What is your favorite Spanish variation? (no Spanish haters)

eye2eye   Fri Feb 02, 2007 8:50 am GMT
Hello all, I'm interested in finding out what is your favorite Spanish variation (ie. Castilian, Mex, Arg). I'm specially interested in those people who have learned Spanish to a degree of fluency. Also, I'm interested in your opinion of the PREDOMINANT variation of a particular country, not the deviations spoken by uneducated speakers. I'm getting rather sick of people equating the Spanish they heard on the street from a farm worker who probably didn't finish elementary school to the accepted and standard Spanish spoken by his compatriots. Back to the topic, take all considerations into account.. vocabulary, intonation, idiomatic expressions.. we all know how incredibly rich Spanish is.. let us know which particular brand of it you prefer!

As for me.. I have a preference for urban Mexican (standard) Spanish.. especially from Guadalajara. I really enjoy its clarity, its intonation and its melodic enunciation. I also have a weakness for Chilean (urban standard), specially as spoken by the ladies.

What about you guys? (give reasons WHY plz)

ps. If the Spanish haters do show up or anyone tries to deviate from topic simply ignore them plz.
Pete   Fri Feb 02, 2007 2:11 pm GMT
I agree with you that some accents in Mexico are unpleasant, it's fun that usually working class accents are not very nice. And that happens in almost every language in the world.
Urban Mexican Spanish,as you call it, is quite nice, yes. But I actually prefer Colombian Spanish. It's purer, doesn't have so many English loan words as Mexican Spanish, its vocabulary can be more widely understood than that of Argentine Spanish, it sounds really friendly and cool, even working class accents in Colombia are nice. I don't know if someone can second this.

Pete from Peru
Spanish   Sat Feb 03, 2007 3:06 am GMT
Agree with Pete
Spanish   Sat Feb 03, 2007 3:08 am GMT
I can't stand the Mexican accent, it hurts my ears, it really does, so lacking in class, they act stupid too, acting like what they are
ZhongGuoRen   Sat Feb 03, 2007 4:25 am GMT
I Prefer "Argentina" tune pattern!
ZhongGuoRen   Sat Feb 03, 2007 4:28 am GMT
I mean that I like "Argentina" accent most.
Marc   Sat Feb 03, 2007 4:34 am GMT
The Mexican accent will take over. It's the highest spanish-speaking population in Mexico and the U.S. So be it!


I agree with eye2eye. In southern-central mexico, it's where they speak the purer type of spanish. And they don't use loan-words. Loan words are used in the North of Mexico, California, Texas etc.

I love Castilian spanish! :P
Pete   Sat Feb 03, 2007 4:54 am GMT
<<I can't stand the Mexican accent, it hurts my ears, it really does, so lacking in class, they act stupid too, acting like what they are>>

There is no really Mexican accent, I suppose you have urban neutral accents, norhthern accents, and southern accents or something like that. I agree with you that the typical working class Mexican accent is very unpleaseant and its slang and loan words from English and Mayan languages are awful. But the urban accent in Mexico D.F. for example is passable, it sounds nice, in fact.

<<I agree with eye2eye. In southern-central mexico, it's where they speak the purer type of spanish. And they don't use loan-words. Loan words are used in the North of Mexico, California, Texas etc.

I love Castilian spanish! :P>>

No, I'm sorry but you're wrong, my dear friend. They still have got some loan words and some grammar constructions which are still slightly different from Standard Spanish. However, you're right in saying that they use lots of loan words and expressions further in the North of Mexico and also in California and Texas. Well, No offence, but the Spanish spoken in that area of the U.S. is quite crappy. I can't stand expressions like "dar pa' atras" or "ir pa' atras" which are direct translations from English "give back" and "go back", when you can easily say "devolver" and "volver".

Anyway, the purest form of Spanish is Castillian Spanish, no doubt, no discussion there, every Spanish native speaker knows that. And after Castillian Spanish, Colombian is the most understandable, not so sing-song rythm and clear words, even their slang is understandable.

