Introduction
How different is Mexican Spanish from Spanish from Spain? Do these differences affect our communication?
I am Lucía, I am from Spain, and I am going to watch some videos from 4 different Mexican Spanish speakers and I will analyze and compare their way of talking with mine. This will serve as a great Spanish lesson, as I will also translate those sentences to English. Stay till the end to learn a lot of new helpful Spanish phrases and vocabulary. Do you think I will understand everything they say? Let’s see.
We recommend watching the video below. A transcript is also provided for your convenience.
Transcript:
I’ll start watching a video from Kimberly Loaiza, the most famous Mexican influencer. She’s also a singer.
Ay, ya se trabó también el Whatsapp
I understand everything perfectly in the video. Here we use different vocabulary, but we can totally understand what she’s referring to.
Mexico: Ay, ya se trabó también el Whatsapp
Spain: Ay, se ha quedado pillado el Whatsapp también
(Oh, Whatsapp also got stuck)
In Mexico they use “trabarse” for “get stuck” while in Spain we use “quedarse pillado.” I’ve never heard “trabarse” from a Spaniard, but we understand what it means. Another difference in our speech is the use of verb tenses. In Mexico and Latin America in general, they tend to use the past simple almost all the time. While in Spain we tend to use the present perfect more often. If we used the verb “trabarse,” instead of saying “ya se trabó” we would say “ya se ha trabado.”
In Spain we use the past simple, pretérito perfecto simple, for things that happened and ended in the past, in a further past or a more concrete point in time, and we use the present perfect, pretérito perfecto compuesto, for more recent things that happened.
For “what happened?” in Mexico they would say “¿qué pasó?” and in Spain we say “¿qué ha pasado?”
Let’s keep watching.
Estoy enojada, sinceramente, estoy muy enojada
Mexico: Estoy enojada, sinceramente, estoy muy enojada.
Spain: Estoy enfadada, sinceramente, estoy muy enfadada.
(I am angry, honestly, very angry.)
Enojado or enojada is the same as enfadado or enfadada. Angry. But in Spain we wouldn’t say enojado. But we know what it means.
Another thing to point out:
En Latino América sesean. They pronounce all Cs, Ss and Zs as an S. In neutral Spanish from Spain, we pronounce it like "th" in English.
And this is NOT a lisp. A lisp is a speech impediment. And we don’t have that. This is just the pronunciation of these letters. Kimberly said “Sinseramente” and in Spain we would say “Sinceramente.” But the thing is that in the south of Spain you can also hear this seseo and it is very common that people pronounce all those consonants as an S, also in the Canary Islands. And in Latam they have a lot of similarities with the way of speaking in the south of Spain because the Spanish that sailed across the Atlantic centuries ago were mostly Andalusian. The ships sailed from Andalucía and the Canary Islands to America. I am from Andalucía, by the way, from Sevilla, but when I teach Spanish I do it with a standard Spanish accent.
Prometo que les quiero contestar, yo estaba ilusionada por esto
Mexico: Prometo que les quiero contestar, yo estaba ilusionada por esto.
Spain: De verdad que os quiero contestar, esto me hacía mucha ilusión.
(I promise I want to answer you, I was excited about this.)
Another big difference between Mexico and Spain is the use of ustedes and vosotros. When referring to -you- plural, more than one person, in Spain we use vosotros or vosotras, which is the pronoun for -you- plural. But in Mexico they use “ustedes,” which is the formal pronoun of -you- plural. Ustedes and vosotros use a different conjugation for verbs. Vosotros sois, vosotros estáis - ustedes son, ustedes están (you are.) Ustedes use the 3rd person plural of verbs, same as ellos and ellas (they.)
I have changed some other things in the sentence for Spain, because that’s the way it would sound more natural here, but you could say it more similar to the Mexican sentence, like Prometo que os quiero contestar, yo estaba ilusionada por esto.
