Spanish Accents and Dialects Around the World

Do all Spanish accents sound the same? Of course not! Like most languages, Spanish is diverse and can vary significantly, even in the same country. Even within Spain there are many Spanish dialects and accents (along with four official languages!). Being able to understand a range of dialects is part of what takes you from intermediate to expert Spanish speaker - which is why it’s important to learn the differences between the main Spanish dialects. There are TONS of Spanish dialects, so for the purpose of this article I will focus on the main Spanish accents including Mexican, Spanish, Argentinian, Northern South American, Central American, Caribbean and Chilean. Let’s get started!

The Mexican Spanish Accent

If you’ve ever visited the Southwestern US, you will likely have heard Mexican Spanish. There are two big influences on Mexican Spanish: Indigenous languages such as Nahuatl and Tzotzil, and American English. As an example of indigenous influence many common Spanish words such as chocolate (same meaning in English) and aguacate (“avocado”) come from Nahuatl. And it’s worth noting that there are many Mexican communities that are purely Indigenous and don't speak Spanish. Mexican Spanish also features many English loan words. For example, Mexicans would say computadora for “computer,” while Spaniards use ordenador. Another case of this is the verb rentar, meaning “to rent”, while other countries use alquilar. Lastly, Mexican Spanish has many interesting slang words and phrases, such as the common word güey. In colloquial usage, güey means “dude” or “homie” and an example of this is Que pedo güey? or “What up dude?” However, güey literally means “castrated bull”. Another phrase that is common in Mexican vernacular is chingar and its variations. Chingar means “f*ck”, but it has many variations such as chingón, meaning “badass”.

The Castilian Spanish Accent

Ah, Spain, the birthplace of Castellano, or Castilian Spanish. Within Spain, the main Spanish dialect is Castilian Spanish, and it has different verb conjugations from other Spanish speaking countries. A key example of these differences is that Spaniards use the vosotros verb form. Vosotros is an informal second person conjugation, which is used to address a group of people. This form is used with friends, while the ustedes form is a second person conjugation used to convey respect when speaking with groups of elders or people in positions of authority. For example, cómo estáis?, or “how are you guys?”, uses the vosotros form. On the other hand, cómo están ustedes?, is the ustedes translation of “how are you all?”. The vosotros form is only used in Spain, and rarely in other Spanish-speaking countries. Thus, students who learn Latin American Spanish will have little exposure to the vosotros verb form. Spaniards also have unique grammatical forms, most notably the imperfect subjunctive. The imperfect subjunctive is an important Spanish grammar tense used to talk about uncertainty in the past. Most Spanish-speaking countries use -ra endings, while Spaniards frequently use -se endings. llegara, “to arrive”, is one of llegar's imperfect subjunctive forms, and Spaniards would use llegase instead. Despite the spelling differences (ra/ se endings) these words mean the same thing. The imperfect subjunctive can be a tricky tense, but it becomes easier to use with practice. The following phrase, Espero que llegaras ayer meaning “I hope you arrived yesterday”, uses the imperfect subjunctive form of llegar. This tense is used in many uncertain situations, especially those regarding emotion and doubt. Many Spanish learners would be tempted to say Espero que llegaste ayer, which would be grammatically incorrect. Castellano is famous for its unique accent, which sounds like a lisp. For example, if a word has a z, ci, or ce, these make a th- sound. So if you want to pronounce Barcelona authentically, you would say bar-the-lona. Likewise, Zaragoza would be thara-go-tha. To do make this lisp sound, stick your tongue between your teeth and let the air pass through the small gap.

Rioplatense Spanish

Argentina and Uruguay have unique Spanish dialects with tons of distinct phrases. Since Argentina and Uruguay border the Rio de la Plata, their variation of Spanish is known as Rioplatense. Both countries experienced a high influx of Italian immigrants in the early 20th century, and as such Rioplatense is strongly influenced by Italian. For example, for “goodbye”, people in these countries rarely use the traditional hasta luego. Instead, they’ll say chau, which is derived from the Italian ciao. Neighbouring Brazil was also influenced by Italian immigrants in this time period and Brazilians use tchau to say goodbye. Argentinians typically use the vos form for the informal “you”. Some other countries that use vos include Paraguay, Nicaragua, and Honduras. Vos is not an Italian word, but rather an archaic Latin word meaning “you”. French and other Romance languages have their own versions of “you” derived from vos. For example, vous is used in French as a formal “you”. Vos has its advantages, especially by having fewer stem-changing verbs in comparison to the standard tú form conjugations. Here are some examples of vos conjugations compared to tú conjugations:

• hablar (to talk): tú hablas / vos hablás ( you talk)
• sentir (to feel): tú sientes / vos sentís (you feel)
• poder (to be able to): tú puedes / vos podés (you can)
• querer (to want): tú quieres / vos querés (you want)

An easy way to conjugate verbs in the vos tense is to use the below patterns:

• -ar verbs: remove ar and add ás
• -er verbs: remove er and add és
• -ir verbs: remove ir and add ís

Another benefit of using vos, is that commands are much easier than the traditional tú form: To conjugate vos commands, all you need to do is drop the r and add an accent on the last letter. Better yet, there are no irregulars with the exception of ir (to go) which would be andá. Examples:

• beber: bebé (drink)
• bailar: bailá (dance)
• vivir: viví (live)
• hacer: hacé (to do/make)

Finally, Argentinians and Uruguayans pronounce y and ll as a sh- sound. So yo me llamo would be "sho me shamo." Unlike Castilian Spanish, Argentinian Spanish has standard pronunciation of z, c, and s, although the “s” at the end of words can be aspirated in certain regions. So, más cerveza (“more beer”) would be "ma cerveza."

