Which dialect is better for a U.S. citizen to learn? Latin American Spanish or Spain Spanish?

7 Comments

1. Soleil says:

   November 22, 2009 at 6:00 am

   There are no significant differences between Castillan Spanish and Latin American Spanish. The accents and a few words are different but not to the extent that it would prevent understanding. If you are learning with a Latin American teacher, you will pick up your teacher’s accent. Buena suerte!
2. x3kahwristee says:

   November 22, 2009 at 6:00 am

   your right. i think that is more europe.
3. Sweet P says:

   November 22, 2009 at 6:00 am

   which specific latin american spanish? there are many diferences
   i would sugest mexican spanish…it’s the most spoken
   mexican, spanish and argentinean spanish all havfe different verb conjucations
4. John R says:

   November 22, 2009 at 6:00 am

   The difference is only elemental, only words, not phrase structure or gramatical rearrangement. I.E.; mexico calls "elote" to what spaniards call "maiz" (corn cob). All LA countries have different words for same things. If you go to Chile, you probbably will have to ‘learn’ a few new words, but it is no really a problem. My best bet is try to learn the ‘mexican’ spanish. Mexican have added mixed-up words and are being used in parts of the US, i.e.: laundromat (eng) = lavanderia (spa), but only in Texas they call it "washateria", a mix of wash (lavar,spa) and "teria" (??? only God knows what) I did not know it myself!!
5. Polyglot Wannabe says:

   November 22, 2009 at 6:00 am

   I have done some volunteer work with migrants, and believe me, the Latin American dialect is more useful. You will find that the lower the class of the person you are speaking with, the less likely they are to understand another dialect from their own. A good example of this is American and British English. Some people in America find it difficult to understand our British cousins. It is the same way with those from Latin America and Spain.
   You are right about Castillian (the word used to describe Spanish spoken in Spain) being more for Europeans.
   By the way, one dialect is not more correct than others. While our teachers would have us think otherwise, a true linguist knows better. Also, the others are correct in that you will have to learn different words for different countries. It all depends on where the majority of the people you are going to have contact with come from.
6. Jolie_Princesse_Hell says:

   November 22, 2009 at 6:00 am

   Yeah,true. If you’re going to live in europe then learn spanish from Spain,but if you’re staying in Amercia’s coninent then latin american english is better for you to learn.
7. Stay Gold says:

   November 22, 2009 at 6:00 am

   To be honest, I would strongly recommend learning a bit from both variants. Although you might prefer to pick up one accent instead of the other it would be helpful to learn about differences between the variants. Additionally, it’s worth noting that there are several differences between Spanish spoken within Latin America. For example my Argentine friend refers to an automobile as "coche" however my friends from Mexico typically use "carro". So it’s not fair to say that LA Spanish is one specific dialect.
   Since you do live in the U.S. I would suggest learning Spanish from a Latin American country first but wants you feel more comfortable in the language try listening to Spaniard Spanish as well as Spanish from other LA countries so you can learn about differences in pronunciation and word usage.
   Good luck