Differences between Spanish from Latin America and Spain. Spanish in Latin America Words in Spain and Latin America

Country:	Mexico, Colombia, Argentina and other countries in Latin America, the Caribbean and the United States.
Official status:	Argentina, Bolivia, Venezuela, Guatemala, Honduras, Dominican Republic, European Union, Western Sahara, Spain, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Mexico, Nicaragua, New Mexico (USA), Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico ( USA), El Salvador, Uruguay, Chile, Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea
Total number of speakers:	385 million (430-450 million including people for whom Spanish is a second language).

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El sistema olfativo es el sistema sensorial utilizado para la olfatibilidad. Este sistema es con frecuencia considerado, junto con el sistema gustativo.

Spanish or Castilian(Spanish español o castellano) is an Ibero-Romance language that originated in the medieval kingdom of Castile, which included the modern territory of the province of Burgos and the regions of La Rioja and Cantabria.

Belongs to the Indo-European family of languages ​​(Romance group, Ibero-Romance subgroup). Writing based on the Latin alphabet.

Latin American Spanish the language is slightly different from regular Spanish. It is influenced by local Latin American languages ​​and dialects. However, the general meaning of the text can be understood in most cases.

Spanish is the first language of 358 million people (World Almanac 1999 estimates). And if you also take into account the people for whom Spanish is a second language, this figure will increase, and will be approximately 430-450 million. Spanish language most common on the continent of South America.

Spanish language is highly volatile and constantly changing. There are many dialects of Spanish: Puerto Rican Spanish, Venezuelan Spanish, Murcia, Mexican Spanish and others. And also a number of derivatives from the Spanish languages: Ladino (Sephardic), Chabakano (Philippines), Papiamentu (Caribbean) and Palenquero.

Spanish alphabet

Spanish uses the Latin alphabet + an additional “ñ” ([ɲ]).

Letter	Pronunciation (Spanish)	Pronunciation (rus)
Aa	a	a
Bb	be	be
Cc	ce	behold
Dd	de	de
Ee	e	e
Ff	efe	efe
Gg	ge	xe
Hh	ache	ache
Ii	i	and
Jj	jota	hota
Kk	ca	ka
Ll	ele	Ele
Mm	eme	eme
Nn	ene	ene
Ññ	ene	enye
Oo	o	o
Pp	pe	ne
Qq	cu	ku
Rr	ere	era
Ss	ese	ese
Tt	te	those
Uu	u	at
Vv	uve	uve
Ww	uve double	uve doble
Xx	equis	ekis
Yy	i griega	and griega
Zz	ceda	seda

Until 1994, ch, ll, and rr were considered separate letters.

The stress in Spanish words falls on the last syllable if the word ends in a consonant (except for n or s). If a word ends in a vowel or consonants n or s, then the stress falls on the penultimate syllable.

Spanish Latin American online translators

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Nineteen Latin American countries, seventeen regions of Spain - in each zone, the language has features that depend on linguistic and non-linguistic circumstances. In this article, we will take a look at the Mexican variant of the Spanish language and outline the features that distinguish it from other variants and dialects.

Reasons for the emergence of Mexican Spanish

Mexico is home to many ancient civilizations, some of which still retain languages ​​and dialects. In addition, Mexico is the northernmost country in Central America, bordering the United States. These two circumstances have a strong influence on the Mexican version of the Spanish language. When the conquistadors, led by Fernando Cortez, conquer the southeastern territories of Mexico in the 16th century, they encounter hundreds of tribes, each of which speaks a local dialect with individual phonetic and grammatical features. The current sociopolitical situation in the country is directly related to the English language, which also influences the speech of Hispanic Mexicans.

Since the ancient languages ​​were the basis for the "introduction" of Spanish at all levels, and Spanish in Mexico comes into contact with English only phonetically and lexically, it is logical to consider the features of the Mexican version separately at each linguistic level in order to understand the Mexican features and where they come from. happen.