Voy a comenzar a hablar con ustedes
In Spain we also use comenzar, to start, but we say empezar more often.
Mexico: Voy a comenzar a hablar con ustedes.
Spain: Voy a empezar a hablar con vosotros.
(I’m going to start to talk with you guys.)
By the way~ On My Daily Spanish we have a free study guide that offers a step-by-step process to help you learn Spanish faster. You can download it for free here.
Will you understand the next Mexican YouTuber? This girl is great. Get ready to fall in love with her, she’s so cute and sweet. Let’s hear Yuya, a very famous Mexican YouTuber that I love.
Y esto te lo platico porque estaba analizando que es muy probable que a ti también de pronto te suceda o te encuentres en esta situación
She says “y esto te lo platico.” In Spain, we would say “y esto te lo cuento.” (And I tell you this…)
“Porque estaba analizando que…” I would say “porque estaba pensando que” but they say it like this too.
“Que a ti también te suceda.” The verb suceder, to happen, is also widely used here in Spain. But we use “pasar” more for that. “Que a ti también te pase.”
Mexico: Y esto te lo platico porque estaba analizando que es muy probable que a ti también de pronto te suceda o te encuentres en esta situación
Spain: Y esto te lo cuento porque estaba pensando que es muy probable que de pronto a ti también te pase o te encuentres en esta situación.
(And I'm telling you this because I was thinking that it is very likely that suddenly it will also happen to you or that you will find yourself in this situation.)
Yo la mayoría del tiempo no sé qué hacer con mi vida
We say it exactly the same in Spain. I found this sentence interesting for you to learn. It is very common between young people.
Mexico and Spain: Yo la mayoría del tiempo no sé qué hacer con mi vida. (Most of the time I don't know what to do with my life.)
Está bien padre
In Spain we would say “Está muy bien” or “Está genial.” They use “bien” as “muy” a lot (very). And “padre” as “cool,” “good.”
Mexico: Está bien padre.
Spain: Está muy bien/Está genial.
(It’s great.)
Ay, yo tengo una cosa que me da mucha gracia
In Mexico it seems they use “dar gracia,” and in Spain we use “hacer gracia.”
Mexico: Ay, yo tengo una cosa que me da mucha gracia.
Spain: Ay, hay una cosa que me hace mucha gracia.
(Oh, there’s one thing that I find very funny.)
Pero cuando era más pequeña, ni de chiste lo hubiese pensado
That “ni de chiste,” we would say “ni de broma,” or the more vulgar “ni de coña.” This last one is the most common way of saying that expression.
Mexico: Pero cuando era más pequeña, ni de chiste lo hubiese pensado.
Spain: Pero cuando era más pequeña, ni de coña/broma lo hubiese pensado.
(But when I was younger, I wouldn't have even thought about it.)
Ni de chiste, ni de broma, ni de coña = not even as a joke.
I’m talking about Spain as one thing, but Spain has a lot of different accents and dialects depending on the region. When I teach Spanish I use the neutral accent, let’s say, which is the one from central Spain. All the media in Spain uses this neutral accent, TV, radio, etc.
Hold tight! Because coming up next we got the most famous Mexican male YouTuber that I love! And he uses Mexican slang, which is pretty different from Spanish slang. Let’s hear Luisito Comunica.
Nuestros guías nos cuentan que se mudaron acá a Dresden en la década de los noventas
Hey, here he says “cuentan” and not “platican.” Interesting.
Mexico: Nuestros guías nos cuentan que se mudaron acá a Dresden en la década de los noventas.
Spain: Nuestros guías nos cuentan que se mudaron aquí a Dresden en la década de los noventa.
(Our guides tell us that they moved here to Dresden in the 1990s.)
In Latin America in general they use “acá” a lot, but in Spain we say “aquí,” for “here.”
And Luisito says “la década de los noventas.” In Spain we would say “la década de los noventa,” in singular. Los años 90 (noventa), los años 80 (ochenta). We write it without an s.
