Mexican accent

Guest   Thu Jun 22, 2006 4:13 am GMT
How can I speak with a Mexican accent?
Uriel   Thu Jun 22, 2006 9:26 am GMT
Watch a lot of Speedy Gonzales cartoons...

No, seriously: listen to Mexicans talk, and imitate the way they sound. That's about how you'd pick up any accent, isn't it?
Guest   Thu Jun 22, 2006 2:18 pm GMT
>> No, seriously: listen to Mexicans talk, and imitate the way they sound. That's about how you'd pick up any accent, isn't it? <<

Where can I find audio samples? There are practically no Mexicans in my town.
Uriel   Fri Jun 23, 2006 9:53 am GMT
When you say "Mexican accent", are you talking about English or Spanish? Either way, try renting some movies and listening to the dialogue.
|||   Mon Jun 26, 2006 1:31 am GMT
And why would you like to speak English as Mexican Spanglish?
That is odd
Mexicano   Tue Jun 27, 2006 1:58 am GMT
And why would you like to speak English as Mexican Spanglish?
That is odd >>>
Why it's odd?
Presley.   Tue Jun 27, 2006 4:02 am GMT
I am quite an expert!!

First of all, take the breath out of your consanats.

For example: "P" in English has kind of a "huh" sound. Just take that breath out of it. You should be left with a "P" sound without an "H".

Now, just play around with the intonation!

A very good example is the way Pedro in "Naploeon Dynamite" speaks. He has a very "sing-songy" way of speaking.
|||   Wed Jun 28, 2006 7:04 am GMT
Because Mexicans do not speak English, they speak Spanish...
Arturo   Wed Jun 28, 2006 7:31 pm GMT
Hi there,

I am Mexican, and I am quite aware of our accent when speaking English.
As Brennus said, it always depends on how much every individual dominates this languages... but a general picture of our errors can be made.
I can't imagine why do you want to know how to speak with a Mexican accent, but I will try to help you:

To beginn with, as Spanish speakers:

a) We have just 5 vowels sounds: "a" as in apple, "e" as in set, "i" as in hit, "o" as in lot, and "u" as in put. All vowels are open and short. Forget the much richer phonetic system of the English vowels.
b) B and V are mostly pronounced "B"
c) D is pronounced quite to the front of the mouth, pressing your mouth against the teeth.
d) H is soundless, but Spanish speakers have the trend to pronounce it very hard when speaking English, like our "J"
d) We have two sounds for the R, but when speaking English we pronounce it a littke bit like the Scottish "R"
e) When speaking English, we often pronounce W like "Gu" in Guadalupe
f) I don't agree with Brennus, insofar that we cannot replicate the "ch" sound, for we do have this sound. What we do not have is the "sh" sound, and for many Mexicans this is difficult to replicate.
g) As a final nuance, we mix the pronountiation of "J" and "Y", so that Jew and You, Jell-o and Yellow are pronounced identically.
h) Almost forgotten, "Th" sound is normally pronounced as a Spanish "D" for all those who cannot replicate the correct sound

Now, as Mexican Speakers:
We have a very characteristic melody, and often pronounce the stress on the second last syllable in many words.
Otherwise it is almost impossible to transmit this by writing it.

But you can imagine what a mess will come out of this pronountiation peculiarities.

Have fun!!!

Arturo
Deborah   Wed Jun 28, 2006 11:45 pm GMT
As Brennus demonstrated in one of his examples, "-ing" endings tend to become "in" endings. Also, words that end in "nt" tend to drop the "t":

don't want --> don' wan'

don't know --> don' know

The second example shouldn't be confused with "dunno". Rather, both words are stressed, as if saying "don't know", but the t's aren't pronounced.
Johnathan Mark   Thu Jun 29, 2006 12:05 am GMT
a) We have just 5 vowels sounds: "a" as in apple, "e" as in set, "i" as in hit, "o" as in lot, and "u" as in put. All vowels are open and short. Forget the much richer phonetic system of the English vowels.

Are you sure? Spanish is a second language for me, but I have to say that to me it seems like each of your examples are bad.

I would say "a" as in "father", "e", pronounced as one would say the letter a in the english abc's, "i", prounounced as one would say the letter e in the english abc's, o pronounced as we say the letter o in the abc's, and u as in chute. All letters are short and without a dipthong.
Presley.   Thu Jun 29, 2006 4:17 am GMT
A- like in "fAther".
E- Like in "Ex-husband".
I- Like in "EAgle".
O- Like in "clOse".
U- Like in "OOmpa-LOOmpa".
Uriel   Thu Jun 29, 2006 10:37 am GMT
Not true, Brennus; while many people with hispanic accents do use "ch" for "sh" words like Chicago, they also do the inverse, so that "chile" comes out as "shee-leh" and "cheese" becomes "sheess".

Many people in my area have heavily Spanish-influenced accents REGARDLESS of their ability to speak Spanish; I've met plenty of people in New Mexico who speak ONLY English (and have all their lives) and yet have a strong propensity to use Spanish-sounding phonetics when speaking it. It's just the common regional accent; it occurs in native-born Americans generations removed from any immigrant ancestors.
Arturo   Thu Jun 29, 2006 4:22 pm GMT
Hi Johnathan,

Perhaps I choose bad examples, just to avoid the confussion created by the fact that many vowels exhibit a diphtong when pronounced. As for the pronountiation I was thinking about apple and lot as in standard English, but anyway, I think we are thinking of the same things.

English is not my second language anymore, since I have studied and learned German better than English, which has a more stable vowel pronountiation system. For me, English has one of the simplest grammars but this is compensated with one of the craziest phonetics, and richest vowel systems. They are beautiful sounds, though, and make this language an interesting challenge if you really want to manage the pronountiation.

It is funny, by the contrary, when English speakers try whithout success, to "descend" to such a simple phonetic system as ours, if they try to speak Spanish, which has less than half of the sounds the English language has. The brain works in mysterious ways, doesn't it? I mean, of course, the average English speakers of which Spanish is a language they have to learn as a foreign language.
Aldvs   Thu Jun 29, 2006 4:41 pm GMT
<<O- Like in "clOse". >>

I'd redefine the sound of letter "o" like in the word "Of" or "mOre". "clOse" implies "clOWs". In Spanish vowels have only one sound.