Ask a Question

(Create a thread)
Go Back   Spanish language learning forums > Teaching & Learning > Culture


Latin American and European Spanish

 

Questions about culture and cultural differences between countries and languages.


Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old May 18, 2009, 03:49 PM
Dodge Dodge is offline
Opal
 
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 1
Dodge is on a distinguished road
Latin American and European Spanish

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!
Reply With Quote
   
Get rid of these ads by registering for a free Tomísimo account.
  #2  
Old May 18, 2009, 04:04 PM
Rusty's Avatar
Rusty Rusty is offline
Señor Speedy
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: USA
Posts: 11,299
Native Language: American English
Rusty has a spectacular aura aboutRusty has a spectacular aura about
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.
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old May 18, 2009, 04:11 PM
bobjenkins's Avatar
bobjenkins bobjenkins is offline
Diamond
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: España próximamente??
Posts: 2,923
Native Language: Inglés
bobjenkins is on a distinguished road
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´s always money in the banana stand michael!"
--george bluthe sir
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old May 18, 2009, 04:17 PM
Rusty's Avatar
Rusty Rusty is offline
Señor Speedy
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: USA
Posts: 11,299
Native Language: American English
Rusty has a spectacular aura aboutRusty has a spectacular aura about
Quote:
Originally Posted by bobjenkins View Post
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 . 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.
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old May 18, 2009, 04:27 PM
bobjenkins's Avatar
bobjenkins bobjenkins is offline
Diamond
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: España próximamente??
Posts: 2,923
Native Language: Inglés
bobjenkins is on a distinguished road
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rusty View Post
There are many more countries than just Argentina that use vos. In Spain, they use vosotros as the plural form of . 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
__________________
"There´s always money in the banana stand michael!"
--george bluthe sir
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old September 09, 2009, 11:24 AM
jannr jannr is offline
Opal
 
Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 4
Native Language: English
jannr is on a distinguished road
More differences

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.
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old September 09, 2009, 12:54 PM
ookami's Avatar
ookami ookami is offline
Sapphire
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Buenos Aires
Posts: 1,283
Native Language: Español(Argentina)
ookami is on a distinguished road
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...
__________________
Please, don't hesitate to correct my English.
'Time is a sort of river of passing events, and strong is its current; no sooner is a thing brought to sight than it is swept by and another takes its place, and this too will be swept away.' M.A.
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old September 09, 2009, 01:15 PM
pjt33's Avatar
pjt33 pjt33 is offline
Diamond
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Valencia, España
Posts: 2,600
Native Language: Inglés (en-gb)
pjt33 is on a distinguished road
"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.
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old September 09, 2009, 01:17 PM
ookami's Avatar
ookami ookami is offline
Sapphire
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Buenos Aires
Posts: 1,283
Native Language: Español(Argentina)
ookami is on a distinguished road
Thanks pjt33 but, is there another way to say that without saying twice the same word? it sounds ugly.
__________________
Please, don't hesitate to correct my English.
'Time is a sort of river of passing events, and strong is its current; no sooner is a thing brought to sight than it is swept by and another takes its place, and this too will be swept away.' M.A.
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old September 09, 2009, 01:26 PM
bobjenkins's Avatar
bobjenkins bobjenkins is offline
Diamond
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: España próximamente??
Posts: 2,923
Native Language: Inglés
bobjenkins is on a distinguished road
Quote:
Originally Posted by pjt33 View Post
"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.
No pienso que Dodge está aquí .. el primer hilo, May 18, 2009, 02:49 PM

Pero escucho a eso, es bueno si te gustan los deportes no música.

http://www.marca.com/multimedia/radiomarca/

Aquí están unas estaciones de España que tocan música
http://www.listenlive.eu/spain.html
__________________
"There´s always money in the banana stand michael!"
--george bluthe sir

Last edited by bobjenkins; September 09, 2009 at 02:05 PM.
Reply With Quote
Reply

 

Link to this thread
URL: 
HTML Link: 
BB Code: 
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Site Rules

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
American (USA) chileno Culture 136 September 19, 2009 06:12 PM
Study Spanish in Latin America MrWednesday General Chat 0 April 27, 2009 03:41 AM
Mexican Spanish and "Spanish" Spanish Jessica General Chat 3 February 16, 2009 08:03 PM
Pig Latin & Spanglish Jessica General Chat 4 January 13, 2009 05:31 AM
A couple of American terms. María José Vocabulary 28 August 27, 2008 10:49 AM


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 07:02 AM.

Forum powered by vBulletin® Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.

X