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A few weeks ago, someone asked me to address the differences between Spanish in Latin America and Spanish in Spain. This week, I will talk a little about those differences as well as a few regional word differences from Central America to South America and so forth to help you learn Spanish.

People commonly think that Spanish in Spain and Spanish in Latin America are entirely different. The truth is that people from each area have different accents and there are a few basic language differences, but they can understand each other without a problem.

A major difference is that in Spain, they use a word for “you” called “vosotros”. In Latin America, they know about the word “vosotros”, but they don’t use it in everyday conversation. In Spanish, there are three ways to say “you” (we will talk more in-depth about this concept next week.) To keep it short, “vosotros” is used when you are talking to more than one person in an informal way. For example, you would use “vosotros” in Spain when talking to individuals younger than yourself, to a few friends, or those you are on a first-name basis with.

Latin America doesn’t use “vosotros,” however, in Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay (South America), they use a form of “vosotros” called “vos”. This is basically a very casual way to say “you”.

Other than the differences in the accent, the use of “vosotros” and “vos” is probably the main difference in the Spanish language from region to region.

There are also a few differences in vocabulary from region to region. If you learn Spanish with a course like ours, you will learn vocabulary that is almost always used internationally. However, there are a few minor differences in vocabulary that are fun to know about. I will share a few of them in the next couple of paragraphs.

The word for “soda” in Perú is “gaseosa”, and in the Dominican Republic it’s “refresco”. The word “refresco” in Perú means “punch” or “sweetened drink”.

The word for “cake” in some regions of South America is “torta”, in the Caribbean it is “biscocho” (which means “roll” in South America), and in some areas of Central America is “queque” or “biscocho”.

The word for “bus” is “autobus” in Spain, “camión” in Mexico, and “guagua” in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. However, the word “guagua” in Chile means “baby”. So, if you are from Chile and visit Puerto Rico, don’t ask “How’s your guagua?”, because instead of asking “How’s your baby?”, you would really be asking “How’s your bus?”

Moral of the Story: It is important to know about the major differences in the Spanish language so you don’t get completely thrown off track if you visit different countries. The minor vocabulary differences are a fun fact to know about but not as important to your success in Spanish.
If any of you have had experiences with this, I would love to hear from you. Please visit our blog to share your thoughts! Click here!

Sneak peek at next week: This One’s “four” you.

¡Hasta la próxima semana! (Until Next Week!)
David S. Clark — President / Director

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Learn Spanish, Spanish Culture, Spanish Words by Brandi