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AMBAR ESPINOZA: On a Sunday afternoon at Saint Odilia Catholic Church in Shoreview, a group of Latin Americans chat with me after mass. They've come to the United States from six different countries. Each person here speaks Spanish, but immediately the differences are evident. A man from Mexico named Jorge Rodriguez says those differences are actually quite comical.

JORGE RODRIGUEZ: [SPEAKING SPANISH]

INTERPRETER: It's really entertaining. It's unbelievable that even among ourselves we need translators.

JORGE RODRIGUEZ: [SPEAKING SPANISH]

AMBAR ESPINOZA: They need translators because Spanish isn't just Spanish. It's different from one country to another. Words have different meanings. Accents and variations in grammar make Spanish speakers listen carefully to each other. Sometimes people will even give each other disclaimers, hey, I'm from Puerto Rico, just to give other Latinos a heads up. Diego Reyes and his wife are from Colombia. When he studied in Mexico for a few years, his wife needed him to translate.

DIEGO REYES: [SPEAKING SPANISH]

INTERPRETER: The phrase en bola in Mexico means, as a group. But in Colombia, the phrase en bola means to be naked. So people would say, let's go to the stadium en bola. I'd have to tell her, no. That means we're going to the stadium as a group, not naked. It's small things like that change the context of the conversation.

DIEGO REYES: [SPEAKING SPANISH]

AMBAR ESPINOZA: There are differences in pronunciation too that can immediately give away where a Latino is from. For example, sometimes Puerto Ricans struggle to pronounce the letter R. Instead of rolling the R. It comes out as an L. Listen closely to how Noel colon pronounces my first name, Ambar.

NOEL COLON: [SPEAKING SPANISH] Ambar.

AMBAR ESPINOZA: People from Caribbean nations and Central America often don't enunciate the, S, when it comes at the end of a word or syllable. It's what Francine Acosta learned in her native country, Puerto Rico. Listen as she tries to pronounce the Spanish word, esto, and gets a little help.

FRANCINE ACOSTA: Esto.

SPEAKER 1: No, Esto no es.

FRANCINE ACOSTA: Esto [SPEAKING SPANISH]

AMBAR ESPINOZA: Spanish can even be different within a single country. For example, Indigenous people in Peru who speak their native language, Quechua, have a different accent when they speak Spanish. Their Spanish dialect is seen as less prestigious. Carol Klee is a social linguist and Professor at the University of Minnesota. Klee says Spanish from the Colombian capital, Bogota, is often seen as the most prestigious because it's the most traditional. But she says it's all relative.

CAROL KLEE: The way dialects are viewed in the prestige of different dialects depends on the prestige of the speakers of those dialects. It's very closely related to educational level, economic development and social class. It's oftentimes related to race and ethnicity.

AMBAR ESPINOZA: Does that mean one country Spanish, is better than another? Diego Reyes from Colombia says between friends, it doesn't matter what kind of Spanish you speak. Outside of that, it's a different story. He recalls his experience studying in Mexico.

DIEGO REYES: [SPEAKING SPANISH]

INTERPRETER: When you're in an academic environment or competitive environment, then you'll find that attitude. So in Mexico, I spoke differently. And people would say, well, it's because you speak Spanish poorly.

DIEGO REYES: [SPEAKING SPANISH]

AMBAR ESPINOZA: As Reyes talks, his wife, Aleksandra Ramirez, jumps in. She says comparing the quality of language dialects is universal.

ALEKSANDRA RAMIREZ: [SPEAKING SPANISH]

INTERPRETER: It's the same idea that British English is the real English. American English is not English. It's poorly pronounced, poorly spoken. It's the same thing.

AMBAR ESPINOZA: Latin Americans not only have to work around differences in pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary, they also have to deal with Spanglish. This Spanish-English blend is a phenomenon that often occurs in US border states and large bilingual communities. And Spanglish, much like Spanish itself, is different from location to location.

The Spanglish spoken in San Antonio differs from the way it's spoken in Miami or New York City. The hybrid language is a new challenge for Native Spanish speakers like Carlos Duque from Colombia. He says he finds it difficult to communicate with Latinos in the US.

CARLOS DUQUE: [SPEAKING SPANISH]

INTERPRETER: The majority of Spanish speakers in the US speak Spanish with a blend of English words. It's difficult to understand depending on their level of education or when they blend in regional jargon from their countries. So I end up asking, could you repeat yourself, please? Or excuse me, I speak Spanish, but I don't understand you.

CARLOS DUQUE: [SPEAKING SPANISH]

AMBAR ESPINOZA: Duque says he recognizes how much schooling a person has had as soon as they open their mouth. Within minutes, he can tell the quality of their Spanish skills. Speakers of Spanglish or Spanish with an American accent oftentimes feel stigmatized by those who speak a more traditional Spanish dialect. Speaking the language well is important to many Latinos because it's a big source of their identity. But Carol Klee says, although language can be closely tied to identity, it doesn't always have to be.

CAROL KLEE: The speakers of more stigmatized dialects within the Latino community will tend to shift more rapidly to English, again, rather than speaking a dialect that others look down on.

AMBAR ESPINOZA: Klee says, Puerto Ricans in New York, for example, have a strong Latino identity, even though some of them may not necessarily be fluent in Spanish. Every language has its dialects, but new Spanish speaking immigrants face both the challenge of learning English and Spanglish to connect with one another.

It's a never ending linguistic challenge. And although many feel like this hybrid dilutes Spanish, more Latinos are starting to accept Spanglish as a new form of communication and a new way to define themselves in the US. The Spanglish influence is so strong it's even trickling into Latin America. Ambar Espinoza, Minnesota Public Radio News.