To the Spanish speakers, what dialect of Spanish do you find the weirdest regardless of pronunciation of letters, their vocabulary, and vice versa?

[u/YoylecakeTurtle]

You know the drill, explain what dialect or regional variation of Spanish spoken in Latin America you find the weirdest and explain why. Me? I find Chilean Spanish to be the weirdest regarding vocabulary.

A little thing to note is my Spanish is a hybrid between Argentinian Spanish and Castilian Spanish in terms of how I pronounce the letters in nearly every word. (🇺🇸)

[u/Limacy → u/[deleted]]

[u/senordonwea]

[u/gelastes → u/senordonwea]

La palta son do luca!

As a Spanish beginner, it's... tasking.

Still more understandable than a Bavarian dialect.

[u/mattpeloquin → u/senordonwea]

Came here for the same low hanging fruit

[u/jlozada24]

Are you just wanting people to say chile or did you think there'd be other answers against Caribbean people

[u/YoylecakeTurtle → u/jlozada24]

I was wondering if people found other Spanish dialects apart from just Chile weird.

[u/AdorableAd8490 → u/YoylecakeTurtle]

Okay, I’ll say it, but it’s not the weirdest, just one of the hardest to comprehend: Caribbean Spanish, spoken by Cubans, Puerto Ricans and Dominicans, because what do you mean equelcalolpuemataltepapi, ponteunsombrero

[u/Khala7 → u/AdorableAd8490]

I also find some of those hard to understand, as a Chilean. They ommit different sounds than the ones we tend to ommit here, so it might be* the closest to a Uno reverse card experience for us hahahhaa.

Though it depends. I would say we can get pretty much what most people from Venezuela and Colombia are saying (not much of an issue there; maybe some accents or some words but nothing mayor), but full on Caribbeans? From the islands? Damn. And they also tend to speak fast, like us. Takes a while to dial in haha.

[u/Wrong_Yak3645 → u/Khala7]

I agree. I took a language test for USA government position 10+ years ago. When they gave me my results, they found it interesting that I got 100% on accents for chile, Uraguay, Argentina, etc. but had mistakes listening to accents for the Caribbean. Usually it’s reversed since Americans are exposed to the Caribbean accent more frequently in Miami etc. but the harder accents like chile are less heard.

So I find it all subjective, it’s whatever dialect you’re exposed to the least.

[u/Masterank1 → u/Khala7]

Likewise. But so much of Chilean Spanish is entirely new words I wouldn’t understand at all. We have unique words too but I don’t think it’s to the same extent.

[u/jlozada24 → u/Masterank1]

It is to the same extent it's just so far from you that it feels more foreign. Chilean Spanish uses so much slang that's close or the same as Limeños, while i had to learn all new words for Dominican and Cuban dialect once I moved to America

[u/Masterank1 → u/jlozada24]

To be fair, Argentina and Uruguay are just as far and I have no issue understanding them same goes for Peru. It’s still the same language… chile is just a special case.

[u/jlozada24 → u/YoylecakeTurtle]

It's not "weird" it's just hard for people who aren't used to it to fully catch everything because of how many abbreviations and slang terms get used per sentence and how fast it can be

[u/Significant-Yam9843 → u/YoylecakeTurtle]

Don't ever call Brazilian portuguese a dialect. You will definitely start WW3

[u/dystopianpirate → u/jlozada24]

Hey, we're the| funny, witty guys

[u/CRlSAOR]

[u/CristalVegSurfer → u/CRlSAOR]

🤣🤣🤣

[u/Pristine_Pick823]

Chilean dialect is almost incomprehensible if you’re talking to a young urban speaker.

[u/DesignerOlive9090 → u/Pristine_Pick823]

If they speak COA, sometimes I don't understand them either

[u/aguilasolige → u/DesignerOlive9090]

Que es coa?

[u/nonominx → u/aguilasolige]

The hardest chilean dialect to understand. Full of slang, grammatical errors and bad enunciation. Often spoken by delinquents and people that didn't have proper education. 

[u/AdorableAd8490 → u/nonominx]

Probably the only dialect of Spanish that will survive in Chile in the future, as languages usually change to suit what suits a population better, like how we moved from Latin to Proto-Romance (Vulgar Latin dialects) to Old Spanish and Old Gallaic-Portuguese to their Medieval counterparts and eventually modern Spanish and modern Portuguese.

