What dialect should you learn when learning Spanish?

Tigerandahalf

Hey all,

What would people recommend? I've been learning a bit and I'm finding the dialect of S.America/Southern Spain to be easier where the c (after e and i) is pronounced like an 's', as in English and the 'z' is pronounced like an 's' too. However, it seems the most widely spoken dialect in Spain is where the above sounds are pronounced like a 'th', which I find difficult especially in remembering how words are spelt. I got some books and noticed these differences too.

e.g. beer = cerveza = thair-be-tha
or = ser-be-sa

I mightn't have got the above fully correct but as one can see it makes the sounds of the word very different.
What dialect do people learn? Is it better to stick with one over the other?
I'm not intending to go to any particular place over the other, but would just like to get a good grasp of the language.
What approach do Spanish teachers take in Ireland?

niallcon4re

I am in the same position and I go with the South American pronounciation. There are plenty of SAs in Spain anyway so they'll know what you mean. It is just more natural for English speakers, so as I don't have a preference for Spain or SA , I'll go with whicever suits me better. The Spanish "y" e.g playa is easier for me so I go with that.

scruff321

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

Hey all,

What would people recommend? I've been learning a bit and I'm finding the dialect of S.America/Southern Spain to be easier where the c (after e and i) is pronounced like an 's', as in English and the 'z' is pronounced like an 's' too. However, it seems the most widely spoken dialect in Spain is where the above sounds are pronounced like a 'th', which I find difficult especially in remembering how words are spelt. I got some books and noticed these differences too.

e.g. beer = cerveza = thair-be-tha
or = ser-be-sa

I mightn't have got the above fully correct but as one can see it makes the sounds of the word very different.
What dialect do people learn? Is it better to stick with one over the other?
I'm not intending to go to any particular place over the other, but would just like to get a good grasp of the language.
What approach do Spanish teachers take in Ireland?

I wouldnt be too worried about dialects. Just starting learning! Its good if you have exposure to different dialects, but its not as clear cut as there beening just 2 forms. All the Latin American countries have their own accents.

Peter Walczak

Hiya! I've been learning Spanish myself for couple of months now and what I'm doing in order to catch the pronunciation is listening to Spanish Radio Nacional De Espana (rtve.es/radio). However, what confuses me the most is the way the letters 'b' and 'v' are pronounced. It always seems to depend on the radio presenter. Sometimes 'b' = 'be', sometimes it's 've' and it's the same with 'v'. I can't figure out if there's a proper way of saying them. Is there one correct way? Always say 'be'?

Saffers

Peter Walczak wrote: »

However, what confuses me the most is the way the letters 'b' and 'v' are pronounced. It always seems to depend on the radio presenter. Sometimes 'b' = 'be', sometimes it's 've' and it's the same with 'v'. I can't figure out if there's a proper way of saying them. Is there one correct way?

I've been wondering about this too. I've mostly learned Spanish on my own, but I do remember that someone once told me to always say "be" (even though I hear "ve" too sometimes). Maybe the pronunciation depends on the dialect? It's diffcult for me to tell because I never focused on studying any particular accent.

I don't think there's a huge difference, to be honest. Remember that our 'th' sound doesn't exist in Spanish as the spelling 'th' (in Spanish, it's just pronounced like a T, so Thalia = Talia), so if you hear that sound, it's either a C or a Z and if you learn the spelling rules (which are incredibly simple compared to other languages), it shouldn't be too hard to determine which is which. I find Latin American pronunciation is actually slightly more difficult, because C, Z and S sound the same and can often be used in the same way. Hacer or haser? Casa or caza? I should point out here that the 'Latin American' pronunciation of C, Z and S is actually called seseo and originated in Spain. It's common to hear it in Andalucia and the Canaries.

As for V and B, it depends on the speaker and the word, but generally it's a sound somewhere between the English V and the English B. If in doubt, pronounce it like a B.

happy cookie

There used to be a time, before I started school, when B and V were pronounced differently, pretty much the same as English where the V sounds almost like an F. However when I was going to school myself both were pronounced the same, as a B. That's why a lot of spanish people have trouble recognising what's the correct letter to use when writing!! HTH.

El rojo

B and V have the same sound in Spanish, so don't worry about them. And don't worry either about the different accents, if you can communicate in one country you won't have much more trouble in another. It is a bit like learning English here, London, New York, Capetown, Melbourne or Mullingar. Very different accents but the basics remain stable. Go and learn, but remember that the only way to speak Spanish i actually trying to speak Spanish. If you read and you write, you learn to read and write, but you won't learn to speak. Carry on man, good luck

Sverige

God both are so easy to pick up and with a little bit of practice the Euro. Spanish becomes like second nature and is more fun to use as it is so suited to the even cadence of Spanish pronunciation. In my opinion teaching the S. American pronunciation outside of the America is so crazy. This is like chapter 1 stuff anyway so by the time you will be up to a comfortable standard I'm sure you will be able to switch between the two easily. :cool:

Dewan

Castellano - It will be much easier to pick up the other local accents later. Castellano is the mother tongue and the Spanish Academy keeps it pure.
If you have a good grasp of grammar in your own language then that's it.

Dewan

Is there any Swedish person out there who would like to learn Spanish?

dardhal

All the different variations of Spanish spoken in Spain (castillian, those in the regions of Galicia, Andalusia, Catalonia, even the ones in que Basque Country or in the Canary Islands), as well as all the Spanish variations used in America (from the USA down to Patagonia in Argentina) are very much like the same. They share the same grammar, the same rules, and the same core vocabulary.

They mostly differ in some local variations in some expressions and vocabulary, and specially in the accent: the accent, the pace and the "sound" of some dialects make it sometimes difficult to understand some people, even for those of us that are native speakers. I think the same happens with English, the language itself is the same, but it's clear that you can have a hard time understanding someone from rural Australia if your learn (listened to) the english spoken in downtown Dublin.

So, my recommendation, focus on grammar, vocabulary and verb conjugations, and leave pronunciation for a later stage. Anyways, there should only be very minor differences in accent and expressions used in TV across Spain, but if you need to focus on any, stick to the language spoken in the central part of Spain (Madrid, Castilla-León, etc.) or search for content published by country level bodies, for example, all the media contained in the public national TV website, www.rtve.es

If you need more pointers to content, feel free to ask, and I'll do my best.

Hope this helps.