Learning Spanish Abroad

Having coffee in a Palermo neighborhood in Buenos Aires, Argentina

My husband and I watch a TV show about moving abroad to Spanish speaking countries, and one of the shows was recorded in Buenos Aires, Argentina. As a Spanish tutor, I was paying close attention to what they were saying, specially during the scenes where they were either speaking Spanish or teaching it. I love how the Argentinians speak, and also love to learn from other teachers and their techniques, so I can pass it on to my students.

It seems to me that no much editing was made to any of the comments made during this show, and I'm pretty sure many people that hears them will take that information as completely true.

Two comments caught my attention, one comment made by the Spanish Student and one by the Spanish tutor. The Student said that they speak different Spanish "dialects" in Latin-america. At this point I decided to do a research about the word "dialect" since, to me, saying that each Spanish speaking country has a different dialect is like saying that each state in the United States speaks in a different language. Do you agree?

So, this is what I came up with:

di·a·lect/ˈdīəˌlekt/ L. dialectus / noun, often attributive

A particular form of a language that is peculiar to a specific region or social group. " Variety of a language spoken by a group of people and having features of vocabulary, grammar, and/or pronunciation that distinguish it from other varieties of the same language. Dialects usually develop as a result of geographic, social, political, or economic barriers between groups of people who speak the same language. When dialects diverge to the point that they are mutually incomprehensible, they become languages in their own right. This was the case with Latin, various dialects of which evolved into the different Romance languages." 

Floralis Generica,
UN Square, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Dialect and its synonyms, vernacular - lingo, jargon, cant, argot, slang were used to "mean a form of language that is not recognized as standard" 

This definition makes me think on how cold and sterile languages can become when seen from the grammar and linguistics point of view. It's like looking at a flower made of steel. It helped me realize that we, as humans, tend to forget the richness of the culture behind the language by focusing in its technicalities.

The definition helped me understand better how to use it. I could keep writing about other ways the term can be used both as a compliment and as an insult, but it will take a different post to do so, and I want to get to the second comment.

This comment was made by the Spanish tutor was about the pronunciation of the letter "ll" in Spanish. He said that in Argentina they pronounce it like the "sh" sound and in the Latin-american countries it's pronounce like the "lee" sound (Did you noticed he didn't say "other" Latin-american countries?)

Going back to the sound, I have to agree with him only on the Argentinian pronunciation, it's his native "dialect" so he knows what he is talking about. Now, regarding to the rest of us pronouncing the "ll" as a "lee" sound is not accurate. As a matter of fact, that sound is heard in Spain, not in Latin-america. The sound of this particular letter, as well as the sound of the letter "y" varies from one end of Latin-america to the other. Ask any Spanish speaker how to pronounce the word "llave" (key) and listen to how they say it. If you were in Spain you might hear it sounds like "lee-ah- vay". In some regions of Central-america you will hear them saying "yah-vay", and in the Caribbean area (Cuba-Venezuela-Colombia-Panama, etc) the word could sound more like "jah-vay".

Can you hear the difference? Spanish speakers can, and you can choose which one is the easiest for you to learn, but be aware that there are other ways to pronounce the same word, even the same letter, but the differences are so small that we, Spanish speakers, do not detect them until we study and/or pay close attention to them.

I think we can all listen to what everybody have to say, and we have the choice to accept as true or not whatever we heard. In other words, don't believe everything someone else tells you just because they say so. Listen to them, acknowledge their comments, do a research and make an educated decision to accept or reject the information you received. That's the beauty of choice, that's the principle of learning.

Enjoy any learning experiences and let's not get stocked in technicalities, let's not be spoilsports (party poopers), or as we would say in Spanish "aguafiestas".

Dancing Tango in the street of Buenos Aires, Argentina