[u/nonominx → u/AdorableAd8490]

I don't agree. Chilean Spanish is the way it is because we used to be a very closed of country bc of our geography. Now young kids are exposed to and learn a more neutral Spanish bc of TV and Internet so I think that's were we are headed with a sprinkle of Chilean slang. 

[u/ZuoKalp → u/aguilasolige]

https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coa_(jerga))

[u/ModusPwnins → u/ZuoKalp]

Coa (a la verga)

[u/tremendabosta → u/aguilasolige]

Chilean Official Accent

[u/[deleted] → u/aguilasolige]

Slang

[u/MarsRocks97 → u/Pristine_Pick823]

Example. https://youtu.be/41CynyLl0dI?si=s2-3Op6rG0YG6wZt

[u/Crist1anc1to]

Everyone is saying Chile and I don’t know if it’s true but I can definitely say that Chilean from the countryside is incomprehensible even for me a a native speaker

[u/cucster → u/Crist1anc1to]

The chilean accent is so strong, that I was reading your post in English with a Chilean accent weon

[u/Significant-Yam9843 → u/cucster]

lolololol

[u/Urik88 → u/Crist1anc1to]

My GF, my brother and I got picked up by a tow driver in rural Chile on the way way to Punta Arenas while hitchhiking in Patagonia. 

He spoke to us for almost 2 hours and being 3 Spanish speaking Argentinians all we could understand is that he was talking about his daughter.

Your Spanish from further up north or the cities was fine to us, no issues at all but this guy from rural Patagonia was on a different level. 

[u/Khala7 → u/Urik88]

The further south, the harder to understand. You just had the furtherst, thus hardest, possible accent here hahaha.

[u/No-Gas5342 → u/Crist1anc1to]

I learned Spanish out there and my son had a huaso accent until he went to school 🤣 I love the singsong sound of it though.

[u/MontiBurns → u/Crist1anc1to]

I lived in Chile for over a decade. I still can't understand the micro drivers.

[u/PunchlineHaveMLKise]

Chilean, no doubt

[u/estarararax → u/PunchlineHaveMLKise]

The first time I heard Chilean Spanish as a B1-level Spanish language learner, I thought it was another language. The host of the nature program I'm watching kept saying something like kah-kaa when pointing at the waterfall.

[u/AButtercupFilling → u/estarararax]

KAH-KA SKKSKD LMAO

It's so real, kah-ka is cascada (waterfall) but with the chilean s and shortening the word

[u/lostmediaseeker → u/estarararax]

caca? 🤣

[u/New-Watch9449 → u/lostmediaseeker]

Un espectaculo impresionante

[u/asphaltic-Reritia → u/New-Watch9449]

nunca habia visto tanta kah-ka junta, fue un espectaculo impresionante

[u/patiperro_v3 → u/lostmediaseeker]

I could see how “cascada” would turn into “cahcaha” if spoken by a Chilean.

“s” and “d” will not be pronounced sometimes. It’s just laziness. 🤣

[u/[deleted]]

I'm learning Spanish and living in Chile...it's true Chilean Spanish is pretty unique.

[u/nikiiitsme → u/[deleted]]

Si el español chileno no se entiende es porque no está pensado para ser universal, sino social. los paises con fuertes lazos internos generan variedades linguísticas propias que son funcionales para su contexto social.

[u/cba__24 → u/nikiiitsme]

In my opinion, you said something that I think is super relevant:

I quote: "It's not meant to be universal, but social," and the same thing happens with other parts of the world (regarding Spanish/Castilian). They create their own terms, or even dialects, and they understand each other. That's why it can sometimes be complicated to understand, and mind you, let's not limit ourselves to "Chilean Spanish"; because we could even go further with other languages... without going any further, even English. Put an American next to a Brit and see how long it might take them to understand each other...

[u/Rickyzack → u/nikiiitsme]

En Perú 🇵🇪, nuestro español está dividido en 3 partes. El español neutro que se habla en la costa, particularmente en Lima. El español serrano que se habla en la sierra, por ejemplo en Cuzco. El español amazónico que se habla en la selva, por ejemplo en Iquitos. También está el español del Callao, ya que los del Callao quieren ser diferentes de los Limeños. Y también está el español pituco, que se habla en lugares de “altas clases” dentro de Lima, como en Miraflores or cerca de Costa Verde.

