Spanish is a romance language originating from Latin, with major influences from Arabic and the indigenous languages of the Americas. As is the case with any widely spoken language, Spanish exhibits regional variations in pronunciation, vocabulary, pronoun usage, tense preference and other aspects; however, all dialects of the language are mutually intelligible.

Spanish is spoken by over 350 million people worldwide, and by some 30 million in the United States. It is the official language of twenty nations. The largest Spanish-speaking groups in the United States today are peoples of Mexican, Cuban, Puerto Rican and Dominican heritage. At all levels of public and private education, Spanish is the most widely taught second language in the United States. The Spanish that is taught in U.S. schools is standard Latin American Spanish.

Some common Spanish dialects spoken in Costa Rica or California and Arizona differ, from the "Spanglish," spoken in New Mexico and Puerto Rico, and from the "Tex-Mex" spoken in Texas. Even within Mexico, the Spanish spoken in the interior is different from that spoken near the border.

There is no possibility of counting dialects or accents of Spanish, since there are no sharp boundaries among varieties: one local variety just shades gradually into another. While each country retains its own accents and has some unique vocabulary, residents of countries such as Mexico, Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia generally speak standard Latin American Spanish.

Since most dialects, such as Spanglish and Tex-Mex, are spoken slang, not official languages, we do not translate into them. Rather, since Spanish is such a diverse yet mutually intelligible language, we use the Standard Latin American Spanish that is written to be understood by all North and Central American Spanish speakers.

However, the precise reason that we use a standard language creates another unique circumstance. Even though it is meant to be understood by all, since many speakers are raised speaking dialects, their level of understanding of more advanced Spanish may be limited. This needs to be kept in mind when looking at the material to be translated. You may wish to alter more advanced terminology to simpler terms depending on the target market. The goal after all is to faithfully communicate the intended message in a way that can be easily understood.

Why Do We Use European Spanish and Catalan?