What are the differences between Spanish (Latin America) and Spanish (Spain)?

It's the same language, with different dialects, like the difference between American and British English. Both are good choices for most situations. But if you plan on spending time in Spain and the European Spanish-speaking areas, Spanish (Spain) should be your choice. For the Americas, including the United States, Spanish (Latin America) is more practical. Want more details?

The differences in the products range from subtle to more noticeable. Rosetta Stone's Spanish (Latin America) product is based on the way Spanish is spoken across many countries in North, South, and Central America and the Caribbean, while our Spanish (Spain) product is based on how Spanish is spoken in Spain and its nearby territories, such as the Canary Islands. While most forms of Spanish retain an essential core understood by most speakers of the language, the two forms we teach contain notable differences in pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary. Rosetta Stone's Spanish (Latin America) product teaches an accent from northern South America and southern Central America, while the Spanish (Spain) product teaches Castilian Spanish with an accent from north-central Spain, including Madrid.

Grammar differences also exist--for example, Spanish (Spain) has some additional verb inflections, and verb tenses may be used differently in Spain than in Latin America. Similar to the way British English and American English vocabulary have evolved separately over the last several hundred years, Spanish vocabulary has diverged from one side of the Atlantic to the other. This is especially true in areas such as technology. A simple example would be the word for car, which is coche in Spain and mostly carro in Latin America. Even within Latin America, there are regional differences in vocabulary, so for our Spanish (Latin America) product, we chose standard words that are understood throughout Latin America.