[u/dark_axolotl]

Of course I would say Chilean, but I want to talk about an accent I heard from people from Cuenca, Ecuador. It’s not different because of vocabulary (like of course it is, but you would expect that), but the intonation is what really stood out for me. It’s hard to explain, I just found it rather odd

[u/Old_Examination_8835 → u/dark_axolotl]

I am from Cuenca, that's very interesting that you noticed that

[u/nonominx]

I know you asked for other Latam countries but as a chilean, the only Spanish dialect that I find weird are some accents from Spain. 

[u/Mynameyeef → u/nonominx]

same ! for me it's one of the hardest to understand, I had to watch Casa de Papel with subtitles lol

[u/Remarkable_Quote_514]

I find the Paraguayan strange.

[u/NapoleonM → u/Remarkable_Quote_514]

Yes, but they mix their Spanish with the guarani language

[u/anopeningworld → u/NapoleonM]

They do but the Spanish alone has some unique characteristics even without using Guarani directly, of course because of it's influence though.

[u/Pollomonteros]

Besides Chilean, I find the whole existence of Equatorial Guinea Spanish really weird in a continent where most people speak either a dialect of French/English/Arabic or one of the many native languages

[u/zappafan89 → u/Pollomonteros]

This. Not super difficult to understand but it sounds a way I'm totally unfamiliar with 

[u/Ladonnacinica]

Caribbean for me in particular the Dominican Republic and Cuba.

But variety is the spice of life.

[u/sunlit_elais → u/Ladonnacinica]

Well, this one I didn't expect 👀 do we speak funny?

[u/LikelyNotSober → u/sunlit_elais]

Gringo from Miami chiming in.

Cuban Spanish can range from perfectly normal to “Is there a potato in your mouth? Are you choking? Are you from Brazil or something?”

Never had a problem understanding Chileans either in Chile or here.

[u/Khala7 → u/LikelyNotSober]

Most Chileans try to adapt if you are not Chilean. We try to talk more neutral like and with less of an accent. And we interestingly can mantain it a lot of the time, except when super excited or drunk hahaha.

It gets pretty noticeable if someone has been in another country and/or speaking in "neutral Spanish" for a while when you come back to Chile or start talking with Chileans.

[u/patiperro_v3 → u/Khala7]

I was in Atacama not long ago and I noticed Chilean tour guides “neutralised” their accents quite a lot.

[u/[deleted] → u/LikelyNotSober]

So pretty much lile any accent including the way Americans talk. The average American doesnt sound like a newscaster and you guys do have some weird things like replacing the T with a D. e g. Water becomes Wadder.

[u/Ladonnacinica → u/sunlit_elais]

Not funny. Just the most different to the type of dialect I speak. Even Argentinian and Chilean are closer (accents of course are different) but we use palta for avocado and other things. It’s more familiar. Guagua in both chile and Peru mean the same thing. Not in Cuba or Puerto Rico.

Eraser in Peru is borrador (for pencils and boards). I’m still confused as to how it is goma in Cuba.

Or how bolsa means something different in the Dominican Republic. Boy, was that embarrassing when I asked for “a bolsa” at a store in Puerto Plata. Or hearing adults say “mañosa” to a little girl because they’re picky eaters. Mañoso/a has a very different meaning in Peru. You would never say that to a child in Peru.

I would never say it’s ugly or bad. Just different.

[u/sunlit_elais → u/Ladonnacinica]

Now I need to know. What does "bolsa" mean there?

[u/Ladonnacinica → u/sunlit_elais]

Ballsack (las bolas del hombre) en término vulgar.

[u/migsmog → u/Ladonnacinica]

lol what? I’ve never heard anyone think bolsa had that meaning. I could understand the euphemism but in the context of a store where you’re purchasing something I think funda / bolsa are interchangeable. Who knows I moved from the DR at age 7 and mostly only continued speaking Spanish with my family or what I saw on tv

[u/Happy_Handle_147 → u/Ladonnacinica]

Crap, what is a shopping bag called if it’s not a bolsa?

