Look who’s talking at Talk Time
Saturday, June 18, 2005

BY JACOB LEDERMAN
For the Herald

“Is love both suffering and joy?”, read the first democratically selected topic on a recent night at Primafila café. “It depends on your sense of humour,” opined one participant “you can choose to suffer less.”

At various tables across the café similar questions were asked and similar responses given. Some participants responded in English. Others spoke in Portuguese, Italian, French or German. Far from being located in one of the few places usually characteristic of such linguistic diversity — Times Square or the Eiffel Tower — Primafila is a standard porteño café, located inside Buenos Aires Design.

The recent upswing in foreign tourism to Buenos Aires likewise provides little insight into the cacophony of languages heard. Rather, almost all of the participants at Primafila were Argentines, who have for one reason or another opted to join Talk Time, a discussion group that incorporates the use and improvement of a foreign language. Instead of being surrounded by the typical trappings of foreign language acquisition: flash cards, worksheets, conditionals and subjunctives; participants who are involved with Talk Time are there to talk.

These talktimers meet in cafés throughout Buenos Aires in order to discuss topics of interest in languages other than their own native tongue. What separates Talk Time from the myriad of language classes offered throughout the city is that Talk Time is completely free of charge. Participants pay only for the beverages that they consume and there is no minimum consumption.

“Talk Time is about liberating yourself,” said Talk Time Founder Felipe Fliess. “It is about concentrating on a language while integrating Argentina into a globalized world.” Fliess, who spent close to half of his life living in France, and speaks six languages, adapted the idea from the philosophy cafés of Paris. “The French debate outside of academia. I copied this a little but I wanted to modify it as well; a space not only to debate... It’s now original to Argentina.”

Talk Time began in 2001 at a café in Ingeniero Maschwitz as a “multicultural, polyglot space,” and has since met with success in almost every neighbourhood in Buenos Aires, including Recoleta, Palermo, Barrio Norte and Puerto Madero.

While Talk Time is geared toward those seeking to converse in a foreign language, it differs significantly from a standard conversational language class. Topics are chosen beforehand and voted upon by participants. Once a topic is chosen, the rules of debate are compulsory. While debating, personal questions are strictly off-limits. Participants are told to direct their arguments to the centre of the table and not to a specific individual. In addition, preaching during Talk Time is prohibited, and according to Fliess can be particularly problematic in Argentina. In order to keep conversation and debate consistent with these rules, facilitators are present at each table, and in certain cases may play devil’s advocate in order to stimulate discussion.

“It is difficult to create rules here in Argentina,” said Fliess. “People are used to asking others personal questions and everyone wants to share their personal beliefs. Argentines sometimes think, ‘no one is going to put me in a straight jacket.’ The facilitators are there to make sure that people are respectful and clear,” he said.

Talk Time, however, does not conform to the student-teacher paradigm. No one, including the facilitator, is meant to be seen as an instructor. “Sometimes people think that in order to be a facilitator you must know more than everyone else, but that is not the case,” said Ivana Pantoff, who is both a participant and an English facilitator. “Anyone can facilitate, as long as you have an intermediate level,” she said.

The regulations imposed during Talk Time debates, while sometimes difficult for newcomers to accept, have, according to Fliess, contributed to Talk Time’s great success. “No one comes to get a coffee in order for someone to attack them,” he said. While the number of locations that offer Talk Time has grown, so too has the number of talktimers that come to one or more meetings per week. Talk Time is now offered in over 100 cafés and restaurants across the country in any given week.

Talk Time’s model in Buenos Aires has been so successful that groups have been established in Bahía Blanca and Córdoba. Talk Time has also begun to evolve in specificity. On Saturdays in San Telmo talktime is offered in Spanish for foreigners, and endeavours such as talktime for public speaking and talktime architecture are in the works.

Notwithstanding the fact that Talk Time is completely free, Talk Time is also seen as a way to both practice a foreign language as well as a forum to interact with others who share similar interests. “For many older people who are alone, this is a great opportunity to get out, practice a language and at the same time make friends,” said Henriqueta Galeano, who practices English at Primafila on Tuesdays.

For others, Talk Time offers the kind of flexibility for working people that cannot be matched by private classes. “I was living abroad and didn’t want to lose the language after returning to Argentina,” said Andrea Roiter an accountant and facilitator for Talk Time. “This is a way to not lose the language in a nice environment. You know that whatever your schedule, there will always be a talktime that fits.”

For more information: www.talktime.com.ar