Spanish, Castillian vs Islands?

Question

I have taken Spanish all through out High School and Some of College,

I can talk all day in Spanish to South Americans and true Spaniards, for the life of me, I can not understand Island Spanish, Dominican and mostly Puerto Rican.

I work with a lot of immigrants, mostly Puerto Rican but a few South and Central Americans. The South and Central people and I converse all day in Spanish, but the Puerto Ricans can only understand me if I speak slowly and deliberately and I can't understand them no matter how they say it.

They seem to make up words and use the same word repeatedly in sentences with hand gestures instead of verb tense to express past present or future.

Is there anything I can do other than total immersion to pick up their version of Spanish?

Answer 1

Well, let's start:

You'll find that many words are actually slang and have no true meaning to its original concept. In addition, what one word in one country might have an entirely different meaning in another country.

Secondly, I've noticed that "Islanders" tend to remove the "s" and "z" sounds when they talk. So, "escuela" becomes "ecuela" or something to that effect.

Maybe you could pick up Latin American slang. There are actually a few dictionaries out there that focus on Spanish slang, so maybe you should check a local bookstore whenever you have a chance.

Good luck!