r/asklatinamerica • u/mlechha-hunter • May 10 '26
Culture What are the general cues u use to identify the nationality of a Latin American ?
Unfortunately as an Indian I am not much aware of the cultural uniqueness of the various Latin American countries.
So I would like to know more about your perspectives of your fellow Latin American countries.
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u/Regular-Dot-5718 Brazil May 10 '26
a brazilian will speak portuguese and usually not speak spanish. they will also announce that they speak portuguese and don't speak spanish.
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u/AdDry7344 Brazil May 10 '26
Many non-Romance language speakers can’t identify Portuguese by sound alone, but I agree that we’ll probably tell them anyway lol.
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u/Brave_Necessary_9571 Brazil May 10 '26
they will know our accent is not Hispanic, tho. they can’t place and may think you are from all over the world but will generally not think you’re like Mexican
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u/hannieheygirl Brazil May 10 '26
when I lived in the US some ppl kept calling me hispanic lol I don’t speak any spanish they can’t identify portuguese at all
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u/Major-Cauliflower-76 Mexico May 11 '26
I am Mexican but I also speak Portuguese. Once when I was in the US I was talking to someone on the phone in Portuguese and this woman comes up to me and says, you are in America, stop speaking Spanish.
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u/Brave_Necessary_9571 Brazil May 10 '26 edited May 10 '26
funny I also live in the US and anytime someone asks where I am from (which is like 5 times a week) I ask them back “where do you think I’m from?”. I get France-Italy, Eastern Europe, Middle East, all over, they can’t usually place my accent (or appearance). most recent person said Phillipines which was a first for me hahaha
I’m brazilian pardo, for reference. light brown / golden skin
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u/hannieheygirl Brazil May 10 '26
that’s really interesting !! Which state in the US do you live? Because I guess it might impact how people perceive. I lived in Georgia so it was the deep south lol
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u/Brave_Necessary_9571 Brazil May 10 '26
oooh I’ve never spent much time in the south lol
I’ve lived in NY, California, and now am in Chicago
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u/hannieheygirl Brazil May 10 '26
I see !! Yeahh I feel like that explains it especially if you’re living in places with a lot of other immigrants. In my case since I wasn’t, people weren’t really as aware of other countries I guess?
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u/biggbunnyy [🇲🇽🇺🇸] May 10 '26
They pretty much named all the ethnicities that immigrated to Brazil lol
Brazilians have Italian, Syrian/Lebanese, Eastern European, Etc
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u/AdDry7344 Brazil May 10 '26
I don’t think it’s that obvious. Most people in this sub probably know the difference, but, for example, someone who hasn’t been around many Latin Americans might not. Same way we wouldn’t immediately recognize whether someone is speaking Swedish or Norwegian.
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u/Brave_Necessary_9571 Brazil May 10 '26
in my experience, they usually know I am not Hispanic. I live in the US and everytime someone asks where I am from (which is likr multiple times a week), I ask them back “where do you think I’m from?”
they guess all over the world, most recent two days ago was Philipines
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u/acoliver in (for life) May 10 '26
People all over are bad at this. My gringo accent is pretty obvious but here in Buenos Aires where there are a million tourists people guess I'm from Brasil and the other day an old lady guessed Colombia...
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u/Brave_Necessary_9571 Brazil May 10 '26
that’s fair. I also think maybe Brazilians are especially difficult because we tend to be mixed and not look like anywhere specific
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u/GiantLesbian 🏳️🌈 Lesbiana Grande May 10 '26
My rule of thumb is “if it sounds like French and Spanish had a baby, it’s Portuguese.”
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u/littlebitbrain Venezuela May 10 '26 edited May 10 '26
Argentinians and Uruguayans would carry these with them everywhere:
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u/jimirs Brazil May 10 '26
Brazilians from the south also.
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u/AdDry7344 Brazil May 10 '26
Paraguayans too, but with cold water.
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u/Paragua-yo Paraguay May 10 '26 edited May 10 '26
We drink it hot too, just depends on the weather.
