[rkomorn]

> Spanish is, unlike English, a completely centralized language. No need to make geographical distinctions.

So you'd say there are no distinctions worth noting between the Spanish spoken in any Spanish-speaking Latin American country and the Spanish spoken in Spain?

[jvican]

Most of the times, for most of the speakers, there is no need to make a distinction.

Why would any one feel it's important to say they went to Sydney and spoke to the peoples of Australia in Australian English?

[rkomorn]

I'd say that, for example, there are significant enough pronunciation (and in a few cases, vocabulary) differences between Portuguese in Portugal vs Brazil.

From experience, learning one is not the same as the other.

So there are definitely contexts where these differences matter.

[jvican]

There are contexts where the differences matter, but not in the vast majority of contexts (especially the OP's context).