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My girlfriend had married a fellow whose parents are from Puerto Rico. She took Spanish in school, but cannot understand his parents when they speak, but does have success if she writes notes.
My husband for a time worked in retail in New York. There was an incident with three Spanish speaking people, an employee, a passerby and a truck driver delivery man. Each came from a different country and none could understand the other.
If I were to take Spanish lessons I would want to be able to understand and to be understood by the people around me in NY or Florida. Is that possible? What would I look for in lessons? How is Rosetta Stone? Does it teach Latin American Spanish? Would that be understood in Spain?
Is all Spanish the same when written, or at least understood by anyone?
Yes, written Spanish is all the same, although there are slang words and idioms that might be unique to one country or other. If spoken slowly and clearly by an educated person, it can be understood by anyone from any Spanish speaking country.
Written English is also all the same, but there are a lot of English speaking people I can't understand. Just call any 800 tech support number, for an example.
It has nothing to do with the lessons, it only has to do with her level of comprehension, that's why she can't understand people speaking. Any language is much easier to write and read than it is to listen to, but as your skills in that language get better, everything becomes easier.
In the United States, majority of the courses are going to be Latin American Spanish, because the Spanish from Spain is near obsolete.
The grammar between Spain and Latin America IS different. They are both Spanish, but they are a little bit different.
Honestly, as a beginner I wouldn't worry too much. The only thing you have to do is worry about learning your grammar rules and vocabulary practice, your comprehension will come in time after you have practiced enough. Remember, you can't just take a class and think you'll be fluent. You have to put a lot of effort into it.
Also worth adding, is the fact that Spanish speakers are much, much more careful about correct grammar, and incorrect grammar is never heard, even among poor and uneducated people. In Spanish, you can't get away with the kinds of grammatical massacres that are heard every day by English speakers. It is unimaginable for even the simplest Spanish street urchin to say the equivalent of "If I was you, I would of took that anyways."
^ Yeah, I've noticed this. Most of the slang is in vocabulary, or shortening words like saying "'toy" "cansao" or "pa' que" instead of "estoy" "cansado" and "para que" But you dont hear much or any slang with the grammar. In some places where English is spoken (where I live, for example), you can pretty much get away with horrible grammar and no one will think anything of it.
Yes, written Spanish is all the same, although there are slang words and idioms that might be unique to one country or other. If spoken slowly and clearly by an educated person, it can be understood by anyone from any Spanish speaking country.
Written English is also all the same, but there are a lot of English speaking people I can't understand. Just call any 800 tech support number, for an example.
Thank you. Yes, I was a member of a book club and several of us, for British movies, had to put English subtitles on our dvds. It seemed as though some of the actors spoke rapidly in colloquialisms and also mumbled.
Also worth adding, is the fact that Spanish speakers are much, much more careful about correct grammar, and incorrect grammar is never heard, even among poor and uneducated people. In Spanish, you can't get away with the kinds of grammatical massacres that are heard every day by English speakers. It is unimaginable for even the simplest Spanish street urchin to say the equivalent of "If I was you, I would of took that anyways."
It has nothing to do with the lessons, it only has to do with her level of comprehension, that's why she can't understand people speaking. Any language is much easier to write and read than it is to listen to, but as your skills in that language get better, everything becomes easier.
In the United States, majority of the courses are going to be Latin American Spanish, because the Spanish from Spain is near obsolete.
The grammar between Spain and Latin America IS different. They are both Spanish, but they are a little bit different.
Honestly, as a beginner I wouldn't worry too much. The only thing you have to do is worry about learning your grammar rules and vocabulary practice, your comprehension will come in time after you have practiced enough. Remember, you can't just take a class and think you'll be fluent. You have to put a lot of effort into it.
Why do you think Spanish from Spain is obsolete? : Confused:
There is no such thing as Spanish from Spain.
You have correct Spanish and incorrect Spanish.
The grammar is exactly the same.
The language you find in educated media in all Spanish speaking countries is the same.
Of course, you are going to find people that talk slang, Spanglish, chusmon, just like in English.
Cantellano or Castilian Spanish is considered Standard Spanish and is spoken in Spain, Columbia, Ecuador, etc. But there are several different dialects of Latin American Spanish as well which differ from that and each other just like in English there are different types of English depending if you are American, Canadian, British, South African, Australian, etc.
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