Spanish can be a complex language. Not because of its difficulty, but because of its variety. This language is officially spoken in 21 countries across the globe, but mostly in Latin America. However, all 21 countries don’t speak the same Spanish. I would say that they speak different “variations of Spanish”. It’s a great idea to learn Spanish, but the question remains, which type of Spanish accents are best to learn from scratch?
We’ve taken the time to look at the small differences between the Spanish spoken in Spain and those of the different parts of Latin America to try to answer this question. ¡Vamos!
Which Type of Spanish Accents is Best to Learn From Scratch?
Spanish is a language that is spoken officially in 21 countries across the world; however, it has different versions. So to answer this question, we need to look at the differences between the Spanish spoken in Spain and the different versions of Spanish spoken across Latin America.
One Language, Different Versions
The are some differences between the Spanish spoken in Spain and the one spoken in Latin America. Nothing surprising about that; after all, they are separated by a huge ocean. But there are also differences between countries in Latin America and, many times, within the same countries!
But why do all these countries speak a different kind of Spanish?
When the colonials arrived in Latin America, they took their language with them, which was still developing in Spain. There was thus this lag—Marckwardt coined the term “colonial lag” to describe this phenomenon— between the language spoken in colonies and the evolution of Spanish in its country of origin, Spain. This was a process which concerns both the vocabulary and the grammar. Add to this the variations in dialects each colonies brought, and you end up with, not one coherent language, but many variations of it. Spanish was still evolving in its country of origin, but it was also doing so within colonies. Some elements of “old Spanish” have been preserved, but many have since been lost. Each colony had its own evolution, especially due to a lack of communication with Spain.
What are the differences between the different type of Spanish accents?
It would be difficult to write ALL the differences between ALL the Spanish-speaking countries. But here are the main ones:
- The use of “vos” in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay. These three countries use the vos form for the second person (singular you), the other Spanish-speaking countries use tu. To give a similar example in English, this is something we used to have ourselves because, although saying thou seems formal (and archaic), you was actually the formal form and thou was informal. The only difference is that no other country uses thou, but I’m sure you can imagine what it would be like, if one did.
- Likewise, these countries do not use the plural form of vos, which is vosotros. They prefer to use a more polite form (to the rest of Spanish-speaking countries) to talk to a group of people, which is ustedes. In Spain, using ustedes to speak to a group of people is still viewed as being polite to them. You would just use vosotros to speak to your friends, and usteded to speak to your in-laws or superiors. In Argentina, there are no difference.
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The famous Argentinian empanadas!The pronunciation! Probably the hardest thing to grasp when going for a trip, and I’m speaking from experience, of course. There are many differences in pronunciation between the Spanish from Spain and the one from Latin America and, once more, between different regions of Latin America. I could give as an example the Argentinian ll, pronounced in all other Spanish-speaking countries as “y” (as in yellow), but it is pronounced “sh” in Argentina. Meaning that when I wanted to order some chicken (which is pronounced poyo everywhere else), it took a few minutes for the waiter to understand what I meant by “poyo”, finally, she let out a loud “aaaahhh! POSHO!”. Yeah, pollo is pronounced “posho” in Argentina. And saying Yo me llamo is said “sho me shamo”. Another example: many countries, such as Chile, don’t pronounce the “s” at the end of the last words in a phrase. Quiero mas is thus said “quiero ma“.
The famous Argentinian empanadas!- The overall vocabulary. I obviously can’t list all the different words between the Spanish from Spain and Latin American Spanish. But you should know that many words change from one country to another: whether it’s the difference between Spain and Latin America, or different countries in Latin Amreica.
To give you an example, a pen is called boligrafo in Spain, lapiz in Chile and lapicera in Argentina… It’s the same when speaking about food. Take a look at this video.
Some words are simply different, and others have a completely different meaning from one country to the other. For example, fresa is the word used to refer to a strawberry in most Spanish-speaking countries, except in Argentina—as seen in the video—where they use the word frutilla. In Mexico, however, fresa is a young, arrogant person who is superficial and vain. A pejorative term; not what I usually associate strawberries with!
So, Which Type of Spanish Accent is Best?
I met an American in Latin America who had taken Spanish lessons in Argentina. The result was that he spoke with the famous Argentinian “sh”. Nevertheless, despite this small accent, all Spanish speakers could understand him. They all knew he’d learned Spanish in Argentina, but they understood him; and that’s all that matters! If you speak Spanish using vos, you might be seen someone who is overly polite, but what’s important is for you to be understood.
Whichever country you go to in order to learn Spanish, you’ll end up having its accent (at least partially), but this won’t stop you from being understood in other countries. As long as you have the basics of the language, meaning that you know the right phrase order, some vocabulary, some grammar rules and know how to conjugate, you’ll be understood wherever.
