Need a workplace? Areatres is your option

Benefit from the convenience of your own office without the costs of a long term commitment. The Private Room service is directed to those who are looking for the privacy provided by an individual space with a lockable door. These spaces permit a maximum capacity of 4 people. It also includes secretarial support so all you have to do is focus on your business.

• Private room with two individual desks + ergonomically designed chairs. Maximum capacity 4 people.
• Wi-Fi 10Mb (simetric - iPlan) & Plug in Internet.
• A fixed personal telephone line (local or international) with discounted call rates and automated voice mail message service.
• The commercial address of areatres for your business and reception of all correspondence.
• Post mail reception.
• Bilingual (English-Spanish) receptionist to personally answer calls, take and forward messages.
• Individual climate control.
• Full use of arealiving and all common areas.
• Free access to all areatres events.
• 24 hour security.

For more info, visit Areatres.

Independent Contractors vs. Employees

We have a question that comes today about hiring employees vs. independent contractors.

Reader's Question
Can a US company that does not have a legal presence in Argentina hire an independent contractor (argentinian national or other national) to do work in Argentina on behalf of a global contract. Client’s client wants some temporary work performed in Argentina. Can client craft an IC contract or insist that the Argentinian national become a sole proprietor and not end up as a defacto employee. This could be occasional work, eg auditing.

I am aware some countries are very strict about IC arrangements and therefore deem IC’s employees and then end up resulting in permanent establishments for tax purposes. I am aware Argentina is fairly pro labor.

How to Set-up an Independent Contractor Arrangement in Argentina
The proper way to setup this arrangement would be to ask the worker to register either as a monotributista or in the regimen general (depending on how much he will be charging). After that, he'll need to register as an exporter with the customs office (since he will be performing services for export). This second step wouldn't be necessary if the company had a presence in Argentina.

Each time he needs to receive a payment, he will issue you an invoice with an "E" (for export) at the top. These invoices are numbered starting at 00000001. You can then wire transfer the funds to his account and he can collect the funds by presenting his copy of the "E" invoice to his bank.

Independent Contractors vs. Employees
Even though you may ask him to sign an independent contractor contract, in Argentina, labor rights cannot be renounced willingly by an employee. The labor courts can very well rule that your arrangement is a simulated independent contractor arrangement and that it was being used to cover up the employee/employer relationship. This is something that happens frequently in Argentina due to the fact that it is extremely costly to maintain employees on the payroll (due to social security charges).

How does the court determine if the employee is actually an independent contractor? The same way they do in the United States. They look to see whether you were the only employer of this person (i.e. checking the invoices). If you are receiving sequentially numbered invoices from the worker, you know that you are the only employer and you're putting yourself at risk. If you are paying monthly invoices that always have the same amount, it looks like a wage instead of pay for a specific work product. They also look to see where the work was performed, who provided the materials to complete the work, whether the worker was directed in his work, or whether he worked independently and was paid for a finished product.

Read more, go to argentinabusiness.blogspot

The Bueno, entonces Formula: Engaging + Interesting + Funny = Retention

1. Make The Classes Interesting & Engaging
Engaging students is crucial to learning and remembering material. Using wit and charm, Bueno, entonces… not only engages; it keeps you thinking about the last lesson and looking forward to the next one. Like your favorite teachers, David & Jimena know learning doesn’t have to be dry and boring.

2. See The Words As You Hear Them
Some people are audio learners, others learn visually – most people need both, absorbing different concepts in different ways. With Bueno, entonces... every word is on-screen so you see the spelling while hearing it pronounced.

3. Color-Coding.
Words on-screen are color-coded in Spanish and English to help you understand word usage and sentence structure. You’ll quickly see, hear, and understand how words in Spanish correspond with English ones, and how they are used in sentences.

4. Symbols & Illustrations.
Verb tenses and grammatical concepts are represented by clear symbols so you quickly learn and understand their usage. Iconic illustrations easily associate images and words, burning vocabulary into your brain.

