Can the people from Madrid, Barcelona, Vigo, and Seville in Spain understand the Spanish spoken in Brownsville, Yuma, Arizona, McAllen, Zapata, Texas, El Paso, Westchester, Florida, and Laredo, Texas?

Answer 1

Hi! The short answer is - yes. When it comes to basic conversation in a neutral setting, Spanish speakers from all over the Hispanic world can understand one another. The major differences are in colloquial expressions (which varies greatly even in English from state to state in the U.S.). Spain differs from the rest of the Hispanic world in that it uses vosotros ("you all" - informal) but no other Spanish-speaking does. However, other Spanish speakers would still be able to understand this.

Honestly, the Spanish spoken in Spain vs. the Spanish spoken in Latin America, the Caribbean, and the U.S. is roughly equivalent to the difference between the English spoken in the U.K. vs. the English spoken in the U.S. We may have different words we use in the U.S. from what the British use ("parking lot" vs. "car park", for example), but for the most part, we can all understand one another without any major issues.

Please keep in mind, however, that there are lots of differences between the Spanish spoken in Texas and the Spanish spoken in Florida. These people are coming from all different countries. Texas, I believe, has more Mexican Spanish speakers (I have never visited or resided in Texas so I can't say too much about their Hispanic population). Many of Florida's Spanish speakers are also from Mexico, but others still are from Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, etc. So much diversity! Each culture has its own expressions.

I hope that helps!

Warmly,

Alissa G.