Is it hard for Spanish (Spain) speakers to understand Latin American Spanish and vice versa?
Item
issuer
Quora
Language
English
Date Accepted
11/29/19
Title
Is it hard for Spanish (Spain) speakers to understand Latin American Spanish and vice versa?
list of contributors
David Grason
content
For a time, I moonlighted as a Spanish/English interpreter for the Davidson County Court System here in Nashville, Tn. I am a non-native Spanish speaker but I do well with it because I’ve studied it diligently for many years and have been exposed to Mexican Spanish for decades. But admittedly, because of my association with more Mexicans than all other Spanish speaking people combined, my Spanish tends to be VERY Mexican and, as a courtroom interpreter, I sometimes ran into trouble when working with Colombianos, Venezolanos (who speak EXTREMELY fast) or Porteños, for example. Porteños are from Buenos Aires and Argentine Spanish has a really strong Italian accent. In such cases, I would stop the proceedings and explain to the judge that I needed to clarify some phrases and words. (¡Qué Chévere! was one example. The first time I heard that, I went on context and used the English expression “Totally Awesome.” That was a lucky guess.*)The biggest problem I had as a courtroom interpreter was when the defendents were gang members and tey were in a huge habit of using their gang talk and/or a lot of street slang. “!Me vale madres!” The two Latino gangs present in middle Tennesse are MS-13 from Honduras and Brown Pride - a Mexican gang. There were times when I would have to stop interpreting and explain to the court that I could not proceed until I got some sort of better clarification. I would have a quick one on one conversation with the defendant and question the words or phrases. I would have to explain that the defendant had the right to be understood and to understand the proceedings but this required his cooperation with me.
I never had any problem having a defendant understand what I was saying to him. But often times I would not understand the defendant and he would not be willing to help me out, most often due to his machismo pride or his being pissed off about being in court in the first place. The Hondurans were especially difficult because they tended to also use a lot of indigenous words that are not Spanish. In those cases, I would explain that refusing to help me amounted to his waiving his right to understand. If I told this to the judge, the judge would invariably say, “Well to hell with the kid. Let’s proceed without him. He had his chance.”
You can’t fix stupid.
*I found out later that ¡Qué Chévere! Basically meant really cool. And so, I my lucky guess of “Totally Awesome” turned out to be just fine. But it was news to me because the Mexicans would say “¡Qué Firme or Chido!
EDIT:
I would personally really like to know something from native Spanish speakers who are NOT from Mexico. Many times, when dealing with Mexicans, it would be like every other word would be “güey.” It’s pronounced like “way” as in a one-way street. It is the type of word that is used commonly among close friends but if you NOT a close friend, you might be in real trouble if you use it. it means something like a castrated bull or a stupid donkey. Is this word common enough that it is understood in the correct context as it would be in Spain, for example?
I never had any problem having a defendant understand what I was saying to him. But often times I would not understand the defendant and he would not be willing to help me out, most often due to his machismo pride or his being pissed off about being in court in the first place. The Hondurans were especially difficult because they tended to also use a lot of indigenous words that are not Spanish. In those cases, I would explain that refusing to help me amounted to his waiving his right to understand. If I told this to the judge, the judge would invariably say, “Well to hell with the kid. Let’s proceed without him. He had his chance.”
You can’t fix stupid.
*I found out later that ¡Qué Chévere! Basically meant really cool. And so, I my lucky guess of “Totally Awesome” turned out to be just fine. But it was news to me because the Mexicans would say “¡Qué Firme or Chido!
EDIT:
I would personally really like to know something from native Spanish speakers who are NOT from Mexico. Many times, when dealing with Mexicans, it would be like every other word would be “güey.” It’s pronounced like “way” as in a one-way street. It is the type of word that is used commonly among close friends but if you NOT a close friend, you might be in real trouble if you use it. it means something like a castrated bull or a stupid donkey. Is this word common enough that it is understood in the correct context as it would be in Spain, for example?