International Latin American TV stations use a “neutral” Spanish which is understood in every country. The pronunciation is clear, and regional words and expressions aren’t used.
So what Spanish accent should you learn?
I’d say, whichever you want or need to learn. If you want to go to Erasmus in Spain, then learn Spanish from Spain. If you’d like to go for a trip in Colombia, then you should probably go for a neutral Latin American variation. In both cases, you’ll be understood wherever you go. What’s important is to learn the basics of Spanish, a neutral version, in order to be understood everywhere. And, later, when you are abroad and meeting new people, you’ll learn which type of Spanish accents are for you, along with specific vocabulary…
The MosaLingua app uses one of the most neutral versions of Spanish.
This pronunciation is from Latin America: it is clear and has simple intonations.
However, whenever there are important difference between Latin American Spanish and Spanish from Spain you should know, the variations are indicated (e.g. computer = computadora in Latin America, and ordenador in Spain).
Learning Spanish with our app means you’ll be learning a Spanish that is easily understood in all Spanish-speaking countries. It’s up to you, when abroad and meeting new people, to interpret their Spanish and to adjust yours accordingly.
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Very interesting article about Spanish and Latin-American accents!
In recent years (2019 to 2022) I was taking intermediate-level Spanish courses at Central Technical school in Toronto. Our teacher, a native of the city of Medellin, Colombia, near the Andes mountains. In her part of Latin America, people don’t speak Spanish too fast – they speak it slower. Maybe it has to do with the lifestyle of the Andes; it’s slower paced, not so rat-race.
This slower-paced Andean Spanish made the lessons easier for the students to follow and take in.
One thing that surprised us students taking these Spanish courses is when it came to conjugating verbs, the “vosotros” (plural of “tu”) form was included.
It’s believed that the Colombian accent and dialect is among the purest.
Enjoyed the article and subsequent debate! My girlfriend is Bolivian and they use the vos form for people extremely close them. Unsurprisingly, it is more common in the Eastern parts closer to Argentina.
Also I think you mean pejorative (insulting) instead of prerogative (right) 🙂
Hi James.
I’m glad you enjoyed both the articles and comments 🙂
It is interesting how words can be understood and used so differently in different cultures!
You’re right about pejorative. Thanks for pointing it out!
We’ve changed this.
Hello,
I am a Spaniard plus Spanish teacher for several years (specialized in Linguistics). Totally agree with the two comments above. In Spain we talked about “castellano” and never “español”, Rubén explained pretty well the reason why. It is really ridiculous that Mosalingua answers to his comment with a simple “we really appreciate when users point out mistakes, even if we do not agree with you. As it is from our experience, generally, Spaniards refer to their language more as “Español” while LATAM speakers mostly choose “Castellano”.”
It is not about agreeing, is about facts. I am a native Spanish, who lived in different cities in Spain and I am in contact with teachers and not teachers around Spain. That is my first hand experience. I also known center and south american who told me their refr to “castellano” as well. Could you please specify where did you get your experience from?
Thanks for your input.
We do have 3 Spanish persons in our team and 2 from LATAM we asked before replying to the last comments, so we are fairly certain the article is correct.
However, we understand that this is a controversial topic.
It is our position and understanding that in Spain both terms might be used, although, and this does depend on who you ask, they say Castellano when talking with Spaniards (for example, at school, the Lengua Castellana is studied) and español when talking with people from LATAM or other countries.
Here is what two academies have to say about this:
According to the RAE (Real Academia Española) we can use both terms in Spain:
“Para designar la lengua común de España y de muchas naciones de América,… son válidos los términos castellano y español.”
Which translates as “To design the common language of Spain and many nations in America… castellano and expañol are valid”.
A LATAM academy, The Academia de las Lenguas de Argentina, says:
En el uso general las denominaciones «castellano» y «español» son equivalentes.”
Which means “Generally, the denominations ‘castellano’ and ‘español’ are the same”
It then goes on to say how the former is better to refer to the dialect from Castilla, and the latter to mean the language spoken by all countries.
Nonetheless, and as mentioned above, this is somewhat controversial, so we understand the messages we’ve received about this 🙂
Thanks again for your input!
I’d agree with what Ruben said in that please take this article with a grain of salt. This article seems to be skewed a bit toward Argentines in my opinion. I’ve really only heard Spanish being referred to as Castellano in Argentina and Uruguay and in certain parts of Spain, but I haven’t heard it anywhere else in Latin America.
