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Spanish dialects and varieties
A dialect is defined in linguistic terms as a language variety which is spoken in a specific territory. In the Spanish peninsula, for example, there are different dialects of Spanish. One should not, however, mix up the different dialects in Spain with the different languages spoken in the Peninsula: Spanish, Catalan, Basque and Galician. There are important variations in dialect among the various regions of Spain and Spanish-speaking America. In Spain the North Castilian dialect pronunciation is commonly taken as the national standard.
The Spanish language comes from the Castile region of Spain, which is why in some countries you hear it referred to as "castellano". The Castilian language became the official language during the reign of King Alfonso X in the 1200s, where traditional Spanish became mandatory for all government documents. As the conquest of the New World occurred from the late 1400s up until the 1800s, ships departed from Southern Spain, and passed through the Canary Islands. Consequently many of the deckhands spoke with Andalusian style dialects, and carried this style of speech into their new communities in places like Santo Domingo, Cuba, and elsewhere. Latin American Spanish also evolved in completely new directions, unique to each country or region. The varieties spoken by Spanish settlers from Spain, contact with other languages and linguistic drift, spontaneous changes which occur in all languages across time, are 3 main factors in the development of Spanish in the New World.
The differences between dialects are usually limited to intonation, pronunciation and isolated words and expressions. One of the main differences between the dialects of Spain and those of Latin America is the use of pronouns. In Spain, the informal pronoun that has remained for the second person singular is "tú". However, some Latin American countries, (Argentina, Uruguay or Paraguay, for example) use "vos". Tú and vos are informal and used with friends. Usted is universally regarded as the formal form, and is used as a mark of respect, as when addressing one's elders.
Vos is used extensively as the primary form of the second-person singular in various countries around Latin America (Argentina, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Paraguay and Uruguay) but can also be present in other countries as a limited regionalism. Its use, depending on country and region, can be considered the accepted standard or reproached as sub-standard and considered as speech of the ignorant and uneducated. The interpersonal situations in which the employment of vos is acceptable may also differ considerably between regions.
Spanish dialects also differ regarding second-person plural pronouns. The Spanish dialects of Latin America have only one form of the second-person plural; ustedes (formal/familiar). Meanwhile, Castilian Spanish of Spain has two; ustedes (formal) and vosotros (familiar/informal).
What we need to remember is that everyone speaks a dialect, and therefore dialects are NOT incorrect or less valid versions of a language. If you study Spanish in Buenos Aires and interact with locals, you will learn the particularities of that area.