Is this Latin America Spanish?
I want to learn how to speak Latin American Spanish, not Spain Spanish, so is this website geared toward Latin American Spanish??
8 Answers
What do you have against Spain? ¿Que tienes contra España?
People that speak Spanish will understand you, no matter what you call the Spanish that you speak.
He probably has nothing against Spain , but he wants to learn the dialect that suits him best.
There is no such thing as "Latin American Spanish". If you're talking distinctions in pronunciation, there is (and it's the most obvious and consistent difference) between the use of the "seseo" (throughout Latin America) and the "distinción" (much but not all of Spain). There are, additionally a variety of (more subtle) differences in pronunciation (which depend on the country/region). However, it is not a question of "black and white" but, rather, of various "shades of gray".
One significant distinction I must note is that though Spanish-speakers can understand each other despite their region, like we in the US can understand those from other English-speaking countries, we have our regional vocabularies and know many of other countries, but not those of foreign languages. For example: In the US we say soccer, in most other regions of the world it is football. When we hear someone from the UK talking about football no one here would ask, "Who's gonna win the Super Bowl?" because we know that distinction. I think his question is more for those to whom he will be speaking than anything. If he learns words and phrases that are mainly used in Spain, and speaking with someone from Latin America who would use a different word or phrase for the same event, it would confuse HIM more. One day he could learn the vernacular of Spaniards, but his immediate need now is for Latin American Spanish pronunciation. EVERY native speaker I know from South America never says v's like v's in English it's always like b's. This site (at least through Learn 2) says them like v's. Nothing against this site, it is a good tool, but if one can find (and afford) something geared to a specific region it would be beneficial. If you were moving to the UK you wouldn't want to learn how we would say things here but how they say them in England.
People that speak Spanish will understand you, no matter what you call the Spanish that you speak.
One significant difference is in the pronunciations, especially the "s". When I watch a show from Spain, I have to listen especially close to decipher those.
I talk to people from the UK, Australia, Uganda, Canada.... everyday and I can understand them all.
Spanish has the same base across the world, like English, but the pronounciation and many words are specific to each country or region. In the South of South-america, la región rio-platense (Uruguay in my case), we use many words that are different from northern or Iberian Spanish. What is called "criollo", or the Spanish from the colonies has all kinds of local features, just like the local Spanish form Galícia, Andalucia or Cataluña, or the language of the Spanish flamencos (gypsies) are strongly coloured by their own traditions.
In addition, since South-america is highly divided across social classes and wealth, naturally Spanish varies a lot across social group, and some words will invariably make you appear as part of rich or poor groups of people. For many people this is not a choice, since they grew up in specific environments and some accents are hard to shed.
I spoke English on several continents and met many words and accents that differ greatly between say Hindus, Aussies, Newfies (Canadians from Newfoundland), Texans, New Yorkers or Londoners. Same with Spanish.
Mexican Spanish is as wonderfully rich of its own culture as any... and of course one commonality in South America are the marvellous words from indigenous languages that vary according to the regions (quechua, guarani, charrua, maya, etc. etc.).
Gracias, así que básicamente, no importa en qué región, el español es español, con las simples diferencias??
