Where can I find a Spanish friend?

No, I’m an American. I’m going to assume you’re being satirical, and poking fun at the fact that I’m being particular about what kind of Spanish I’d like to learn. I plan on studying abroad or living in Spain in the future, so it would be the most helpful to speak with someone from Spain, as opposed to Mexico, or other Latin American countries. Also, it’d be even more helpful if the person was from Madrid, Barcelona, or Galicia, but that is not necessary.

What you’re after is exposure to Castilian Spanish.

link

Thank you. I’ve read this Wikipedia page in the past. I know what kind of Spanish I am interested in. I just am looking for a site (hopefully free) that can connect me with a Spanish person.

Have you tried Facebook?

If you want to learn Castilian Spanish, you won’t use it much here in the US. Latin American Spanish is what most people speak anywhere in the US. There a few minor differences between the two. The differences mostly relate to the pronunciation of the last letter in the latin alphabet, the “z” and the double “ll” as in “pollo”. In Latin America pollo is pronounced “poyo” but it is written “pollo”. In Spain, “pollo” is pronounced “polyo”. As far as the “z” in Latin America it is pronounced as an “s”, whereas in Spain it has the characteristically sound of a “z” zeta -that means you must put the tongue between your teeth when you say it. As in any country there are some words that each region use versus others for certain usage. Now people from each country in the world have their own lingo which is a mixture of their language mixed with another language as in “bank” or street curve which Mexicans use as in “banqueta” but the proper name for it is “curva”

@MatChup Very helpful post, but you didn’t read enough of his details. He is going to speak Spanish in Spain.

Have you looked at http://www.livemocha.com/?

@MatChup : Your answer has nothing to do with my question. I’m not asking what kind of Spanish is spoken in Spain. I’m not asking what kind of Spanish would be most useful to learn. I asked “where can I find a Spanish friend” to practice it with. I would very much appreciate a useful answer.
@FutureMemory : I’m not exactly sure where I’d look on Facebook. I don’t think it would be proper to just add random Spanish people as friends.
@BarnacleBill : I’ve gone there, but I wasn’t sure if they hooked English speakers up with Spanish speakers, 1 on 1 (I am aware that they have other speakers grade your homework). I’ll check it out, again, though, thanks.

Chill out, people!

My advice is to make a profile on www.couchsurfing.com. The members tend to be people interested in getting to know other travelers, even if the traveling is in the future, and I think if you searched for Spain you could find some cool people.

The website exists to hook people up with couches to crash on around the world, but you can also say if you’re willing to meet up with people for a drink, to show them around, etc. You could send a message out to a bunch of people explaining this proposal. I just moved to a new city and made an account, and I got a message from an Italian guy proposing we meet up so he can practice his English, so I’m sure you’ll be able to find someone online.

@MatChup You’re thinking Italian in regards to the double L. In Spain it is also “poyo” or “poyjo.”

Also @scandalousdan Madrid, Barcelona and Galicia all have different dialects. Barcelona speaks Catalan and Galicia speaks Gallego. If you’re undecided about where to go, shoot for Madrid. Also keep in mind that Andalusian Spanish in the South is just very tricky to understand, so if you’re thinking of going there I recommend finding someone from that region so you can get used to it. I studied abroad in Seville and could hardly understand my host family despite being pretty good at Spanish. Specifically, many consonants are optional, especially S’s. All the “amos” tenses you learned are just “amo.” Except they usually leave the M out too (escuchamos=ecuchao).

Good luck! I did spend four months living in Spain and I more than happy to talk to you more about it (not just language), if you’d like.

@sliceswiththings, perhaps it is used in Italian as well. I am Spanish from Latin America, so I know what I am talking about. Spanish is my mother tongue, I studied Spanish 100% in school up to High School. Now I can handle both English and Spanish at about the same fluency level. I have also worked doing on the fly translations in court here in the States. Maybe we all can start a Spanish class online in Flutherville, huh!! How about starting a language club as in FlutherInt’nl, hmmm.
@FutureMemory, sorry, I didn’t read this other post he put in afterwards: “No, I’m an American. I’m going to assume you’re being satirical, and poking fun at the fact that I’m being particular about what kind of Spanish I’d like to learn. I plan on studying abroad or living in Spain in the future, so it would be the most helpful to speak with someone from Spain, as opposed to Mexico, or other Latin American countries. Also, it’d be even more helpful if the person was from Madrid, Barcelona, or Galicia, but that is not necessary.”
For anyone interested in learning Spanish online, www.donquijote.org/ is a good site to learn Spanish from Spain. Here you will find a forum that you can join and practice Spanish with the students who are studying in Spain at Don Quijote. I used to be an online Spanish teacher there. Sorry I couldn’t figure out how to make “This” a link so u can just click on it.

Thanks, @MatChup, @FutureMemory was referring to my 2nd post, in response to his first one. Sorry for the confusion. :)

I speak Mexican Spanish so I can’t be too much help here with Castillian’s nuances and sort of rapid and lispy way of speaking.

but like BarnacleBill has suggested, LiveMocha should be a perfect option for you, it’s a social community of people from around the world that help each other learn languages.