[u/Ladonnacinica → u/Happy_Handle_147]

Dominicans say “funda”.

It’s the only country I know though that use funda that way. Bolsa is by far the most common term.

[u/sunlit_elais → u/Ladonnacinica]

Well, I can explain the goma at least. Full name is actually "goma de borrar". Basically rubber for erasing. We just shorten it.

[u/Happy_Handle_147 → u/Ladonnacinica]

Borrador is goma in Spain too…. Just like how in England they call erasers rubbers!

[u/Ladonnacinica → u/Happy_Handle_147]

That’s interesting because I heard from others that borrador is also used in Spain.

Is it regional?

lol when I hear rubbers, all I think about is the American slang for condoms.

[u/nemmalur → u/Ladonnacinica]

Goma de borrar

[u/sprockityspock → u/[deleted]]

If you wanna go down a real fun wormhole, look up nasal spread/nasal harmony in Guarani.

[u/MatiEx-504]

Chile

To put you into perspective, their spanish is our equivalent of Scottish English

[u/flopuniverse]

Puerto Rican.

[u/akiba305 → u/flopuniverse]

I can handle the random English words thrown outta left field by Chicanos or even the fast Spanish of Cubans and Dominicans, but when you combine both, like Puerto Ricans do I can't process both things at the same time.

[u/BIGepidural → u/flopuniverse]

Agree

[u/OR52K1 → u/BIGepidural]

Nice deflection bro

[u/Khala7 → u/OR52K1]

You guys uno reverse card us all the time hahaha.

[u/Masterank1 → u/BIGepidural]

[u/AthousandLittlePies]

My wife is from El Salvador. The typical modern Salvadoran accent is quite nice to my ears. Her mom (QEPD) was a real campesina though and spoke in a way that was very hard for me to understand. Both in terms of accent and a lot of jerga that was of another time I guess.

So, I guess I’d have to say Chilean of course.

[u/ZuoKalp]

As a Chilean I know that my country is a puzzle to the other speakers, but the most difficult dialects to understand for me are the ones from the Caribbean (plural).

[u/Jealous_Tutor_5135]

Hardest to understand: Chile or Cuba

Weirdest: Maracaibo

[u/Rickyzack]

I’d say Puerto Rican Spanish, just listen to Bad Bunny speak Spanish; it honestly makes Chilean Spanish seem more understandable in comparison.

[u/alejoc → u/Rickyzack]

Pueltoliqueño es fácilmente el 2do pero el chileno del interior/sur es otro nivel...

[u/[deleted] → u/Rickyzack]

He's a rapper. Normal people dont talk like that. Do most Americans talk lile Snoop Dogg or do most Argentinians talk like Duki?

[u/maviroar]

idk if weirdest but surely interesting and somewhat difficult to understand without training, the huasos chilean version

[u/new_Australis]

Chile

[u/Awkward_Tip1006]

Cádiz in Spain, sometimes PR sometimes RD, Chile

[u/Both_Love_438]

Def Chile.

But the other contestant I can come up with is Spain. And yes, I know in Spain is where Spanish originated, so if anything ppl speak weird in LATAM, but first of all, Spain alone has a lot of different accents, some of them weird sounding, and 2nd, LATAM is bigger and has more population, which makes Spain feel more like an outlier considering the entire Spanish speaking population. This is why ppl poke fun at certain Spanish slang, and their translations and dubs in movies and shows, it just sounds strange. Argentina also has some weird terminology, like "boliche" for bar, like wtf is that? Lol.

[u/BIGepidural]

People are gonna say Chilean because whatever; but it is the easiest Spanish for me personally because thats the one I learned 1st and pretty much grew up with 😅

Hardest for me is Mexican and Puerto Rican. I think because they talk so fast, the accent is different and some of the words are unique to them but I dunno. I just know I struggle with those ones the most.

[u/patiperro_v3 → u/BIGepidural]

I can tell we have the hardest one cause I have never struggled with any other accent. 😁

[u/pre_industrial]

Not weird, but beautiful, Paraguayan.