En general todo se sentía mucho más gris, mucho más triste
Mexico: En general todo se sentía mucho más gris, mucho más triste.
Spain: En general la sensación era mucho más gris, mucho más triste.
(In general everything felt much grayer, much sadder.)
In Spain, we use the verb sentirse (to feel) to talk about how a person feels. Yo me sentía, ella se sentía (I felt, she felt,) but we don’t use it for things. In this sentence he says “todo se sentía,” (everything felt,) with “todo,” “everything,” being the subject.
Estaba indignado y dijo “no mames”
“No mames” is Mexican slang for “no way” or “what are you saying?”
Mexico: Estaba indignado y dijo “no mames.”
Spain: Estaba indignado y dijo “¿qué dices?/¿Qué me estás contando?”
(He was indignant and said, “What are you saying?”)
So in Mexico and Spain we have some words that differ, but almost all are exactly the same, just the intonation varies. We can understand each other perfectly. Coming up, I’ll show you that our Spanish is really the same. And a fun challenge awaits you at the end, so don't go anywhere!
Next is a man that had all the girls in Spain and Latin America in love with him when I was a teenager. This is Alfonso Herrera in a recent interview.
Yo creo que desafortunadamente siguen existiendo muchos prejuicios. Desafortunadamente sigue siendo un país extremadamente machista.
Mexico and Spain: Yo creo que desafortunadamente siguen existiendo muchos prejuicios. Desafortunadamente sigue siendo un país extremadamente machista. (I believe/I think that unfortunately many prejudices still exist. Unfortunately, it is still an extremely sexist country.)
Y es un obstáculo y es un impedimento para que esto funcione mejor
Mexico and Spain: Y es un obstáculo y es un impedimento para que esto funcione mejor.(And it is an obstacle and it is an impediment for this to work better.)
We say it exactly the same.
¿Qué aporta la actuación a tu persona? Trabajar en equipo. Cuando tú llegas a un set, como este, pues hay muchos elementos que, si esos elementos no existieran, pues no estaríamos aquí.
Exactly the same.
Mexico and Spain: ¿Qué aporta la actuación a tu persona? Trabajar en equipo. Cuando tú llegas a un set, como este, pues hay muchos elementos que, si esos elementos no existieran, pues no estaríamos aquí. (What does acting bring to you? Teamwork. When you arrive at a set, like this one, there are many elements that, if those elements did not exist, we would not be here.)
All the vocabulary, everything here is the same we would say in Spain. The big difference is the accent, the intonation. This was a more formal interview, and I feel like the more cultured and formal the language and situation, the more similar is the Spanish we use.
When you can see the biggest differences is when talking slang. As it is everywhere in the world. Slang is very local. Also in Spain even from one town to another we use different slang. So imagine from one country to another.
Ok, great job!
The moment has come! Here’s a little challenge for you:
Spain and Mexico Spanish quiz I say one word, you say the equivalent in the other country. If you watched the whole video, you will know.
1. In Mexico they say “Acá.” What do we say in Spain?
Answer: “Aquí.”
2. In Spain, we say “Contar” or “Hablar.” What do they say in Mexico?
Answer: “Platicar.”
3. In Mexico they say “Enojado.” What do we say in Spain?
Answer: “Enfadado.”
4. In Spain, we say “Está genial.” What do they say in Mexico?
Answer: “Está bien padre.”
5. In Mexico they say “Ustedes.” What do we say in Spain?
Answer: “Vosotros,” or “vosotras.”
Conclusion
If you want to know any other helpful sentence that I didn’t add here, leave it in the comments and I’ll reply with the translation in Spanish. Now, do you dare to put your new Spanish knowledge to the test? You can do this quiz for beginners I prepared here to check if you can remember these and if you know some other basic words. You can also learn a lot of new words with it. Check it out.
