Speaking the ‘wrong’ Spanish

2/1/19

As most of you probably aren’t aware of, Argentina is quite different than most Spanish speaking countries. Every country is different in it’s dialect, even the regions of each country can be different, similar to the United States. People seem to forget that different accents and dialects exist within a single language apart from their own.

“You speak Spanish? You are Spanish? That’s weird, you don’t look Mexican… you don’t speak like my Spanish teacher… So you’re just from the US right? You aren’t like…. ACTUALLY Spanish then, right?”

These questions and phrases are what I hear more often than not when people ask me where I’m from or why I speak Spanish fluently. The thing is, Argentines are a not a people with dark skin, we are prominently of European decent from either Spain or Italy. During the wars that affected Spain and Italy most, almost all of the people from the small villages had to flee on boats. Argentina is a country that is truly a collection of people from many regions and areas. Refugees from many countries went to Argentina because it is a place that openly accepts and embraces people, along with their cultures and languages. Because of this fact, Argentines speak a very eccentric form of Spanish called Castellano.

Rather than listing more facts about my country, I’ll get to the point.

When I was younger, Elementary school age I suppose, the kids in my class would be awe-struck that I could speak another language, they were confused but just thought it was cool I guess. But as we grew up, we started to become people who had opinions and ideas. All of a sudden kids told me I was more American than not so I should just say that’s who I am. Among those who spoke Spanish in my town, they spoke differently than I did, so it was ‘wrong’. It’s very rare to meet someone from Argentina here is the States, especially in the Pacific Northwest.

I suppose the idea is, we are all different, we all have unique ideas and minds, all of us must embrace the differences between us if we are to truly live harmoniously.