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Which variety of Spanish to learn? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Belle700 Senior Member United States Joined 5695 days ago 128 posts - 143 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, French | Message 57 of 100 27 February 2012 at 8:19pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Besides the pronunciation difference with "c" and "z", how else are Mexican Spanish and Spanish from Spain different?
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| fiziwig Senior Member United States Joined 4864 days ago 297 posts - 618 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 58 of 100 28 February 2012 at 2:55am | IP Logged | |||||
Which part of Mexico? Which part of Spain? If I asked how American English differs from British English, am I comparing Cockney to Deep South Alabama or Scots to Texan, or Liverpudlian to Bostonian, or RP to Valley Girl? There is so much variation is both places that the question really can't be answered except in broad generalities. Google: "latin american Spanish vs spain Spanish" and you will get pages and pages and hundreds of pages explaining the differences. Edited by fiziwig on 28 February 2012 at 2:55am 4 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| getreallanguage Diglot Senior Member Argentina youtube.com/getreall Joined 5470 days ago 240 posts - 371 votes Speaks: Spanish*, English Studies: Italian, Dutch | Message 59 of 100 28 February 2012 at 4:14am | IP Logged | |||||
Besides agreeing with what fiziwig said, let's assume you meant northern-central Spain Spanish (what I call castizo) compared to the Mexican Spanish spoken in the central highland. One big difference is the pronunciation of the S/C/Z. It's not only that in Mexico there is no difference between the sounds (a single sound instead of two), but the quality of the sound is different, and in Mexico it's closer to the English pronunciation of S. The castizo pronunciation of S sounds closer to an English SH. In technical terms, the Mexican sound is laminal (articulated with the 'blade', that is to say the middle part of the tongue, while the tip of the tongue is curved downwards, in a manner similar or identical to the English S sound) while the castizo sound is apical (articulated with the 'apex', that is to say the tip of the tongue, touching the palate in a place slightly behind the place where the laminal sound is pronounced). Another pronunciation difference are the sequences -ADO -IDO found commonly at the end of participles. In all varieties of Spanish that D is pronounced 'softer' because it's between two vowels (technically, as a fricative or approximant instead of a plosive, that is to say, closer to the English TH in 'that' than to the English D in 'dice'). However in castizo Spanish the sound is often completely dropped so that 'cantado' and 'vivido' sound like 'cantáo' and 'vivío'. This is much rarer in the variety of Mexican Spanish we're discussing. The pronunciation of J is also different. In castizo Spanish this sound is more guttural while in Mexico it's less so (technically it's uvular in Spain and velar in Mexico). Those are some of the differences that first come to mind regarding accent. Remember, these are differences between a specific variety of Spain Spanish and a specific variety of Mexico Spanish. Mexican immigrants to the United States are from all over Mexico and speak the dialect of the area they came from, and the same can be said for Spaniards. Regarding vocabulary, the Spanish spoken in Hispanoamérica has a higher percentage of loanwords from indigenous languages than the Spanish spoken in Spain. Here we can draw a regional difference in Hispanoamérica: if we draw an imaginary line basically directly north of Ecuador, the countries south of that line will have more loanwords from Quechua (because of the Incan empire) and the countries north of that line will have more loanwords from Nahuatl because of the Aztec empire. Here is an example: Mexico: aguacate (Nahuatl) Argentina: palta (Quechua) English: avocado (Spanish loan) Mexico: patata (Nahuatl) Argentina: papa (Quechua) English: potato (Spanish loan) There are many more differences besides accent, intonation and vocabulary, of course. But these kinds of differences are the most readily noticeable. Hope that helped! If you have any questions, just ask. Edited by getreallanguage on 28 February 2012 at 4:15am 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| espejismo Diglot Senior Member Russian Federation Joined 5050 days ago 498 posts - 905 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: Spanish, Greek, Azerbaijani | Message 60 of 100 28 February 2012 at 4:29am | IP Logged | |||||
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What's the story behind frutilla?
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| getreallanguage Diglot Senior Member Argentina youtube.com/getreall Joined 5470 days ago 240 posts - 371 votes Speaks: Spanish*, English Studies: Italian, Dutch | Message 61 of 100 28 February 2012 at 4:45am | IP Logged | |||||
Good question. Etymologically it comes from the diminutive of 'fruta' so it means 'little fruit'. I looked it up on DRAE and apparently the kind of strawberry that grows in Chile is a little different looking, different tasting, and larger than the kind of strawberry native to Europe. The name for that larger fruit in Spain is 'fresón'. I am guessing that it was either that difference that prompted the new name 'frutilla' by the Spanish colonists or it was an already existing dialect difference brought over from Spain. The name 'fresón' might have been concocted in Spain after the fact when they learned of this new fruit. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Medulin Tetraglot Senior Member Croatia Joined 4667 days ago 1199 posts - 2192 votes Speaks: Croatian*, English, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Norwegian, Hindi, Nepali | Message 62 of 100 05 March 2012 at 7:26am | IP Logged | |||||
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getreallanguage, you forgot to mention different usage of past tenses:
In Spain: Lo has hecho este año. Espero que lo hicieras ayer. In Mexico: Lo hiciste este año. Espero que lo hayas hecho ayer. ;) --- In Argentina, FRESA is ''fresa 1 f Herramienta para perforar, alisar, cortar o labrar metales que consiste en una serie de cuchillas o dientes metálicos dispuestos alrededor de una superficie circular o un eje giratorios: una fresa multicorte. '' (Diccionario Clarín) Edited by Medulin on 05 March 2012 at 7:40am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| manish Triglot Groupie Romania Joined 5545 days ago 88 posts - 136 votes Speaks: Romanian*, English, German Studies: Spanish | Message 63 of 100 10 March 2012 at 12:03am | IP Logged | |||||
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I learned Spanish to a certain extent in the US, and when I watch TV broadcasts from Spain I have a huge problem understanding them. I don't think it stems from my limited knowledge of the language, because even though I don't speak it very well, I understand it almost perfectly (it probably helps that my native language is also Romance), but only in the Latin American version.
I have the most difficulty with the so-called distinción (c/z pronunciation)... When I listen to European Spanish all I hear is the θ sound. I'm unaccustomed to it and it makes the speech sound slurred to my ears. The only broadcasts I can understand fine are those from the Canary Islands, since the accent is very similar to the one in Caribbean Spanish. My two cents/rant. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| aodhanc Diglot Groupie Iceland Joined 6259 days ago 92 posts - 130 votes Speaks: English*, FrenchB2 Studies: Spanish | Message 64 of 100 15 March 2012 at 9:03am | IP Logged | |||||
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I think the differences between Iberian and Latin American Spanish are over-
exaggerated. Yes, sure the Southern Cone countries use the vos form instead of tú, and there are some differences in vocabulary, but that does not in any way prevent communication between Latin Americans and Spaniards. As Mexico is the largest Spanish-speaking country in the world and has the most influence over the Spanish language in the US, I would recommend studying that accent, which is quite neutral. Of course, if you're in Europe, then it's obviously best to learn the Castilian accent. Edited by aodhanc on 15 March 2012 at 9:04am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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