sacar vs tomar

Why are we learning “sacar tu foto” rather than “toma tu foto”?  In Puerto Rico I always hear “toma tu foto”.

Is there a difference or is it cultural?

¡Hola RyannC-4ccj!

Thanks for your question! We've actually had this one come up before here on the forum (in this thread); I'll re-post the answer here:

One of the tricky things about Spanish is how many different regional variations there are! Both sacar una foto and tomar una foto are valid translations for "to take a picture" in Spanish, but it is possible that one or the other won't be used in particular countries or regions. (In fact, in Spain, hacer una foto is also possible, but you're not likely to hear that in Latin America.)

 

The best strategy is to listen to the people in the region you visit and to follow the terminology that they tend to use. Sacar una foto shouldn't cause problems with understanding in most Spanish-speaking countries (it is commonly used in Spain, Chile, and Argentina, for instance), but if you find people giving you odd looks, you can certainly use tomar una foto instead.

If anything about this is still unclear, please don't hesitate to ask! 

Also, if you'd like to search the Rocket Spanish forum to see whether a question that you have has already been asked and answered, simply click on the magnifying glass in the upper right-hand corner of your screen; this will bring you to the Search page. Any forum results will appear at the bottom of the list.

Saludos,

Liss