Differences between European and Latin American Spanish

Although English is said to be the world’s most spoken language,  it doesn’t serve you that much in Latin America. A lot of South American schools do teach English, but it is not a high priority. And so it is important to have Spanish skills, if you want to discover South America without a tourist group.

Since in Europe normally the European version of Spanish is better known, we collected some differences between the European and the South American vocabulary to prevent misunderstandings:

Diminutive/ Courtesy:

In South America it is common practice to use the diminutive form of different grammar forms of words e.g. “temprano -> tempranito”, “Juana -> “Juanita”. In general it is a sign of affection. In Spain you can often hear shortened sentences – but be careful – in South America this can sound rude. Therefore the word “permiso” is used to soften requests.

Also some vocabularies differ in European and Latin American Spanish as for example: