Spanish version
I undersand there's some differences between Spanish in Spain and Spanish in South America. What Spanish version do you use? Is it from Spain or South America?
Thanks,
Albert
2 Answers
I learned Spanish when I was 19 and worked as a volunteer for Hurricane Andrew in Miami. Having spent a couple years growing up in Portugal, I already spoke Portuguese fluently. In fact, the intention was for me to go down to North Miami Beach to work with Portuguese speaking people. However, with a more pressing need for Spanish speakers and thinking "close enough," the Red Cross dropped me into a situation where folks only spoke Spanish, no English (or Portuguese, either).
I struggled by speaking Portuguese, then Portugish, and then Spantuguese. After about 3 months, though, I had gotten my ear for Spanish and started to really speak Spanish. As a result of the people with whom I worked in Miami, my Spanish isn't from any one place, it's a hodge podge of Colombian, Venezuelan, Cuban, Nicaraguan, Chilean, Costa Rican, Dominican, and Argentinian.
One may think such a Spanish would be difficult to understand. On the contrary, most comment that I speak a very clear and easy to understand Spanish. I am almost always mistaken for a native speaker with an accent they don't recognize. When I tell people I'm not native, they're usually surprised and sometimes even incredulous. I've been 'accused' of being several Hispanic nationalities but trying to pass myself off as 'huero'.
When I left Florida, I went to university where I received a perfect score on the Spanish placement test. Apparently, as it had never happened before, the college thought I cheated. Part of the reason it had never happened, though, is because the CLeP Test (College Level Placement Test) was designed to be ethnically neutral, if colonially based. In short, it employed a variety of Spanish from all over the Americas. When the head of the Spanish department called me to his office to investigate me for cheating, he was convinced both by my story of having learned my Spanish from such a diverse base of speakers and from my clear command of the language as he pressed me for answers in Spanish.
In the end, I placed into Spanish 410 and won a scholarship to study Spanish in Spain for a year. So, I spent a year in Castile learning Castellano. I wouldn't let the accent 'pollute' my Spanish, though. I have always found that Gringos who affect a Spanish (from Spain) accent, especially in regard to 'z' and 'c', come off sounding super pretentious and even foolish (as such speakers often fail to repeat any aspect of the accent other than lisping 'c' and 'z'). Notwithstanding my resistance, Spain is where I studied Spanish literature, art, culture, and advanced grammar, so it does effect my Spanish, if not my affect.
Hello Albert,
Welcome to the Spanish Dict forum 
Firstly, I would like to thank you sooooo much for taking the trouble to respond to Ray's request to fill in your basic profile details which helps us to know your ability both in Spanish and English, as well as your gender!
I am learning Castellano which is the Spanish spoken in Spain. I was actually born in Peru, South America but my parents are both British and before becoming a member here 5 years ago I had received lessons on and off (intermittantly) from native speakers from both Spain and South America. ( I had to leave Peru with my parents between the age of 18 months to 2 years; sadly not long enough time to become fluent rofl! hahaha)
I finally decided to settle on learning Castellano for practical reasons: Spain being much closer and also much cheaper to visit! 
I am.therefore taking private 1:1 classes with a native teacher from Spain once a week on Skype through an excellent school called: SpanishSkype.org! The language school boss who is also a native speaker posts here very useful articles on various aspects about the Hispanic language and culture to help people!
My own teacher has told me that grammatically speaking there is little difference between Castellano (the Spanish spoken in Spain) and Latin America but that the major difference is in the regional colloquial and idiomatic expressions and the use of verbs eg Coger is commonly used in Spain but not in South America or Mexico where tomar would be used instead.
Spain: eg: Juan y María cogen el autobús todos los días para ir al colegio.
Mexico: Juan y María toman el autobús todos los días para ir al colegio.
= Juan and María catch the bus each day to go to secondary (high) school.
Finally, for any beginners in Spanish reading my post, neither Castellano nor the Spanish spoken in Latin America is superior to the other: both are widely respected and equally valid forms!
I hope this answers your question
