LA Spanish Voice Over Agency

Everything you never needed to know about speaking Latin American Spanish

It’s all in the name
In Spain the Spanish language is called Castilian Spanish, but in Latin America it is called Español, or Spanish.

Pronunciation
Spain’s Castilian language and Latin American Spanish have different pronunciations. One of the main differences is that in Spain they pronounce the S like a TH and in Latin America they pronounce the S like a Z.

That’s fishy
There’s a town in Honduras called Yoro and three or four times a year it rains fish. Yes, fish literally fall from the sky. It is an unexplained phenomenon that is thought to have something to do with the wind or the rain and the location of the fish. The town of Yoro now holds a festival each year to celebrate the raining fish and it normally takes place in May or June.

Latin American Pink Dolphins
There are pink dolphins in Latin America. They aren’t saltwater mammals they live in freshwater river basins in the Amazon and Orinoco as well as Bolivia, Brazil and Columbia.

Carnaval time
If you want to visit the largest carnival in the world, then come to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. The carnival is usually held in February and more than 2 million people per day are out on the streets. The carnival dates back to the 1650 when the carnival was organised to honour Greek wine gods including Bacchus who was god of the grape harvest.

Unknown Tribes
The Amazon rainforest is home to around 400 different tribes with around 77 of those ‘uncontacted’ and living off the land without outside help. Those tribes that do have contact with the outside world sometimes ask for food or clothing. Other tribes like the Mashco-Pico stay in the depths of the rainforest and resist all contact with the outside world.

A happy place
According to the Happy Planet Index Costa Rica is the happiest planet on earth. The index looks at the carbon footprint of each country together with the longevity of the population. The Costa Rica has topped the poll three times out of the four times that the poll has been published.

Dry as a bone
The Atacama Desert which runs from the Andes mountains to the Pacific Ocean is the second driest area in the world. The desert has a lunar landscape and has been used to simulate Mars expeditions by the Americans.

The canal that nearly wasn’t
In 1513 a Spanish explorer tried to search for a natural waterway to connect the Atlantic ocean with the Pacific ocean, but a waterway wasn’t found. Then the Hokly Roman Emperor Charles V ordered a study to determine if a ship canal could be built. It concluded that it couldn’t. Then in the 1880s a French company tried to construct a canal but they weren’t successful. The two men involved, Ferdinand Lesseps, who developed the Suez Canal and Gustave Eiffel who designed the Eiffel tower. Eventually the United States got involved and the canal was finally completed in 1914.

A nice cup of coffee
Columbia is the second largest coffee producer in the world. Columbia coffee is famous for mild, rich flavour. Coffee is best grown in volcanic soil which gives it a better flavour.

A short history on the LA Spanish language

The term LA Spanish refers to all the various dialects of the Spanish language spoken in Latin America (which includes the whole of South America, Mexico, Central America and part of the Caribbean).

When the Spanish and Portuguese began to colonise Latin America, from the late 15th century onwards, they brought their respective languages with them. These languages were both of Latin descent – hence the term Latin America.

As the Spanish Empire took hold, settled by generations of Spanish descendants, so the indigenous people gradually adopted the Spanish language. But the language developed slightly differently in each country – influenced by the native languages already spoken, as well as which part of Spain the colonists came from – so there are many different Spanish dialects spoken throughout Latin America.

Which countries have LA Spanish as a national language?

Spanish is the official language (or de facto national language) of the following Latin American countries: Columbia, Peru (co-official with Quechua, Aymara and others), Venezuela, Ecuador, Guatemala, Cuba, Bolivia (co-official with Quechua, Aymara, Guarani and others), Honduras, Paraguay (co-official with Guarani), El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama, Equatorial Guinea, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Uruguay and Puerto Rico.

Spanish is spoken by 43% of the population of Belize, although it has no official status (English is the official language).

How many people speak LA Spanish as their first language?

It’s estimated that over 300 million people speak Spanish as their first language in Latin America (out of a total of 400-500 million native Spanish speakers in the world).

The highest number is in Mexico (115 million), followed by Colombia (45 million), Argentina (42 million) and Peru (30 million).

Did you know?

• The process by which people or places become influenced by Spanish culture (including language, food etc) is known as Hispanicisation.
• Because of their proximity to Spanish-speaking countries, in recent years Trinidad and Tobago and Brazil have added Spanish to their education systems as a mandatory subject.
• There are many different Spanish dialects in Latin America, but they can be grouped roughly under these variants: Mexican, Caribbean, Andean-Pacific, Rio de la Plata, Chilean and Central American.
• The development of LA Spanish was influenced by the large numbers of Africans brought to Latin America as slave labour. They contributed many words to the language, as well as intonation and rhythm.

The Latin American economy

Latin America as a whole has a rapidly developing economy. The biggest individual economies are those of Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia and Chile, while the fastest growing include Venezuela, Uruguay and Peru.

The export market is an important part of most Latin American economies.