Which variant of Spanish should I learn?
This year I had the pleasure of meeting a foreign exchange student from Spain! She's quite nice but her time in the US is nearly up. She told me that I should learn Spanish which I don't think is a bad idea, I really like languages and I've really enjoyed learning French so a new language sounds great, however, which variant of Spanish should I learn? Here in the US, Mexican Spanish is going to be the most useful and my friend said she can understand Mexican Spanish but, I also want to go to Europe one day and I'm not sure how well I would be understood outside of every day conversation if I were to go around Spain speaking Mexican Spanish. On the flip side, how well is Castillian Spanish understood by Mexicans or other Latin-American Spanish speakers?
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This is the same as asking "should I learn British English or American English?" apart from existing differences in pronunciation and idioms, the rest remains the same. Brits understand you and you understand them, same thing with mexicans and spaniards. The answer to your question will be determined by which form of the Spanish language you like best.
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If you learn mexican spanish any spanish speaker is going to be able to understand you since mexican spanish has the most neutral and clear spanish accent.
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I thank you all for your wonderful advice :) hopefully I will be successful with this language :)
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as someone learning spanish also, I suggest you learn the form that the people speak from whom you are learning. For example, simply due to time differences, I speak more with folks in Central/south america (rather than spain). So I learn their spanish. It is easier to learn what you hear than what you cant hear. But no matter. ... just learn it all wherever, however you can. Good luck. -Sven
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Hi Stephen,
As someone who juggles a lot of different "Spanishes" (lived in Spain 3 years, Ecuadorian boyfriend, Colombian professors, etc.) here's my advice to you: just learn Spanish! Don't try to limit yourself to the Spanish of one particular country from the outset, especially since you show interest in both Mexico and Spain (and probably other countries). And you don't have to worry about people from different countries not understanding you.
If you see yourself spending time in Spain, don't forget to learn the vosotros form of verbs along with all the other forms (although of course you can get away with ustedes).
In terms of accent, you can choose to speak with the c and z from Spain, and the harsh j and g, and people from Mexico will understand you just fine. But, you may decide, as I did, to go for the more neutral s sound for s, c, and z, as you'll sound more like Spanish-speakers from the majority of countries. It's up to you. The second option may be practical if you're mostly speaking to people from Mexico, and at the same time in no way stops you from being understood by Spaniards.
Later on, once you have a solid knowledge of Spanish, you may find yourself drawn to a certain country and may make an effort to really know their slang and country-specific words, or to imitate their accent. But you don't have to do this from the beginning.
Small anecdote: when I visited Argentina and Chile recently I was afraid I would have a hard time understanding them, but really I had no trouble at all!
Sorry to go on and on, but I think it's a great question. :)
Best of luck and enjoy the beautiful diversity of Spanish!
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