Dominican Spanish

Alltimegreat

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Nov 16, 2012
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It turns out after all these years of being lazy and avoiding learning Spanish I will have to do so afterall for professional reasons.
I'll need to take a standardized exam. The three exams available are offered for the Spain, Mexico, and Argentina variants/dialects. Since the choice is completely up to me, I'd like to study the dialect that is most widely accepted and understood throughout the entire Spanish-speaking world. Any suggestions? And are any of those three similar to Dominican Spanish?
 

Chirimoya

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Dec 9, 2002
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I would choose Mexican, but there are still significant differences in pronunciation and vocabulary.
 

Mauricio

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Nov 18, 2002
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Personally I'd choose from Spain. I wish I could speak castellano from Spain instead of what passes for Spanish here in DR.
 

Jaime809

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Aug 23, 2012
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Argentina is probably Latin Spanish, whereas the others mentioned are not. Spanish from Spain is (iirc) spoken pretty much only in Spain, and Mexican Spanish only in Central America, if all of that. Dominican Spanish is most like Latin Spanish (according to my friends who are Dominican and have traveled).
 

Kipling333

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Jan 12, 2010
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Definitely not spanish from Argentina that is peppered with italian and the spanish now spoken in spain is very informal . I would go for Mexico ..at least it is more classical and they use vos and vosotros , Dominican spanish is sometimes written well but the speaking of it is appalling both in grammar and in pronounciation
 

tflea

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Jun 11, 2006
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Argentines use vos and vosotros.
Never heard a Mexican do that.




For a written exam I'd go with Spain.....oral exam - Mexican.
 

cavok

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Jun 16, 2014
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I would go to Mexico. The educated Mexicans speak very good Spanisl and educated Dominicans will have no problem understanding you.
 
Feb 7, 2007
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If there was an option, Colombian Spanish. As that is not an option, I would go for the second best Latin Spanish, which is Mexican. Just start watching the novelas on Univision, Telemundo and Azteca.
 

Alltimegreat

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Nov 16, 2012
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I agree. Colombian Spanish is probably the best. Too bad that's not an option. If you watch the Mexican novelas you mentioned, you can hear just how good Mexican Spanish is.

Watching Yanet Garcia the Mexican weather girl will help you a lot with your Spanish: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MSSbyCIVlI

Thanks. I'd like to see more videos of her solely for the purpose of improving my Spanish.

Why did you mention Columbian Spanish? Would you say that's the most neutral dialect across all Spanish-speaking countries?
 

Alltimegreat

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Nov 16, 2012
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If there was an option, Colombian Spanish. As that is not an option, I would go for the second best Latin Spanish, which is Mexican. Just start watching the novelas on Univision, Telemundo and Azteca.

Do those TV channels primarily use Columbian Spanish?
 

sosuamatt

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Jul 29, 2013
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Dominican spanish is to the spanish spoken in Spain is the Quebecois french to the french spoken in France. Both can barely understand each other.
 
Jul 28, 2014
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Personally I'd choose from Spain. I wish I could speak castellano from Spain instead of what passes for Spanish here in DR.

When I started learning Spanish, it was Castellano, and I had no problems speaking with Dominicans and them understanding me, the problem was more Vice-Versa with all the Slang/Dominican words I didn't know. As for Spain, there are also Regional Dialects. I was in Valencia many years ago and again, it was the same problem due to all their dialect words.
 

Chirimoya

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Dec 9, 2002
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Dominican spanish is to the spanish spoken in Spain is the Quebecois french to the french spoken in France. Both can barely understand each other.
I can't speak for the French/Quebecois but to say Dominicans and Spaniards "barely" understand each other is an exaggeration. It does take some aural adjustment and you have to learn the vocabulary variations but they understand each other well enough, even more so if the Spaniard is from Andalusia or the Canaries.
 

Marianopolita

Former Spanish forum Mod 2010-2021
Dec 26, 2003
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I can't speak for the French/Quebecois but to say Dominicans and Spaniards "barely" understand each other is an exaggeration. It does take some aural adjustment and you have to learn the vocabulary variations but they understand each other well enough, even more so if the Spaniard is from Andalusia or the Canaries.



I agree. Both points by sosuamatt are an exaggeration! People from France can understand Quebec French without difficulty and many know the history of where it comes from. As a result, it's another regionalized version of French in the French-speaking world. As well, the French in Quebec has not evolved as French spoken elsewhere which really makes it sound archaic and for many difficult to understand at first but like all languages just by listening to it one begins to understand and follow the pattern of speech.

I have never heard a Spaniard complain about not understanding Dominican Spanish or Spanish in Latin America for that matter. Does it sound different? Yes. Is it spoken differently? Yes. However, history is one key to understanding why it differs so notably from Spain and then coupled with its own regional evolution makes it a very distinct localized Spanish.

My advice when someone wants to learn Spanish is to just to buy a good text book and start learning. That's as standard as you can get. To focus on a localized version is not necessary. Start learning the core language and then exposure anywhere will start to help with comprehension and speech.



-MP.
 
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AlterEgo

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I can't speak for the French/Quebecois but to say Dominicans and Spaniards "barely" understand each other is an exaggeration. It does take some aural adjustment and you have to learn the vocabulary variations but they understand each other well enough, even more so if the Spaniard is from Andalusia or the Canaries.



We were at a family event last week, and my cousin's daughter is married to a guy from Galicia. Their daughters are bi-lingual (from birth the husband only spoke Spanish to them, mother only English). They spend summers in Spain (parents both teachers) with their grandparents and family.  My husband was talking to the 8 year old in Spanish, and she just looked at him, and he speaks Spanish well (he even pronounces "s's", lol), but it took awhile for her to understand his questions. The father said it is probably because she is used to hearing a different accent and Castilian Spanish.  I'm thinking also because she is a child.

As far as the OP, I'd agree with Mexican too.  They aren't going to teach the Spanish the banditos spoke in the old western movies.  :)
 
Feb 7, 2007
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As far as the OP, I'd agree with Mexican too.  They aren't going to teach the Spanish the banditos spoke in the old western movies.  :)

Yeah the OP would learn the language of bad, bad hombre

To the OP's previous quetsion, the channels and novelas I mentioned, would use Mexican Spanish (Univision/Televisa & Azteca novelas) and mixed Mexican/Colombian/Venezuelan Spanish on Telemundo.

The OP can even subscribe to Netflix and Hulu here there are many novelas and series from the above channels + additional ones from Colombia.