# Spanish of different regions



## Tensai

I am a very beginner of Spanish, I prefer to learn Spanish that are spoken in Spain, because my main interest is in Spain, although I like other countries such as Mexico as well.
My question is, if I say a sentence in Spanish, mixed with words from different Spanish-speaking regions, would I be understood by the Spanish speakers?


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## ordequin

Yes you will be understood, with the exception of employing words from one of the several dialects spoken in Spain. In that case maybe you will be understood or not, it depends on the difference between the word from spanish, and the word from the dialect. If they sound similar, you'll have no problem. There's another exception. In Spain there're two languages: Spanish and Basque(I'm referring to languages, not to dialects). If you employ a word from basque nobody will understand it, because there's nothing to see between Basque and Spanish, it's like for example, Chinese and Japanese.
But I think your query is about Spanish from diferent regions. Then, if we only mention Spanish I can tell you there're less differences  that the  Chinese from one region to another. Think your country is enormous comparing to ours.You'll find little differences about the pronounciation, but nothing as complicated for disable beeing understood.
THERE'S A CORRECTION OF THIS POST WRITTEN BELOW WITH MY APOLOGIES TO PEOPLE INVOLVED IN.


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## pickypuck

Yes you will!



> In Spain there're two languages: Spanish and Basque(I'm referring to languages, not to dialects).


 
There are more than those (sorry for being off-topic).

¡Olé!


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## panjabigator

Here is an example for you:  In Spain they say "echar a menos" for 'to miss' whereas in Latin America they say "extranarse."  I said the wrong one to someone and they looked at me funny for a second...when I rephrased myself the conversation proceeded fine.  But I think everyone will understand you fine.


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## vince

Tensai said:
			
		

> I am a very beginner of Spanish, I prefer to learn Spanish that are spoken in Spain, because my main interest is in Spain, although I like other countries such as Mexico as well.
> My question is, if I say a sentence in Spanish, mixed with words from different Spanish-speaking regions, would I be understood by the Spanish speakers?


To aid your intuition of how much Spanish dialects differ:

Spanish and Basque are like Cantonese Chinese and Japanese
Spanish and Russian are like Cantonese Chinese and Tibetan
Spanish and French are like Cantonese Chinese and Mandarin Chinese
Spanish and Catalan are like HK Cantonese and Teochow-wa (Chaozhou Min-nan Chinese)
Castilian Spanish and Argentinian Spanish are like HK Cantonese Chinese and Toisan-nese (Seiyap Yue Chinese)
Castilian Spanish and Mexican Spanish are like HK Cantonese Chinese and Guangzhou Cantonese Chinese.


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## pickypuck

panjabigator said:
			
		

> Here is an example for you: In Spain they say "echar a menos" for 'to miss' whereas in Latin America they say "extranarse." I said the wrong one to someone and they looked at me funny for a second...when I rephrased myself the conversation proceeded fine. But I think everyone will understand you fine.


 
Well, the verb is "extrañar" not "extrañarse", which means something different. Maybe you received the funny look for this ^_^ This pair is understandable everywhere... at least where I live is... but others are a little bit more difficult  

¡Olé!


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## ordequin

Ole Picky! Wich are the other languages spoken in Spain? I'm curious.


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## pickypuck

ordequin said:
			
		

> Ole Picky! Wich are the other languages spoken in Spain? I'm curious.


 
You can look for them yourself  

¡Olé!


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## ordequin

My excuses to the people of Cataluña, Valencia y Galicia. I COMITTED A TERRIBLE MISTAKE. What I thought were dialects are recognised on the constitution as languages. What I should have said is that the languages spoken in Spain come from Latin, with the exception of the Basque.
I apologize then for my ignorance in this subject.


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## vince

Languages spoken in Spain:
--------------------------
Latin-based:
Spanish (Castilian)
Catalan
Galician


Not related to any other language:
Euskera (Basque)


ordequin, which Chinese language are you learning? In overseas communities, there is a higher proportion of HK Cantonese and Toisan Cantonese speakers to Mandarin speakers, compared to China itself.


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## pickypuck

Fala and Aranese are also Latin-based... there are others like Asturian or Aragonese, considered dialects by some, languages by others...

¡Olé!


