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Deleted user
23 Mar 2018

Question about Spanish (Spain)

¿Cuales son las diferencias entre el acento de España y el acento de Argentina?

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-Alexia25-
23 Mar 2018

  • Spanish (Spain)
The main differences are these: ▪In Spain "s" sounds like "s" but "c/z" sounds like "th" in English, while in Argentina all those sound as "s". And that's (what Argentinians do) is called "seseo". 🇪🇸 C/Z - Th sound S - S sound 🇦🇷 C/Z/S - S sound (seseo) ▪In Spain we use "vosotros" for informal situations and "ustedes" in formal situations. In Argentina they only use "ustedes". ▪In Spain we use the pronoun "tú", but in Argentina they use "vos", whose conjugation is derived from the conjugation of "vosotros". 🇪🇸 pronouns ⬇️ Tú - singular, informal Usted - singular, formal Vosotros/as - plural, informal Ustedes - plural, formal 🇦🇷 pronouns ⬇️ Vos - singular, informal Usted - singular, formal Ustedes - pluarl, formal&informal ▪In Spain "ll" and "y" sound like "j" in English in words like "jacket", "object", "Jim", etc. In Argentina that's like a "sh" sound. 🇪🇸 Ll/Y - English "j" sound 🇦🇷 Ll/Y - English "sh" sound ▪Lastly, Spanish people sound plain, we have a neutral tone, while Argentinians sound a little bit as if they were singing. --- But those are the general differences. Inside each country, mostly Spain, there are even more different accents. About Argentina I can say that not everybody actually make the "sh" sound for "ll/y", just people from some specific places (probably the capital). There aren't that big differences between one city and another actually. But I have to add that Argentinians in general don't pronounce "s" at the end of syllabes. For example "estás" is read like "ehtáh". But in Spain there are a lot of different accents. All said above was just true talking about the neutral Spanish, which is from the north and middle of Spain. In the south and the Canary Islands people talk very different. I'll start by the south (Andalucía, Extremadura, Murcia and south of Castilla-La Mancha). There people neither pronounce "s" at the end of syllabes, but also many other letters at the end of words are dropped. For example "hablar" is "habláh", "verdad" is "verdáh", "capaz" is "capáh"... And now talking just about the region of Andalucía, there there exists: seseo, ceceo and distinction. Distinction is what it's done in the neutral Spanish (from the north/middle of Spain), to differentiate "c/z" and "s" sounds. "Seseo" is what all Latin Americans have. And "ceceo" is totally the opposite, it's when people pronounce "s" like "c/z" (with "th" sound). The most common thing is the distinction, followed by the seseo and lastly the ceceo. But it's not that some people do one and other another, it's that people sometimes have seseo, sometimes not, other times they make distinction... There's not a rule. They talk however they want (though there are some situations where it's more normal one thing than the other). Anyways, the last thing about Andalucía is that some people use the pronoun "ustedes" for informal situations, too, but the difference is that it's always used with the conjugation of "vosotros". Changing to the Canary Islands, there people talk really really different from people from the peninsula. They actually sound more Latin American, specifically Venezuelan, though they of course use Spanish expressions. And the reason why they don't sound like peninsulars is that they always use "ustedes" for both formal and informal situations and that they also have seseo, for always, they never pronounce "th". I'll show you some videos for you to listen to the differences.

The main differences are these:

▪In Spain "s" sounds like "s" but "c/z" sounds like "th" in English, while in Argentina all those sound as "s". And that's (what Argentinians do) is called "seseo".

🇪🇸
C/Z - Th sound
S - S sound

🇦🇷
C/Z/S - S sound (seseo)

▪In Spain we use "vosotros" for informal situations and "ustedes" in formal situations. In Argentina they only use "ustedes".

▪In Spain we use the pronoun "tú", but in Argentina they use "vos", whose conjugation is derived from the conjugation of "vosotros".

🇪🇸 pronouns ⬇️

Tú - singular, informal
Usted - singular, formal
Vosotros/as - plural, informal
Ustedes - plural, formal

🇦🇷 pronouns ⬇️

Vos - singular, informal
Usted - singular, formal
Ustedes - pluarl, formal&informal

▪In Spain "ll" and "y" sound like "j" in English in words like "jacket", "object", "Jim", etc. In Argentina that's like a "sh" sound.

🇪🇸
Ll/Y - English "j" sound

🇦🇷
Ll/Y - English "sh" sound

▪Lastly, Spanish people sound plain, we have a neutral tone, while Argentinians sound a little bit as if they were singing.

---

But those are the general differences. Inside each country, mostly Spain, there are even more different accents.

About Argentina I can say that not everybody actually make the "sh" sound for "ll/y", just people from some specific places (probably the capital). There aren't that big differences between one city and another actually. But I have to add that Argentinians in general don't pronounce "s" at the end of syllabes. For example "estás" is read like "ehtáh".

But in Spain there are a lot of different accents. All said above was just true talking about the neutral Spanish, which is from the north and middle of Spain. In the south and the Canary Islands people talk very different. I'll start by the south (Andalucía, Extremadura, Murcia and south of Castilla-La Mancha). There people neither pronounce "s" at the end of syllabes, but also many other letters at the end of words are dropped. For example "hablar" is "habláh", "verdad" is "verdáh", "capaz" is "capáh"... And now talking just about the region of Andalucía, there there exists: seseo, ceceo and distinction. Distinction is what it's done in the neutral Spanish (from the north/middle of Spain), to differentiate "c/z" and "s" sounds. "Seseo" is what all Latin Americans have. And "ceceo" is totally the opposite, it's when people pronounce "s" like "c/z" (with "th" sound). The most common thing is the distinction, followed by the seseo and lastly the ceceo. But it's not that some people do one and other another, it's that people sometimes have seseo, sometimes not, other times they make distinction... There's not a rule. They talk however they want (though there are some situations where it's more normal one thing than the other). Anyways, the last thing about Andalucía is that some people use the pronoun "ustedes" for informal situations, too, but the difference is that it's always used with the conjugation of "vosotros". Changing to the Canary Islands, there people talk really really different from people from the peninsula. They actually sound more Latin American, specifically Venezuelan, though they of course use Spanish expressions. And the reason why they don't sound like peninsulars is that they always use "ustedes" for both formal and informal situations and that they also have seseo, for always, they never pronounce "th".

I'll show you some videos for you to listen to the differences.

Highly-rated answerer
-Alexia25-
23 Mar 2018

  • Spanish (Spain)

🇪🇸

Neutral accent:
https://youtu.be/GgbOx_L7rQ0 (he's from a city which I think it's considered to have the slowest accent)
https://youtu.be/x6Amc7lwB3I (someone that talks faster)

Southern accent:
https://youtu.be/cuVsRipRye4 (this is the fastest accent. And btw, the Andalusian and the Chilean accent are considered the most difficult to understand)

Canary Islands:
https://youtu.be/qbZe_xXMjFY


🇦🇷

Argentinian accent:
https://youtu.be/_f7M0b0KGu4
https://youtu.be/e7Hh7WtgaFk


🇪🇸🇦🇷

And here you have videos of Spaniards and Argentinians together:

https://youtu.be/Ozx2Zzj2xIM (the girl is the Spanish)

https://youtu.be/dlSdzK8t4-0 (the girl in the left is Argentinian, the girl in the middle is Andalusian and the girl in the right is northern Spanish)

Highly-rated answerer
Deleted user
23 Mar 2018

@-Alexia25- ¡Gracias!

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¿Cuales son las diferencias entre el acento de España y el acento de Argentina?
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