The difference between American Soanish and European Spanish is like going to the UK. The accents are different, some words have different meanings but most people will understand you.

Heavy plant crossing? I am a native speaker of English and I am stumped. So to speak.

Golemtoo...Re: jajaja... Since I am not in Spain you will have to put up with HaHaHa.. However i would veru much like to be there in that place at this time (or any)

Post whatever questions you have and I am sure we can help.

Heavy plant crossing? I am a native speaker of English and I am stumped. So to speak.>>

I always imagine a large cactus or palm tree trying to drag itself across the road, but in UK english, "plant" can also mean large vehicles or machinery.

get it now, nikki?

A thousand years ago we were in Spain and went to see the documentary "Monterey Pop." And when Johnny Cash sang, "I keep a close watch on this heart of mine." The Spanish subtitle used the word for wristwatch. Which must have been painful.

I have trouble undertsanding the Andalucían accent as they clip off the ends of their words.

I think it's the equivalent of our sign that says "Construction vehicle entrance" in a work zone where they are moving huge dump trucks, cement mixers, bulldozers, etc.

When we arrived in Seville, a friend who met us warned me about " Andalucian
accent"...he was right.
Not long ago, a girl from Central America
told me she could hardly understand speakers from Chile.
One of my Spanish professors demonstrated to the class what "street" Cuban sounded like.
No one understood a word.
Some Spanish words like " coger" ( grab, catch) have a very different meaning in Mexico
( and some other countries).

Sorry, I am not making it any easier.

I think it's the equivalent of our sign that says "Construction vehicle entrance" in a work zone where they are moving huge dump trucks, cement mixers, bulldozers, etc.>>


you've got it, nyt - i think our phrase sounds nicer! [but is certainly more confusing!]

danon- it is not just in Spain that locals have trouble with the language of other parts of the country - when we arrived in Cornwall I could barely understand my neighbour, and it was a good 5 years before I could be sure that I knew what he'd said every time.

Ann....funny,
when we took a couple visiting from Australia to lunch, I could not understand half of what the man was saying.
Just nodded my head to whatever he mumbled....

I think there are always issues with people not understanding others at the fluent, local level. I can't understand a lot of people on the street at home, a lot of people mumble or don't enunciate correctly or speak quickly even when you know the language. And I know a lot of fluent Spanish speakers have trouble understanding Cubans, that's nothing unusual, and other countries, also. My brother lived in El Salvador some years and is fluent in Spanish, and he says he can't understand Cubans (and I think Puerto Ricans) but that El Salvordoreans usually speak more clearly or less slang or something.

And any language can have slang words (what the French call argot) where regular standard words in the language come to be used for something else, even something vulgar (don't know why that example is given, this is nothing new).

But the point is for the OP I don't think these issues matter, as someone just learning a few words for use as a tourist who doesn't know the language at all (as it appears from the OP) and is solely learning from a phrasebook and tapes -- is never going to understand someone speaking regular sentence quickly in the street, regardless of accent. And the OP is only going to be learning basic words and phrases, so exhaustive understanding of the nuances of slang words in Mexico vs. Peru vs. Spain doesn't really matter (that word has different meanings in many South American countires, also) because the OP isn't going to be speaking fluently no matter what nor making complex sentences of any kind.

I´m a local...so feel free to ask any questions on Spanish language, it´ll be a pleasure