Which's the most useful Spanish dialect for you?
Why? Which one do you prefer to learn?
14 Answers
A mí me gusta aprender de la "forma pura." He viajado a españa y aún escucho los medios de comunicaciónes de allá.
A la misma vez, he tenido mucha experiencia con las distintas comunidades de america latina, incluso los mexicanos. Creo que las raíces del arbol deban ser fuertes, en esa manera, se puede explorar las ramas numerosas más a profundo.
I like to learn, " the pure form." I have traveled to Spain and I still listen to the media from there. At the same time, I have had a lot of experience with Latin American communities, including Mexicans. I believe that the roots of the tree must be strong(Spanish from Spain,) in that way, one can explore the numerous branches more profoundly.
Just my opinion!
It is, undoubtedly, the one of the country you are interested in knowing, I am Mexican and let me tell you that for us every dialect but the Mexican is weird, however, I think that happens with the other countries, whence, I get back to the first thing I said, "It is the one of the country you are interested in knowing"
Bogota’s highly academic form of Spanish — which eschews sing-song intonations and the swallowing of letters common in other countries — is allowing the Colombian capital to cash in at a time of expanding international trade and globalization.
Colombia’s call centers, most of which are located in Bogota, employ more than 70,000 people, a number that is expected to double by 2012, according to Proexport Colombia, which promotes exports and foreign investment.
The fact that a Colombian accent can be understood all over the Spanish-speaking world has helped turn many of the country’s telenovelas, or soap operas, into overseas hits.
The Discovery Channel and The National Geographic Channel often use Colombian narrators for their Spanish-language broadcasts while Fox is filming a number of projects here. Another booming business is the dubbing of movies and TV shows.
“People like our accent,” said Henry Perez, who manages a Bogota studio where actors lay down the soundtracks for Spanish-language films, TV series and commercials. “They like how we say: ‘Ariel: the detergent that will get your clothes the whitest!’”
A Romance language that developed on the Iberian Peninsula during the 10th century, Spanish is now spoken by nearly 500 million people. Also called Castilian, it is the official language of 21 nations, including Equatorial Guinea on the Atlantic coast of Africa.
But centuries ago as the Conquistadors imposed Spanish on Latin America and the Caribbean, local populations mixed Indigenous words with Spanish and developed their own dialects, accents and slang.
Seeking uniformity, the Royal Spanish Academy was founded in Madrid in 1713 “to fix the voices and vocabularies of the Castilian language with propriety, elegance and purity.”
I learned Mexican in the U.S. before I moved to Venezuela, then (obviously) learned Venezuelan. Now I live in Southern California, so Mexican is once again more useful.
Frankly, I like listening to Spanish from Madrid. It's refreshing. It's like hearing B B C English after hearing way too much U.S. slang and improper grammar.
I have had two Puerto Rican teachers and one teacher from Costa Rico and I could understand them relatively easily. Maybe because they were teachers.LOL I work in a clinic in Central California where most of our patients are field workers with only a few grades of formal education. They are mostly from Mexico. Mexican Spanish seems very rapid but is now slowing down and more understandable as I learn more Spanish. I love it when I encounter a patient from Argentina, I could understand them most easily. One day I would like to travel to several Spanish speaking countries including Spain but for the moment, Mexican Spanish is most useful to me in my work.
The most useful to me is Mexican Spanish, because most of the hispanohablantes where I live have their roots in Mexico.
John Otis By John Otis - GlobalPost Published: May 10, 2010 06:09 ET in The Americas Two Colombian actors dressed as peasants entertain customers during a performance At the Andres Carne de Res restaurant near Bogota, Nov. 11, 2001. Colombian actors are in demand to lay down soundtracks for Spanish-language films, TV series and commercials. (Eliana Aponte/Reuters) Click to enlarge photo
BOGOTA, Colombia — At a sprawling office in Bogota, operators equipped with headsets and computer monitors speak in crystal clear Spanish to customers in Mexico, Chile and Spain.
They punch the clock for Unisono, one of more than a dozen international call centers located in Bogota, where a key attraction is the way people talk. By many accounts, the Spanish spoken in the Colombian capital is the most easily understood.
“When you’re selling something you need to be understood and to form friendships over the telephone,” said Ana Isabel Iglesias, an Unisono development consultant. “So you want a neutral accent
Caliche (Honduran slang) would be the most useful to me personally. Most people around here use caliche constantly, and sometimes I do not know what they are talking about.
In term of usefulness Mexican and Caribbean, because that where most of the Spanish speakers in the U.S come from. In terms of sounds, I like the Argentine accent. It is nice and soft
I just love the Andaluz dialect... it's so soft, funny, romantic and interesting! Follow the next link to watch an episode of a cartoon called "Niña Repelente" made by Andalucía people. *If you don't like "agressive" humor just don't watch it, please.
Eldrige said:
I love it when I encounter a patient from Argentina, I could understand them most easily.
Funny, I find that when I watch a movie with actors from Argentina it is more difficult to understand. Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, and Cubans are other Spanish-speaking groups that I have trouble understanding unless they deliberately slow down.
I have learned from Mexicans (in Southern Mexico), Colombians, and Guatemalans and I find them all very easy to understand. Maybe it's because they are educated teachers with proper speech?
Of all the friends that I talk to, my favorite accent is Heidi's (from Madrid) because it's clear and she never leaves off an "s" or a "d" anywhere. However, she does use the vosotros form (which I really wanted to avoid) and I had to learn that in order to understand her. In fact, she now corrects me when I use "ustedes!" ¡Que cosa!
I live in Ecuador, so Ecuadorian Spanish is the most useful for me.
Although I have only been to Spain as a Spanish speaking country, just the regional dialects there can be a challenge. The way they speak in Madrid is different to Barcelona, which is different to the Northern coastal regions, which is all different to Andalucía.
It's the one downside of this site, where all the lessons are stuck with South American Spanish and North American English. Although it's good to be exposed to the regional differences, I don't want to be learning words that I'm not going to be using.
For me, I prefer to concentrate on central american (costa rica) dialects when I can, because that is where the spanish speaking country I wish to move first resides. I find that most useful for my immediate situation. However I do find myself incorporating numerous different dialects, pronounciations, etc into my own speaking, I believe as a result of listening to so many different sources of language, ie music, movies, news, etc from around the spanish speaking world... It's like taking the best bits of different dialects and making my own weird version. 
