Not all Spanish is the Same

Argentina is another spanish speaking country in Latin America with a unique and identifiable dialect. The spanish of Argentina first came from the Spaniard colonization in 1536 but the large wave of European immigration in the 19th and 20th century is what really impacted and changed the spanish. Argentinian spanish has the influences of Amerindian languages as well, which is a family of North American Indian languages, but mainly is influenced by the European languages--specifically Italian. The influence of Italian can be seen particularly in regard to intonation with the emphasis on the last syllable with conjugations like "vos querés".  Furthermore argentinians often use the word "chau" to say goodbye, which comes from the italian word for goodbye--ciao. Regarding pronunciation, Argentina is characterized for what is called "aspiracion". Similar to Chilean spanish, sometimes a sound is lost or left out, Aspiracion is a concept where there is like...

The first Spanish dialect we are going to focus on is the spanish in Chile. Chile is one of the many spanish speaking countries in Latin America and it is located along the coast of South America. There are a few things that set apart the spanish of Chile including the influences of other languages, the pronunciation of words and the extensive use of slang and other local expressions. Chilean spanish has the influence of some indigenous languages like Quechua and Mapudungun and some other European languages--one of which being German--as a result of immigration in the 19th and 20th centuries. These influences lead to some unique words in Chilean spanish which we will discuss later when we touch on slang and popular phrases. Furthermore, an interesting thing to note is that within the country there are some differences in accents which arise from differing levels of social classes or regional differences (urban vs. rural). An example of regional differences can be seen in the ...

A common misconception about Spanish is that all Spanish is the same. Often times people believe that there is no difference between the Spanish of one country and the Spanish of another--but this is in fact false. Consider this: Korean originates from Korea and for the most part is spoken mainly in that country. Spanish, however is a language that has originated on the Iberian Peninsula (present day Spain and Portugal), but it is the official language of 20 different countries. Each Spanish speaking country has its own distinct accent--which may or may not be easy to pick up on. Each country can also have a different way of pronouncing words that are used across all versions of Spanish. These linguistic differences may be the same for a few counties or can be so different that the spanish might be almost unrecognizable from country to country. Also, there are slang words or common phrases specific to each country. Lastly, sometimes countries have different words for...