What Tarifa Spanish language lessons will teach you about Spanish Dialects?

Posted by Sofia Quintana on February 13, 2016 · 4 mins read

Learning Spanish is a great help especially for travellers to Spain, Portugal, Mexico, and other Spanish speaking countries. It is great news that Spanish language crowd is the third biggest in the World, but is Spanish spoken in Spain the same as it is spoken in the countries of Latin America. The answer is no. Like all the other languages, Spanish also has many different forms or dialects, each dialect depends on the location of the people, and their history as it changes with time. People living in Spain talk a different form of Spain than those living in Latin American countries. Today, you will learn about the differences in the Spanish language spoken in different countries of the World. In addition, you will learn the reason why one aspect of the language spoken in a certain location is different from the language spoken in other parts of the World.

Spanish dialects and their basic differences

People already know that the Spanish spoken in Spain is different from that spoken in Mexico or Latin American countries. Not only that, the Spanish spoken in Madrid City might have a different version to that spoken in any other city of Spain such as Andalucia. Castilla and León.

What are Spanish Dialects?

There are many different versions of Spanish language, such as Castilian Spanish, Hispanic, Spanish of Americas. In the next headings, people will learn about a few versions or dialects of the Spanish language.

These are the Spanish dialects based on the location of Spanish speaking countries.

  1. Hispanic American Spanish

    People who speak Hispanic American Spanish are mostly found in Mexico, and the United States, especially in the state of New Mexico. Caribbean countries such as Cuba, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, and Dominic Republic also have the same Hispanic American version of the Spanish language.

  2. Castilian Spanish

    It is the European version of the Spanish language which is spoken in Spain and the neighbouring countries such as Portugal, Morocco, and France.

  3. Peninsular Spanish

    Peninsular Spanish is the dialect that is mostly spoken in the Iberian Peninsula. Mostly in Spain, Portugal and some parts of France.

  4. Andalusian Spanish

    Andalusian Spanish is mostly spoken in Andalusia, Ceuta, Melilla, and Gibraltar, a British colony.

  5. Canarian Spanish

    People of Canary Islands, Spanish oversea territories, speak this dialect of the Spanish language.

  6. Equatoguinean Spanish

    This dialect represents the language of Spanish-African people living in Cameroon, Morocco, and other different countries of Africa.

Differences in the Spanish Dialects

There are not many differences in Spanish dialects. If you are a fluent and regular Spanish speaker, you can understand the differences. However, for a newbie, understanding differences in Spanish language would be difficult to comprehend.

Second Person Singular vs Second person plural

In the countries of Southern America, i.e. Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay, “vos” is used to call an elder friend or elderly person in the family. It is a second-person singular pronoun that is used as a formal way of addressing other people.

Latin American Ustedes

People speaking Latin American Spanish use Ustedes instead of Vosotros to address second person plural (you informal).

Vocabulary difference

Yes, there are some vocabulary differences in the Latin American Spanish to that of the Spanish spoken in Spain. For example, ordenador is use for laptop in Andalusian Spanish, and computadora is use in Latin American Spain. Similarly telefono vs cellular for each of these two dialects.

Summary

There are many other differences in these variants/dialects of the Spanish Language. People can learn about these variants if they take Tarifa Spanish language lessons. For more information about the lessons,please visit our website.