The main difference is the pronunciation. "Z" (before a, o and u) and "C" (before e and i) sound like the English TH in "think" in European Spanish, whereas in American Spanish they sound like "S". For example: Lápiz (pencil) LápiTH (European Spanish) LápiS (American Spanish) Cerveza (beer) THerveTHa (European Spanish) SeverSa (American Spanish) Aside from that you will find that some words are used differently, but not different from what happens between American English and European English. Even in American, some countries will use certain words in different ways. For example the word "lola" in Chilean Spanish means "a young woman", but in Argentine Spanish the same word refers to a woman's breasts. Now, when we speak with people from other countries of America or people from Spain, we speak standard Spanish and we have no problems understanding each other. I hope this answers your question.

Hi Katie: First of all, I'm sorry for my English. I apologize for this. The main difference between the Spain and Latin American Spanish. Is that in Castilla and throughout the north of Spain, CE, CI, and Z before any vowel has a different sound than the S. The S, in this part of Spain, and much of the country, it maybe sounds very strong, for many Latin Americans. Another difference is the conjugation of verbs. But within Latin America are also differences. As for the differences between the Spanish of Spain and Latin American countries, apart from the phonetic differences, what I most notice is the "tune" or music of the talk. In this sense, it don't look anything at all the Spanish spoken in Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Dominican or Cuba. I couldn't distinguish between Uruguay and Argentina, but with a Mexican I could. Among Bolivians and Ecuadorians, although I have spoken with many of them, I still can't distinguish. Finally, the biggest differences I think there are between the Spanish spoken in different countries are the words of each country, that are a lot. But a Latin American person who lives in Spain, a month of being here, apart from his accent or "tune" of which I spoke before, He speaks the same Spanish than we do because he quickly adopts the most used words here. I sincerely hope this helps, Katie.

Hey Katie, I have friend from every region of Spain and almost every country in Latin America; and for every single one of those regions, obviously the general spanish that we all know it as "Spanish" is understandable and is also spoken. Though the difference is the variety in the slangs, proverbs, sayings, or rather the ACCENT and the way the people from that region speak. A lot of times the same words may have a different meaning in another country, but overall the people will understand your point or overall can get into a conversation in Spanish with you and understand you just fine. :)

I can teach you....

Soy de Peru (latinoamericano), la diferencia con el español de España, Argentina, Mexico, etc; es simplemente el acento. Cualquier tipo de español que puedas saber lo puedes utilizar en cualquier otro pais hablahispana sin problemas... Good luck :)