Comments on: Why do Spanish speaking people say they can’t understand Mexican speaking people and vica versa ?

By: Fleck

Fleck — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:14:02 +0000

Simple. Because Spanish speakers who grow up here have actually destroyed the real Spanish. So often they literally translate the way you say things in English into Spanish. Also since they usually learn it at home, they have tons of grammatical mistakes (written and speaking). It sounds like another language….its sad to see how even some Spanish radio/TV hosts speak it like they did not even went to elementary school…..

To give you an idea, in Spanish to ask for your age we literally say : how many years do you have ? instead of how old are you…..Would you like to hear any English speaker ask you that way ? Tha’s what they do with spanish…

By: Kenny

Kenny — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:14:02 +0000

That’s odd i would think that if the two groups spoke the same language that they would be able to understand one another. Are you sure they speak Spanish? If they do it may have something to do with the pronunciation of different words and/or accents, but other than that i cant see why these two people cant understand one another.

By: Nedspeak

Nedspeak — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:14:02 +0000

American Spanish is slang for European Spanish.

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:14:02 +0000

It’s really not true. Whoever said that probably just wants to differentiate themselves.
In practical sense the differences would be no more than english spoken in California and Ireland.

By: flamingmaple369

flamingmaple369 — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:14:02 +0000

I guess they’re kind of like different dialects, so if you had two different groups of people, they would probably start pronouncing things differently and make up some of their own words and slang.

By: Antonio

Antonio — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:14:02 +0000

I think that maybe them people dont speak the best of the spanish or they were not raised on the spanish. Why do i say that?
Because i practise spanish and I can understand mexican spanish good but when i listen to the univision television station sometimes i cant understand some things they say because they seem to use words i havnt heard of and maybe have a little different accent.
So i think its because of different words and accents and i think that them people you are talking about might not speak the best spanish themselves is some of the reason why they dont understand it.
Somebody who speaks the best of spanish might would understand cuban spanish though.

By: TexHabsfan

TexHabsfan — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:14:02 +0000

My grandparents used to live in Mesilla + Las Cruces so I understand your question.

Spanish speaking people born in NM are typically Chicano (from a Mexican family but with roots on the US side) or from "spanish" families who have lived there since before the Mexican-American war. Either way both groups often relate better to the U.S. than to Mexico, and are often snobby when it comes to their neighbors south of the border.

Excellent point Fleck, many US raised latinos use spanglish in which they make a half-a*s effort to speak spanish but often use english grammar + sentence structure when doing so.

By: mollymcbutter

mollymcbutter — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:14:02 +0000

it’s a different dialect. like you have trouble understanding some british english vs. american english vs. australian english vs. canadian, etc. obviously you understand the basics but there are some terms/phrases/sentences that can get complicated

By: Manny

Manny — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:14:02 +0000

Well you see, even though im Mexican i sometimes find it hard to understand other Mexicans. Not all of us speak the same way even though it is tecnically the same language.

It varies from every city, region, state, country and so on. We have different slang words and accents.

Now in an utopical situation where we are all very well educated, we should understand each other. Missunderstandings usually happen when someone starts using a lot of slang terms in places where people are not familiar with them.

By: Boli Loquita

Boli Loquita — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:14:02 +0000

Do you always understand English, Irish, Scottish people? Do they not have their own variations?

Sometimes when I speak in Spanish to my Mexican boyfriend, my dialect and accent throw him off. Especially with my LL/Y pronunciations.

It differs between each Latin nation.