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## vince

Asturian and Aragonese have independent wikipedias:
http://an.wikipedia.org (Aragonese)
http://ast.wikipedia.org (Asturian)

Then there are the other Latin-based wikipedias:
http://ca.wikipedia.org (Catalan)
http://es.wikipedia.org (Spanish)

Curiously, there are only 3 Chinese-based wikipedias, despite China being vastly larger and having far more people than Spain:
http://zh.wikipedia.org (Mandarin-based Standard Chinese)
http://zh-min-nan.wikipedia.org (Minnan)
http://zh-yue.wikipedia.org (Cantonese) - this one was very controversial, many people argued that Cantonese couldn't be written


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## panjabigator

If it couldn't be written, then how did they do it?


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## Cracker Jack

panjabigator said:
			
		

> Here is an example for you: In Spain they say "echar a menos" for 'to miss' whereas in Latin America they say "extranarse." I said the wrong one to someone and they looked at me funny for a second...when I rephrased myself the conversation proceeded fine. But I think everyone will understand you fine.


 
In Spain, it is echar de menos a alguien.  Yes, you are right.  Although in Mexico, extrañarse is the manner of expressing it, you would still be understood.


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## pickypuck

Cracker Jack said:
			
		

> In Spain, it is echar de menos a alguien. Yes, you are right. Although in Mexico, extrañarse is the manner of expressing it, you would still be understood.


 
It's "extrañar" and not "extrañarse"  

¡Olé!


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## panjabigator

Thanks!  I meant to write extrañarse originally!


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## Miguelillo 87

People will understand you , as soon as you don't use slangs of each region, for exmple I have an Argentinian Friend who told me one day,
Que bonitas zapatillas que tenes (What pretty tennis do you have)
But in Mñexico tennis it's tenis and zapatillas is the one who conderella uses.

So maybe there will be some confusion but only in somewords in Generla I understan and Argentinian, Colombian, Cuban,Spanish 98%!!!!!


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## Amandla

ordequin said:
			
		

> My excuses to the people of Cataluña, Valencia y Galicia. I COMITTED A TERRIBLE MISTAKE. What I thought were dialects are recognised on the constitution as languages. What I should have said is that the languages spoken in Spain come from Latin, with the exception of the Basque.
> I apologize then for my ignorance in this subject.


 
I'm a catalan girl, and I'm very angry!!!! It's a joke. 

It's usual that people form other countries don't know things about Catalonia and Catalan Countries. The Spanish Government don't help us about european or foreign recognition. 

If anybody has any question about Catalan, Catalan Countries, Freedom fealings, catalan, valencian or mallorcan culture, ask me!

I'm sorry about my bad English!


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## Amandla

pickypuck said:
			
		

> Fala and Aranese are also Latin-based... there are others like Asturian or Aragonese, considered dialects by some, languages by others...
> 
> ¡Olé!


 
Asturian and Aragonese are languages. But they are almost disapeared. 

In Galiza/Galícia there is another language: galego, (I don't know how I can translate to English) which is based in Latin too.


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## hohodicestu

hey,

sometimes you may not be understood because some words have different meanings. For example, "wuey" is a commun word in Mexico, but very offensive in central america.


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## Amandla

Oh, I know... Which words can be misunderstood ?


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## oxazol

Amandla:
Do you think that the spanish goverment should go around the world speaking about a language related (almost all the time) with the feeling of not being spanish?????? 
Do you know for example the 4 languages apart from frech in France??? They don't do anything for these languages, why do we have to do it for you?

words misunderstood:
móvil (SS)  celular (AS)
coche        carro
coger        tomar
follar          coger
concha (animal)   ???
coño           concha (AS)
jodido          chingado (mexico)
y muchas más..........


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## tafanari

Amandla said:
			
		

> Oh, I know... Which words can be misunderstood ?



I found this interesting list on the internet. I don't know if will answer your question but I think it illustrates the topic of this thread.

In Colombia, _un coche_ is  a horse and buggy and _un carro_ is an automobile but in Spain it's the  other way around. 

_Gafas_ are 'glasses' in Spain but in the Dominican  Republic, they are 'shades.' 

