Expert: Juan Carlos Valencia - 1/13/2010

Question
Good evening, Mr. Valencia

I always wondered if the Spanish is spoken differently throughout the Colombian country. For instance, is the Spanish spoken in Medellin the same as the Spanish spoken in Altos de Cazuca, Soacha, Ciudad Bogota or Bebedo?

Thank you so much for your help,
Lauren

Answer
Dear Lauren,

you are mentioning 2 distant, big cities (Medellin & Bogota) and 2 suburbs of Bogota (Cazuca, Soacha). I dont know where Bebedo is.

Accents in Colombia differ a lot from region to region. I guess it's the same in the U.S where if you put a  New Yorker, a texan and a person from New Orleans in the same room, they might not understand some of their words and would have to ask for the meaning of some expressions, but they will understand the basic meanings of what they say to each other.

Colombia is criss-crossed by tall mountains that separate its regions and the histories of each region are very different. People can understand each other but sometimes the differences in accent, vocabulary, expressions and talking speed are huge.

I hope that this helps !

Saludos

JCV