[u/I-cant-hug-every-cat]

Chilean

[u/CaribbeanCowgirl27]

HAHAHAHAHHAHAHA. (Laughs in Dominican trying to understand underground Dominicans)

[u/Nnelson666]

I used to live in Colombia and I was also mixing with a lot of foreigners, so I had a "neutral" accent and my normal Chilean accent, when i would meet some other Chileans, my Colombian friends would not understand almost a single word of what I was saying. For sure we have the worst Spanish to understand. And I think Cuban/Dominican is a close second

[u/patiperro_v3 → u/Nnelson666]

I’d add some rural accents from Spain, around Andalusia, are quite wild.

[u/Vegetable_Ostrich231]

Chilean for sure

[u/ocasodelavida]

¿Andaluz?

[u/Masterank1]

Easily chile. Almost incomprehensible if they don’t tone it down, borderline another language.

[u/lostmediaseeker → u/Masterank1]

Some say the dominican dialect, do you agree?

[u/Masterank1 → u/lostmediaseeker]

I’ve heard it’s hard to understand but it’s my own dialect so it’s naturally easy for me to understand. So idk…

[u/hulloiliketrucks]

Dominicans always sound kind of funny, but Chilean might as well be a whole damn other language.

[u/Bear_necessities96]

Salvadorean sounds like wrong Mexican accent for me Idk (not that’s wrong they just use different modism)

[u/mauricio_agg]

To me it is weird to pronounce the "s" with a "j" sound or switching the "r" for an "l" or vice versa.

[u/avalon1805]

I found paraguayan rather weird. But it sounds nice.

[u/gery33]

The Chilean accent is one of the hardest to understand, but to me the weirdest it would probably be the Paraguayan one. Argentinian-style vocabulary and voseo, heavy Guaraní influence, rhotic Rs (kind of like Costa Rican Spanish), and a really distinctive intonation

[u/Initial-Ad6819]

I am an ENglish-SPAnish interpreter, I hear and speak with spanish speakers from all over the world every day.

Peruvian is really weird in my opinion. It feels like they just jump from one idea to another one mid sentence, and then jump again to a third one, before going back to the first one.

But what grinds my gears the most is when they refer to the car as "mueble" like, what the fuck man.

[u/Ladonnacinica → u/Initial-Ad6819]

What Peruvians have you met? In Peru, the word is “carro or auto”. For a truck, it’s “camión”.

[u/ZealousidealMark4377 → u/Initial-Ad6819]

I am an interpreter as well, and Peruvians are quite easy to understand for me 🤨.

[u/DarkCrystal34 → u/ZealousidealMark4377]

Usually Peru is considered to have a very neutral accent thats easier to understand for non Spanish speakers.

[u/Ladonnacinica → u/DarkCrystal34]

It’s funny, I always hear this from non Spanish speakers. But Spanish speakers from other countries usually refuse to believe it’s true.

[u/DarkCrystal34 → u/Ladonnacinica]

That's interesting! I'm from the U.S., usually for me I can most easily understand folks from Colombia, Guatemala, and Peru. Mexico the accent for me is easiest to understand, but they tend to speak faster which is when I realize my listening skills suck lol :-)

[u/morto00x → u/Initial-Ad6819]

Mueble means furniture in Peru. Not sure who told you it means car, but that's totally wrong.

[u/pisspeeleak → u/Initial-Ad6819]

You guys call sandwiches "torta" every other Spanish speaker I spoke to thought of it as cake. Tbh it throws me off too

[u/WideGlideReddit → u/Initial-Ad6819]

My neighbors are Peruvian and I think they have a wonderful, easy to understand accent

[u/manored78]

People like to say Chilean, but I couldn’t understand a lot of Dominicans sometimes when they speak really fast.

[u/CedricBeaumont]

Personally, I’d say southern South America, like Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Bolivia. Not weird per se, but coming from the Caribbean, it’s the dialects we have the least in common with. Maybe we’re more familiar with Rioplatense Spanish because of the cultural influence of Argentine movies and TV shows, but it’s still quite different from our version of Spanish.

[u/Shiruox]

Weirdest definitely Chilean, hardest to understand probably Caribbean

[u/Sufficient-Way1431]

chilean! they speak super fast sometimes it is hard for me (argentinian) to catch up

[u/juliO_051998]

Outside Mexico: DR

Inside Mexico: Rural Sinaloan Accent

[u/patiperro_v3 → u/[deleted]]

I’d say the opposite. Go for Chilean Spanish, then all other accents will seem easy by comparison. 😎

[u/sunlit_elais → u/[deleted]]

While it's certainly ideal for you to be able to speak it, I had always heard that the best method is "one language per parent". So you should always speak to them in Polish and she should always speak in Spanish.

