Colegio - and all the other words

[bleitzow]

Hey there everyone!

I need some help to understand if there is a difference in the words below. I am using a software package that shows me a photo of something and gives me the word in Spanish.

I am confused as to whether or not the age of the students in the photos has anything to do with the words, or if they are just different photos and different ways to say the same thing.

El Colegio - a photo of elementary school children in a classroom
El Instituto - a photo of junior high or high school students in a classroom
La Universidad - a photo of adults in a classroom

¡Ayúdame por favor!

¡Gracias!

[Rusty]

El colegio can certainly be used as a generic term for school, just as much as la escuela can be used. I personally would not use colegio to mean elementary school. When I was in Central America they used la escuela primaria, or just la primaria. The next level of schooling was la escuela secundaria. I would think the terms vary from place to place and it would be best to focus on what the local people call them.

I've heard el colegio and la universidad used for both college and university. I don't remember hearing el instituto, except when they were talking about an institution, like a trade school or MIT. Again, I would suggest learning what the local people use.

Let's see what a native speaker says. Perhaps these are 'catch-all' words that everyone would understand, but they weren't used where I was.

[bleitzow]

¡Gracias Rusty! Where was you? Ha, just a little grammar joke there. What country were you in? I am in San Diego but I´m learning Castilian from Spain. My Mexican friend is always telling me "that´s not a word". Yeah, it´s just not a word she knows. I´ve been watching Spanish TV and hear those very same words on the news. She tends to speak mostly slang so I have to double-check a lot of the things she says with you guys.

Thanks for being there!

[Rusty]

I was in Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Honduras. It is interesting to note that a different flavor of Spanish (Castellano) was spoken in each country. I tried to mimic the differences so that I wouldn't stand out. For example, 'niño' was understood and said in each of the four countries, but each had a slang word for 'child', as well. The slang word turned out to be different in each country. This is why I recommend learning what the local people use instead of relying on a single source for your vocabulary.

The same sort of thing happens in the United States. There's a world of difference between the English spoken in southern Californian and southern Georgia. Someone asked me once in Tennessee if I wanted a 'fat biscuit'. I got a doughnut when I ventured a yes. In Panama, you could ask for a 'banana' and get one. In Honduras, you had to ask for a 'guineo' to get the same thing.

[bleitzow]

That's so true. My aunt was just visiting from Texas. We went to the grocery store and she said she needed a buggy. I said, "A what?" She said, "A buggy" and made a motion. I said, "Oh, you mean a shopping cart." We're from the same country and I had no idea what she was talking about. That's okay. People from Texas are foreigners anyway.

[sosia]

Originally Posted by bleitzow

Hey there everyone!

I need some help to understand if there is a difference in the words below. I am using a software package that shows me a photo of something and gives me the word in Spanish.

I am confused as to whether or not the age of the students in the photos has anything to do with the words, or if they are just different photos and different ways to say the same thing.

El Colegio - a photo of elementary school children in a classroom
El Instituto - a photo of junior high or high school students in a classroom
La Universidad - a photo of adults in a classroom

¡Ayúdame por favor!

¡Gracias!

This is obvious a software from SPAIN.
Guardería: 1-3 years
Escuela preescolar: 3-5 years
Colegio ó Escuela: 6-15 years
Instituto: 15-18 years
Universidad: 18-.....

Every 5 years it chages a bit because the different educational systems, but more or less it's so.
In some schools the have the "Instituto" integrated, so they can say they were in the "colegio" from the 6 years old until 18 years old.

Saludos

[bleitzow]

Sosia,

Yes, the software is definitely from Spain. Everyone I've asked said it was all the same but it just didn't feel the same. I finally got confirmation that I'm not going crazy ~ well, over this anyway.

Thank you so much!

[Elaina]

Hola Brenda.......

I don't feel as a foreigner and I am originally from Texas.

Elaina

[bleitzow]

Elaina -

You have my sympathy. My parents live in Texas. I joke with them all the time about how they talk funny and they're "so out of touch" that they are foreigners.

My mom jokes that they now have TWO McDonald's restaurants AND a Wal*Mart!

[Josef]

I wish luck to anyone trying to learn Spanish. This is my first post in this great forum and I use tomisimo.org all the time as a great reference.

I have been studying for the past two years ever since I prepared for my visit to Colombia. Ever since I have been trying to advance my language skills and there are many pitfalls which include the various words used for certain things.

I am currently in Korea and the local language here (Hangul) doesn't help much in my studies. lol