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Spanish from Spain vs. South America

Today on ‘I Love Real Spanish’ we look at the difference between Spanish from Spain vs South America, and how much it really matters which you learn.

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Vocab from today’s video:

Es una experiencia enriquecedora – It’s an enriching experience

Me da una visión global del idioma – It gives me a global vision of the language

Voy a manejar el carro (South American) – Voy a conducir el coche (Spain) – I’m going to drive the car

Piscina (Spain) / Pileta (South American) – Swimming pool

El dinero (Spain) / la plata (South American) – Money

Es una pasada (Spain) / Está rebueno (Argentina) – It’s really cool

Es muy chévere (Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador) / Es guay (Spain) – It’s really cool

Boludo (Argentina) / Tío/tía (Spain) – Dude, mate

¿Mande? (Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico) / ¿Ehhhh? ¿Qué has dicho? No te he entendido (Spain) – What did you say?

17 thoughts on “Spanish from Spain vs. South America”

  3. Grammar differences are as in American English and English .

    i.é. use of simple past and present perfect

  4. ¡Hola!
    Been following you for years (videos, podcasts and newsletters) and learnt a lot (and really like you!). But trying to learn as much Spanish as I can, mainly to use when I’m walking different Caminos to Santiago, as I have done for like 20 years now, I look for it in more places. So I got the Duo-lingo app. This is an American app and the Spanish they teach is Mexican (I suppose). Both things annoys me as I’m Swedish and my English is very British, and as I’ve learnt Spanish Spanish earlier. But over all it’s still ok b u t for the fact that the second person plural doesn’t exist! As they use ustedes. You didn’t mention that in your video. So I have to train all of the grammar for that in other ways.
    And then a tip if you want some fun:
    Google “Qué difícil es hablar el español” and listen to the Colombian brothers comparing Spanish from different places!
    Thanks for everything!
    Marit

    • Thanks Marit for your comment and recommendation. How lucky you are to walk the camino so often! Yes, you are right, the use of ustedes is a big difference.

  5. La palabra LINDO(A) es muy común en Latinoamérica. Casi todo es lindo ( personas, comidas, paisaje, bebidas, casas y mucho más )

  6. Today’s subject is one that I’ve wondered about often. I understand that street talk or slang may be hard to understand, even in English. Thank you for mentioning it.

  7. Hey Ben,
    I love the video! I spend a lot of my winters in Mexico and I understand them very well. They speak much slower than Spaniards and in a weird way, I feel more fluent there. I have to remember to substitute “chido” or “padre” for “guay”, use “agarrar” or “tomar” instead of “coger” and avoid anyone named “Concha” there LOL.

    When I go to Mexico, or Central/South America, the Spain Spanish I learned from you guys is super super useful. While there, people comment that I’m quite the “gringo” with a Spanish accent (thervetha instead of cerveza), and it confuses them a little. Needless to say, I love it!

    Thanks for being such great teachers!

    • Thanks for such a lovely comment Steve! It’s fantastic to hear that Spanish you’ve learned form us has been super useful!

  8. Most of my Spanish study is from a Columbian teacher who lives here in New Mexico, U.S. The local Spanish is apparently quite different, and has been described as a archaic form of Castellano mixed with quite a bit of Mexican and Latin American Spanish. My teacher finds it so “strange” that she often has to switch to English with local speakers– and her English is not that great!! 🙂

  9. Una frase nueva para mí, que creo se usa en España y Mexico, es – en un abrir y cerrar de ojos. ¡Tenemos la misma frase en inglés! ¡Ahora, necesito a usar esta frase con mi intercambio esta semana!

  10. Mientras hablaba con mi amigo español, le dijo a su hijo ‘Habla chucho que no te escucho’ Ooooo! Must remember that one as a favourite phase?

  11. I love your videos – they are fun and I feel ‘included’ (if that makes sense). I am terrible at learning but I just keep going and can understand a fair bit. Thank you both.

  12. Thank you for that. Muy interesante como siempre. I’ve never been to Latin America, but my understanding is that ‘el leísmo’ is more prevalent in Spain…. There is also the question of the use of Usted versus tú, and vos in some places.

  13. I just returned from a week in Paraguay where I learned that instead of “muy bien” you say “muy rico”.

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