How do the different spanish languages(in Spain,Latin America,etc) differ?
I was wondering if there is any major difference between spanish spoken in Spain and that in Latin America?
2 Answers
Spanish is different in every country and region, not just between Latin America and Spain. The Spanish spoken in Mexico can be closer to that spoken in the south of Spain than the one spoken in Argentina, for example.
The Spanish speaking world is roughly divided into about 6 or 7 areas that share common vocabulary, pronunciation and other features. One is Spain, which can be divided into regions too, since the south uses "seseo", like in Latin America; another one is Mexico and Central America; another one is the Antilles, Santo Domingo, Cuba and Puerto Rico; another one is Colombia, Ecuador, Pere, Bolivia and the north de Chile (only); the rest of Chile is another group in itself; then we can put Argentina along with Uruguay and Paraguay, or consider Argentina (except the north) and Uruguay only, and make another group with only Paraguay and the north of Argentina.
Mexico has several thousands of terms in the RAE dictionary alone, especially in slang, and they have enough proper vocabulary to write an entire dictionary just for them. These terms will be largely unknown everywhere else, and the same can be said about other regions. People with poor education from two different regions can have problems understanding one another, even within Latin America. Spain is just a different collection of variants of Spanish to be added to the continuum of varieties in Latin America.
However, standard and formal Spanish differs so little, that it is often almost impossible to tell where is the writer from. Educated speakers have no difficulty whatsoever understanding one another, no matter where they come from, even though every now and then one says "elevator" and the other one says "lift". Minor insignificant differences.
I can verify Lazarus' statement. The difference between Mexican Spanish and Venezuelan Spanish is bigger than the difference between Mexican Spanish and Peninsular Spanish.
That said, Peninsular Spanish generally uses the distinción pronunciation (S sound for S, theta sound for soft C and Z), while Latin America uses seseo (S sound for soft C, S and Z). The vosotros form is commonly used in Spain, while it is rare in Latin America.
There are other differences in pronunciation and vocabulary, but that's true of all Spanish speaking countries and regions, not just Spain vs. Latin America.