5. REPETITION - The Key To Languages.

Any teacher will tell you this, and here’s the problem with old audio books and language software – they’re mind-numbingly boring, making them painful to repeat. Bueno, entonces… is engaging, fast-paced, and fun. You’ll repeat all 30 classes over and over, learning more each time – as your Spanish progresses, you pick up more of the humor, making it easier to repeat.

To get more info, go to General Linguistics.

Swearing Translated – Part 8

Hi to all those venturing forth into the land beyond Oz. If you’re going to be spending some time here, you should know both how to tell if you’re being cussed out and how to do it yourself, if the situation is to ever arise.

Here is part eight of some easy guidelines to help you on your way to verbally express your pissed-off emotions or to understand the emotions of an angry porteño.

Phrase	Literal Translation	Our Best Actual Translation
Me da paja hacer eso	It gives me hay to do that	I don’t feel like doing that
Ella es una calienta pija	She is a dick warmer	She’s a cock tease
Tiene más culo que cabeza	He has more ass than head	He’s one lucky fucker
El no da pie con bola	He does not give foot to ball	He’s one unlucky bastard
Me fue para el culo	It went for the asshole	It went like crap

Now, mix and match them to come up with some of your own to use on that special person.

Paul Perry
LPBA.com Staff

For more translations visit LandingPad BA.

Book Review: ‘Che Boludo: A Gringo’s Guide to Understanding the Argentines’

By James Bracken, Ediciones Continente, 30 pesos, 61 pages Reviewed by Stephen Page

On a recent sunny spring day, while wandering the streets of Buenos Aires, searching for a café where I could sit outside at a table and sip an espresso while looking at the passers-by (a popular Argentine custom), I detoured into a bookstore.

On the very first shelf I came to, I found a pocket-sized book titled Che Boludo, with the subtitle: A Gringo’s Guide to Understanding the Argentines.

I opened the book and discovered it was a dictionary of sorts, filled with words I had never read before. The words were contemporary Argentine slang, and the definitions were in English. “What a great find,” I thought.

After a decade of living in Argentina, I have been missing some of the slang while talking with friends, or at Sunday family get-togethers (they don’t teach Argentine slang at US universities, or in most of the Castellano classes offered in Buenos Aires). I was growing tired of repeatedly asking, “What? What does that mean?”

The title of the book translates to, “Hey Idiot!” or “Hey Buddy!” or “Hey Friend!”—depending on to whom you’re talking and your tone of voice. “Boludo” literally means “one with big testicles,’which does not mean “ballsy” or “brave,” but instead denotes a lack of cerebral functions. In Argentina, the young as well as the old use slang. You might hear an elderly man with a cane standing on the street corner waiting for the green crossing light mutter “¡miercoles!”—which translates to “shit” or “Goddamnit” or “hell”; you might hear a sophisticated woman in a fur coat call her husband’s new secretary a “puta” (whore) or a “babosa” (horny woman) even if she knows bystanders are listening to her; you might hear a teenager say to his brother, “No me hinchés las pelotas,” which means, connotatively, “don’t be a pain”—but denotatively means, well . . . you’ll have to read the book to know that one.

The book also contains drawings of the more popular hand gestures Porteños use—gestures that have risqué yet non-offensive meanings.

To read more go to The Argentine Post

Bueno, entonces review on Facebook

I have been a student of languages for many years now, and this is far and away the best language tool of any type that I've seen. It's highly entertaining as well as educational... clearly intended for those who want to have fun while learning a language. You'll be laughing in Spanish in no time...

Waiting anxiously for the next language to be released!

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Learn spanish with Bueno, entonces on Facebook

Check out the Bueno, entonces... fan page on Facebook and learn new words, insults, piropos... and anything you need to speak Spanish conversationally!!!

Become a fan and enter to win cool prizes every week (see contest rules in notes section)!

A new way to learn Spanish - developed specifically for the iPhone and iPod Touch and now available on DVD or by instant download (visit www.buenoentonces.com to purchase). This new technique combines hard-core grammar and vocabulary lessons with a witty and engaging conversational style.

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