As well, “vos” is not the formal version of you. That would be “usted.” Vos is the exact same as tú in terms of context, obviously with vos you conjugate verbs differently (although it’s much easier in my opinion). Context for using vos/tú versus usted all depends on the country. Argentina, for example, you would never use usted. However, in Cali in Colombia, for example, you only use usted. It all depends on the region.
Also, I would probably specify that the MosaLingua app uses the accent from Bogotá. While all Spanish speaking countries have a multitude of accents, I would note that Colombia has an even more diverse array of accents in my opinion. The accent in Bogotá is quite different from the accent in Medellín or Cali for example.
Another picky detail, is I would say the “y” sound is not used in all countries but Argentina/Uruguay. Yes, Argentina and Uruguay are the only countries to use the “sh” sound, but not all other countries use the “y” sound. In Chile, for example, they often use a “zh” sound (although I would not recommend learning Spanish in Chile as our accent is a bit of an anomaly). Many areas of Colombia and Venezuela use a “j” sound instead. Again, the y and ll are all dependent on the region.
I also don’t think I would refer to Colombian Spanish as “the most beautiful” since that is all dependent on who you ask. Most Colombians definitely have a very clear Spanish, but that means it’s easy to understand, not necessarily the “most beautiful.” Personally, I think the three countries with the clearest accents are Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela. If you talk about the most beautiful accents, I’m obligated to say my accent, the Chilean accent, is the most beautiful (but every other Spanish speaker outside of Chile would say ours is the worst), but I also love the Cuban and Dominican accents.
Just some nit picky details. I apologize if I have any mistakes in here. English is my third language (after Spanish and Portuguese), and I’m still learning it (as I’m Chilean but recently moved to USA for university).
Hello,
Thank you for your input on this.
Here’s our answer point by point:
– The article does talk a lot about the Argentinian accent. Mathilde, who is the author of the article, was mostly writing from her experience. We don’t think it’s something that should be changed
– A quick search on the internet shows that Castellano is used in more than these two countries. Here’s an example https://moverdb.com/castellano-vs-espanol/
– We have rectified the information about the use of voseos. Thank you for pointing this out.
– According to Wikipedia’s article on voseo, the geographical distribution can be split into three categories:
Countries where voseo is predominant:
Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica
Countries where both forms are used:
Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Venezuela
Countries where vos is practically out of use:
Spain, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Peru, Cuba
– We’ve also changed the information on which specific accent we use in the app. Well spotted: we used Bogota accent because it’s the most neutral version and after studying a lot about the subject it seems one of the easiest accent to understand overall in the whole world.
– For the Y sound, we only gave Argentinian as an example, we never said this is the only variation.
– Yes, the word beautiful is very subjective to a person’s tastes.. That’s why we gave our reason as to why we said this. We don’t think it should be out though, as whenever anyone someone says something is beautiful, it’s implied that it is that person’s point of view. If not, you would never be able to use that word 🙂
Thank you again for pointing these things out, and well done for your English!
So much wrong with this article. Please don’t take it seriously becuase it just extremely superficially explains some differences withim the Spanish language and most of them are not even explained correctly.
E.g. in Spain it is called “Castellano” not español. This should be quite obvious for anyone interested in the language since “Castellano” refers to the language of the main, biggest and politically (in the past) most important provinces of Spain: “Castilly y Leon” and “Castille la Mancha”.
There are many more errors in this article so please take it with a grain of salt.
Hello,
Thanks for your comment – we really appreciate when users point out mistakes, even if we do not agree with you. As it is from our experience, generally, Spaniards refer to their language more as “Español” while LATAM speakers mostly choose “Castellano”.
As for any other mistakes, do let us know, and we’ll be happy to change them!
Thanks again for your message!
Being a Spanish speaker myself from Venezuela (that has lived in Spain for over a decade) I can’t stress on how important the points Mathilde touches on truly are if you wish to learn Spanish properly.
Chances are a lot of people trying to learn the language become scared or confused by the fact Spanish itself is a very dynamic. The language has been shaped in different ways that can be pinpointed to a specific region’s culture and influences.
Though some words may differ, pronounciation remains mostly the same across the different Spanish speaking countries. This makes the good use of punctuation, sentence structure, and grammatical rules all that more important regardless of your motivation to learn the language.
Over at MyDailySpanish we’ve created an article that compliments this and digs further into some of these points (punctuation, sentence structure, phonetics), and provides some tips to reinforce the fundamentals and improve pronounciation.
Learners shouldn’t refrain from learning to use the different Spanish accents, after all it comes down to a personal choice or the situation you find yourself in.
I would dare to say that even most of us native Spanish speakers have a rough time understanding our own people at times. Let’s not forget there can be different accents not only across the countries that speak Spanish, but across regions, states, and cities of the same country as well!