Spanish, which dialect?

Assassin saphir wrote: »

I have started to learn Spanish for a few reasons, firstly to keep the mind busy and secondly as I am planning to move there in the future, ideally the Canary Islands. My question is that there seems to be alot of differences between Spanish on the mainland and Canarian Spanish. From my research Canarian Spanish is closer to Spanish spoken in Latin America and the Carribean and as I travel to these areas frequently Canarian seems to be ideal for me to learn. I am using Duolingo, library books, spanish tv shows but any suggestions on what the main differences are and where to source learning for Canarian Spanish. Thanks

I would recommend learning the Spanish of Spain and then using your exposure to the Canary islands and Latin America to influence on your Spanish naturally. Whilst the Spanish spoken on the Canary islands differs somewhat from mainland Spanish, it doesn't do so in any particularly overt way. Similarly, mainland Spain also has its own plethora of regionalisms (Andalucia for example). The Spanish spoken in the Canary islands invariably takes from the Spanish of Spain and not Latin American Spanish when it comes to general vocabulary. For instance, the whole 'Coger el autobús' (Sp: to take the bus, LM: to f**k the bus) type of scenario.

niallcon4re wrote: »

IT makes F all difference, don’t worry about it. I am close to fluent but still have my Irish accent, you’ll have an Irish accent and no matter how good you get , nobody will think you’re a native. Study standard Spanish of Spain and wherever you are in Spain you’ll be understood no problem and you’ll pick up their words no problem. Lots of spanish people move there and vice versa , no issue.

This is pretty untrue. Accent acquisition is possible; indeed it is not common for the average learner who sticks in a few hours from time to time but it is not impossible. A lot also depends on your age and flexibility of your vocal cords, tongue and ability to produce sounds unfamiliar sounds: consonants, vowels, diphthongs etc.

niallcon4re wrote: »

Assuming the original poster is an adult and not a 6 year old moving to Spain, you are wrong.

Think of all the immigrants you know who live in Ireland. Not one of them speaks with an Irish accent , If I spoke to them I’d know their not natives.

Anyway, the main point of the O.P is about dialects, people from mainland Spain have no problem in the canaries, there’s a few words that they mightn’t recognize but they’ll pick them up. A Spanish person I know , from Barcelona (speaking Spanish, not Catalan) referred to “colmado” when discussing the local shop, the other persona from Madrid did not understand the word. That is not a different dialect, just a slang word.

Learn standard Spanish of Spain and you’ll be fine wherever you go in Spain.

You don't have to be 6 years old to loose an accent. There are adults who can lose their original accents when using a foreign language: it typically gets harder as you enter into your twenties. There are also voice coaches etc who can teach you to remove your accent (extreme, but possible). In Russia, for instance throughout the soviet union this was done to standardise speech of the countries that made up the Soviet Union. If you travel to Latvia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Moscow, Ekaterinburg, Vladivostok - the accent is all the same; there are almost zero distinguishing factors.

I also lived in Russia from my late teens and I speak Russian without a 'foreign' accent. If anything, it can sometimes be noticed that I am not a native speaker usually based on expressions that I might use that are not natural but not from the pronunciation or accent itself.