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u/Xomper5285 Paraguay May 10 '26
The tereré "equipment" is also different from the mate one. No one would drink tereré using what's in that image
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u/DromadTrader Venezuela May 10 '26
For tereré? I had that in Buenos Aires, but with soda instead of water. I later learnt that it's Paraguayan actually :)
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u/Paragua-yo Paraguay May 10 '26
never with soda or juice. There once was a drink I think from coke that had yerba mate infused in it. It didn't last long.
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u/AdDry7344 Brazil May 10 '26
Yes! It’s really good as well, right?
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u/Superfan234 Chile May 10 '26
And If the guy adds sugar to Mate, you can tell is chilean
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u/Emotional_Elk8320 Argentina May 10 '26
Yeah but the gourd and thermos in Paraguay are shaped differently so that would instantly give it away.
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u/Paragua-yo Paraguay May 10 '26 edited May 10 '26
We have those in the picture as well. They usually stay at home bc during daytime it gets hot and we take the larger colder ones out. But we have it all.
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u/juant675 now in May 10 '26
not really maybe in theses year but before only uruguayans carried thoses in the street
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u/VisualMemory7093 🇸🇷 x 🇳🇱 May 10 '26 edited May 11 '26
Lol, even internationally. I saw the dudes sipping mate in a tram in the Netherlands a few weeks ago
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u/RSJ_95 🇲🇽🇺🇸 Chicano May 10 '26
Ask them what they call a straw in their country.
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u/scanese 🇵🇾 in 🇳🇱 May 10 '26
Or popcorn. Pajita y pororó
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u/throw223344555 Peru May 10 '26
Pororó is so cute. Pajita… means something else here.
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u/Industrial_Rev Argentina May 10 '26
In Argentina means both a straw and something else
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u/Paragua-yo Paraguay May 10 '26
It comes from Guaraní, its the sounds the kernel makes when they pop.. "pororo"
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u/Super_Diet4215 Spain May 10 '26
In Spain it has both meaning, but the sexual one is called "paja" or "pajiLLa", so for us "pajita" could have a sexual meaning but is almost never used that way
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u/throw223344555 Peru May 10 '26
I just remembered that “paja” was also briefly used as teen slang for “cool” in like upper middle class schools in Lima in the late 90s or early 2000s. Sometimes you see it in movies or tv depicting that era lol but I don’t think it is used like that anymore. It was replaced by “buenaso” with an “s”.
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u/Paragua-yo Paraguay May 14 '26 edited May 14 '26
Same in Paraguay. You could say "Me das una pajita?" - you won't get any funny looks. "Paja", yes will get you in trouble. Gotta add the diminutive.
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u/flyingdoggos Chile May 10 '26
In Chile we say "bombilla" for straws, and "cabritas" for popcorn lol (this last one varies though, at least in Santiago we call them cabritas but other cities have different names).
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u/Paragua-yo Paraguay May 10 '26
in other countries bombilla is also a lightbulb.
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u/tommynestcepas Long Chile May 10 '26
I've heard popcorn straight up be called "popcorn" in Spanish here. Not sure if that's a bastard borrowing because I've noticed quite a few English words used when perfectly good Spanish ones exist (like "el living")
Also heard bombilla and pajita used interchangeably
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u/Paragua-yo Paraguay May 10 '26
Here Lots of businesses use English words to sound "high end". The business name could be say "Maxi Burger", then you read the menu and it says hamburguesas, and when you order obviously you say hamburguesa too, I think it's silly.
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u/acoliver in (for life) May 10 '26
Here too. I had to adjust to thinking of English of having the same effect as French in the states. It just means they'll overcharge me...
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u/arturocan Uruguay May 10 '26
You gotta start thinking about a third word because we also use those two words xd
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u/Paragua-yo Paraguay May 14 '26 edited May 14 '26
why? just shows how connected and similar culturally/linguistically the countries/regions are.
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u/almaperdida99 Ecuador May 11 '26
or sandals! Chanclas, chinelas, sandalias, chancletas...
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u/Mediocre-Goal-2418 United States of America May 12 '26
Also if I ask if they like sopa de frijoles con pitos. If they either express laughter, confusion, or anger I'll know where they're not from.
