Do the Spanish like South Americans?

the South Americans in spain are economic migrants, I would say mostly Colombian and Bolivian, and in my experience the type of employment they are in is mostly service industry. I would agree that there is animosity from the spanish towards the SA's, probably vice versa too.

There's a bit of superiority feeling from the Spanish over south Americans. I'm Mexican and have spent long periods of time in Spain and you do get some smart comments from people like they're looking down on you. They can tell from the accent that you're not from Spain. So by your look and fluency in Spanish most will assume Latino American of some variety. It's obviously not across the board but it exists. Kind of like how some southside Dubliners would look down on northsiders.

I have heard them (one or two spanish) make fun of the south americans mixed heritage. Which is funny if you consider the amount of different cultures and races which interbred with the spanish moors ect). Its a fact ignored by all racists, ie we have been interbreeding with each other for thousands of years.

Priscilla Thoughtless Prize wrote: »

And when I learned it, I learned it as 'th'. It's just a regional difference. I guess it bothers me because it comes off as reverse snobbery from the South Americans I know who moan about it...they constantly mock the Spanish 'lisp' and yet get offended if the Spanish mock their accent!

I can't speak for everyone but most of the time I or anyone I know have mocked the Spanish for their ceceo it's not because of snobbery. It's because of how they see their Spanish as the one true version of the language. Again not all Spaniards. But it's something you will come across relatively easy in Spain. I've been in restaurants ordering food and the server will look at me like they have no idea what just came out of my mouth. So a joke in Mexico is that no wonder they don't understand us as we don't speak like we're handicapped.

I've had the same problem in Argentina where i've asked for desayuno but won't respond till i say desajuno. Same with toalla.

From my experience they're generally looked down upon in society, and a casual 'racism' (or at least a feeling of looking upon them as inferior) seems quite socially acceptable.

They have offensive names assigned to them - 'Panchito', 'Sudaca', I've even heard a new one 'Cucaracha' (cockroach) which sounds pretty bad to me. It's hard to gauge the extent of how racist/offensive these terms are, but from what I've heard they're pretty bad. Some people will use these terms quite flippantly in conversation, and this form of casual racism seems largely acceptable. It seems using these words or looking down on South Americans doesn't carry with it the social stigma of being labelled a racist.

They are not integrated at all in society. They largely work working-class jobs for low wages. They tend to live in the same areas. Spanish people don't have South Americans as friends. They may speak the same language, but they are not integrated into Spanish society the same way Eastern Europeans are here.

Now obviously it depends on place to place and person to person, but this is the impression I get, at least as far as Bolivians, Ecuadorians, Venezuelans etc... go.

Perhaps Argentinians would be seen as more 'European' and not looked down upon in the same way.

This is just my experience from living in Madrid. Obviously there will be exceptions, but this is the impression I get - not outright racism as such, but a feeling of distaste towards them from some.

Eve_Dublin wrote: »

Northern Europeans and North Americans are called Guiris (type in guiri into Google Images), which is often used as a pejorative (I'm really fed up with this label tbh)

Define: Guiris

Hard working, rich Northern Europeans who do not take siestas. Prone to suburn

You see this type of stuff works both ways imo ^

Personally I'm learning Spanish and I really try to incorporte the 'c' as 'th'. It's the way it's traditionally spoken and is more challenging so I try to do it.

When I was in Spain I saw rental ads saying "No Latino Americans, only looking for Spaniards ".

When I was there I met LOADS of south americcans mixing with Spaniards. But they were mostly cool young people. Not bigoted like some are. Those people are idiots though

EDIT: Oh and just to add. I had a South American friend who had a really good job in Spain. He was really well educated and clever, and had also that perma-brown Indian skin. He told me on numerous occasions that some of the Spaniards were bigoted and really narrowed minded, and that he suffered discrimination (to varying extensts -mostly mild) because of his skin colour.