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I can't believe that some people are posting educated, intelligent answers here -- thank you, Soymabelen and a couple of others -- and people who obviously know far less are ignoring them.
In Mexico, if someone is being dense he's likely to have "What's the matter, don't you understand Castilian?!" hissed at him. This is exactly the way a person in the US might hear, "Don't you understand plain English?!", a phrase that wouldn't be amiss in this thread.
There seems to be an undercurrent from a few people that Spanish from Spain is "nicer" than Mexican Spanish. That is no more true than English in England being better than that in the US, for instance. I learned Spanish in Madrid as a child, but now Mexican Spanish is the one that sounds correct to me. The positive legacy of learning madrileño Spanish is that I spell rather well, since I know where the Cs and Zs are, something not always discernible when listening to Mexican Spanish.
Mexicans take pride in speaking castillian spanish, yet we often get criticized by Spaniards that we dont speak good spanish.
1- Yes, most mexicans speak Castillian
2- Spaniards should go and ..... themselves because a huge percentage of Spaniards speak Catalan, Basque and Galician.
Mexicans take pride in speaking castillian spanish, yet we often get criticized by Spaniards that we dont speak good spanish.
I also found this website which shows how different some words can be from one Latin American country to the next and yet we all claim we speak castillian spanish.
There is simply too much diversity within Mexico to give an unconditional answer. The Spanish of the Northeast, Coahuila and Nuevo Leon is a beautiful and technical Spanish, easily understood by everyone...perhaps the equivalent to what people say about Minnesota/Dakotas being the standard for American English.
Mexico City's Spanish has its sing-song and charm. But once you get down South, not only is the more mix with nahuatl and Maya but the the Caribbean influences of clipped ends of words becomes more prevalent. I was once in an elevator with three food service workers from three different Latin countries (Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala). Good guys but clearly illiterate. One thought "hablado" was spelled "hablao" since that was how other guys were speaking. It was funny.
My friend's grandmother is from the DR. When she gets going, it is VERY difficult to keep up as 90% of her language is clipped words, idiomatic expressions specific to the DR and sarcastic jokes! LOL! Almost like a different language. Like driving into the deep South. Like a different country.
But Madrid is hardly standard Spanish either. Every distinct.
But if I had to consider which regions of Mexico spoke the "clearest" and most technically correct Castillian, I would vote for Coahuila/NL and Guadalajara.
1- Yes, most mexicans speak Castillian
2- Spaniards should go and ..... themselves because a huge percentage of Spaniards speak Catalan, Basque and Galician.
Very true: Spain has several 'Spanish' languages yet the one tagged as Spanish the world over is Castillian-------not Catalon, Basque, etc.
HA! I know well of coño, and when not to use coger! My wife's mother is originally from Argentina, and we've visited her family in Buenos Aires, and trust me, I won't use coger in any sentence again with her family.
And the irony is that 'Coger' is a proper name here in the USA...........Anglicized from Koger.
As I understand it, Castillian Spanish came about because there was once (OK, maybe more than once, but at least one in particular) a Spanish King with a lisp (rumor also has it that he was....well....as it is sometimes said "de la izquierda") and, as those in the court often do, they mimic-ed the actions and mannerisms of their king. Most modern day south or central american, or Mexican males would not intentionally sound like some Spanish gay dude.
As always, you are just trying to appear smart when clearly you didn´t have a clue.
Nothing to do your link about a german last name with the meaning of "coger" either in Mexico or Spain
"Coger" without any nasty connotation means "to grab" either in Mexico or Spain. Giving the word a sexual connotation means "to copulate" again in both countries. A third meaning you can give to the same word is like when someone take advantage of someone else. As in "se lo cogió".
The difference resides that in Spain those words are used with that naughty meanning commonly on radio and tv programs while in Mexico not.
Like everywhere else, we have last names who imply a lot of grief to those who carry them, like "chiquito" "chico" "prieto" "angulo" "cerda" and hundreds more.
It has to do with that obscure but funny side of Us Mexicans called "PicardÃa"... an attribute that saddly no common gringo can understand.
Location: The world, where will fate take me this time?
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Quote:
Originally Posted by alxtronics
As always, you are just trying to appear smart when clearly you didn´t have a clue.
Nothing to do your link about a german last name with the meaning of "coger" either in Mexico or Spain
"Coger" without any nasty connotation means "to grab" either in Mexico or Spain. Giving the word a sexual connotation means "to copulate" again in both countries. A third meaning you can give to the same word is like when someone take advantage of someone else. As in "se lo cogió".
The difference resides that in Spain those words are used with that naughty meanning commonly on radio and tv programs while in Mexico not.
Like everywhere else, we have last names who imply a lot of grief to those who carry them, like "chiquito" "chico" "prieto" "angulo" "cerda" and hundreds more.
It has to do with that obscure but funny side of Us Mexicans called "PicardÃa"... an attribute that saddly no common gringo can understand.
Ohhh yes la picardia Mexicana, it's difficult to understand for non Mexicans, I still remember trying to explain a Brazilian friend what is an albur LOL
Very true: Spain has several 'Spanish' languages yet the one tagged as Spanish the world over is Castillian-------not Catalon, Basque, etc.
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Catalan, Basque and Galician are also Spanish languages.
Castillian is synonimous of Spanish, there's no "Castillian Spanish".
In any case, Castillian Spanish would be the dialect spoken in some, not all, Castillian provinces.
The Spanish spoken in America is Spanish or Castillian (synonimous).
The "Castillian Spanish" stuff was invented by Americans that hate anything related to Latin America.
Anyways, Mexico was also Castille, so they speak Castillian.
Last edited by Leovigildo; 09-23-2009 at 04:33 AM..
1- Yes, most mexicans speak Castillian
2- Spaniards should go and ..... themselves because a huge percentage of Spaniards speak Catalan, Basque and Galician.
Isn't it nice to hear such nice sentiments towards a particular group of people!
I don't know what sources you are using to gather your information, but I wouldn't call huge the percentage of Spaniards that speak Catalan, Basque or Galician. These are official languages in their respective regions, i.e. Catalan is an official language alongside Castillian only in Catalonia; Basque is an official language alongside Castillian only in the Basque country, etc. Also, the majority of these speakers also speak Spanish, in other words they are bilingual. Remember, languages are not exclusive of each other. The human mind is very capable of learning two languages.
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I know well of coño, and when not to use coger! My wife's mother is originally from Argentina, and we've visited her family in Buenos Aires, and trust me, I won't use coger in any sentence again with her family. 
