In Thailand, Spanish is not a popular language and remain mysterious. A lot of students will be standing with dazed in front of a language institution, confusing whether to choose Spanish in Spain or Mexico. Some don’t even know what the differences are.
“I think that if I learned Spanish, it is Spanish. I didn’t know that there are Spanish for Spain and Mexican,” said Hannah Eileen James, one of the students in Journalism and Mass Communication answered.
Spanish is used as an official language in the most area of South America, and being studied by more than 1 million students on the nearby continents. “No one can speak English there, I need to speak in Spanish and use sign language,” said Nannapat Purod, a student who went to Mexico last summer. It is tough to communicate when you know nothing about Spanish.
Nannapat had taken Spanish course before, so she can use the skill to communicate. “At Mexico, it is easier to understand as they are speaking clearly and slowly,” she added.
It is different from Spanish in Spain, the natives there tend to speak a lot faster than the Mexicans. Patcharawalai Boonkhwang, a 4th-year student, studying Spain at Khon Kaen University, commented that “When I first talk to a Spanish people, they talked really fast I can’t translate it at first, but I enjoyed it.”
“My teacher speaks really fast. It is too fast and makes me think that he is speaking an alien language,” said Chulalak Phumchaung, another 4th-year student at the Khon Kaen University.
The uses of pronoun are also different. Udomlak Tisuk, a Spanish teacher, say that the word ‘vosotros’ and ‘vortroas’ which means ‘you’ aren’t used in Mexico. Some vocabularies are also different, such as “glasses” in Mexico are lentes but in Spain are gafas, and “potato” in Spain is patata and in Mexico is papa.
The pronunciation is very important. Even a slight change in the pronunciation could change the whole meaning. In Spain, the letter ‘J’ will be pronounced as ‘K’, while in Mexico it will be pronounced as ‘H’. “The word ‘Jamon’ in Spain will be pronounced as ‘Kamon’, and in Mexico will be pronounced as ‘Hamon’,” said Chulalak Phumchaung.
The differences are just like the difference between UK English and American English. Therefore, miscommunication of the sentence structure isn’t a big deal, but the vocabulary is. Chulalak gives an example of the word ‘concha’ which means shell in Spanish; however, she warned that it should not be said in Mexico since the meaning will changes from shell to a private part of a woman.
Miscommunication could cause problems for the tourists as well. “I said to them that my friend and I want the fastest and cheapest train, we got what we wanted, but there is only one seat left. Therefore, my friend has to sit on my lap for the whole journey, due to miscommunication,” said Nannapat.
Not only the language, but the culture between the two are also different.
“Southern Europe people tend to be more fun, and have more parties,” said Udomlak Tisuk. She also added that these cultures are influenced by the Arabs, which locates in south of Spain, Scandinavia-Viking, and Catalan, that locatesin the northeast of Spain.
Which is different from the Mexican, on the basis of their cultures has been influenced by the colonial era.“Stereotype of Mexicans would be more joyful and generous. There are also some traditions that are different from Spain, because of the colonial era,” commented Udomlak Tisuk.
From the experience of Nannapat Purod, she said that it is quite dangerous. “When we are on the MRT, no one plays on their phone since there are a lot of pickpockets,” she added. Her host also warns her not to hold camera or phonewhile walking outside. “However, the people around the food street were very nice,” said Nannapat.
“If you’re talking about Mexico, of course, it is about food, Mexicans are crazy about tomatoes,” said Chulalak. In Mexico, people usually use their hand to pick up food, and their food tends to be spicy. Tequila is popular in Mexico. While in Spain the food is less spicy, and they tend to drink more wine. Also, Mexican food is served for one person, while in Spain food are served for a group of people.
One of the interesting cultures of Spain is “siesta”, it is when people are taking a one-hour nap at noon. “My friend that went to take a course in Spain tell me that all the shops and restaurant are closed during the noontime,” said Chulalak. Also, when they kiss each other cheek as a greeting, which is the similarity of both Mexican and Spain culture.
Spanish is the fourth most commonly spoken language in the world, it is another important language to learn. “If you’re bored with Mandarin and English, try Spanish. It might take you to another fascinating part of the world,” said Patcharawalai Boonkhwang.