Phonetic level of the Mexican variant

Let's start with phonetic features common to Latin American countries. Due to the fact that Spanish did not develop on the American continent naturally, but was brought and introduced artificially, simplifications took place in it, which were common in all Latin American countries. The most important ones are:

fusion of sounds: interdental sound / θ / (letters c, z) and sound / s /, pronounced as / s /;
fusion of sounds: into a single / ʝ / (pronounced like Russian / y /), the semi-vowel / y / and the sound denoted by the fusion of consonants / ll / are merged.

In the scientific field, these phenomena are called seseo and yeismo... The result of such changes is the merging of words. casa(house) and caza(hunting), llanta(bus) and yanta(afternoon snack). However, this does not cause any difficulties in the Spanish understanding of the speech of Latin Americans.

The phonetic feature of the Mexican version, as we have already noted above, is sounds, borrowed from English, contact with which has been maintained in Mexico for several centuries. V big cities, as well as in the north of the country, Mexicans use the Americanized non-vibrating sound / r / instead of the Spanish sounds / r / and / rr /:
merging sounds into one borrowed one: / pe§o / instead of / pero / and instead of / perro /;

Thus, having arrived in Mexico and speaking Spanish with the local population, you will immediately feel (or rather hear) the closeness of the United States.

Another phonetic feature of Spanish Mexico is variety of intonations in the regions. They are studied by the special science of dialectology, since it comes about the various regional dialects of the Spanish language in Mexico associated with the dialects of the ancient Indians. When America was conquered by the Spaniards, the indigenous peoples adopted the new language, but assimilated it with the languages ​​of their ancestors, which is why Spanish sounds different in the south of Mexico, where the Mayan Indians lived, or in the north. It happens that northern Mexicans come to the south and hardly understand their compatriots, although here, most likely, lexical features play a greater role, which we will discuss below.

Morphology and grammar of the Mexican variant

It is believed that neither English nor Native American languages ​​have had a strong influence on the morphology of the Spanish language of Mexico. Despite this, we can talk about simplification changes in the Mexican version, associated with the fact of the artificial development of the Spanish language in Latin America. So, in the ancient Indian languages, there were many consonants (by the way, close to the Russian sounds / h /, / w /, / w /), due to which the difference in post-stressed vowels in the Mexican version ceased to be bright. If a Spaniard pronounces, pronouncing each vowel, the Mexican will say, "eating" the endings, as Americans "eat" the endings of English words:

vowel reduction: instead of ;

Another trend is related to creating analogies in verb conjugations... During the development of the Spanish language on the territory of Mexico, the final consonant / s / in the form of the 2nd person singular verb of the present tense (tu hablas) was consolidated in the same position in the simple past, whence the forms estuvistes, hablastes, etc.

making an analogy: instead of, instead of;

In connection with grammar, the features common to Latin America are also important:
using the Ustedes form instead of vosotros: “- ¿Adónde van? ¡Esperenme! "Instead of" - ¿Adónde vais? ¡Esperadme! ";
widespread simple past tense(Pretérito Perfecto Simple) and its widespread use instead of the composite past (Pretérito Perfecto Compuesto): "Hoy estuvimos en casa" instead of "Hoy hemos estado en casa";

These features do not distinguish the Spanish language of Mexico from variants of other Latin American countries, but are important due to the strong bias in Spanish Spanish norms.

Lexical features of the Mexican variant

The most striking features of Mexican Spanish are associated with the most mobile and changeable layer of the language - vocabulary... Here again, the influence of neighboring English and ancient Indian languages ​​is important. Mexico's Spanish vocabulary is full of borrowings from English:

shorts- shorts (instead of the Castilian pantalón corto);
rentar) - rent / rent (instead of Castilian alquilar);
checar (English check)- check, find out (instead of Castilian investigar);
lunch- afternoon tea, lunch (instead of Castilian almuerzo), etc.

Via Mexican to Spanish different countries a considerable number of indichenisms(indígena from Spanish - native, aboriginal):
Avocado, сhocolate, сhile etc.

Indian words associated with Mexican realities have survived only in the Mexican version:
Pozole(corn dish), jícara(painted bowl), turush(dishes of the Mayan tribes), etc.

