Which accent in Spanish? | Antimoon Forum

Hola a todos!

I'm learning Spanish for several years but I still have the same problem: I cannot get a "stable" accent when I speak it. Nobody notice that I am French but they can't say from which country I come from, saying that I have a neutral "countryless" accent. But, to me, when you want to speak perfectly a language, you must identify with some country, for that reason I'm looking forward an accent (a South American one, I prefer). I use a mix of Bolivian, Chilean and something else non identified. I already tried to speak typical "paceño" accent from Bolivia but people always have prejudices, even the Bolivians: because I'm white they cannot believe I'm Bolivian (although 15% of the Bolivians are white, like the vice-president Alvaro Garcia Linera). When I use the Chilean accent, it works well, to me it is very easy to use it and I can seem perfectly Chilean, but the other problem is the Chileans speak (it's my opinion) badly, they don't pronouce some letters like S and intervocalic D and B.
I like the Argentinian one though but very difficult to imitate.
And you, which accent do you use?
Which accent seem the most "standard" and understandable?

You cannot have the exact same accent of the native Spanish speakers. It is natural on us,unless you really practice a specific accent. Let us say.. Spaniard accent is very unique, they pronounce C as TH , so as some of the "still" Spanish speaking Filipinos, though majority of the "few" Spanish speaking Filipinos usually have the Mexican Spanish accent.

Spain : Concepcion (con-cep-THion)
Mexico/Philippines : Concepcion (Con-cep-SIon) ,although some elder Filipinos will pronounce it as Spaniards do. It depends where they came from.

Chilean Spanish also have a different accent, especially Argentina.

NOTE : You may think that Philippines still speaks Spanish, majority do not anymore, just nearly 10% of the whole population speaks it nowadays, though some of us still do.

And the most understandable is "Spain,Central or North American Spanish accents". I speak Spanish but when Argentinians and Chilenos speaks Spanish, there are words that I just don't get.

I disagree with the unknown author. With practice, you can acquire a near-native, geographically identifiable accent.
<<Chilean Spanish also have a different accent, especially Argentina.>>
Argentina is not part of Chile, by the way.

Written By : Gabriel

"I disagree with the unknown author. With practice, you can acquire a near-native, geographically identifiable accent."

Re-read my post :

You cannot have the exact same accent of the native Spanish speakers. It is natural on us,"""""unless you really practice a specific accent."""" <------- That is in my first sentence.

Of course he can,but he cannot have the exact same accent, the human jaw have muscles and you cannot adjust it at all. If your jaw muscles cannot move to that needed area to have that exact same accent, that is the limit of your accent, but you can practice, although the result is, still not a perfect accent.

Indians from India speak English too, but why do they have a very different and usually funny English speaking accent when they speak English?, because their jaws have already adjusted to speak Hindi or whatever.

I don't believe in this thing about jaw muscles. It's all in the mind. Can you provide us with a link to a scientific study that determined that jaw muscles have anything to do with it?

- Kef

It is true , I don't have any online link to that because I read this from some medical book when I was in highschool. When I first came to North America,although English is Philippines' official language other than Tagalog, the school still required me to do "ESL" (English as Secondary Language). In that ESL course, the teacher explained this and brought a book that proves what he said about the jaw muscles and he is Indian(India).

Although you can practice the accent. For example, I tried learning Chinese, I am Filipino, which means I am also Asian and my country is right in the middle of other oriental countries. I could pronounce the words of course, but my accent is never perfect, I tried practicing for almost 2 years, the accent improved yes, but still not perfect.

Though some people will be able to practice and get the perfect accent. Such as Spanish speakers, they can get 100% perfect accent when they speak the Philippines' official language which is Tagalog. Because both languages have similar accent (in fact,most Tagalog words evolved from Spanish).

But a Chinese guy speaking Arabic or Indian guy speaking Italian will just not do it... hahaha,unless the person grew up speaking those languages then that is a different story

<<"but the other problem is the Chileans speak (it's my opinion) badly, they don't pronouce some letters like S and intervocalic D and B.">>

it's just an accent. I can't say for example that Quebequois speak French badly only because their accent is different.

<<You cannot have the exact same accent of the native Spanish speakers. It is natural on us,unless you really practice a specific accent.>>

<<Of course he can,but he cannot have the exact same accent, the human jaw have muscles and you cannot adjust it at all. If your jaw muscles cannot move to that needed area to have that exact same accent, that is the limit of your accent, but you can practice, although the result is, still not a perfect accent.>>

He can. It's all about practice. It's not impossible, only you need a lot of dedication and commitment.

