Castilian

Spanish spoken in the northern and central regions of Spain. There are three characteristics that make this dialect unique:

• The use of the “TH” sound, similar to the one used in the English language, when pronouncing the letter “Z” or ‘C’ when it is followed by an ‘E’ or ‘I’, like Bar(th)elona, instead of Barcelona (this linguistic phenomena is called distinción).

• Differently from the English language, Spanish, requires unique uses of the word “you”. In formal situations, usted (sing.) and ustedes (pl.). In informal situations, however, tú (sing.) and vosotros (pl.). But… Beware, vosotros is only used in Spain. We will get to that.

• Embellishment of phrases using the present perfect tense, instead of the past simple. For instance, instead of saying “Yo fui a Barcelona.” They would say “Yo he ido a Bar(th)elona.”

Mexican and Central American

This area is home to several indigenous languages that the Spanish language came in contact with. As an example, in regions with Mayan influence, like El Salvador and Guatemala, the letter F is pronounced as P, given that the F sound does not exist in Mayan.

Just like in all other Spanish dialects throughout Latin America, vosotros is not commonly used, ustedes is usually the norm, both for informal and formal uses of ‘you’. 

Although vos may be used among friends in some situations.

All in all, the Spanish dialect in Mexico and Central America is clear and easy to understand, even with the occasional slang, characteristic to each culture and country.

Andalucian

Spoken in the region of Andalucia in the south of Spain. Unlike the northern region of the country, here ‘S’ and ‘Z’ are pronounced the same way. So, for example, in the words casa (house) and caza (hunt), ‘S’ and ‘Z’ would have the same ‘S’ sound (this is called Seseo and it is commonly used in Latin American countries). 

In some parts of the south ‘Z’, ‘S’, ‘Ce’ and ‘Ci’ are pronounced (th), meaning that sí (yes) is pronounced thi (Ceceo). Additionally, the letters L, R, N and D, are dropped at the end of words. 

So, usted becomes usté, cantar (singing) becomes cantá.

Canarian

Spoken in the Canari islands, off the coast of Spain.  Because the people who arrived at these islands came mostly from Andalucia, this dialect is highly influenced by the Andalucian, and Seseo is observed. Omission of the d at the end of the words cantado equals cantao. Additionally, aspiration of the ‘s’ at the end of words is also observed: más, becomes mah.

Andean

Spoken in Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Venezuela, Colombia, Chile, and Argentina, it is highly influenced by the indigenous languages Qechua and Aymara. 

One of the most distinctive traits of this dialect is that, in contrast with other Spanish dialects, it has a strong intonation of the final ‘s’ at the end of a word.

Caribbean

Spanish resembles Andalucian and Canarian Spanish, therefore, there is a tendency to drop the letters L, R, N and D at the end of words and also to aspire the ‘S’ sound at the end of syllables. 

Due to American influence, in Puerto Rico, the ‘RR’ sound, characteristic of the Spanish language, is replaced with an ‘H’ or English ‘R’ sound. For example, perro (dog) would become peho, instead of perrrro.

Rioplatense

This dialect can be heard in Uruguay and Argentina, a region that has been influenced by Italian immigrants that arrived in the 20th century. Unlike most of the Latin American dialects, the use of vos, instead of tú (which is not used at all!), is quite popular. 

Additionally, the ‘LL’, usually pronounced ‘Y’, is pronounced ‘SH’. For instance, pollo (chicken), is pronounced posho, and not poyo.