At the same time, the colloquial speech of Mexicans is also rich in spontaneous innovations that are not associated with the influence of other languages. The most popular expressions in Mexico:

buey- analogue of the Spanish colloquial address tio: “Buey ¡espera!”;
¡A poco!- “Oh well!”, As a natural reaction to new information: “-La biblioteca está cerrada. - A poco buey, por qué estará cerrada a esta hora ";
¡No mames!- "oh well!", Similar to the previous expression: "¡No mames buey, como puede ser posible!"
¡A huevo!- analogue of the American colloquial exclamation "yes!", "Uhu!" (Russian colloquial “yuhu!”), used by Mexicans in joyful situations: “¡No hay clases mañana! ¡A huevo! ";
chin- the use of which coincides with the use of the Russian word "devil": "Chin, vamos a llegar tarde por el tráfico ..."

Such colloquial expressions, phrases, interjections and swear words develop uniquely in each country and for the youth of Latin American countries seem to be the most curious and significant in the context of linguistic self-determination or the definition of residents of other regions. Hispanics, like Spaniards, pride themselves on the colloquial features of their variant. So, when you are planning to go to Mexico, do not forget to learn a couple of such phrases in order to immediately make friends. ¡A huevo!

Text: Anastasia Lukyanova

The Spanish language in Latin America has its own distinctive features. We will consider only the most basic of them, since in each country in Latin America the variant of Spanish used is slightly different from the language of neighboring countries. So, for example, in the book "El Español de América"("Spanish in Latin America" ​​by John M. Lipski) 19 chapters are devoted to the individual characteristics of the Spanish language of each country - Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, etc.

Everyone knows that the Spanish conquerors reached the shores of Latin America at the end of the 15th century. Many of them were from Andalusia. This is why Spanish in Latin America most closely resembles the Andalusian dialect.

The colonialists began to spread the Spanish language in the conquered territory, but the local Indian languages ​​could not help but influence it. The words that entered the Spanish language from the Indian languages ​​are usually called indichenisms... First of all, these are words denoting household items, the names of animals, plants, words associated with the customs and beliefs of Indian tribes. For instance: chocolate, maíz, patata, tabaco(chocolate, corn, potatoes, tobacco). Some of these words have spread from Spanish to other languages. From the very beginning, the conquerors encountered unfamiliar flora and fauna, which differed from the flora and fauna in their native lands. In order to come up with names for unknown realities, in addition to Indichenisms, the natives of Castile, Extremadura and Andalusia also used the means of the Spanish language, trying to find similarities between the new and the familiar.

Originally Spanish words in Latin American countries sometimes have a slightly different meaning than in Spain itself, i.e. their meaning is transformed. So, for example, the word taimado in Spain it means "cunning, resourceful", and in Chile the same word means "stubborn, stubborn".

Let's consider the main distinctive features of the Spanish language in Latin America. They can be divided into 3 groups: lexical, morphosyntactic and phonetic.

Lexical features:

1. Different words found in Spain and Latin America have the same meaning:
   • Platicar(Latin Am.) - ( charlar) (Spanish) - to chat
   • Carro (coche) - car
   • Boleto (billete) - ticket
   • Manejar (conducir) - drive (e.g. car)
   • Lentes (gafas) - glasses
2. Words that are actively used in Latin America, which in Spain are considered archaisms:
   • Recordar (despertar) - wake up
   • Prieto (negro) - black
   • Frazada (manta) - a blanket
3. Borrowed words from English or words that arose under the influence in English in Lat. America:
   • Rentar (alquilar) - rent
   • Bife (chuleta) - cutlet
4. Borrowing words from Indian languages ​​(Indianisms):
   • Canoa- canoe
   • cacique- katsik
   • hule- elastic

Morphosyntactic features:

1. "Voseo"(use of the pronoun form "vos" instead of "tú"("you"))

   For instance: vos cantás (tú cantas)- "you sing", vos partís (tú partes)"you are going" vos sos (tú eres)"you are", vení (ven)"come here."
   Phenomenon "voseo" existed in Spain in the Middle Ages. Form "vos" was considered more formal and respectful than uniform "tú"... Contacting "tú" was dismissive. When did the respectful form of address arise? "vuestra merced"("Your Grace"), which then changed: vuesa merced> vusted> usted, forms "vos" and "tú" began to be used in the same sense, so one of them was superfluous. In Spain, the form spread "tú" (tuteo) and the form disappeared "vos"; but in most of Latin America, the form has been preserved "vos", but not "tú".