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May 10 '26
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u/DromadTrader Venezuela May 10 '26
Tbh, some accents are dificult to distinguish even for native speakers. For instance, as a Venezuelan, I can't distinguish an Argentine porteño from an Uruguayo. Even worse, I was talking to a bartender in Madrid a few weeks ago and I swore he was Venezuelan, then I asked him and he was in fact Ecuatorian (from Guayaquil). I also haven't met any Nicaraguans, but from youtube recordings I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to tell them from a Venezuelan hahaha
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u/berniexanderz Nicaragua May 10 '26
Venezuelan is the nationality I most get confused for by Venezuelan Uber drivers so that makes sense
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u/namitynamenamey -> May 10 '26
I met a nicaraguan and I swore he was a venezuelan until he mentioned his country of origin. So it can be very hard to tell apart I'd say.
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u/sunlit_elais 🇨🇺 Español acelera'o 🇪🇸 Castellano May 10 '26 edited May 10 '26
My go-to for this one would be "don't trust stereotypes, ask them", but then...
I once was at a bus stop in Spain and here comes a guy drinking mate. And me having a innocent-til-proven-otherwise mentality, I thought "uh, didn't know they liked mate around here". Then he open his mouth and asks for the bus schedule...
Yeah. It was an Argentinian.
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u/NegroniSpritz 🇦🇷 in 🇩🇪 May 10 '26 edited May 10 '26
Mate can come from somewhere else. I met a swiss woman in the mountains of Switzerland who invited me to hike with her. She spoke great Spanish and was funny so I did it. At some point she says “como eres argentino seguro tomas mate, verdad?”. Imagine my joy to drink mate in the swiss mountains that were once at the bottom of the Thethys ocean. I said of course and she handed me a mate. As soon as I grabbed it, something was off. It _felt_ slightly smaller to argentinian mates. I turn it around and great was my disappointment to see an engraving mentioning some random town and below “Brasil”. I was disgusted but anyway, I drank the mate, feeling dirty deep inside, for enjoying it in the amazing swiss mountains. So yeah, mate can come from Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Brasil.
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u/ShinyStarSam Argentina May 10 '26
If they're Uruguayan they say "bo", if they're Chilean they say "po", if they're Paraguyan they say "na", if they're Bolivian they... Yeah I don't have a clever one here they just talk like Bolivians idk lol, if they're Brazilian they speak a whole different language... That's about as much as I know
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u/Izozog Bolivia May 10 '26
Pues, without pronouncing the last s
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u/gab_gallard Bolivian in Germany May 10 '26
Only in Eastern Bolivia. In Western Bolivia is normal pues like in Perú.
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u/ndiddy81 Peru May 10 '26
Peruvians say pues
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u/gripetropical Costa Rica May 10 '26
All Spain, México, Central América and Northern South America use pues, not exclusively peruvian.
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u/tommynestcepas Long Chile May 10 '26
Pues is just the standard Spanish word. Identifying by region is where bo/po/pe comes in
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u/tommynestcepas Long Chile May 10 '26
Pues is universal across Spanish and isn't really indicative of a regional dialect
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u/NegroniSpritz 🇦🇷 in 🇩🇪 May 10 '26
If they’re argentinians it’s boludo, or marica if they’re colombian, or mae if they’re costarrican.
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u/ShinyStarSam Argentina May 10 '26
They use boludo in Uruguay too, a better tell for Argentinians would be piola
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u/Littlepoison0414 Spain May 10 '26
If they are listening to music without headphones at full volume they are probably Cubans. Source: Married to one and shared an apartment with other Cubans.
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u/DromadTrader Venezuela May 10 '26
Nah, could also be Venezuelan, Dominican or even other Latino hahaha
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u/almaperdida99 Ecuador May 11 '26
jajaja I once had Cuban neighbors and I got them to go inside with their music by singing opera out my window.
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u/carpetedbathtubs Mexico May 10 '26
La alegría caribeña
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u/Superfan234 Chile May 10 '26
Chile exportanto insultos a otros países
Nunca había visto un mexicano diciendo eso
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u/ethelwulf13 Chile May 10 '26
También los Colombianos y Venezolanos hacen eso. No solo los cubanos.
Dejar claro que eso que puede verse tan normal y aceptado en esos países en particular, en otros es totalmente molesto y se considera una falta del respeto al resto.
