One thing, many words: Spanish by country
Spanish is the same language in every country that speaks it, but a lot of everyday words aren't. A straw is a pajita in Spain, a popote in Mexico and a pitillo in Colombia; a bus is an autobús in Spain, a camión in Mexico and a guagua in Puerto Rico. The differences are mostly in nouns for food and everyday things, and learning the words of the place you're headed to, while recognising the rest, is enough.
Spanish is spoken in more than twenty countries, and many everyday things got their names locally: from the languages spoken there before Spanish, from older Spanish words put to new uses, and from English. Grammar barely changes from one country to the next. The words for a straw, a bus or a bag of popcorn change a lot.
Straw
| Where | Word |
|---|---|
| Mexico | popote |
| Spain, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay | pajita |
| Colombia, Venezuela | pitillo |
| Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua | pajilla |
| Argentina, Ecuador, Peru | sorbete |
| Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Panama | sorbeto |
| Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Bolivia | bombilla |
| Cuba | absorbente |
Popote is from Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs, where popōtl was a plant used to make brooms. Bombilla is also the metal straw used to drink mate.
Bus
| Where | Word |
|---|---|
| Spain | autobús |
| Mexico | camión |
| Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, the Canary Islands | guagua |
| Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Paraguay | colectivo |
| Argentina, colloquially | bondi |
| Chile | micro |
| Uruguay, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay | ómnibus |
| Guatemala | camioneta |
| Much of Latin America | bus |
Guagua began in Cuba, and nobody is sure where it comes from: one guess is English wagon. In Chile micro is feminine, la micro; in Argentina it's el micro.
Beans
| Where | Word |
|---|---|
| Mexico, Central America, Peru | frijoles |
| Spain | alubias, judías |
| Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay | porotos |
| Venezuela | caraotas |
| Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic | habichuelas |
| Ecuador, Peru | frejoles |
In Spain judías are often green beans, and alubias the dried kind. In Cuba and Colombia, habichuelas are green beans too.
Popcorn
| Where | Word |
|---|---|
| Mexico, Spain, and understood widely | palomitas |
| Argentina | pochoclo |
| Chile | cabritas |
| Peru | canchita |
| Ecuador | canguil |
| Colombia | crispetas |
| Venezuela | cotufas |
| Guatemala | poporopo |
| Cuba | rositas de maíz |
| Paraguay, Uruguay, parts of Argentina | pororó |
Spain, Mexico and South America
Some words split more simply: one in Spain, another across Latin America, and sometimes a third in the south of the continent.
| English | Spain | Mexico | Chile, Peru, Argentina |
|---|---|---|---|
| avocado | aguacate | aguacate | palta |
| peanut | cacahuete | cacahuate | maní |
| juice | zumo | jugo | jugo |
| computer | ordenador | computadora | computadora (computador in Chile) |
| cell phone | móvil | celular | celular |
Two of these show where the words came from. Aguacate is the Aztecs' word, Nahuatl āhuacatl, and palta is the Incas', Quechua pallta: the same fruit, named in the two great empires Spain conquered. Maní is from Taíno, a language of the Caribbean.
Which one should you learn?
- The words of the place you're going, or the Spanish you'll read and watch. If it's Mexico, learn popote and camión; if it's Spain, pajita and autobús.
- Recognise the rest. Spanish speakers meet each other's words all the time, on television and online, so most are understood well beyond the place they're said. You don't need to produce every version, only to know one when you meet it.
- Learn words from the text you read. A word you've met in a story you read is easier to keep than one from a list, and the story tells you where it's said.
Questions
How do you say straw in Spanish?
It depends on the country: pajita in Spain, popote in Mexico, pitillo in Colombia and Venezuela, pajilla in most of Central America, sorbete in Peru and Ecuador, and sorbeto in Puerto Rico.
How do you say popcorn in Spanish?
Palomitas (de maíz) in Mexico and Spain, and understood in most places. But nearly every country has its own: pochoclo in Argentina, cabritas in Chile, canchita in Peru, crispetas in Colombia, cotufas in Venezuela.
Should I learn the Spanish of Spain or of Latin America?
Whichever you'll use. The grammar is nearly the same; the differences that matter day to day are a handful of everyday words, the vosotros forms used in Spain, and pronunciation. Speakers from anywhere understand each other, and a learner who picks one and recognises the other is fine.
Sources
- Thesaurus: pajita (drinking straw). Wiktionary.
- Thesaurus: autobús. Wiktionary.
- Thesaurus: palomita (popcorn). Wiktionary.
- Spanish entries and their regional labels. Wiktionary.
Keep going
- Fine here, rude there: Spanish words that change by countryCoger, concha, bicho, papaya: everyday Spanish words that are completely normal in one country and vulgar in the next. Where each one is safe, and what to say instead.
- Vosotros vs ustedesVosotros is "you all" in Spain. Almost everywhere else, including all of Latin America, it's ustedes. Where each one is used, the forms, and whether you need to learn vosotros.
- The Spanish hiding in EnglishFact and hecho, feminine and hembra, flame and llama: the same Latin roots, changed by a dozen regular sound changes. Watch them happen one at a time, then decode Spanish words yourself.