Question For Non Navite Spanish Speakers
Whoah, sorry for the above post, it's a little out of place. I did not see that there was a page 5.
The main concensus seems to be that the clearest accents are the Mexican and Columbian one. Some people are saying that these accents are strange, but I think that it is because they have not yet been exposed to them enough, perhaps all they have been hearing are people with low-education in the spanish language speak it.
In my mind, there are only 3 distinct Spanish accents, in which you can immediately and obviously tell the difference. European Spanish, Caribbean Spanish, and the rest of Latin American Spanish. However 'the rest of Latin American Spanish', is diverse, but its not always clear who's from where.
I live in the United States and get some 40-50 Spanish language channels from all over the world (thanks to satelite), and I'd have to say that they are all very similar. Salvadorian, Mexican, Colombian, and sometimes Venezuelan sound almost exactly the same to me when I'm listening to them on the news. Peruvian sounds like the other part of Venezuelan that doesn't sound like Meixcan. Chilean, Argentinan and even Uruguayan accents sound very similar to me, and the Spanish accent (from Spain) sounds very similar to the one from Argentina (with notable exceptions).
JR: faltas algunos acentos muy distintos.
Los siguientes son algunos de los dialectos de Espana (Espanol Europeo, si prefieres), donde no se puede decir que no hay un unico acento.
Castellano--"Castellano de Castilla"
Madrileno
Andaluz
Canario
Ademas, hay divisiones dentro de cada de estos. El Castellano Andaluz de Sevilla es distinto de lo de Cadiz, o de Malaga, o de Granada.
Hay muchos dialectos distintos en America tambien. No basta decir que, si es espanol Americano, o es Caribeno o es "Continental." Eso seria tan impreciso hasta ser totalmente inutil.
No se puede confiar en la television--piensas que se puede aprender todo lo que hay que saber de los dialectos estadounidenses o britannicos solo por mirar CNN y BBC?
Tampoco existe un dialecto uniforme dentro de cada país. Alguien mencionaba la forma de pronunciación argentina como si fuera una sola cosa, cuando en realidad un hablante de Buenos Aires tiene un dialecto más parecido a uno de Montevideo que a uno de Santiago del Estero.
Uno de los "dialectos" más desagradables en mi opinión es ese español "neutro" que se usa (o se usaba) para doblar las películas de Hollywood.
I'm 15 and I learn spanish at school, in England. The grammar can be a little annoying, as there are a few irregulars but compared with French, German and Chinese (I'm fluent in 5 languages) Spanish is relatively easy. If you speak French it should make it easier as there are many similarities. In Europe, German is the most useful language, economy- wise but Spanish and French are relatively useful also. I would say the most useful language to learn right now is either German or Mandarin. Considering the difficulty of both these language, placing your bets on Spanish is good. However, spanish is very much more widely spoken, i.e basically covering a whole continent.
PS. Sorry if this does not all make sense I am a native German, at a boarding school, in England so if you could comment on my English I would appreciate it!
<<Uno de los "dialectos" más desagradables en mi opinión es ese español "neutro" que se usa (o se usaba) para doblar las películas de Hollywood.>>
Aqui si difiero de ti Gabriel, hay que considerar que los doblajes llegan a muchos paises y lo mas sensato es no utilizar ningun acento ya que no todos los paises pueden doblar las peliculas. Mas bien me resulta incomodo ver peliculas con algun acento facilmente reconocible por eso creo que la neutralidad es lo mejor y curiosamente no todos los paises logran plasmarla en los doblajes.
I've been studying Spanish for about a year. My first teacher was Mexican (from Veracruz), the second was Cuban (from Habana), and my current teacher is from Madrid. I'm from Calfornia, so I assume that the majority of people I hear speaking Spanish are from Mexico. I haven't noticed any accents that I find unpleasant, though I have to say that I used to think Spanish from Spain was rather harsh sounding. But now, probably from being used to hearing my teacher, Spanish from Spain sounds normal enough.