In the Dominican Republic, _al paso_ means  'slowly' and in Argentina it means 'quickly.' In that case, it's the ellipsis  that causes the difference. Dominicans are saying _a un paso lento_ and  Argentines _a un paso rápido_. _

Trigueño _and _moreno_  are people of dark complexion in some countries but mean _blonde_ and  _brunette_ in others. 

_Mono_ in Mexico means 'cute' and _chango_  is a 'monkey.' In Puerto Rico, _mono _isa 'monkey' and _un cha__ngo_ is  somebody who is 'a kidder' and in Colombia _una changa_ is a girl and  _mona_ means 'blonde' while in Ecuador it's a female person from Guayaquil.  _

Anoche te vimos fajándote en el cine con tu novio_ in Mexico means 'We saw  you making out with your boyfriend in the movies last night' but in the Canary  Islands and the Caribbean it means 'We saw you fighting (in the physical sense)  your boyfriend in the movies last night.' _

¿Qué fue?_ is a friendly 'How are  you?' in Quito and the start of a fist-fight in Santo Domingo. 

In most varieties  of Spanish, _será publicado hasta fines de año_ means 'it will be published  until the end of the year' but that 'it won't be *until* year's end' in  Mexican Spanish. 

_Me admiraría_ in Ecuador is "I would be surprised." and  in the Dominican Republic it's "(S)he would admire me." 

In Spain, _¡halucino  en colores!_ indicates surprise while in Colombia it's taken literally. 

In  Nicaragua, Peru, and Venezuela, _cancelar una factura_ is to pay a bill but  in Mexico, it's to *void* because there was a problem with the merchandise  or service. 

In Mexico, the command _¡no te mandes!_ means 'don't be rude!'  and in Santo Domingo it means 'don't run away!


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## Amandla

Our situation is different if you compare with other countries or nations. Here it is illegal or not legal an independence from Spain because this is not mentioned in Spanish Constitution. 

I don't expect nothing for the Spanish Government, but people have to realize that in Spain there are more languages and cultures than the central one. Spanish government doesn't help to that recognition!


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## caravaggio

Ya que en realidad todos nos entendemos, salvo una que otra palabra quizas la cuestión sería que acento quisieras tener. En mi caso a mi me gusta mucho la forma de hablar en Bogotá.


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## caravaggio

Ya que en realidad todos nos entendemos, salvo una que otra palabra quizas la cuestión sería que acento quisieras tener. En mi caso a mi me gusta mucho la forma de hablar en Bogotá no sólo por su acento sino por sus expresiones.

Que les rinda 

saludos


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## vince

Amandla said:
			
		

> Asturian and Aragonese are languages. But they are almost disapeared.
> 
> In Galiza/Galícia there is another language: galego, (I don't know how I can translate to English) which is based in Latin too.



They may be nearly extinct, but they all have their own wikipedias! Check out the links I posted earlier in this thread.

Their written languages are mostly intelligible with Spanish, I find. Even galego (Galician in English, btw), though it is closer to Portuguese than mainstream Castilian Spanish.


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## Amandla

I had checked those links once... And I know some Aragonese and Asturian people who speak it!  In Aragón there are some schools which you can learn Aragonese, they are trying to grow up (is this verb right?). But in Asturies this is a bit more complicated...

You are right but it doesn't mean that they are no laguages, does it?


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## oxazol

The galician is not extinct!!!! In fact lot of people speak only this in Galicia. It is the coofficial language and they have a regional TVchannel in galician. The politician speak in galician... and so on.

And it is a mix between Spanish and Portuguese. For spaniards is very easy to understand Portuguese, but for the spanish that speak galician it is much more easy. (Lot of words are similars)

In Asturias they speak *bable, *but most of the people speak spanish with some words in bable. It is difficult to find somebody speaking only bable.


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## Amandla

Sorry but I was talking about Aragonese and Asturian not about Galician language!! 

It's not a mix, it has influences for Portuguese and Spanish because they are near... It's the same as the language which is spoken in Occitania, Occitan language. They can understand better Frecnh and Catalan because they have influences...


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## vince

Amandla said:
			
		

> I had checked those links once... And I know some Aragonese and Asturian people who speak it!  In Aragón there are some schools which you can learn Aragonese, they are trying to grow up (is this verb right?). But in Asturies this is a bit more complicated...
> 
> You are right but it doesn't mean that they are no laguages, does it?


