The Official Language

In spite of the number of languages that are spoken in the whole nation, the official language is Spanish -- of course, with our own accent, which is better known as "mexican spanish" (this got to sound a bit strange for you, but it's said like that, nothing to do).

-

Mexican Spanish is identified because the letters 'c' and 'z' are pronounced like an 's' (in "start", "so", "sorry", etc.), and not with a 'th' sound.

Furthermore, we don't make a distintion between 'v' and 'b', i.e. the sound 'v' doesn't exist for us. The 'v', we pronounce it like 'b'.

The letter 'j' is also different to the one in Spain: we don't overpronounce it. And the 'y' is not the same than the one in Argentina, because it's a more similar sound to the letter 'i', although a bit stronger... mmmmm, it's not easy to explain.

-

The speed we talk in a formal speech is generally slow. You can see that it's much easier to understand a Mexican than a Spanish when speaking. We actually worry about saying every little word in a clear and a strong way.

-

The advantage of this language (no matter the country) is writing. All hispanics like to pronounce exactly what they read. We hate saying sounds that are not written down, or writing things that we don't say. We don't supress or add letters (there are some exceptions, of course, as every language; but the most important is that they're few and easy to understand)... this is good news for those who are learning Spanish.

Which are these exceptions??

* The 'h' is mute, just like the French one. However, when we put it together with an 'u', the latter gets a harder sound and it's pronounced like a 'w' (in English). For instance: "huevo" sounds more like "webo" or "güebo".

* The 'g' is pronounced like a 'j' (in Spanish), when it's followed by the letters 'e' and 'i'.

* The 'u' is not pronounced in the words with the following syllables: "gue, gui, que, qui" [ge, gi, ke, ki].

We shouldn't go on if we don't want to get confused. Those are the only important exceptions.

-

Oh, by the way, I was forgetting something: For Mexicans, the letter 'x' is a problem most of times. It's the only one whose sound we don't recognize immediately. Very often, it gets a sound of 'ks', but it also sounds like an 's' (Xochimilco), 'sh' (like Xola) and 'J' (México)!!... believe me: that's a bloody nightmare.