When I hear certain Mexican accents I can recognize them as being Mexican, but I'm often not at all sure which country a speaker is from. Can someone identify the accent of the actor playing the father in this telenovela clip? (And also the accents of the other actors.)
http://www.imperial.edu/maria.coronel/span110online/recordings.asp
He's the only one I understood perfectly the first time I watched the clip. I don't know whether it's just because he has very clear diction, or because of his accent, or a combination of the two.
Deborah, those are Mexican telenovelas and the Spanish is neutral in a high percentage. Even I saw an actor who gives his voice to dub movies.
I think they are a good source to practice hearing Spanish.
Aldvs, thanks for the information. If they are Mexican telenovelas, does that necessarily mean all the actors are Mexican, or that they all have the same Mexican accent? I'm thought I heard one of the young women use the Castilian "c" in "hace".
Aldvs, I assumed you meant a "neutral" Mexican accent, but maybe you meant something else. Did you mean an accent that really couldn't be associated with any one country?
<<does that necessarily mean all the actors are Mexican, or that they all have the same Mexican accent? I'm thought I heard one of
the young women use the Castilian "c" in "hace". >>
No, you can find actors and actresses from any Spanish-speaking country.
<<I assumed you meant a "neutral" Mexican accent.>>
No, in theory a neutral way to speak American Spanish shouldn't have a recognizable accent.
<<Did you mean an accent that really couldn't be associated with any one country?>
Yes and no. First, nobody speaks the same way actors speak in the telenovelas, it's similat to what you can find in the news programs, a very depurated speech, trying to speak as clear and perfect as possible. But Mexicans are the only ones who use that relatively neutral way to speak in telenovelas so if you note such neutrality you can conclude that they are Mexicans. ;)
This neutrality is often broken when the characters are from rural areas where people speak with accent.
They use it to dub foreign movies too. I'm not Mexican but I think they are the best of the best to dub movies.
I've seen Argentinian and Chilean TV productions (not telenovelas) where the neutral Spanish is used too.
OK, thanks for all the information!
Para Johnathan Mark primero tu amiguito bueno como te pones a hablar sobre el frances si nisiquiera lo has estudiado ,osea yo no hablo de el chino por que no tengo idea y no le estudiado , pero tu hablas de el frances como si lo conocieras mejor que el espanol , yo se que para ti es facil pronunciar una palabra en espanol pero no pronunciarla con un acento de espana o un latinoamericano a los que las personas que hablamos espanol estamos acostumbrados si dices la palabra pero con tu propio acento tambien y eso hace la palabra difrente cosa que no sucede en frances casi nunca . asi que piensa antes de hablar en este caso escribir ok bye.. mm y sigue practicando por que tienes muchos errores ahi que no son para un estudiante de tu disque nivel .. bye
Gracias, Benjamin, por tu buen consejo, que yo practique mas el espanol. De verdad, ni siquiera entiendo muy bien tu post--o seria eso por errores tuyos? Hispanohablantes?
En serio, lo que digo sobre la pronunciacion frances no es nada mas que mis observaciones. En espanol, las letras representan la fonologia mucho mejor que o en ingles o en frances.
No entiendo si queires decir que yo no pronuncio palabras muy bien, y por eso los hispanohablantes no pueden entender muy bien, o que hay ambiguidad en el espanol de algunos acentos, y por eso, aprender espanol resuelta dificil. Si es la primera, quizas tienes razon, quizas no--pero, me parece que me debes escuchar antes de juzgar. Si es la segunda, estoy de acuerdo--por ejemplo en el andaluz:
pescado--> pehkao o pekao
pecado--> pekao
He de decir que el primer parrafo es sobre todo una broma, y yo se que todavia puedo mejorar mucho. Pero, de verdad, no entiendo muy bien tu post, Benjamin. Faltas puntuacion buena, y creo (pero no puedo decir definativamente, como admito que soy estudiante) que hay muchos errores. Esto me sorpresa un poco, porque normalmente puedo leer facilmente tus posts (en espanol, digo).