Spanish Language Dialect
What dialect of the Spanish language do most Spanish language learners consider the best?
3 Answers
I guess it is the same as with any of the various English dialects. It is a matter of preference, and this varies.
I'm not sure that there is any sort of consensus amongst Spanish learners. Obviously, the most practical way would be to learn by imitating the native Spanish speakers around you (if applicable).
On the other hand, I have read not a few opinions regarding Colombian Spanish as being perhaps one of the better sources of spoken Spanish. Here are a couple of articles you can peruse regarding this assertion:
¿El español de Colombia es el mejor?
In the end, as Chileno as already mentioned, there is probably no "best" that fits everybody but is instead just a matter of taste.
Honestly, there's no right answer. Here's a series of questions you should ask yourself:
1) Why are you learning the language? If there are certain people you want to talk to then learn their dialect. If you want to go to a certain place or conduct business with certain people then pick their dialect.
If there's no solid answer to question #1 then:
2) Is there a respected standard dialect? Do most speakers of the language (Spanish) use a certain dialect as a link language? Are there official dialects the government has laid out?
In Spanish the RAE is primarily based in Spain and because of this many speakers go ahead and learn Spain Spanish. However, Spain Spanish isn't always the best choice in many place (due to its pronunciation differences), so take that into consideration. This is also why few learners learn Caribbean Spanish. It's a dialect in its own right, but it doesn't have that much prestige.
If you can't find a prestige dialect (and I think for Spanish there really isn't any), the go to question #3:
3) What dialect has the most media and learning resources in it? If all dialects have it then what resources are you most interested in? You learn to speak based on what you listen to. If you listen to mostly Youtube videos and movies from Spain, you're not going to end up speaking Chilean Spanish.
After you find an answer to one of the above questions then you have your dialect. For example, I'm studying Spanish because I simply like the language (not to communicate to any people) and I couldn't find a prestige dialect. However, most of the content I wanted to watch was dubbed in Mexican Spanish, so it's going to be my main choice.
My brother is learning Mandarin. Most of his friends come from Beijing, so he is elarning Beijing Mandarin.
Hope this helps!
