Spanish Across Latin America

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 the same object, for example: in Spain the word for "grass" is césped but in Mexico the word for "grass" is zacate. Another mind blowing fact is that not only does Spanish differ from country to country, but even in different regions of the same country there could be different accents, pronunciation, slang and words for the same object. 

 So what is it that accounts for the difference between the various forms of spanish spoken around the world? 

This is the question we will seek to explore together while we focus in on three different spanish dialects: Chile, Argentina and Cuba. This link can be a great way to start to look at some of the influences and differences in the dialects that we will study:  https://www.enforex.com/language/spanish-latin-america.html

Additionally here is a fun video to watch to get a quick introduction to the various dialects of spanish: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhpHcc2B5lA