Hello everyone!

[languagelover]

Hi all!

I'm a bilingual English-Spanish speaker (I'm British but I grew up in Spain).

However, I know very little about the differences between Spain-Spanish and all the Latin American variations of Spanish. I spent a month in Peru back in 2000 but that is about the only genuine exposure I've had to non-Spain Spanish.

A friend once told me that he was in Costa Rica with a bunch of his Spanish-speaking friends. They were from a number of South and Central American countries and not one of them used the same word for "straw" (used to drink, not animal feed). As a Spain-Spanish-speaker, I would use "pajita" but I know now that I wouldn't necessarily be understood in Mexico, Colombia or Puerto Rico.

As someone who loves to travel, it's only a matter of time before I make it back to Central and/or South America.

Also, I find the differences between British English, American English, Australian English, South African English, etc. fascinating and I can only imagine that Spanish differences are even larger in quantity and variation.

I look forward to perusing the forums for new Spanish words and expanding my boundaries. I hope I can provide some help in "Spain-Spanish" in exchange.

Saludos a todos.

[Rusty]

Welcome to the forums!!

'Pajilla' is the word used in most of Central America. I looked at a Wikipedia article and saw that there are 10 other words used.

[languagelover]

10 words in Spanish for straw! I think that's fantastic! Clearly, I have so much more Spanish to learn.

[Jessica]

Hi, and welcome