Understand better the difference in dialects of different parts of Spain

For those people who want to learn Spanish, the dialectic changes in the different parts of Spain sometimes can be surprising.

Obviously, Catalan shows a big challenge for hispanics, since it's a language that completely changes from the Castilian. It is however less known than Castilian, which changes aswell, according to the region in Spain.

It can have extra words or different tenses. The sentences and expressions that you learnt at school in the 'most knows version', the Castilian from Madrid can mean completely different things in another region in Spain like in the Canary Islands or in Catalan.

Having travelled in South America, they realise that the Spanish spoken in the Canary Islandsis close to the Spanish spoken in Latin America, since the majority of hte colonies going to America came from the Canary Islands.

Vocabulary
In the Canary Islands the residents replace 'vosotros' with 'ustedes' in almost every situation (except at La Gomera and La Palma for an unknown reason, or the opposite is true!). Or have more specific words in the Canary Islands for example:
Quaqua: because
Fos: when you think that something terrible is about to happen.
Rasca: drunkness/euphoria
Mago: poor people (quite mean)
Manejar: to drive (a car)
Chachi: good
Machango:joker
Fisco or fisquito: a small quantity or a little
The residents of the Canary Islands also use some anglicised words that you can't find in the rest of Spain like 'knife' for 'knife' (which is pronunced like 'naife') and 'quinegua' for potatoes which is a shorter version of 'King Edward' (a type of potatoes).

Go to the Canary Islands
In order to understand the number of differences between the Spanish spoken in the Canary Islands and the Castilian, one has to appreciate and understand the small details of these islands different from the rest of Spain for it's past, it's history, it's geographic position and it's landscapes. The two main islands (Gran Canaria and Tenerife) are still the most touristic, with a big number of Germans and English. The main season is between December and January with quite elderly tourists wishing to escape the northen Europe's winter, and from May to October for some younger tourists looking for holidays at the edge of beaches at low cost during summer. We suggest you to pay a visit to the Canarians in the high season period so to avoid the big holidays and to favour the periods between the end of September until November or better during the holidays at the start of Spring, so you won't be taken for a crazy tourist and you will understand better the culture of the Canary Islands and of Spain in general. As far as the hotels are concerned this site of booking reference for the best places to stay in one of the cities in Spain.

The Canary Islands give you a very different offer, but it's mainly known for the surfing, windsurfing and scuba diving. For more informations, look up at the Gran Canaria's tourist information office's website.

Pronunciation
The pronunciation of the Canary Islands's residents is different and their accent changes. In the 'Spanish' metropolis it is usually pronunced with an accent on the 'z' or the 'c' with a 'th' sound, this in the Canary Island becomes the sound 's'. For example 'cenar' (having dinner) is usually pronounced 'thénar' in Spain, but becomes 'sénar' in the Canary Islands.

Grammar
The Castilians use the word 'de' to show the feeling of belonging like in 'Casa de Maria' so the people from the Canary Islands do not pronounce it, you will read the same sentence as 'Casa Maria'. Another unique 'canarism' it's that they use the simple past more frequently rather than the imperfect when they talk about past events.

Flights
There are lots of flying companies to travel to the Canary Islands, and here there are some of the best ones at low cost and with uncomparable prices: Air France, Iberia and Easy Jet are the best companies to travel with to Tenerife, Lazarote, Fuerteventura or the Gran Canaria.
the majority of flights need you to change at Madrid or Barcelona and it will last 6 or 7 hours with the stop.

Do you know the Spanish spoken in the Canary Islands? Do you have something to add? Let us know!