2. Lack of form "vosotros"

   The pronoun is never used in Latin American countries "vosotros / vosotras", is used instead "ustedes"... Thus, in the paradigm of verbal conjugation, there is no plural form of 2 persons ( cantáis, cantéis, cantabais ...) in all tenses and moods.

   There is also no unstressed pronoun form "os" : vos te marchás de aquí, marchate vos, etc.

3. Use of diminutive suffixes:

   Such forms are used more actively than in Spain, including with verbs.

   For instance:
   ahorita voy- I'm going now
   pueblo lindito- a beautiful village

4. Using emphatic constructions with a verb ser+ interrogative adverb:

   For instance:
   ¿Cuándo fue que llegaste? (por ¿cuándo llegaste?)- When did you come?
   ¿Dónde fue que lo viste? (por, ¿dónde lo viste?)-Where did you see that?

Phonetic features:

1. "seseo"(pronouncing "s" and "z" how "s").

   For instance:
   "sapato" instead of "zapato"- "boot"
   "Seseo" found in most of Latin America almost everywhere.

2. "yeísmo": Same pronunciation "ll" and "y".

   For instance:
   "pollo"(chicken) and "poyo"(bench).
   "yeísmo" observed on the Caribbean coast, in Mexico, Venezuela, most of Colombia and Peru, in the west of Ecuador, Chile, almost everywhere in Argentina and Uruguay.

3. Same pronunciation r / l at the end of a syllable or word (pronouncing "r" and "l" how / l /)

   For instance:
   amor- (love), suerte- (luck)
   This phenomenon occurs in parts of Puerto Rico, Panama, Colombia, the Ecuadorian coast, Venezuela and Argentina. In other zones, it may disappear altogether.

4. Aspiration or loss "s" at the end of a syllable or word (aspiration is most common):

   For instance:
   utterance "cajtañа" instead of "castaña", "las botas" - la "botas(boots), "esto" - e "to(it)

As we can see, the Spanish language in Latin America has its own individual characteristics... However, despite the differences, it still remains a single language. The preservation of this unity is facilitated by activities The Royal Spanish Language Academy, the Association of the Academies of the Spanish Language and the Cervantes Institute.

Natalia Shestakova

Despite the fact that Spaniards and Latin Americans generally understand each other well, Spanish in Latin America still has its own characteristic features, both in terms of phonetics, grammar, and vocabulary.

In addition, each "national version" of the Spanish language has its own nuances.

Our Spanish expert Natalya Volkova will tell you in detail about the difference between the variants of the language in Spain and Latin America.

1 Why are there differences

The reasons for this should be sought in the distant past, since the conquerors (conquistadors) from Spain, in particular from Andalusia, played a great influence on the appearance and development of the Spanish language on the Latin American continent. Together with religion (Catholicism), culture and traditions, they brought the Spanish language.

Indigenous languages ​​also influenced the formation of the Spanish language. For example, many Native American words have been used to denote household items, animals, plants and weather conditions that the Spaniards had not previously encountered on their native land.

2 Lexical features

The most significant changes have affected the Spanish language in terms of vocabulary. This linguistic aspect is the most mobile, but least of all succumbed to the influence of the classical Spanish language, since it developed independently and under the influence of the local languages ​​and dialects.

If pronunciation does not always interfere with understanding, then different meanings of words can complicate the life of a person who owns the classic version. Unknowingly, you can get into a funny situation!