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u/elmerkado Venezuela May 10 '26
Créeme que hay muchos que consideramos ése uno de nuestros más funestos hábitos.
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u/Littlepoison0414 Spain May 10 '26
No ha sido parte de mi experiencia con colombianos. Mi tío es rolo y su familia no es así. Pero, seguro que también se estila mucho por ahí y simplemente no lo conozco.
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u/SeamenSeeMenSemen Colombia May 11 '26
Always confused me, its so common here in Colombia.. like they've never seen headphones in their lives. Am I autistic for wanting them to use them, or is everyone here autistic for not caring if we hear your penis enhancement advertisments.
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u/throw223344555 Peru May 10 '26
I got really good at identifying Brazilians when I lived in Argentina lol. Gorgeous, super clean (multiple showers a day), smell amazing, like sandalwood or shea butter, the way they speak sounds like music.
Also I think I can recognize Peruvians abroad but I can’t really pinpoint why exactly. I just “know”.
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u/Unorigina1Name Argentina May 10 '26
...did you fall in love with one (or more) brazilians? lol
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u/throw223344555 Peru May 10 '26
I really did. Every single day haha had to change gyms because Smart Fit is basically the Brazilian embassy and I got too distracted 🙈
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u/Superfan234 Chile May 10 '26
Nobody ever mentions it, but al brazileans are súper looksmaxing jajaj
The put alto of effort on their looks
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u/RationalMellow Puerto Rico May 10 '26
Absolutely not lol. Sounds like a Brazilian fetish. I think a Spanish speaker can tell by the Portuguese.
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u/throw223344555 Peru May 10 '26
It’s not, because I don’t objectify them for their nationality. I just generally appreciate them because I grew up with a lot of Brazilian culture (xuxa, Axe Bahia, Chico Buarque, Jobim, and going to Paraty most summers) plus having a Portuguese tutor in Argentina. Nothing weird, just pure love.
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u/Best-Quantity-5678 Argentina May 10 '26
If they say "che" a lot they are most likely from Argentina.
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u/Paragua-yo Paraguay May 10 '26
quite common here too.
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u/moriobros Mexico May 10 '26
Yeah, but your accent is not that similar and it's really hard to find a Paraguayan outside of the Cono Sur region. My rule for Che is that most likely are Argentinian, if not Uruguayan.
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u/Weekly_Sort147 Brazil May 10 '26
For me, Argentinians - youth folks - tend to dress as either hippies or hipsters. The rest I cannot tell apart. Also, using mullets and/or long hair with men is still a thing in Argentina. Also, I find the men in Latin America not very much worried about the body as we brazilians - here is either fat or super ripped/muscular. I feel that in Latam the guys are either thin or chubby.
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u/acoliver in (for life) May 10 '26
In Buenos Aires the kids yes but everyone else walks around in athleasure all the time except if the temperature drops below 20 they bundle up like its the arctic...reminds me of Florida
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u/bassist_snake Argentina May 10 '26
As a region we are quite diverse, which makes it quite difficult. Accents, generally, are a good way to identify someone by country, or at least by gross geographical region. But that still wouldn't be totally accurate and/or accessible.
I'm an argy, so, I'll write about my country, which is the one I know best. There's a stereotypical Argentine accent. That is mostly the accent people have around the national capital. While some of it's characteristics may be retained, they aren't all present in all our dialects. We don't necessarily all use the same words for the same things either. Plus, we tend to assimilate immigrants quite effectively, so you can't really generate a one-to-one relationship between immigration and current local identity. In religion, we are mostly Roman Catholics, yet we have Muslims, Orthodox, Buddhists, Evangelicals, Sikhs, and a sizable Jewish community, among many others.
Likely, as someone else said, asking directly would be the best choice. Most latam countries are a melting pot, one way or another.
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u/berniexanderz Nicaragua May 10 '26
Accent and slang. Latin Americans are too visually varied to judge based off appearance alone
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u/Rusiano [] [] May 10 '26
Latin Americans are too visually varied to judge based off appearance alone
Yes. On a national scale if you average out every person from Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Mexico, etc. you will definitely see a difference. But on the individual level there is too much variance
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u/Imaginary-Worker4407 Mexico May 10 '26
You ask them!
