I often say that I hope that this is the last time I have to learn Spanish! So much different than in Colombia or Panama. Does remind me of how the Marielitos from Cuba spoke. Driving past the Community Hospital in Florida I was asked by the three Cubanos with me why is there a Communist hospital here?
In the big scheme of things Spanish is relatively constant across the world, at least for native speakers. Colombian Spanish (specially from the coast as opposed to the inner mountainous regions) should sound very similar to Dominican and Panamanian (and Venezuelna, and Cuban and Puerto Rican) Spanish.
There are indeed differences (mostly vocabulary for specific items, or street slang) but the general pronunciation patterns should be virtually indistinguishable.
OTOH, Spanish from the region around the Argentine capital (including much of Uruguay) sounds similar to Italian (for good historical reasons), yet it is perfectly understandable to most native Spanish speakers (any of us can easily understand an interview of sport stars Leo Messi or Maradonna, for example, or a speech given by an Argentinian politician).
Native Spanish speakers (especially but not exclusively educated ones) can easily communicate with each other (regardless of their region) as well as watch each other's TV programs, listen to each other's singers, etc. Occasionally one has to clarify the meaning of a specific word or expression, (or it just sounds "funny") but it is rare that one has difficulties to communicate with any other native Spanish speaker. OTOH anyone who has learned a foreign language knows that regional accents can easily "throw off" even people with decent non-native proficiency.
