For someone who knows the various regional Latin American Spanish ‘accents’?
How would you best classify the varieties or styles of speaking Spanish In the Western Hemisphere, i.e., would it be Caribbean (or would you separate by specific countries like PR and DR/RD, Central American, Latin American. Would you distinguish the Spanish spoken by Argentinians separately? Distinguish the way Mexicans speak Spanish from other countries in Latin America?
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Well, we, Puerto Ricans ,are loud and cut letters at the end of the words, Mexicans speak like singing, Argentinians speak like in Italian, Colombians use the "usted" word, that’s the formal way to say you in Spanish, a lot, even with little kids.
We all have something, but that’s what gives us a good taste to the Spanish language.
Ever country has their own way of speaking and then there, some countries have varies accents/dialects depending on where they are from.
For example, in Mexico, they have those from:
Frontera (the border)
D.F. (Which is Mexico City, and they speak a little more educated-ly)
Tijuana
and then of course, just general "north" & "south"
PR and DR spanish are different as well and Argentinians don’t speak the same as Chileans or Columbians or even Guatemalans.
Each country has it’s own words and influences as well as dialects and slang. One can almost always tell where another is from just from the way they speak and what sort of words they use.
- Caribbean (Puerto Rican, Cuban, Dominican) -
To generalize (which I hate to do), speakers of this variety of Spanish almost always do not pronounce the "s" in the middle and at the end of a word. In Puerto Rico, R can quite often be pronounced as an L. "-ado" and "-ada" endings are usually pronounced "-ao" and "-aa".
- River Plate Spanish (Argentine & Uruguayan)
Quite melodic, almost sounds like Italian. "ll" and "y" are pronounced either like "zh" as in "pleaSUre" or "sh" in "shoes". The second personal singular informal is "vos", not "tú" – "vos" has its own ways of conjugations but they’re pretty easy to master, should you need this dialect.
- Mexican -
Everything is pronounced clearly.
Vowels have a tendency to be weak (sometimes stretched with nasal qualities) but consonants are fully and crisply (lol) pronounced. Quite rich in their national and regional vocabulary, expressions, slangs, etc. The most widely spoken variety of Spanish.
- Castilian (European) -
This depends on the region, however, generally "j" and "ge/gi" combinations have a "ch" sound as in the German word "ich". Also, "z" and "ce/ci" combinations sound like the "th" in the English word "teeth". Even the letter T has tendency to be pronounced with the tip of your tongue a little curled up towards the roof of your mouth – this is so much easier to do than to try to describe it. lol
Each country (and region in the country) has a different style and pronunciation.
Argentineans and Uruguayans for words with Y and LL, say like SH. For Example: Yo soy ….. They say Sho soy. It´s really easy to tell when someone is Argentinean or Uruguayan. They use Vos also.
People from the Caribbean (PR, DR, and Cuba) Generally speak faster and leave off ¨S¨ at the end of words sometimes.
You can tell when Mexicans and Guatemalans speak also. I think they speak a little slower than what I´m used to.
Many central Americans also use Vos.
It also depends which words they use to communicate. Sometimes I can just tell where they are from by which words they use. For example when someone says "Andale" I immediately think they’re Mexican, although I don’t know if Guatemalans use that word also.