How different are Spanish dialects around the world?

Spanish is spoken by over 400 million people all around the world, including in the more than 20 countries where it's an official language—so it's no wonder there are so many Spanish dialects and accents! Regional dialects are the ways people in different places speak differently, as over time we tend to speak more like the people we interact with the most… our neighbors!

Spanish dialects around the world

The Spanishes spoken around the world vary by the vocabulary they use (especially slang and words for food), how they're pronounced, and even the pronoun used for "you"! Learners can hear different dialects when they watch Spanish-language movies and TV shows (pay attention to what country they're from) and by listening to music from Spanish-speaking artists. For example, you can learn a lot of Puerto Rican Spanish from Bad Bunny!

The varieties of Spanish used today reflect each community's history—including their political, linguistic, and cultural histories. When the Spanish arrived in the Americas, they encountered people who spoke hundreds of languages, so now the Spanishes of each country include many words and characteristics from those languages. (Some words even made it to English! 🍫)

As very often happens with dialects and accents, some of the words and pronunciations listed below won't be true for all regions and all speakers in the country—and some features we list for a particular country are common in other countries as well!

Here are some facts about 6 of the Spanish dialects you'll find around the world.

Argentinian Spanish
Colombian Spanish
Cuban Spanish
Mexican Spanish
Peruvian Spanish
Spain Spanish

Argentinian Spanish

👄 Pronunciation tip
In Argentinian Spanish, the letters "ll" and "y" are pronounced a lot like the English sound "sh," as in "sheep." That means that yo (I) will be pronounced "sho" and calle (street) will be pronounced like "cashe"!

👋 How to say "you"

* The pronoun vos has a different conjugation to go along with it, too: vos hablás (you speak), vos leés (you read), and vos vivís (you live). The stress of the verb changes to the last syllable, and you add an accent mark.

👥 Other languages spoken in Argentina
There are many indigenous languages spoken in Argentina, and many come from different language families—which means their vocabularies, grammars, and pronunciations are totally unrelated! For example, Aymara, Guaraní, Mapuche, Quechua, and Wichí are 5 indigenous languages spoken in different parts of Argentina today, and they come from 5 different language families.

There are also large communities of Italian, Arabic, and German speakers in Argentina, and Welsh is an official language in the southern province of Chubut!

😎 Cool slang
One word you'll definitely hear in Argentina is che—and it's not easy to define! It means "hey" when you start a sentence or conversation and "C'mon!" as a response or to grab someone's attention. It can have other meanings depending on the context!

Here are a few more informal words and phrases you'll hear in Argentina.

🍽 Food words
If you're going to Argentina, be prepared for asado (barbecue, literally "grill") and yerba mate—a tea-like drink made from the yerba mate plant and often called simply mate. The word mate comes from Quechua and means "small pumpkin"…which was traditionally the container from which you would drink your hot yerba mate!

Colombian Spanish

👋 How to say "you"

* In Colombia, usted (the formal pronoun) is sometimes used informally as well. You might hear it between close friends and family to show affection!

👥 Other languages spoken in Colombia
Several dozen indigenous and creole languages are also spoken in Colombia, including Palenquero—this creole developed over 400 years ago by enslaved Africans in Colombia who escaped their captors and formed communities called palenques in the interior of the country.

The indigenous languages of Colombia are very diverse and include languages from the Tupi-Guaraní family (which stretches down all the way to Argentina), the Quechua family (which includes languages spoken all along the western coast of South America), the Cariban family of languages along the Caribbean coast (which is where the name "Caribbean" comes from!), and the Arawakan family (which includes many languages from central and northern South America). And that's only the beginning!

😎 Cool slang

🍽 Food words

Cuban Spanish

👄 Pronunciation tip
The Spanish varieties spoken in the Caribbean have a lot in common, so Cuban Spanish will share some pronunciation characteristics with Puerto Rico, like how at the end of words "s" is often not pronounced and that "r" at the end of words is pronounced as "l."

Another pronunciation you'll notice in Cuban Spanish is that "d" is often not pronounced between vowels, and this can happen with "b" as well. For example, pasado (past) is pronounced pasao, so el sao pasao is how you'd say el sábado pasado (last Saturday).

👋 How to say "you"

👥 Other languages spoken in Cuba
While no indigenous languages survive in Cuba today, Cuban Spanish shows influences of Taíno (an Arawakan language), which was spoken on the island when it was colonized by the Spanish. Spanish adopted the Taíno words maíz (corn), barbacoa (barbecue), hurucán (hurricane), and canoa (canoe). Cuban Spanish also borrowed from Yoruba (a language of West Africa), and Yoruba is still used today as the holy language of the Afro-Cuban religion Santería.

😎 Cool slang

🍽 Food words

Mexican Spanish

👋 How to say "you"

* Some speakers in Chiapas (a state in Mexico) use vos for the informal singular pronoun.

👥 Other languages spoken in Mexico
Hundreds of indigenous languages and dialects are spoken in Mexico today, with the two most prominent being Nahuatl (a language descended from what the Aztecs spoke) and Yucatec Maya. There are many other Mayan languages spoken in Mexico, too, as well as languages unrelated to Nahuatl and the Mayan languages, including languages in the Oto-Manguean family. Many Nahuatl words were borrowed into Spanish and then later into English, like tomate (tomato), aguacate (avocado), and chocolate (chocolate).

😎 Cool slang

🍽 Food words

Peruvian Spanish

👋 How to say "you"

👥 Other languages spoken in Peru
In addition to Spanish, Quechua and Aymara are official languages in certain regions of Peru, including the Andes and the areas east of the Andes. Quechua comes from the languages spoken by the Incas, and Spanish borrowed many Quechua words, such as llama (for the animal llama), papa (potato), puma (cougar, mountain lion), and guano (dung from bats and birds). You might recognize that some of those have been borrowed into English, too!

😎 Cool slang

🍽 Food words

Spain Spanish

👄 Pronunciation tip
The most noticeable pronunciation difference between European Spanish (also called Peninsular Spanish) and Latin American Spanishes is the "th" sound: European Spanish pronounces "z," "ce," and "ci" like the English "th" in "think." That means that in Spain haces (you do) is pronounced as "athes," cierto (true) as "thierto," and pez (fish) as "peth."

👋 How to say "you"

* Vosotros also has its own conjugation: vosotros habláis (you all speak), vosotros leéis (you all read), and vosotros vivís (you all live).

** Even though tú and vosotros are technically informal, you will also hear them in some formal situations in Spain!

👥 Other languages spoken in Spain
Spanish is the official language throughout the country, and some regions have an additional official language: Aranese, Basque, Catalan, Galician, or Valencian. All of these are Romance languages descended from Latin—except for Basque. Basque is what's called a language isolate: It's not related to any other language on earth, including the other languages spoken in Spain!

In addition to the official languages, many other languages and dialects are spoken across Spain, including Asturian in Asturias and Silbo Gomero, a whistled version of Spanish used in the Canary Islands.

😎 Cool slang

🍽 Food words

Note that in Spain the word for "peanut" is cacahuete, with an "e" (unlike the Latin American form cacahuate with an "a").

And many, many more!

Just like with English, how people speak Spanish depends on more than just the country they're from: There are also particular patterns for different regions, cities, and neighborhoods, ages and genders, education levels, and other parts of the speaker's identity!

If you're a learner interested in a particular country or region, the best way to get practice with that dialect is to interact with it! Keep up with your Duolingo lessons to develop a broad foundation in pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar, and add to your study plan the music, movies, TV, and social media accounts from the county you're interested in. Intermediate learners will also get a lot out of hearing dialects in action on the Duolingo Podcast.