That goes back to the language-dialect debate. There was a thread about this recently in this forum. Basically, Spain has a very inclusive idea of what constitutes a language, while Italy and Germany have stricter criteria. I doubt Galician, Aragonese, or Asturian would be considered independent languages if Spanish people thought like Italians/Germans. I mean sure linguists agree they are languages, but the general population in those countries don't.

Galician is the most alive of the three languages, partially because it is co-official with Spanish in Galicia.

"grow up" : use "increase the use of the language"

BTW you are right, Galician is not truly a mix. Languages like Galician and Catalan are part of a "dialect continuum". Before the 19th century, You could go from Porto, Portugal to Napoli, Italy, and every two adjacent towns on the way speak the same language. But as you traveled further and further, the language would evolve to Portuguese-like to Galician-like, to Asturian-like to Aragonese-like to Spanish-like to Catalan-like to Occitan-like ... all the way to the Napolitan language.


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## jester.

vince said:
			
		

> Galician is the most alive of the three languages, partially because it is co-official with Spanish in Galicia.



I'm afraid that you are wrong (or just partly right). I was in Catalonia half a year ago and there Catalan was as alive as it could possibly be. Everybody speaks it and everything is written in Catalan (partly bilingual Catalan and Spanish).


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## vince

By "the three languages", I was referring to Asturian, Aragonese, and Galician.


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## jester.

vince said:
			
		

> By "the three languages", I was referring to Asturian, Aragonese, and Galician.


Oh, ok. Then I agree with you.

In my opinion Basque, Galician and Catalan don't have a real problem with the amount of their speakers, whereas Asturian and Aragonese as languages are, I think, on the verge of extinction. That means that there will probably still remain several dialectal characteristics of the spoken Castillian, also if the two languages become extinct.


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## caravaggio

No puedo evitar decirlo, pero miren de lo que se trata el foro y todos se expresan en inglés. Ya entiendo porque a Tensai se le pasa por la cabeza que si aprende el español en España no entenderá el español que hablan en otros lugares.



saludos


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## panjabigator

Isn't their some sort of language protection that is enforced, or are these languages at all recognized by the government?


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## panjabigator

caravaggio said:
			
		

> No puedo evitar decirlo, pero miren de lo que se trata el foro y todos se expresan en inglés. Ya entiendo porque a Tensai se le pasa por la cabeza que si aprende el español en España no entenderá el español que hablan en otros lugares.
> 
> 
> 
> saludos



No me parece que estos versiones (lo de iberia y lo de America) son tan diferentes...porque no entendera el espanol que hablan en otros lugares?  Me parece que la diferencia entre ellas es lo mismo que tenemos entre el ingles de america y el ingled de inglaterra.


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## caravaggio

Te entendi perfectamente panjabigator a pesar que vivimos en contextos diferentes y tenemos lenguas nativas diferentes porque a pesar de las expresiones regionales el Español sigue siendo el mismo


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## Miguelillo 87

panjabigator said:
			
		

> No me parece que estos versiones (lo de iberia y lo de America) son tan diferentes...porque no entendera el espanol que hablan en otros lugares? Me parece que la diferencia entre ellas es lo mismo que tenemos entre el ingles de america y el ingled de inglaterra.


Yo también creo lo mismo, pero ahora échale que aquí no es sólo EE.UU y RU sino Argentina vs México, México vs Perú, Perú vs España, España vs Cuba y así además de sus múltiples Argentina Cuba, Cuba México


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## panjabigator

Gracias Miguelillo!  Ustedes me han recordado de una pelicula argentina que vi en mi clase de literatura espanola.  La pelicula se llama "la deuda interna" y el tema principial rodea sobre los injusticia que ocurrio en Argentina bajo de las idiotas que tuvo poder en un golpe de estado (pienso que ud lo saben).  La pelicula ocurre (is there a better word for "to take place?") en el noroeste de argentina donde todavia son muchas indigenas (no se existen estas comunidades hoy pero existieron hace 30 anos) y el acento que ellos tuvieron no me parecio como el del rio de la plata (Buenos Aires y Uruaguay).  Ellos no dijeron "me shamo" en vez de "me llamo" como los rioplatenses hacen.  Ojala que no les confuse!