Spanish in Northern Latin America

In this section, I am referring to Spanish spoken in Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia and Colombia. These dialects are often considered easier to understand, and the Colombian accent has been called the "most neutral Spanish accent." That’s because in this region, people speak Spanish more slowly and don’t cut words. As with Mexico, many of these countries (especially Peru and Bolivia) have a high concentration of indigenous tribes. In fact, indigenous languages such as Quechua and Aymara are official languages in these regions and have influenced their Spanish accents. The word chullo, a type of hat, derives from the Quechan word ch'ullu, which has the same definition. In these regions, especially Colombia, y and ll are pronounced with a soft “j” sound. So calle would be cay-je and yo is pronounced jo.

The Spanish Accent in Central America

Central America is comprised of the Spanish-speaking nations of Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and El Salvador. While each country has its own unique dialect, proximity to North and South America play a special role here. Guatemalan Spanish is closely related to Mexican Spanish, while Panamanian Spanish shares parallels with Colombian Spanish. As mentioned above, many countries in this region such as Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras and Costa Rica, use vos instead of tú, as in Argentina. Costa Rican culture, meanwhile, can be epitomized by its usage of the phrase Pura Vida, “Pure Life”. Pura Vida reflects the pure natural resources like rainforests, volcanoes and beaches within Costa Rica. Pura Vida can also be a response to a question, and means “ok” or “cool”. In response to como estás (“how are you?”), Pura Vida means “I’m great”.

Caribbean Spanish Accents

Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic have unique Spanish dialects, but they’re all categorized as Caribbean Spanish. If you think other native speakers speak quickly, Caribbean Spanish takes it to a whole new level. For example, the “d” at the end of the word is completely dropped turning mitad or “half”, into mita. In a similar way, para, which means “for”, becomes pa'. Also, the “s” is quite slippery as it is frequently missed off not only the start and end of words, but also the middle. For example, estoy aquí en la estación, or “I’m here in the station”, is pronounced as ehtoy aquí en la ehtació. Puerto Rico is unique because it's not a country, but a territory of the US. Thus, English greatly influences Puerto Rican Spanish. Like English speakers, Puerto Ricans emphasize “r” sounds at the end of words. For instance, they pronounce the word matar as matar, while most Spanish countries will softly pronounce the final “r”. What’s more, the letter “r” is treated very differently depending on where it is in the word. If an “r” comes at the end of a syllable (not followed by a vowel) it's typically converted to an “l” sound, so "Puerto Rico" becomes "Puelto Rico". Dominican Spanish is influenced by both indigenous tribes and the history of African slavery. Before the Spanish conquered the Caribbean, many native tribes of the Taíno people lived there. Common Spanish words of Taíno origin include maracas (the musical instrument) and hamaca (“hammock”). As I’ve alluded to, the languages of African slaves impacted Carribbean Spanish. For example, Dominican Spanish uses pronouns in ways similar to African languages like Igbo. Instead of a saying cómo estás tú, Dominicans like to say cómo tú ta. It is common to add the pronoun ahead of the verb in a question along with shortening verbs (e.g. ta instead of está). In standard Spanish, questions follow the format of verb then subject as shown in the phrase; Adónde vas tú translated as “Where are you going?” Dominicans, on the other hand, could say Adónde tú vas? Like other dialects such as Puerto Rican Spanish, Dominicans like to cut words. As shown above, está becomes ta, which can make words run together. While this change might appear minor, Dominicans are infamous for their rapid speech along with word cutting, making it hard for even native Spanish speakers to understand it.

The Chilean Spanish Dialect

Like Caribbean Spanish, Chilean Spanish is unique and difficult. A key feature is that Chileans pronounce ch like “sh” which would make Chile sound like “Shi-lé”. Also, words ending with a vowel followed by “do” or “da” eliminate the “d” sound. So, words such as fundido (“melted”), fracasado (“failed”) and patudo (“sassy”) will most often sound like “fundío”, “fracasáo”, or “patúo”. However, it is very important to distinguish between the accent on the second-to-last vowel as this can change word meanings. Even though accents can seem trivial, one letter can change the entire meaning of the word. For example, ’e ‘onde eres, properly pronounced as de donde eres, meaning “where are you from?” will blend the words together making it very tough to understand. In a similar way, when a word ending with the letter “a” is immediately followed by another word beginning with the letter “d”, the “d” sound is removed. So, the phrase dónde está la biblioteca becomes “‘onde esta la biblioteca”. Another example is persona del espacio, which would be said as “persona ‘e espacio”. Likewise, words ending in “von” drop the “v” sound, so the common word huevón (“dude”) becomes “hue-ón”. In addition, para el plus a masculine word is shortened to pa’l and sounds like PAL in palm. With para la plus afeminine word it becomes pá la and and can been seen in the phrase el regalo es para la maestra or "el regalo es pá la maestra", which both mean “ the gift is for the teacher.” Since para is a very commonly used word, cutting words and merging syllables can make it tough to understand. Thus, it’s crucial to get accustomed to this quirk if you’re trying to learn Chilean Spanish.

Conclusion

Spanish is a diverse language with many unique dialects, each of which has its own quirks. As you become more proficient in Spanish, it’s fun to distinguish where someone is from based on their slang and accent. Have you heard other Spanish dialects that I missed in this article? Please share about them in the comments. Don’t be shy!

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