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One thing I've noticed here in South Florida is that a lot of people speak different forms of Spanish.
Two of my employees have "discussions" about Spanish with each other all the time. One was born here in Florida with Colombian heritage, while the other was born in Portugal but raised in Miami. I say "discussions" because it almost gets to the point of arguing.
One will say something in Spanish and the other won't understand one or more of the words or thinks it was said wrong and then will "correct" him with his words. Then they go back and forth about which is proper and which is more slang, or which are or aren't even words at all.
This division reminds me a lot of the difference in English words between the US and the UK.
Anyway, I know a lot of people who think people who speak Spanish are somehow very homogenous, but they are quite fractured depending on their own flavor of Spanish. What's cool is, when they have their discussion ABOUT Spanish... they use English!
Maybe the discussion is about Spanish Vs Portuguese.
Nope. In fact, the guy born in Portugal speaks virtually NO Portuguese at all. He was raised here in Miami and was surrounded by Spanish and English. His mother knows Portuguese, but does not speak it in the home due what the guy referred to as "bullying" by the Spanish-speaking neighborhood.
I know that people from Cuba (and maybe the DR and Puerto Rico?) tend to drop the S's at the end of their words, so their Spanish is a little bit different from other countries'.
The same thing that happens with English happens with Spanish. Depending on where you go, there will be different accents and words that are only used in that country or region.
No need to even leave a country; people in a certain area of the country might use phrases and accent that others do not use, that does not mean their English is any better or worse than the rest.
Sorry...I know you addressed this in your original post. I just re-read it and saw it.
All spanish speaking countries have different ways of expressing themselves. As a rule of thumb, caribbean spanish is the worse. Central American Spanish is good but not perfect, and it tends to have a different tone as that one from the caribbean. Once you go south to the Andes area and further south, to Argentina and Chile, the spansih in those countries is far better than their northerns neighbours. Eventhough we all speak somehow differently, it is incorrect to say that we speak different dialects. In fact, we all speak spanish, since all our verbs have the same meaning, it is only in actual objects that we call them by different names.
I guess is the same with the english language. Americans, English and Australians all speak english, but their tones are different. I for one, cannot understand an Irish or Welsh speaking "english".
It's similar to the differences between British English and American English....that's all.
I learned Central American Spanish while I was in school (K-12) in Miami...but when I took Spanish in college, the professor taught European Spanish (Spanish from Spain, I don't know the term). The letter "s" sounds like a lisp in European Spanish.
"but when I took Spanish in college, the professor taught European Spanish (Spanish from Spain, I don't know the term). The letter "s" sounds like a lisp in European Spanish."
It is called Castillian Spanish. The c and the z sounds like the "th" as in theater in english.
"but when I took Spanish in college, the professor taught European Spanish (Spanish from Spain, I don't know the term). The letter "s" sounds like a lisp in European Spanish."
It is called Castillian Spanish. The c and the z sounds like the "th" as in theater in english.
That's it! Thanks!
I haven't used my Spanish in over five years
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