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## caravaggio

Por eso creo que la incompresión puede que sea mas por el acento que por el idioma mismo. Cuando estuve en la zona rural de Chile, recuerdo que me fue muy difícil comprender a las personas de ese lugar, y no porque hablarán con palabras diferentes a las mias sino porque las pronunciaban diferente y su acento a pesar que era muy bonito era casi incomprensible para mi. hasta que me acostumbré y empecé a hablar como ellos.


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## vince

caravaggio said:
			
		

> No puedo evitar decirlo, pero miren de lo que se trata el foro y todos se expresan en inglés. Ya entiendo porque a Tensai se le pasa por la cabeza que si aprende el español en España no entenderá el español que hablan en otros lugares.
> 
> 
> 
> saludos


No creo que ése sea el caso. Pienso que la razón por la cual piensa que los dialectos del español son demasiado differentes como para entenderse es porque los "dialectos" chinos lo son. (Tensai habla el chino cantonés). De hecho, el chino cantonés y el chino mandarín son tan distintos como el español y el francés, sin embargo, está usando el significado chino de "dialecto" para describir los dialectos españoles, que son mucho más parecidos entre sí que los "dialectos" chinos.


EDIT: Correciones de gramática


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## Miguelillo 87

Hay que recordar que el español no está dividido en dialectos,simplemente son regionalismos


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## vince

un dialecto tiene su propio vocabulario, acento, y una pequeña diferencia de gramática que no impide la comprensión

por ejemplo, el español rioplatense (el dialecto hablado en Buenos Aires) es un ejemplo de un dialecto del español.


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## Miguelillo 87

vince said:
			
		

> un dialecto tiene su propio vocabulario, acento, y una pequeña diferencia de gramática que no impide la comprensión
> 
> por ejemplo, el español rioplatense (el dialecto hablado en Buenos Aires) es un ejemplo de un dialecto del español.


¿?¿?
A poco un dialecto es el que se habla en Monterrey
Español Regiomontano, y el de Mérida, Español Méridense y el del DF Español Chilango.
¡¡¡¡NO!!!!!, dIALECTO ES MUY DIFERENTE ES CUANDO ES DIFERENTE GRÁMATICA DIFERENTE PALABRAS DIFERENTE TODO Y SÓLO TIENE SUS RAICES EN UN IDIOMA O ES RAÍZ DE OTRO


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## vince

ah recuerdo que la definición de "dialecto" en México es también diferente de la usada en Europa/EU. Para ser un dialecto, debe ser un dialecto de algún idioma.
Por eso,
Nahuatl no es un dialecto, sino un idioma. Porque no es un dialecto de nada.
Español regiomontano, español méridense = dialectos (del español)

Pero creo que en México "dialecto" significa un idioma que no es el idioma nacional, hablado por indígenas. así que Nahuatl sería un dialecto (según el significado mexicano de la palabra)

En China, un dialecto chino es cualquier idioma que se escriba con caracteres chinos.


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## Miguelillo 87

Pues tal vez es el concepto de la palabra dialecto en las diferentes países , pero en México dialecto es como lo indicas el May el Nahult el Zapoteco etc etc


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## caravaggio

yo no hablo de dialectos hablo de pronunciación, dejo , acentos..hay zonas donde cuesta comprender lo que hablan..e insisto con mi experiencia personal ...no es que usar otros vocablos sino que hablaban muy rápido y cortado comiéndose las consonantes finales.


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## ordequin

¡Hola majetones!!
He leído todo lo que habeis escrito, después de tres días sin poder venir al foro(¡qué mono!), ya que estaba ON THE ROAD, tirando millas.
Gracias Amandla por no enfadarte con esta vasca ignorante, ¡eres un solete!
INTERESANTISIMOS los comentarios de VINCE. De alguna manera, me salvas de mi patinazo sobre lo de los dialectos. Una cosa es lo que se admite linguísticamente, y otra cómo percibe la realidad de un idioma el ciudadano de a pie. ¡OLE! Me descubro ante tí.
Por cierto, ¿Qué habrá sido de Tensai?
¡Un saludo para todos!


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## AnotherStephen

I have read that the language of the people of Valencia region is really only a dialect, not something so different from Spanish. Is that true?


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## Amandla

We are speaking about Valencian and Catalan. Valencian is a dialect from Catalan language not from Spanish.


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