Spanish dialects around the world

Spanish is the second most spoken language in the world, and the principles for this language are basically the same, but everywhere you go, whether it be in Spain or Latin America, the Spanish language is spoken slightly differently; in a different dialect.

Castilian – This is the most common dialect spoken in Spain and the most taught to foreigners. It is spoken in Madrid and northern Spain, where the people are considered to pronounce things “properly” as they do not omit letters as in some dialects.

Andalucían – In the region of Andalucía in southern Spain, a dialect is spoken where people drop consonants in the middle of words like the “s” (pescado sounds like pescao), as well as other consonants at the end of a word, for example: mujer sounds like “mujé”. They appear to speak at a faster pace, but with the dropping of certain letters in words, it makes the sentence flow easier as it is easier to say. Seseo: s, c and z pronounced like an s. Ceceo: s, c and z all pronounced like “th”.

Different languages – They also have a few different language groups in Spain, in those communities who consider themselves independent from Spain. For example, Catalan is spoken the region of Catalonia, which is almost like a mixture of Spanish and French, the Basque language is spoken in the Basque Country and Navarre, in the North-East of Spain, and Galician, which has been strongly influenced by neighboring Portugal, is spoken in the region of Galicia, in the North-West of Spain.

Gibraltar – With a dialect known as “llanito”, this small British island in southern Spain has a mixture of Andalucían Spanish and British English, similar to that of “Spanglish”.

Latin American Spanish – The Spanish spoken in Latin America is different to the Spanish spoken in Spain. Each country in Latin America has different accents, and perhaps a few different words, but people understand each other.

Rioplatense Spanish – This is a Spanish dialect which sounds Italian, just because of the intonation. It is spoken in the river basin between Uruguay and Argentina, as well as in parts of the two countries. This is down to the great number of Italian immigrants in this area during the 19^th and 20^th centuries.

Caribbean Spanish – This is very similar to that of the Canary Islands.

Equatoguinean Spanish – Equatorial Guinea is one of the smallest countries in Africa, and this is the only official place where Spanish is spoken in Africa. Although it is spoken as a second language, it is the official language, and figures estimate that it is spoken by 90% of the population. The Spanish spoken here is more similar to that spoken in the Spanish peninsula than in Latin America, due to Spanish colonization.