The Spanish-speaking world

I am creating a poll for the first time in this forum and would like it to remain in the Spanish forum.

Once the discussion remains on topic, it will stay open. If it goes off topic, I will close it.

It?s meant to be simple, fun, informative and allows posters to comment on their observations about the language which is so diverse.

Spanish is the official language of at least twenty countries. The history of each country plays a role in the spoken language as well as regional varieties. While each country?s Spanish is distinct; there are many similarities among the countries as well.

The Spanish-speaking world is divided by region when analyzing grammar, vocabulary, syntax, speech patterns etc. Using the same divisions the question of the poll is:

You are most familiar with Spanish from which region?

1/ Spain (Europe)

2/ Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico (Caribbean)

3/ Mexico (North America)

4/ Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama (Central America)

5/ Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela (Northern Andes region)

6/ Peru, Bolivia (Andes region)

7/ Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay (Southern Cone region)


-MP.

Even though I created the poll, it?s hard for me choose one region specifically because my familiarity is a mixed variety. If I pick one region, it does not necessarily include all the countries but that happens when you are answering a question in a poll.

However, if I had to choose it would be:

5/ Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela (Northern Andes region)

and

2/ Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico (Caribbean)

When looking at individual countries, I have had the least exposure to Spanish from Bolivia and Paraguay (categorized in two different regions)


-MP.

mountainannie said:

This is very interesting because I studied Spanish in both Mexico and then intensively in Guatemala and had great difficulty understanding the Spanish both in Puerto Rico and here. It was really about two years here before I began to really understand the spoken Spanish. I could read it, certainly. And I could always follow the newscasters on CNN espanol, for instance.

Short answer, 2.

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Although I believe Spanish is Spanish regardless where a person is from there are differences and very noticeable ones from country to country, region to region and even within a country there are several linguistic zones.

Having stated the above of course you noted a difference having studied in Mexico and Guatemala and then going to Puerto Rico and the DR. It's like night and day. In my opinion, the more exposure you have to Spanish, the more neutral the language becomes. You will note differences but you will have little to no problems understanding a Spanish speaker.


-MP.

rogerjac said:

I am of portuguese decent so Spanish is similar. My first exposuse to Spanish was in cuba and I found it a bit of a challenge as I kept falling back on my Portuguese. When I came to DR I found out what a challenge is. It is so different than cuba in the way they speak to the way they write. Maybe it is the education system.

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To a certain extent I could understand why you found it difficult to understand Spanish spoken in Cuba and now in the DR. You may realize while there are noticeable differences there are similarities too especially if you compare Spanish from the eastern part of Cuba to parts of the DR. You may be able to leverage off your knowledge of Portuguese but everyone is different in this regard which I have noticed. It varies from person to person. For some people their knowledge of another Latin based language is a tremendous help and for others it makes no difference they still struggle with Spanish.

Can you give some examples of the difficulty you had in Cuba and now in the DR with regards to Spanish? You mentioned education as a possible factor but that should not play a role in the everyday interaction you have. What I mean is understanding the average speaker is the norm and was that difficult?


-MP.