FLES U
Upper St. Clair School District
Spanish speaking
countries...
Diversity within the Spanish Language
Many times we are approached with the question: Why does your Spanish sound
different from the Spanish spoken in Mexico?
Argentina
Bolivia
Chile
Colombia
Costa Rica
Cuba
Ecuador
El Salvador
España
Guatemala
Honduras
México
Nicaragua
Panamá
Paraguay
Perú
Puerto Rico
República Dominicana
Uruguay
Venezuela
Well, the major reason for this is the different variations that exist in the Spanish
language, just like in the English language. In England they speak English, but they might
refer to French fries as “chips”, an elevator as a “lift” and an apartment as a “loft” or a
“flat”. However, you are still able to communicate with the English people just in the same
way that you would communicate with someone who lives here in the United States. We
even see diversity in English within the United States. For example, in the
Pittsburgh area we call soft drinks “pop”, but in New York it’s called “soda”.
The same happens with Spanish. Once you are able to speak Spanish you are able to
communicate with any Spanish-speaking person, even if some words might mean
something different or are pronounced differently. The Spanish that we teach and speak
in the United States has a much closer pronunciation to ANDALUZ than to the standard
CASTELLANO. One of the most predominant theories is because most of the
CONQUISTADORES and settlers who came to America, were from southern Spain,
and those who were not, spent a long time in southern Spain awaiting their trip to
America.
Also, as it might be expected, the Latin American Spanish shows many regional
variations of its own. This is mainly due to the indigenous influences in most of Central
and South American countries where Spanish is spoken. Just like the English spoken in
New York and Boston is considered “Eastern”, the English spoken in Tennessee is
considered “Southern”. The same variations exist in Spanish.
Here in Upper St. Clair the Spanish teachers also have their own diversity. Sra. Ober the
Spanish teacher at Streams Elementary studied Spanish in Mexico. While Sra.
Leskovich, the Spanish teacher from Baker Elementary studied in Madrid, Spain and also
speaks Spanish regularly with her relatives who live in Asturias (a region in northern
Spain). And, Sra. Gilbert, the Spanish teacher from Eisenhower Elementary is a native
Spanish speaker, born and raised in Puerto Rico. She speaks with her family and friends
back home on a regular basis. She has also visited other Spanish speaking countries
such as Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, and Spain.
We are proud of the diversity we are able to offer in the Upper St. Clair School district
because we feel that the students benefit from these differences in our faculty. Being
exposed to such diversity allows children to see Spanish from a global perspective and
would definitely help them if they were to travel to any Spanish-speaking country.
¡Hasta luego!
Señora Ober, Señora Gilbert, and Señora Leskovich