What specific information do you need in order to perform communicative acts across different varieties of Spanish?

Put simply, language varieties refer to different variations of the same common language. There are many language varieties in all languages. For example, in English, you can consider the English spoken in New York a different variety than the English spoken in Georgia. Varieties can also be categorized by gender, economic class, and race.

As you move through these modules and deal with pragmatic features of the Spanish language. There are a few things that you should remember:

• While tendencies exist among general groups, there is no one set of "pragmatic rules for Spanish."

• Variety in the Spanish-speaking world is vast, and often moves beyond geographical divisions. It is not enough to say: "In Spanish you do this..." or "In Latin America you do this and in Spain this..."

• Pragmatic tendencies can also be categorized by social class, gender, region, profession, and individual differences.

It sounds impossible—right?!

While it is complicated, there are some tendencies that you can learn to help guide your pragmatic awareness. In each module we will address elements that will be helpful for you in most varieties of Spanish. We will also teach you about some of the differences that exist among varieties for each communicative act.

We should note that geographical division is probably not the best way to divide Spanish varieties of language. However, most of the available information supports this type of division, so we will maintain the integrity of the information. Complete the activities that follow to see different variety distinctions.