Question about slang
Since I have been studying Spanish, Latin American Spanish primarily, I have noticed that there is a lot of slang. For example, I find it significantly more difficult to understand Spanish music that originates from Latin America than from mainland Spain.
My questions are: Does Latin American Spanish contain more slang? Is the same type of slang prevalent throughout both versions of Spanish?
Thanks in advance for the responses!
5 Answers
I wouldn´t say there is a Latin American Spanish, taking into account you have 400 million people living in 19 different countries. Certainly, you will find thousands of regionalisms and slang words for each, but considering Spain has 50 million people (only mexico has more than that), and 5 recognized regional languages, I think that slang could be proportionately equivalent in each country or it could be even higher in Spain.
Every language has a lot of slang. You're probably not aware of how much slang we English speakers use, but it's astounding. A lot of slang is used in Latin America, but remember how many countries there are. Every region has its own slang, even within a given country. I don't know if I would say Spain has less slang, but it is one country that covers less territory than all of Latin America. Per capita it may be about the same.
I will say that Kevin got this right. Every region and every language has alot of slang, and I wouldn't guess that one has more than another. It is a natural way that people groups define themselves into subgroups, whether by age (like teenagers who have their own, ever-changing slang) or regions (which have their own identities) or places of origin (which bring into their slang words from their native countries).
Learning a new language gives us a baseline from which we can communicate. Then it's up to us to learn the slang that associated with our own particular area of interest. I suppose it's half the fun!
Claro que sí, hay un montón de jerga, amigo...
Certainly, Latin American Spanish has a lot of slang. Don't forget that There are a lot of different ways of talking, different accents and expressions Hope it helps!