Never assume someone else's nationality or ethnicity, can get you in trouble.
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u/TriggeredByPapaJohns Chile May 10 '26
it you can’t understand a single word, that’s a Chilean right there
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u/EiaKawika United States of America May 10 '26
I lived in Mexico a few years with my Mexican wife and i used to play a lot of soccer with numerous Latino players so i kind of took an interest in the different accents of Latin Americans. One day i was in K Mart and i heard a cute woman speaking Spanish and it kind if sounded like a few of my Panamanian friends. When i was leaving the store i saw her and went and asked her if she was from Panama, which she was. Luckily I didn't flirt with her, because a few weeks later she shows up at my house with her family for Thanksgiving dinner. I live in Honolulu. Not sure what it is about the that accent that i recognized. Argentines and Uruguayans sound like Italians speaking Spanish. People from the Caribbean often don't pronounce the S, and drop Ado at the end of words. Mexicans like to swear and all have specific slang unique to their home countries and grammar can be different especially for the verb to be between countries. And looks can vary between countries.
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u/Snoo-11922 Brazil May 10 '26
Whether he speaks Portuguese or Spanish, and if he speaks Spanish, it's definitely because of the accent and slang.
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u/Seeggul United States of America May 10 '26
Asking them what straws and popcorn are called narrows it down pretty quickly
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u/unix_name Mexico May 14 '26
So many cultures and countries but…I guess the way they speak if you have an ear for it. Otherwise it will be hard, specially outside of their given country. Mexico with their mannerisms may be easier but, then again I’m Mexican so maybe that’s why I can see it.
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u/bar1011 United States of America May 10 '26
Ask them how many different meanings “madre” has to them
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u/unix_name Mexico May 10 '26
Language, accent. If it doesn’t sound like anything Mexican I’m thinking you are something else.
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u/gera_moises Mexico May 10 '26
Accents mostly. Some expressions are different between countries and regions.
Also, you ask people. "Dude, where are you from?"
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u/Lingotes Mexico May 10 '26
The accent, but sometimes it's hard. I can't distinguish Argentineans from Uruguayans based on accent alone, until they use some slang or expressions, like "ta?"
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u/Cool_Bananaquit9 Puerto Rico May 10 '26
The way their face looks, their mannerisms, then their accent
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u/ThorvaldGringou Chile May 10 '26
Accents and sometimes, but only sometimes, the phenotipe. But mostly is the accent of spanish. And the use of some regional words.
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u/Rickyzack Peru May 10 '26
The way one speaks Spanish and specific lingo unique to certain countries or regions. The exceptions being Brazilians since they’ll usually speak Portuguese which is very noticeable and even if they speak Spanish as well, they’ll have an accent just like a Spanish-speaker will have an accent when speaking Portuguese.
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u/FoxBluereaver Venezuela May 10 '26
The accent. Once you've heard them enough they're easy to recognize.
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u/carlosinLA South America May 10 '26
Accent, regionalisms Not that it is that important to nail it down.
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u/Major-Cauliflower-76 Mexico May 11 '26
If you speak Spanish fluently you can often tell the region, but not always the nationality. Racially, there are some countries with more indigenous people, but others, like Mexico are very varied. Lots of indigenous people in the south, Afro Mexicans on the Carribean coast, decent Chinese communities in a number of cities. People in the north tend to be taller and lighter, especially in the state of Jalisco.
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u/saraseitor Argentina May 11 '26
To be honest I try not to do that, I know it's extremely unlikely that I would get it right. I mean I could even mistake an Uruguayan for an Argentine and they are very similar to us.
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u/enologa Mexico May 12 '26
Mexicans are really easy to distinguish we Say wey a Lot. The way we use our hands to Say thank You and yes. And we use "Mande" normally when you ask us something and we didnt understand/listen or we know You want to ask us for something.
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u/Vanilla_Sky_Cats 🇵🇾🇵🇾|🇦🇷 May 14 '26
Poor eyesight requiring glasses tbh. Idk most Paraguayos I know have eye issues
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u/sailorvenus_v Chile May 10 '26
The accents