by Frank Shetland

Created on: February 10, 2007   Last Updated: May 02, 2007

When my 3rd grade Spanish teacher first told me about Buenos Aires, Argentina, I fell in love with the city and knew that I would learn Spanish so that I could one day go there.
Unfortunately, when my high school Spanish teacher was a bit less dedicated to keeping our interest, I slacked off on my work to achieve that dream. I continued, however, to choose Spanish when choosing a language of study became necessary, and was able to build about half the foundation I needed to be able to speak to the Argentine I met in late 2004.

When this Argentine became my husband in 2005, the real work began. However, even at that point I could not imagine the number of cultural differences we would encounter; I may be even more surprised at the number of differences about which other Americans, who have not personally known Hispanics, are ignorant.

First of all, Hispanics are not all Mexicans. This may sound obvious, but the reality is that many people I know believe that all Hispanics share a common culture. This is so incredibly far from the truth; in fact, I have lived in London for a time and see many more similarities between our culture and that in the UK, than among different Spanish-speaking countries of Latin America. It is true that they share many cultural elements, but each country has its own very colorful history, of which its citizens are generally proud. Yes, this means that the rest of Latin America does not celebrate cinco de Mayo.
The accents are also very different between countries. For example, in Argentina, the "ll" sound sounds sort of like "sch" in English, whereas in most of the rest of Latin America the "ll" sounds like the English "y". Along with this, different countries have their own slang words. Many times, a Latin American from one country will not understand a slang word used by another.

Secondly, Latins have strong support systems that start with family. Family is the center of everyday life. Parents and children speak frequently. Parents take a strong interest in their children's activities and lives, and children frequently share what is happening in their lives with their parents. Furthermore, extended family usually lives close-by or gets together very often to share meals, talk, and sometimes dance. Friends or families that are close to the family will often join. Because of the amount of quality time spent together, strong bonds are formed. If one in a family is in need, someone in this extended network can help or knows someone who can.
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