Latin American and European Spanish

[Dodge]

Hi, I was wondering if there was any difference at all between how Spanish is spoken in the Americas and how it's spoken in Spain. I'm a beginner to the language and want to learn it because I'll be moving to Texas soon. I have the new Rosetta Stone Latin American Spanish, but I've read that while learning while using a program like that to immerse yourself in the language, so I've came across websites that stream Spanish radio from Spain. It looks and sounds the same to me since I'm a beginner, but I can't be too sure, so I was wondering from any of you that know the language well if there was any difference at all. Thanks!

[Rusty]

There are a number of differences between the Spanish spoken in Spain and the Spanish spoken in Mexico (and even more in Texas). If you are familiar with the accent and vocabulary differences between American and British English, there are just as many of the same kind of differences between the Spanish spoken in Mexico and Spain. And, Mexican Spanish isn't like the Spanish spoken in Central or South America.
Texan Spanish has some English influence.

[jannr]

Rusty and others are right. There are differences: a small number in grammar (such as vosotros--only in Spain, vos--limited to specific regions and a few other, more esoteric ones; pronunciation--only in Spain do you hear the "th" sound for z and c before e or i. In Spain centro sound like "thentro" and zebra sound like "thebra." Elsewhere, these two letters sound like "s": "sentro" and "sebra." Tradicionally Spain had a special sound for "ll", but it is dying out pretty quickly, replaced by the "y" sound used everywhere else: me llamo sounds like "me yamo." There are also differences in intonation and vocabulary between Spanish and Latin American dialects.

So, each region is somewhat different from others. Although it is true that Mexican Spanish is different from Central American and South American, in each country there are at also least some differences. All educated Spanish speakers can understand other educated Spanish speakers, even if they have to work at it a little bit. The local differences are more pronounced as you go farther down the socioeconomic scale, as is true with every modern language. If you learn the "vanilla" Latin American variety, no one will mistake you for a native speaker, but you will be understood everywhere.

[bobjenkins]

there are some differences, yes, but you should be able to understand each dialect to a point

For instance spain is the only country that uses VOSOTROS in place of USTEDES
Agentina uses VOS in place of TÚ

[Rusty]

Originally Posted by bobjenkins

there are some differences, yes, but you should be able to understand each dialect to a point

For instance spain is the only country that uses VOSOTROS in place of USTEDES
Agentina uses VOS in place of TÚ

There are many more countries than just Argentina that use vos. In Spain, they use vosotros as the plural form of tú. They also use ustedes (the plural of usted).
Spaniards can understand Mexicans, but they have to work at it just as hard as we do to understand a Brit.

[bobjenkins]

Originally Posted by Rusty

There are many more countries than just Argentina that use vos. In Spain, they use vosotros as the plural form of tú. They also use ustedes (the plural of usted).
Spaniards can understand Mexicans, but they have to work at it just as hard as we do to understand a Brit.

Jeje Sí, es difícil por mi entiendo alguien de Inglaterra

[brute]

Originally Posted by Rusty

There are many more countries than just Argentina that use vos. In Spain, they use vosotros as the plural form of tú. They also use ustedes (the plural of usted).
Spaniards can understand Mexicans, but they have to work at it just as hard as we do to understand a Brit.

A TIP FOR YOU RUSTY. YOU JUST NEED TO WRITE BIGGER AND MORE SLOWLY TO MAKE YOURSELF UNDERSTOOD. BASIL FAWLTY HAS SOME GOOD IDEAS WHEN IT COMES TO COMMUNICATION! WITH SPANIARDS!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5jyp677fxw

[pjt33]

Originally Posted by brute

A TIP FOR YOU RUSTY. YOU JUST NEED TO WRITE BIGGER AND MORE SLOWLY TO MAKE YOURSELF UNDERSTOOD. BASIL FAWLTY HAS SOME GOOD IDEAS WHEN IT COMES TO COMMUNICATION! WITH SPANIARDS!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5jyp677fxw

Cuando tenía 15 años actuamos una parte de ese episodio en un clase de inglés, y yo era el tío que habla español que Manuel puede entender. Pero bueno, no sabía que en el original tiene un acento tan horrible.

[ookami]

Nice post jannr.

About what Rusty said, I don't know if you wanted to said that that (? que eso, ¿esta bien dicho?) only applyes to people born and educated in Spain that try to understand Mexicans, but I can understand mexicans, spanish, bolivianas, etc, etc, without problem, and the people I know too. (if they speak without using any dialect, of course) So I don't know it it's like EEUU and Britain. I can understand someone from EEUU quite well, but from Britain is another thing...

[pjt33]

"That that" is fine, but "applies".

There are other important grammatical differences, such as the usage of perfect vs indefinite preterite tenses.

Dodge, can you PM me some links for those radio stations? I usually listen to Internet radio from Florida, but listening to Spanish radio would be good given that I'm in Spain. Although regardless, the music is likely to be a mix of Lat Am (particularly Mexican and Hispanic USian) and Spanish. I hear bands like La Quinta Estación and La Oreja de Van Gogh on Floridian radio.