Español v. Castiliano

I wonder what are the main differences between Spanish as spoken in Spain (Castiliano) v. that spoken elsewhere (Español) and how well Rocket Spanish support the former? thanks Kai

Hola! I'm curious about this, too. Can anybody explain? I've just begun using RS, but I'm curious as to how big the difference is between the Spanish spoken in Spain vs. that of S. America.

Hola. As far as I know, there are two major differences between the Spanish spoken in Spain and that spoken in Latin America. One is in pronunciation. In Spain, they pronounce the "z" and the "c" before i and e as if they were "th." Thus, for example, the city Barcelona sounds something like "Barthelona." The number 5 sounds like "thinco" rather than cinco. In Latin America, the z and the c before i and e are pronounced like an "s." The other major difference is that in Spain, there's a separate pronoun (vosotros) and verb form for the second person familiar plural--i.e., the plural equivalent of tú. Thus, if you say "you speak" to a group of friends (people you would address individually as "tú), you'd say "vosotros habláis" (though you probably wouldn't bother saying the pronoun). To say "you eat" to these same people, you'd say "vosotros coméis." Latin American Spanish doesn't use this 2nd person familiar plural form. In Latin America, you'd say to these same people ustedes hablan or ustedes comen. There are lots of small differences, but there are also lots of small differences between, say, the Spanish spoken in Mexico and that spoken in Peru. But we have regional differences in English as well. The Spanish you'll learn from Rocket Spanish will give you a good start no matter where you want to speak Spanish, but if your main interest in is Spain, you should follow your Rocket Spanish course with one that focuses more on continental Spanish; Rocket Spanish's focus is on Latin American Spanish.

Thanks so much for your reply, Nohablo. My question was more out of curiosity rather for any practical reason. I hope to eventually be capable of functioning fluently in both Europe and S. America, but living in southern part of the US, I'm likely to be in contact with more natives of Mexico and South America. I'm really enjoying Rocket Spanish so far. Hopefully I will be able to maintain this enthusiasm as I progress through the program.