Different words that have the same meaning

España	América latina
charlar - to chat	platicar - to chat
echar de menos - miss	extrañar - to miss
falda - skirt	pollera - skirt (in Spanish "chicken saleswoman")
gafas - glasses	anteojos - glasses (Spanish for "binoculars")
jersey - sweater	suéter - sweater
ordenador - computer	computadora - computer
ascensor - elevator	elevador - elevator (Spanish for "elevator")
alquilar - rent / rent	rentar - rent / rent
tonto - stupid	pendejo - stupid
dinero - money	plata - money
¡Que bien! - How good!	¡Que padre! - How good! (México)
¡Genial! - Cool! Cool!	¡Chévere! - Cool! / Cool! (Venezuela)
hermoso - beautiful	lindo - beautiful
ponerse de pie - get on your feet (get up)	pararse - to stand up (in Spanish "to stop")
acabar de - just do something	recién + verbo indefinido - just do something

The vocabulary of Spanish words is very different from Castilian, due to the preservation more archaisms that can no longer be found in the modern colloquial speech of the Spaniards, as well as Americanisms that the Spaniards are reluctant to admit into their speech.

• Borrowings from native languages: (taíno, náhuatl, kechua, etc.): maíz - corn, chocolate - chocolate, huracán - hurricane, tiburón - shark, papa - potatoes, guajira - basket, chacra - farm, batata - sweet potatoes, aguacate - avocado, cacao - cocoa, canoa - canoe, tiza - chalk.
• You can often observe the replacement of the adverbs "aquí" with "acá" and "allí" on "allá".
• Adverb "no más", often together "nomás", very popular and serves to reinforce the previous word: ahorita nomás levántate - "Get up now!"

3 Phonetic differences between languages

The Spanish language in the countries of Latin America has small pronunciation peculiarities, very similar to the Andalusian dialect (after all, as it is already known, a large percentage of the conquerors came from this part of Spain).

As for the vowels, they are in most cases pronounced, as in the Spanish language of Spain, but the most significant changes are observed in the pronunciation of consonants.

1. One can often observe in speech a simplification of the diphthong in the Rioplat zone: quieto (quiet) goes into queto, tiempo (time) at tempo, tú piensas (you think) in vos pensás.
2. Quite often in spoken language there is a transition o -> u: t o davía (still) -> t u avía.
3. Another common phenomenon is the transition of non-impact e-> i: tú abr e s - you open -> vos abr i s, tú com e s (you eat) -> vos com i s.
4. Phenomenon " seseo ", when s, z, c = s, typical for all of Latin America: sins (c) ero - sincere, s (c) iudad - city, entons (c) es - then.
5. There are zones, especially Países de la Plata, that preserve "ll - castellano". However, the phenomenon "yeísmo" is widespread - when the sound "ll" is pronounced " y "(th), for example, caballo -> caba yo... This phenomenon is especially common in the northern part of Argentina. Along with him, there is also "zeísmo" - when "ll" pronounced like a sound "j", for example, in the word - calle (street) -> catze.
6. Weakening can often be observed "s" aspirate sound "h" and even its complete disappearance at the end of a word / syllable, as in the words este (this) -> e h te, mosca (fly) -> mo h ca, además (also) -> ademá, me gusta (I like) -> me guta.
7. Aspirated "h" often identified with sound "j"(Russian "x") especially in the verb - huir (to run away) -> juir;
8. Often "f" goes into "j", especially in combination of letters "fu": fuego (fire) -> juego, fuerte (strong) -> juerte.
9. Mixing sounds "r" and "l"(at the end of a syllable) - when "r" is pronounced like "l" and vice versa. The word golpe (punch) -> reads like gorpe, puerta (door) -> puelta.
10. Typical for the whole of Latin America is the loss of the inter-vowel letter "r", therefore the preposition "para" will look like this: pa -> p ’: vente pa'ca- go here.
11. Frequent stress transfer: país (country) -> páis, maíz (corn) -> máiz. Of two adjacent vowels, the stress falls on the strong: paraíso (paradise) -> paráiso, caído (fallen) -> cáido.