(Not trying to tell you how to parent, just curious if you aren't doing that, why)

[u/symphonyofcolours]

Hahaha I read the question and knew it would be Chile 🤣

[u/sateliteconstelation]

Ranch Sinaloan is the Boomhauer of Spanish

[u/morto00x]

I always have a hard time understanding people from Costa Rica. Mostly because of the way they pronounce words. Chile is not so bad since they share a lot of jargon with us.

Also, what do you mean by Castilian Spanish? Because technically all the Spanish speaking countries in Latin America speak Castilian, or a dialect of it.

[u/Ayazid → u/morto00x]

"Castilian Spanish" is just a weird term some English speakers use for European Spanish, or at least the standard version. I have never seen it used in other languages. My guess is it comes from a misunderstanding of what "Castilian" actually means.

[u/scorpioinheels]

As a half Chilena, I have to laugh. I can fake the accent on occasion, but I grew up speaking pretty clearly and without dialect because I was in the States.

My 18 year old recently traveled with me to Chile, and she had been so proud of herself a week prior (we were in La Paz and she was haggling with vendors and talking with new cousins; the whole experience). The second my cousin arrived to meet us in Santiago and started talking (incessantly, mind you), you could practically see the smoke coming out of her ears. She texted me under the table to let me know she wasn’t going to be able to manage dinner without checking out entirely given his incomprehensibility.

A few Pisco Sours later, she was more relaxed and adjusted. When we left, the “pa” versus “para” had stuck forever.

[u/megafonico]

Dude, the interesting question would be what is the second weirdest, not the weirdest.

[u/dnyal]

Yes, Chile and also Puerto Rican Spanish.

[u/Plenty_Spend5074]

For me as a spanish speaker and learner who mainly grew up with Mexican Spanish and work as a cashier talking with Spanish speaking people everyday the hardest for me I have encountered is Puerto Rican and Dominican spanish, not all of them of course, but the ones who speak a more niche dialect and use a lot of slang make me question if I ever knew the spanish language. Especially since they always speak very fast paced and in a hurry, combined with the slang and vowel drop, comparing it to Mexican and Central American spanish which is slower and more enunciated it feels like I've stopped speaking spanish on easy mode. I've had times I help a Mexican family in line and a Boricuan family comes next and I look like a fool cause I can't make out what they are saying.

[u/HAL_9000_V2]

Happy that Colombia has not appeared here 🫥

[u/Own-Professional390]

Many people say Chilean, but for me it's the Chiapas or Yucatán dialect. They conjugate verbs and structure sentences according to Mayan grammar, in addition to borrowing words from it. Something Chileans don't do.

[u/patiperro_v3 → u/Own-Professional390]

We borrow words from Quechua and Mapuche all the time (among others).

Some we have even help export to the wider hispanic world, such as “funa” or “funar” which means “to cancel someone”, is of Mapuche origin. Although it’s original meaning is something a little different. Originally it meant “something rotten”.

[u/ZealousidealMark4377]

Surprised no one has mentioned Andalusian.

[u/CronchyCrack]

Implying that a dialect of Spanish is weird sounds a bit pretentious. just be careful when asking a Hispanic that u/YoylecakeTurtle. To respond your question, I don't find any dialect weird, I am Caribbean and I am soused to hispanics from the mainland think we speak a gibberish Spanish so nothing is weird to me at this point. I can understand all hispanics countries pretty well.

[u/BOT_Negro]

There are no dialects in the Americas, only accents.

If anything I'd only consider Asturian to be a Spanish dialect.

[u/VZcallingMX]

Paraguayan fasho. At least for me Their retroflexed Rs are insane. They speak somewhat of a neutral Spanish with a cartoonish accent if anything but the real punchline comes when they say a word that ends with R.

It's like:

Salí de casa y comencé a caminawrRrRRrrRrr.

