[Amykk]

I'm taking Spanish classes and my teacher is from Argentina. He says that his pronunciation is different from Mexicans and tries to give us both pronunciations when possible. Do you know if the dialect in Guatemala is more like Mexico or more like South America? I was just curious, I'm sure the dialect will be the least of my problems since I only know a few phrases at this point!

[crricketts]

Hi Amykk,

I feel somewhat qualified to answer this question because my husband and I studied Spanish in Mexico and subsequently lived in Argentina.

The Argentines speak in a dialect that is quite different fromt he majority of Spanish speakers. In fact, the use verb conjugations that are uique to their country (although I have heard some Bolivians use these same conjugations). In general, Argentine spanish sounds quite "sing-songy" - lilted may be a good word to describe it. In contrast, Mexican spanish is more nasal toned. Also, and this is a major difference, Argentines pronounce the 'll' sound like a soft j with an sh combined. Kind of like the j in French my students are telling me (I teach high school). The Mexicans, and most other Latin American Spanish speakers, pronouce the 'll' as we pronouce a 'y'.

I personally love the Argentine Spanish - I have heard it likened to the way Italians speak in the musical sense of their speech.

Good luck with your studies!

Crissie

[Mically]

Guatemalan "Spanish" is a lot like Mexican (albeit Southern Mexico) "Spanish".

Argentina is all about the changing the letter "ll", pronouned "yuh" into "zuh". In Argentina, the verb "llevar" often sounds like "jzevar". Contrast that with (Spain and their tendency to change soft "c" and "z" into "th". "Gracias" sounds like "Grathias".)

Guatemaltecos don't have any exteme dialect changes, but some of them tend to swallow the consonant endings of words. "Senor" (n with an ~) sounds like "Seno". Keep in mind that if you travel around Guatemala you will meet many people for whom Spanish is also their second language, and some people (mainly older) who speak almost no Spanish at all.

But really, don't worry about all that dialect/linguistic stuff. The people you encounter on your trip will do their best to understand you and will appreciate your attempt to speak their language. (And at the airports/hotels/restorants/shops pretty much everyone speaks some English.)

[goma]

Mically is right!! Guatemalan accent is more like the Mexican one.

There are not "spanish dialects" either in Guatemala, nor in Argentina. Just some different idioms.... just as you find in English within different regions throughout the US. I´m sure your teacher wouldn´t teach you so much of that, so don´t worry.

Spanish speakers from different countries don´t have any trouble communicating to one another... so you won´t have any trouble even if you learn just the Argentinian accent, idioms or anything else...

Hope it helps... I´m a spanish native speaker myself!

[Lisa L]

My 2 cents, also a spanish student, I think the Mexico Spanish sounds different than in Guatemala. I think Guatemalan dialect can be very different depending on where you are in Guatemala. My Spanish teacher is Mexican I will ask her opinon tonight.

[IG1995]

Spanish from Guatemala and Mexico is pretty much the same. If you go to Guatemala and ask for a piece of cake you have to say, "Me puede dar un pedazo de pastel" . In Puerto Rico, we would say, " Me puede dar un pedazo de bizcocho".

We could use different word for one thing.

Myrna