Learning Spanish with Dr. Tangalanga

A recent Wall Street Journal story has brought back great memories of my first experiences in Argentina, and I just have to comment on the subject. The story discusses a local legend: 91-year-old Julio de Rizio, otherwise known as Dr. Tangalanga.

Tangalanga is a national treasure. He’s a crank-caller. But he’s nothing like your average crank-calling teenager. He’s an absolute master of the art. He artfully combines adolescent humor and vulgarity with the sophistication of an experienced comedian. He can brutally insult people over the phone – “¡Andá a la concha de tu madre, reverendo hijo de mil putas!” – but also manage to befriend the object of his verbal onslaught by the end of the conversation.

Tangalanga is unique and uniquely Argentine. He was unusually instrumental in my effort to dominate Spanish and master the subtleties of Argentine slang. I first heard Tangalanga in the Fall of 1995, when I came to Argentina to study Spanish. An Argentine friend, Fernando Pereira, introduced me to the good doctor and said I should learn Spanish by imitating Dr. Tangalanga’s calls. So I tried.

With help from Fernando and other friends, I made crank calls, in laughably bad Spanish, to unsuspecting Porteños. Together with my friends, we made dozens of calls over the period of several weeks. At first I hardly knew what I was saying, and I certainly had no idea what was being said to me on the other end of the phone. But the gimmick worked, and the idiomatic expressions and insults stuck in my mind, allowing me to learn slang in a way that I’d never forget. It was totally ridiculous, indecent and yet incredibly fun. I’ll never forget Tangalanga and how he made my friends and me laugh. Nor will I forget how his crank calls helped me to learn Spanish and gain a little insight into Argentine culture.

For anyone who is even moderately interested in Spanish (and who is not offended by vulgarity or a near total lack of respect for proper phone etiquette or even basic standards of decency), Tangalanga’s “work” is worth listening to or even – dare I say it – studying.

WSJ Story
Tangalanga on YouTube
Tangalanga’s Official Site
The WSJ story quotes Argentine philosopher Alejandro Rozitchner (a great friend who also is almost totally responsible for the founding of The Argentine Post). You can see his site (in Spanish) here. Kudos to both Alejandro and Ian Mount for highlighting the Tangalanga story and bringing it to the attention of all of you who are interested in all things Argentine. Check out Ian’s site here.

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