4 Word formation

For Latin America in the field of word formation, an abundance of diminutive suffixes is very characteristic "mismito" from "mismo", "igualito" from "igual", "ahorita" from "ahora".

Hispanics are much more resourceful than Spaniards in creating new words and verbs. While the Spaniards use multiple words or verb constructions, the Latin American continent is inventing one word to describe these actions and things.

Examples: estar en una reunión -> sesionar- to be in a meeting, tocar el timbre (de la puerta) -> timbrar- knock on the door, bailar el tango -> tangear- dance tango, responsable por las relaciones públicas -> relacionista - responsible for public relations.

5 Grammatical and syntactic differences

1. One of the most significant grammatical phenomena of the Spanish language of the Latin American version is " voceo "- this is the use of a personal pronoun "vos" instead of "tú". Used to address both children and adults.
2. Complete lack of personal pronoun "vosotros", the form is used instead "ustedes".¡Escuchad! (Listen!) -> ¡Escuchan!
3. Some nouns have the opposite gender than in classical Spanish: la llamada (bell) -> el llamado, el color (color) -> la color. This is not surprising at all, since this characteristic Andalusian dialect, and the origins of this manifestation come from the Old Spanish language, because in those days many nouns did not have a fixed gender and were used with both.
4. Phenomenon "loísmo" - pronoun use "lo"(acusativo) instead of "le", "les" not only for objects, but also for persons, has received a wider and more free distribution than in Spain: le veo -> lo veo(I can see him).
5. Verbs also have some changes in the present tense in the second person singular: tú tienes -> vos tenés(you have), tú haces -> vos hacés(you do), tú eres -> vos sos(you are). Ejemplo: ¿Vos tenés una computadora?
6. The use of verbs of movement is mainly reflexive: venir (to come) -> venir se, entrar (enter) -> entrar se.
7. Preference for using the temporary form Pretérito Indefinido(yo dije - I said) instead of Pretérito Perfecto(yo he dicho - I said), as in the north of Spain.
8. Freer use of the adverb "recién". Unlike in Spain, where it defines the participle and precedes it (recién nacido / recién llegado), it can define any part of speech -> recién me compré el suéter- I just bought myself a sweater.

These are all the main differences between the Spanish language of Latin American countries, from the classical version, which is spoken in Spain.

Knowing in advance all the features of the "Latin American version", you will be able to travel and communicate freely even with such subtleties and differences between the language versions.

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Differences between Spanish from Latin America and Spain

We are often asked about the differences between Spanish spoken in Spain and Latin America. However, even if there are slight differences in the types of Spanish, it is necessary to emphasize the fact that all Spanish speakers understand each other, no matter where they come from: from Cadiz or Cusco, Salamanca or Buenos Aires.

As mentioned above, there are differences between Spanish from Spain and Latin America. There are even subtypes of Spanish depending on the regions of Latin America or Spain!

First, let's think about the origin of the name of the language itself. In Latin America, it is often called Castilian (after the Castile region) instead of Spanish. At the same time, in some regions of Spain, where other languages ​​are also spoken, such as Galician and Catalan, Spanish is considered the official language.

Why are there differences?

When the Spanish conquistadors traveled around the world with the aim of spreading "Catholicism" in exchange for precious metals, they carried with them the language, which later underwent changes in their homeland.

A linguist named Marquardt coined the term "retraso colonial" or "colonial delay" to describe the phenomenon in which the language in colonial countries remained unchanged from the language in its country of origin. An example is the use of the word "Fall" in the US and "Autumn" in the UK. When British colonists traveled to the United States, "Fall" was more common than the Latin version of British English. Some time later, the word "fall" became obsolete in the UK, but it still continues to be used in the United States. This process takes place not only with the vocabulary of the language, but also in grammar.

Later, groups of immigrants from different parts Europeans brought their linguistic traditions to Latin America. In turn, these groups encountered local linguistic characteristics, which combined to create local dialects.

