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Which variety of Spanish to learn? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5333 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes  Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 65 of 100 15 March 2012 at 9:17am | IP Logged | ||
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I will repeat to my dying day, that this is all about exposure. If you listen to a different variant for a few hours, you will understand any of them.
Yesterday we were wathching a crime series which was half in Swedish, half in Danish, with Norwegian subtitles. My children needed the subtitles, as they have been less exposed to those languages (and screamed blue murder for having to watch something which was not in English). I am so used to those languages, that I did not even notice the subtitles were there. I also could not help laughing at the inevitable scene of the Dane saying something in quick Danish, and the Swedes looking at him like he was speaking in Thai. Priceless! Sure there are diferent words in different variants of Spanish, but they are so minimal, that as soon as you get used to the different accents, you hardly notice them. We have Norwegian dialects which are more or less incomprehensible to me, and I know of no Spanish variant which comes even close to that. I will repeat my other mantra: Learn Andalusian! After mastering that, no Spanish dialect is difficult. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| manish Triglot Groupie Romania Joined 5545 days ago 88 posts - 136 votes Speaks: Romanian*, English, German Studies: Spanish | Message 66 of 100 15 March 2012 at 1:01pm | IP Logged | ||
Unless you're dealing with Argentinians and Uruguayans a lot, that's not a problem. Vosotros vs. ustedes would be a bigger one IMO. @Solfrid: Right as always, and with a funny story to boot. Voted you up. Edited by manish on 15 March 2012 at 1:03pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Belle700 Senior Member United States Joined 5695 days ago 128 posts - 143 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, French | Message 67 of 100 15 March 2012 at 1:04pm | IP Logged | ||
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This is a really interesting discussion! I am glad that I posted this question. I really appreciate all of the input on this. Thank you.
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| Medulin Tetraglot Senior Member Croatia Joined 4667 days ago 1199 posts - 2192 votes Speaks: Croatian*, English, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Norwegian, Hindi, Nepali | Message 68 of 100 15 March 2012 at 2:30pm | IP Logged | ||
Many things common in Spain sound agrammatical in Argentina, and vice versa. Argentinians may correct your in-Spain-learned phrases and constructions, just like Spainards may correct your in-Argentina-learned phrases and constructions. For example: ''Sabado a la noche'' sounds incorrect in Spain, while ''Sabado noche'' sounds incorrect in Argentina. ''See you Saturday Night.'' Nos vemos sabado a la noche (A) ~ Nos vemos sabado noche (S). Spaiards may correct non-Peninsular usage of verbs, for example: Tardar, Fugar, Participar de instead of Tardar-se, fugar-se, participar en Interdialectal different usage may sound from 1. intelligible but weird* to 2. not intelligible and agrammatical. (* Tu auto está relindo (A) ~ Tu coche está muy guapo (S)). And I'm talking about the educated usage only. In colloquial language (expressions, slang) differences are even greater. They expect Spain to accommodate to their usage, and not vice versa. Voseo was made official by the Spanish language academia (RAE) in 1982 because the Argentinian academy of language made an explicit request to RAE to do so. RAE made voseo official 6 days later, so you can find Argentinian voseo forms in all RAE grammars and in the verbal conjugator at their site. Buenos Aires is the cultural capital of Latin America, and Spain knew it couldn't ignore the Argentinian usage any more. ;) This was an unprecedented move by both th Argentinian and the Spanish academy of language. Most other countries would feel too ashamed to ask RAE to promote their local forms, but not Argentina. ;) Pronunciation-wise, the peninsular Spanish is the most difficult, while the central Colombian Spanish is the easiest. Edited by Medulin on 15 March 2012 at 2:50pm 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 69 of 100 15 March 2012 at 2:49pm | IP Logged | ||
Is the ustedes-instead-of-vosotros form (lol) also official? Apparently the vosotros form is still found in Latin America in some very formal contexts (e.g. the Mexican national anthem), and in Andalusia (of course) some use "ustedes" but with the vosotros verb endings... 1 person has 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 70 of 100 15 March 2012 at 2:53pm | IP Logged | ||
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No, new Bibles in Latin America use ustedes only, instead of vosotros.
And vosotros forms are no longer studied in Argentinian schools, it's not required. Tú forms are not taught/studied either (but they're not difficult for Argentinians to understand). Schoolbooks use VOS to address pupils in Argentina (and Nicaragua; I don't know if that is the case in Uruguay and Paraguay). Sometimes I use vosotros form when I'm in Spain, sometimes I don't. I haven't learned those forms, but I learned VÓS forms in Portuguese which are almost identical, so it helps ;) informal pronouns: Standard Peninsular Spanish: tú - vosotros Argentina and Central America: vos - ustedes Costa Rica: usted - ustedes other Latin American countries: tú-ustedes ;) Costarican model is similar to the one in Brazilian Portuguese: você-vocês. Tú-ustedes is close to continental Portuguese tu-vocês. ;) (tu-vós is archaic and dialectal in Portugal) Edited by Medulin on 15 March 2012 at 3:00pm 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 71 of 100 15 March 2012 at 3:05pm | IP Logged | ||
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The Spanish textbooks in the US had the vosotros form in italics, but we weren't required to learn it... so I didn't. The vos form was absent from all of the books, so I was quite shocked when they showed us an Argentinian movie and I heard it being used for the first time :P
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| hrhenry Octoglot Senior Member United States languagehopper.blogs Joined 5129 days ago 1871 posts - 3642 votes Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe | Message 72 of 100 15 March 2012 at 3:19pm | IP Logged | ||
Of course it's official. Vosotros and Ustedes are both valid, depending on country. While the Mexican national anthem may include the imperative use for "vosotros", I can assure you it's not in use elsewhere in Mexico. You'll never hear it in daily conversation, unless it's a) someone imitating a Spaniard or b) a Spaniard. Frankly, it sort of amazes me how much attention is placed on the difference between vosotros/ustedes by Spanish learners. It's much more straightforward, in fact, than how a Mexican would differentiate between tú/Ud. when addressing, say, a parent. R. == Edited by hrhenry on 15 March 2012 at 3:19pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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