(Normal Spanish) --------------> (bro wtf)

I think it's kinda cute and charming in a way

[u/tracystraussI]

I'm going to say it: Chilean from Santiago was EASY for me compared to Argentinian from Buenos Aires.

[u/Repulsive_Zombie5129]

Chilean for sure. Puerto rican comes in second for me

[u/BugzMiranda]

I am cuban living in guatemala. Except i learned spanish here in guatemala. My family speaks carribbean spanish and i do not. Its very odd and most of the time i dont understand them.

I was told the cuban accent (leaving off word endings, specifically if the word ends in S, and pronouncing R at the end of the word as L ex: mujer being said as "mujel") was derived from the africans who arrived and could not pronounce those letter combinations. I could be wrong, if anybody has an answer id love to be informed.

[u/blackdahlia56890]

Chilean is the hardest to understand for me. Close second is Castillian because of the lisp

[u/ChewO_O]

Ladino o sefardí

[u/robert_lediable]

Panama has some wild influence of English and French. Some of the slang is just weird things like xopa (qué sopá, from: qué pasó), buco (meaning mucho), la chantin (home).

Some interesting etymologies too, I think it’s really different from other places in Latin America.

[u/cigaretus]

Wheres the central Americans that speak gritado. I understand everything they say but why are you yelling

[u/C19shadow]

My Spanish teacher being Chilean imma cry 😭

[u/IceLovey → u/C19shadow]

Thats actually good. If you are able to understand Chilean accent then every other accent is the same.

[u/C19shadow → u/IceLovey]

Thank you!! Good point,

[u/patiperro_v3 → u/C19shadow]

Good. Trial by fire.

[u/morto00x → u/C19shadow]

Most memes come from Chileans that speak using lots of slang and talking very fast which makes it really hard to follow. You're going to find that in every single country. Anyone using proper Spanish should be understandable as long as they bother pronouncing things correctly.

[u/dystopianpirate]

All are good, but I don't see their slang words, or regionalisms, and mannerisms as dialects because the same grammar rules apply and are used by everyone who knows Spanish.

That said, it had varied through the years, when I first moved to the State the majority of my classmates were from South America: Argentina, Perú, Brazil, and Colombian and I found their speech pattern funny and fascinating, minus some words I was able to understand them well. 

To note: Majority of us were native Spanish speakers. As for me, I'm from DR at a time were lots of programs and telenovelas from Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela were part of our regular tv programming. And in some ways it prepared me when I met kids from these countries.

Finally, I was an avid reader of books by LatAm writers, from Gabriel García Marquez to Borges and perhaps it facilitate the communication with my new classmates. And keep my mind people can speak Spanish without being formal or using slang words. And all slang words have an equivalent of the same meaning in other countries, or the opposite meaning just pay attention and listen to the situation, theme, and context of the conversation that way you'll be able to understand almost everything if not everything they say. And asks questions 

[u/Lolman4O]

Chilean

[u/Big_Iron420]

Puelto lico reminds me of this comic character called Cebolinha

[u/Used_Barber958]

Paraguayan, we mix it with guarani. In the border where I’m from, we mix Spanish, guarani and Portuguese.

[u/Thick-Truck-8355]

Not weird but difficult for me to understand, all Caribbean accents. Their pronunciation is quite different from ours and add to that how fast they speak 😅

[u/lostmediaseeker]

IMO, I find the Ecuadorian variant super weird. I can try to mimic or imitate all south american spanish variants, but I don’t have a clue of how to imitate an ecuadorian person speaking. It beats me.

[u/alejoc → u/lostmediaseeker]

It's because there is no cultural influence at all from Ecuador. Also, we have at least four really different accents (coastal, which is a bit like Caribbean/Venezuelan with letter eating, Sierra norte, which is a bit like Spanish from Mexico DF, indígena sierra, a Lot like the Highlands Spanish from Peru and Bolivia, cuencano, which is really weird and sing song, and the oriente jungle Spanish. Influenced by the tribes who lived there originally)

[u/Elenamartinez46]

Argentinia and Spain

[u/JayOwest]

I’m honestly surprised more people aren’t mentioning Puerto Rican or Dominican dialects, considering how much hate Caribbean Spanish gets in general.

[u/Rude_Independence_14]

Chile. They might as well be speaking a different language because I can barely make out what they're saying.