Faremax: Travel Forums

When I learned Spanish, I learned it out of a book that purported to teach European spanish; are there any major differences between the Spanish of Spain and the Spanish of Mexico, or are the differences mainly just little things, like colloquialisms? 

there are infact some substantial differences in the dialects, especially in the context of formalities.  the european spanish tends to speak in the Usted -or formal, 1st person address- form more often.  some nouns are different and of course the conjugations of the verbs will be different if you're speaking in the formal more often.  -But- don't let that stop you from traveling to either local and trying to speak the language.  you should be able to understand both, and you will learn to speak the particular way of the place that you're in quickly if you try.  locals tend to be flattered, rather than put off, by your efforts.  its an honor. 

Its called a dialect, and naturally when there is an ocean seperating the two regions, the dialect will differ.

Yes, and dialect can mean the way they speak as well as the actual words they use to speak.  There are some major vocabulary differences between the two.   Also, Spain tends to be much for formal using usted and Mexico it is acceptable to use tu.

Plus Spainiards use the Castilian accent, while Latin Americans do not.

Just like any language, it will vary from country to country. Costa Rican Spanish is slightly different than Panamanian.

Yeah, they'll still understand what you're saying but don't be surprised if they laugh at you when you use a horribly formal word.  I said "coche" for car to a Mexican and he got a good laugh out of that...apparently they only use that in Spain and instead say "caro."

I lived in Costa Rica [ a tiny country] and their Spanish varies from region to region. It's like any other language.

There is definitely a difference between the two types of spanish, and there are differences within each type of spanish.  I was raised speaking both types of spanish and it is sometimes hard to switch between the two.