Pete from Peru
Guest   Sat Feb 03, 2007 5:43 am GMT
I like the colombian accent and the Costa rican. I also like the Argetinian accent. I don't like some of the mexican accent i hate them. The spaniard or Spanish accent is ok but they speak too fast.
Marc   Sat Feb 03, 2007 10:15 am GMT
"No, I'm sorry but you're wrong, my dear friend. They still have got some loan words and some grammar constructions which are still slightly different from Standard Spanish. However, you're right in saying that they use lots of loan words and expressions further in the North of Mexico and also in California and Texas. Well, No offence, but the Spanish spoken in that area of the U.S. is quite crappy. I can't stand expressions like "dar pa' atras" or "ir pa' atras" which are direct translations from English "give back" and "go back", when you can easily say "devolver" and "volver". "


Not really, pete. I live in Ajijic, Jalisco. The largest AMERICAN colony abroad in Mexico and perhaps the world. Anyways, here in Jalisco there's an tendency to use more spanish words and grammar is more conservative. At times.. the young adolescents like to mix a bit of "english", but, so does Italian and Romanian etc.


Here are examples of Castilian-spanish, Central-mexican spanish & Northen-mexican spanish:

Oye chaval? Podrias poner los platos encima el fregadero? Y despues cortas el cesped y marchas al mercado, vale? Vale! {Castilian, Spain}

Oye chavo? Podrias poner los platos encima el fregadero? Y despues cortas el pasto y vas al mercado, sale? Sale! o Sas! {Jalisco and some surrounding states)

Oye chamaco? Puedes echar los platos arriba el sink? Y luego cortas la yarda y vas al mercado, ok? Ok! {Northern-Mexico}
Pete   Sat Feb 03, 2007 7:09 pm GMT
<<At times.. the young adolescents like to mix a bit of "english", but, so does Italian and Romanian etc.>>

Oh Oh, there there, you see?

<<Oye chaval? Podrias poner los platos encima el fregadero? Y despues cortas el cesped y marchas al mercado, vale? Vale! {Castilian, Spain}

Oye chavo? Podrias poner los platos encima el fregadero? Y despues cortas el pasto y vas al mercado, sale? Sale! o Sas! {Jalisco and some surrounding states)>>

Suena bien... :)
pyaarxto   Mon Feb 05, 2007 10:46 pm GMT
I find the Peruvian variation is nice. They don't have any accent and speak very clearly. They neither shout nor sing, as ALL the rest of Spanish speaking countries do, ALL.
Milo   Tue Feb 06, 2007 5:55 am GMT
I dislike the Spaniard accent it was like if you had to speak with a lisp with a 'f' sound not because of the way it sounds but how it was hard for me to follow and pronunce.

I noticed the main difference when my normal Spanish teacher(she was a Spaniard) was replaced with a teacher from South America. I found that the South American teacher's accent was easy to follow.

One word that sticks with me is the word for 'right'(or was it 'left'?) in Spanish. It was so much easier to say it using the South American accent as oppose to the Spaniard pronunciation.

I suppose it would be the same for an English student learning English from a Scottish teacher vs an American one. I too have problems understanding a Scot when speaking LOL.
Rodrick   Tue Feb 06, 2007 4:17 pm GMT
Castilian spanish is intelligible for native spanish-speakers whom are exposed to it. Castilian-spanish is rapid / clear/ exotic, especially by the Spanish ladies. Natives and learning people alike, ought to check out T.V.E (television espanola) it's a great example of Castilian. In addition, South-American spanish is too passive for my ears. I prefer Castilian for it's swiftness and integrity.
Rodrick   Tue Feb 06, 2007 4:24 pm GMT
Correction:
Castilian spanish is intelligible for native spanish-speakers (of Latin-America and the U.S) whom are exposed to it. If not, the speaker will have some difficulty in comprehending. As I have mentioned above^
T.V.E is a great example of Castilian spanish at it's best.