<<And the most understandable is "Spain,Central or North American Spanish accents". I speak Spanish but when Argentinians and Chilenos speaks Spanish, there are words that I just don't get.>>

It's the lack of exposition to the Argentinians speech, which is quite distinct, I agree. But Spanish spoken by educated people all over the world is perfectly understandable. The problem in comprehension appears when you talk to a guy walking down the streets of the suburbs of Buenos Aires or Santiago or Lima, their accents may differ.

<<In that ESL course, the teacher explained this and brought a book that proves what he said about the jaw muscles and he is Indian(India). >>

What happened when you first started learning to play football? you moved rather clumsily and could make accurate actions. Have you ever tried to learn to play the guitar or the piano. At first your hands can't do their job properly, they seem extremely clumsy, slow and weak. With a lot of practice, doing exercises thousands of times, the muscles in your arms and hands are strengthened and you can play the guitar perfectly in no more than 2 years (although it can vary from person to person). My point is, what makes you think that the jaw muscles are different from anyother muscle in the body? What your teacher said is only to justify the fact that he grew exhausted of practising and trying to improve his English. I practised for about 1 entire year, reading books, making speeches, watching English and American films, singing songs in English, I would even learn the lines, I've memorised a fair few of films already and used to spend all day repeating the lines of the entire movie. I learnt to rap, that gave a very fluent speech. After that, with a huge effort my level of English improved a lot. Now I speak English as naturally as I speak my first language, Spanish. And I speak with an English accent. People often mistaken me for an Englishman or an Aussie.

So don't say it's impossible, nothing is impossible.

Kind regards

Pete from Peru

Afff, there are some typos, anyway, you understand what I tried to say.

Pete

<<I learnt to rap, that gave a very fluent speech.>>

That should say: That gave me a very fluent speech.

<<People often mistaken me for...>>

People often mistake me for...

I also left many commas out. Well, that's that. I've got to go downtown to do some shopping.

Pete

Well you have a point my Latin brother :) , Though it may be hard for most people to have a perfect accent on a language, that is not their mother tongue. Of course they can practice, but it is not easy :)

Well I have a little story, might not relate to the topic but I'm bored haha.

I had a teacher back in highschool, he's French and he learned Spanish and has been speaking it for a few years already.
During class, he asked the students from what countries we came from. When it was my turn,I said "from the Philippines" and then he asked me if I still speak Spanish, I said yes. Then he spoke Spanish to me and I asked him "how long have you been speaking Spanish?" , he said 5 years. In his 5 years of speaking Spanish, I still could tell that he is not a native speaker due to his accent, he actually told me "you have a Mexican accent". Then so I explained to him that Philippines was governed by Spain through Mexico for 333 years, so we are strongly influenced by the accent of Mexican Spanish. (Although only somewhere around 6% of Philippine population speaks Spanish nowadays, each province has their own dialect, they don't speak Tagalog either.Most population speaks and understands English though)

Many Spanish people get shocked when I start speaking Spanish. I am a marketer, I have sold cars, insurance and other things. In my job I have met thousands of Spanish speakers, well I look more like a mix of Chinese or Japanese with Filipino. The usual question is "de donde eres?" ,where are you from?, while their eyes are huge and surprised hahaha. Then I'll answer "I'm from the Philippines" and they'll say oooohhh!! , the Asian Spanish, you speak like a Mexican but you look Chinese. Hahaha

It is true that you can practice, but like I said, it won't be easy, especially if you are not familiar with the exact accent that a specific Latin country has. You may be pronouncing words the way Spaniards speak it and in your second sentence you'll pronounce Chileno accent words and then on the 3rd sentence you'll pronounce El Salvadoreño accent.

Anyhow, good luck on your learning ,wish you the best Vincent.

Choose the Argentinian accent cause is posh.

The Argentinian accent makes me somnolent after a while of listening to it. The Mexican accent is neutral, but a bit comical at times. The Spanish accent is strong, bold and makes you mentally lively about what the person is telling you. The Cuban accent is frivolous at times, however seductive when it comes to music.

In whatever way, Spanish^ is Spanish. The choice is really yours.

<<It is true that you can practice, but like I said, it won't be easy, especially if you are not familiar with the exact accent that a specific Latin country has.>>

I never said it was easy. I agree with you that it's not easy. It's very difficult. But with a lot of effort, I repeat, in some time you'll be able to get it. IT's not impossible.

Regards

Pete from Peru

sexy!!! ay caramba!! vamos a bailar!!!