How diverse can the dialects of spanish in south america be?

Question

Are they all generally mutually intelligable or are there dialects that are pretty much incomprehensible to even natives of another dialect of spanish?

If one had an intermediate understanding of the spanish language could one get around with little difficulty in all south american countries? (excluding parts that speak brazilian of course)

Answer 1

it depends the people

Answer 2

Every country in South America does have a different accent, and some speak different dialects, but if you have a general undertsanding of Spanish you will be fine. The Argentines slush their double L's. for example: "¿Como te llamas?" sounds almost like "como te shamas".

And I have found that Brazilians tend to understand quite a bit of Spanish, but understanding Brazilians speaking Portuguese is another story, because although Portuguese is very similar to Spanish on paper, the way they pronounce the words is so different from Spanish that its hard to decipher.

Answer 3

A bit different, I had Panamanian and Mexican friends who didn't communicate real smoothly. Remember Brazil's huge population speaks predominantly Portugese.