Which Spanish Accent is the Easiest to Learn

When moving to a Spanish-speaking country to learn Spanish, there are many factors to consider:

• how easy the local accent is to understand,
• how many people will respond to bad Spanish in English,
• the amount of slang used (that is, how far it strays from textbook Spanish), and
• how receptive the people are to helping foreigners learn.

Subjectively, the hardest countries to learn Spanish in are Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay. They speak very fast, use enormous amounts of slang, alternate verb conjugations ("estai" in Chile and "vos" in Argentina and Uruguay), and many people prefer to use you to improve their English, as opposed to helping you learn Spanish.

Slightly easier are Mexico and Spain. They speak more "textbook" Spanish, but they can still be very difficult to understand, as they have a lot of slang and speak quickly. Many people speak English.

Finally, the easiest are undoubtedly the Andean countries of South America such as Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, where they speak slowly, are tremendously patient, and fewer people know any English.