Pronoun vos

The colonies were formed by groups of Spaniards from different regions of Spain. In addition, they all spoke the howling dialect itself, which was passed on to the colonies. Over time, due to the limited connection with Spain (it took several centuries to invent the telephone), the language began to develop and acquire the characteristics of local colonists. Some elements of the imported "original" Spanish have been preserved, others have changed.

One notable example of this process is the use of the pronoun vos, especially in Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay. Originally, vos was a plural second person pronoun ("you"), but it came to be used as a polite address in the second person singular ("you"), and then as an address among close friends ("you"). This pronoun was widely used in Spain when the language came to South America. However, after a while, it went out of the use of the Spanish language, but still remained popular among the inhabitants of the Rio de la Plata. Today, as well as 150 years ago, in a noisy café in Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay or Uruguay, for example, you hear more often “¿de dónde sos?” instead of “¿de dónde eres?” (where are you from?)

The use of vos and its various forms of conjugation in some places in Latin America is gaining in popularity due to its use among small groups of people in Bolivia, Chile, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Costa Rica.

It is important to emphasize that both forms of the pronoun tú or vos (you) will be understood by Hispanic people around the world. Choosing one pronoun or the other will only indicate your country of origin or Spanish study.

You are ustedes

Another difference between Spanish in Latin America is instead of the pronoun vosotros (you, plural, informal) use of the form ustedes (more formal). This means that when visiting Spain, students must remember one more form of the verb conjugation.

For example, in Spain, you might say, ¿Cuál fue la última película que visteis? (what was the last movie you watched) to your friends, but you will probably tell your grandparents ¿Cuál fue la última película que vieron? (What was the last movie you saw?) In Latin America, the second form is used in both cases.

Ustedes (you) is also used in the Canary Islands. Only the Balearic Islands and Spain use vosotros (you). If you only use the Latin American version, you will be perfectly understood in Spain too. And they will even consider you very polite!

Special words

Computadora (computer in Latin America) - ordenador (computer in Spain)

The vast majority of Spanish words are universal. But there is also special cases, for example: teléfono móvil / celular (mobile phone) and ordenador / computadorа (computer), in which the second word is taken from Latin American Spanish. There are also many other words that are used in different ways depending on the dialect. For example, in Spain they say bolígrafo (pen), in Chile lápaz pasta, in Argentina lapicera, and so on.

In general, the difference in vocabulary is no greater than that between British and American English.

However: some words are best used with care. For example, in Spain, the verb coger means to take, to catch, to bring. In Latin America, coger is a colloquial term often used to describe ... an act of love.

Pronunciation

The biggest differences in Spanish are pronunciation, but even they are not that fundamental. For example, in many parts of Central America, the letter s is not always pronounced at the end of a word, and some other syllables may be omitted. In Argentina, the double l (ll), which is usually pronounced ya, has a sh sound.

Perhaps the most significant difference between pronunciation in Spain and Latin America is the concept of ceceo (interdental pronunciation), which is common in Madrid and other parts of Spain. According to legend, this manner of pronunciation was copied by the Spanish nobility from King Fernando. As is often the case, the legend remains only one of the guesses. Another explanation for this may be the origin of these sounds from ancient Castilian.

However, this does not explain why these elements of pronunciation did not come to the colonies. Not all changes in the language lend themselves to logic ... the same as in the English language.

Naturally, you will absorb the accent of the region in which you are studying Spanish, but this will absolutely not be a problem for mutual understanding. We all have our own pronunciation patterns, and they can't get any better or worse! If you acquire a special accent while learning Spanish or any other language, it becomes part of your personality and reflects your experience and lifestyle. Which Spanish is the best to learn: from Spain or Latin America?

Some people believe that Spanish is the purest and most beautiful in Colombia. Others say that Spanish is the sexiest in Argentina. And still others believe that Spanish in Madrid is the most correct, because it is there that the center of the Royal Academy of the Spanish language is located. Therefore, when choosing a place to study Spanish, you need to consider where you would like to live, what places to visit and, of course, your budget. ... Rest assured that any variant of the Spanish language you speak will be understood throughout the Spanish-speaking world.