It”s that time of year again.

Oh, you know you love it. Being stuck in traffic for hours? Waiting in line for ages at the airport? Nothing says happy holidays like a delayed flight.

We thought we”d take this opportunity to help you brush up on your transportation vocab—we know you”ll need it! While the post is a vintage one and is a bit focused on Buenos Aires transportation in particular, the vocab can be used anywhere you go. We know that an insultos post would also be appropriate at this time, but you”ll have to wait for that:

Driving in Buenos Aires is a total and complete nightmare.  It’s as if lanes don’t exist, and there is no right-of-way for anyone– it’s all fair game.  Heck, crossing streets as a pedestrian feels like you’re putting your life at risk.  But that’s besides the point, the point being that public transportation is very, very important here.

However, Buenos Aires residents are all-too-familiar with having to find alternative transportation on a regular basis.  Why is that?  Because public transportation workers have a tendency to strike.  A lot.  If it’s not the trains, it’s the buses, if it’s not the buses, it’s the subway… In fact, these past few weeks the subways have been shut down on random days due to huelgas (strikes).  Which leads us to our next item of business: transportation vocabulary!

So, like we mentioned, there are various ways to get around in the city.  First, there are coches (cars–can also be called carros or autos), which can come in the form of personal coches, taxis (same in English), and remises (private cars for hire).  Next, you have the colectivos (buses).  A slang term for buses in Argentina is bondi, but you might hear someone refer to a bus as a micro, too.  A bondi and colectivo are for short-distance buses (inner-city) and micro is for long-distance buses (between cities).

Next up, we have the trenes (trains).  First, there is the actual tren, which can also be referred to as the ferrocarril (but this is an old-fashion term– you will see it written, but not often spoken, like railway).  Then, there is the underground train, better knows as the subte (subway).  Subte is short for subterrí¡neo (underground).

To buy boletos (tickets) on the colectivo or bondi, you need monedas (coins), but on the other modes of transportation, you can use billetes (bills).  On the subte or the tren, you wait in an estacií³n (station), but on a bondi or colectivo, you wait at a parada (stop).

The vocabulary regarding transportation varies from country to country, but for the most part, auto, taxi, colectivo, tren, and subte will be understood everywhere in the Spanish-speaking world.  Lastly, if you are trying to find your way around in Buenos Aires, treat yourself to a five-peso Guí­a-T– this is the public transportation Bible.  Every zona (zone), every bondi, everything you need to know to get around the city.

Want to improve your Spanish even more?  Visit the Bueno, entonces… Learn Spanish website, where you can find over 18 hours of fun, interesting Spanish classes on DVD or as downloads for your computer, ipod, or iphone, all for as little as $147!

Other vocab not mentioned in the post include: el avií³n (the airplane), el vuelo (the flight), and el barco (the boat, ship).

Suerte y felices fiestas!