How Many Versions of Spanish?

[efpierce]

I was wondering today how many different versions of Spanish there really are. I know that certain regions have there own dialect but is there an exact number available?

[BWL]

There are two main groups:

European Spanish and Latin American Spanish.

There are at least 4 types of European Spanish accents:

1) Northern (Aragon and the Basque country)

2)Central or Castillian (this is what most people think of when they talk about European Spanish). Penelope Cruz has this accent.

3)Southern or Andalusian (Antonio Banderas has a very strong Andalusian accent when he speaks Spanish)

4) Canarian (not so commonly heard but because so many immigrants left the Canary Islands during the last 200 years and settled in the Caribbean and Latin American, this dialect has influenced Latin American Spanish a lot)

Now in Latin America there at least 6 types of accents (with many local variations)

1.) Mexican Spanish (most North Americans know this one the best and a parody of the accent can be heard by watching Speedy Gonzales cartoons!)

2.) Caribbean (Cuba, Puerto Rico, Venezuela)

3.) Argentinian, Uruguayan and Paraguayan

4.) Chilean

5.) Andean-Ecuadorian (influenced by Quechua and other native Andean languages)

6.) Central American (Guatemala, Costa Rica etc.)

My favorite is the Argentinian accent.