 17:33:10 +0000

Many Italians came to live here, in Argentina, but the country was colonized by Spaniards. I am descendant of Italian and Spaniards myself, but I never learnt Italian. However, it is very easy for me to understand Italian.

♣

By: kilroy

kilroy — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 17:33:10 +0000

i wouldn´t say most of us are of italian heritage but about 60 % are, and yes Italian is spoken a lot in Argentina but by older generations, currently people speak Spanish and as a second language English, Italian didn´t survive as a native language because Italian immigrants were frowned upon back then, cause Italy was a poor country, so they wanted them to learn Spanish, however italians also have a lot of dialects, Italian was imposed in Italy after the world war 2, so a lot of them came with their dialect instead and would only speak their own dialects, my grandparents spoke their dialect rather than Italian (even when they could speak it) so my dad learned only their dialect by listening to them, i´m pretty sure the same happened with a lot of other people.