Spanish is the third most spoken language in the world, with 400 million speakers. It has many dialects and variations, with differences in accent, forms of address, and pronunciation of certain letters. The language has two singular pronouns for the second person, tú and usted, except in RioPlatense where a third form, voseo, is used. Pronunciation variations include the sounds of s, cez, and la y and l’ll.
Spanish is spoken by around 400 million people worldwide, making it the third most popular language in the world, right after English and Mandarin Chinese. While English has more speakers than any other language, most of these speakers are not native speakers and have a different mother tongue. If you take this into account, Spanish becomes the second language in the world. Besides being the official language in 21 countries, it is also widely spoken in small colonies around the world.
This language has many dialects and variations. In Spain, where different dialects are used, Castilian is considered the national standard. Castilian is also widely used in some Latin American countries such as Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and some areas of Ecuador. Other Latin American countries speak their own variety, influenced by local aboriginal languages and the influx of immigrants from different nations.
Some of the major differences in Spanish spoken around the world are the accent, forms of address, and the pronunciation of certain letters. When it comes to accents, variations spoken outside of Spain can be divided into several general groups: Caribbean, Central America, North America or Mexico, South America, and RioPlatense, a specific variation spoken only in Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay.
Spanish has two singular pronouns for the second person: tú (informal) and usted (formal). These are used uniformly throughout the world, except in RioPlatense, where a third form is the norm. Known as voseo, speakers in some areas use vos as an informal variant. In Ecuador, vos is becoming popular, even if it is not used in the media or outside the company of close friends. The use of different forms influences the accompanying verb. For example, to say “Come here”, a person would say “Venga aca”, (usted), “Veni aca” (tú), “Veni aca” (vos).
When it comes to pronunciation, the main variations of Spanish are the letter sounds s, cez, and la y and l’ll. In most Latin American countries, the sound of sez has become standardized, meaning that it is difficult to distinguish between words like casa (house) and caza (hunt). In Spain, however, the distinction is strong and confusing both letters is considered a sign of the ignorant class. The ll is pronounced soft, in a sound similar to the word “lieu” or sometimes the sound “iu”, in most countries except those that use the Rio Platense, where a phenomenon called yeismo occurs. There, the letter ll sounds like /ʝ/ and sometimes /Ʒ/.
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