22 messages over 3 pages: 1 2 3
BelenZP
Bilingual Diglot
Newbie
United States
Joined 5347 days ago
3 posts - 3 votes
Speaks: English*, Russian*
Studies: Spanish
| Message 17 of 22 14 April 2010 at 2:22am | IP Logged |
Hi,
I'm trying to learn a perticular Spanish accent as well and for me it's helpful to listen to it as much as possible. I disagree with some of the comments here and I think you should learn the mexican pronounciation and vocabulary first. Once you get used to speaking in a particular way it will be very hard to shake it and speak a different way. for example after listening to spain Spanish for 3 years I can't speak mexican Spanish, it just sounds very grating to me. The last thing you want to have to worry about is shaking a american accent PLUS an incorrect regonal Spanish accent.
Grammar is the same anywhere and but vocabulary and common word useage isn't. If you think that you'll end up saying "cojer" while meaning "to get" in Mexico and emberras yourself like I did.
Another thing is I would be wary of anything from northern Mexico, they seem to use a lot of loan words from English that sound funny to everyone else. For example "conducir mi coche" becomes "manejar mi carro" which means "manage my cart" in reality, but sounds closer to English.
1 person has voted this message useful
| BelenZP
Bilingual Diglot
Newbie
United States
Joined 5347 days ago
3 posts - 3 votes
Speaks: English*, Russian*
Studies: Spanish
| Message 18 of 22 14 April 2010 at 2:25am | IP Logged |
hypersport wrote:
For some people, speaking comes easier than for others. Being able to think and speak with more of a natural rythm and speed.
On the other hand, for some this is never going to happen, just the way it is.
And for some Gringos who have learned Spanish to a high degree and can communicate about almost anything, they're always going to have that nasty gringo accent, that terrible sounding Spanish that just grates on your ears. Watch enough Spanish news and you'll know what I'm talking about, plenty can speak it, but sound really bad.
Maybe they just couldn't get the accent down, maybe they just didn't care, who knows.
Now if you're one of the people that can learn fast and start speaking, it's going to come down to who you're hanging out with. It will rub off. In your case, your wife and her family. If you can start speaking only Spanish with them, you'll start to pick up on their way of speaking...esteeee, oseaaaa, no manches..etc. However it is that they speak, you'll start speaking that way too.
I had the good fortune to work with many Mexicans for about 3 years during my studies. They taught me a ton and I spoke just like them, slang and all. Once I was talking with a Mexican in the gym and he asked me if I was American. I was like, what?? I'm as American looking as they come. But he was like, yeah, but the way you talk, so then he asked me if I lived in Mexico for a time, etc.
Point is the stuff will rub off once you start speaking only in Spanish with your family like it did on me.
The truth is, there's still a little gringo in my accent, but not much. Just enough to give it away that I learned Spanish, and didn't grow up with it.
I asked the question recently to two of my Mexican friends that I talk with all the time. One's a guy, the other a girl. I asked them how my accent sounded to them. They both said the same thing, that there's just a tiny bit of the American sound in my voice, but that they've never heard any Gringo speak Spanish like I do, almost like they do.
So for me that's good enough. The fact is I spoke only English for almost 40 years and have only been speaking Spanish for about 4 so I gotta be realistic too.
|
|
|
I realize that Gringo is an innofensive term in certain Spanish speaking regions. But in certain others it's not. Please sanitize your Spanish for a world audience. Thanks.
Edited by BelenZP on 14 April 2010 at 2:27am
1 person has voted this message useful
| Smart
Tetraglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5339 days ago
352 posts - 398 votes 
Speaks: Spanish, English*, Latin, French
Studies: German
| Message 19 of 22 14 April 2010 at 3:06am | IP Logged |
BelenZP wrote:
hypersport wrote:
For some people, speaking comes easier than for others. Being able to think and speak with more of a natural rythm and speed.
On the other hand, for some this is never going to happen, just the way it is.
And for some Gringos who have learned Spanish to a high degree and can communicate about almost anything, they're always going to have that nasty gringo accent, that terrible sounding Spanish that just grates on your ears. Watch enough Spanish news and you'll know what I'm talking about, plenty can speak it, but sound really bad.
Maybe they just couldn't get the accent down, maybe they just didn't care, who knows.
Now if you're one of the people that can learn fast and start speaking, it's going to come down to who you're hanging out with. It will rub off. In your case, your wife and her family. If you can start speaking only Spanish with them, you'll start to pick up on their way of speaking...esteeee, oseaaaa, no manches..etc. However it is that they speak, you'll start speaking that way too.
I had the good fortune to work with many Mexicans for about 3 years during my studies. They taught me a ton and I spoke just like them, slang and all. Once I was talking with a Mexican in the gym and he asked me if I was American. I was like, what?? I'm as American looking as they come. But he was like, yeah, but the way you talk, so then he asked me if I lived in Mexico for a time, etc.
Point is the stuff will rub off once you start speaking only in Spanish with your family like it did on me.
The truth is, there's still a little gringo in my accent, but not much. Just enough to give it away that I learned Spanish, and didn't grow up with it.
I asked the question recently to two of my Mexican friends that I talk with all the time. One's a guy, the other a girl. I asked them how my accent sounded to them. They both said the same thing, that there's just a tiny bit of the American sound in my voice, but that they've never heard any Gringo speak Spanish like I do, almost like they do.
So for me that's good enough. The fact is I spoke only English for almost 40 years and have only been speaking Spanish for about 4 so I gotta be realistic too.
|
|
|
I realize that Gringo is an innofensive term in certain Spanish speaking regions. But in certain others it's not. Please sanitize your Spanish for a world audience. Thanks. |
|
|
Gringo is a type of Spanish speaker. It is not meant to be offensive. If it has a negative meaning behind it somewhere, that is because the individual who said it meant it to be offensive.
Gringo is not offensive in Mexico or Spain. Perhaps elsewhere. But not in the two major Spanish-speaking vacation spots.
1 person has voted this message useful
| TheBiscuit
Tetraglot
Senior Member
Mexico
Joined 5923 days ago
532 posts - 619 votes
Speaks: English*, French, Spanish, Italian
Studies: German, Croatian
| Message 20 of 22 14 April 2010 at 3:27am | IP Logged |
Smart wrote:
Gringo is a type of Spanish speaker. It is not meant to be offensive. If it has a negative meaning behind it somewhere, that is because the individual who said it meant it to be offensive.
Gringo is not offensive in Mexico or Spain. Perhaps elsewhere. But not in the two major Spanish-speaking vacation spots. |
|
|
Yes, gringo is really not offensive here. Interestingly, some Mexicans find the use of the word 'Americans' to refer only to people from the USA offensive.
1 person has voted this message useful
| tractor
Tetraglot
Senior Member
Norway
Joined 5453 days ago
1349 posts - 2292 votes
Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, Catalan
Studies: French, German, Latin
| Message 21 of 22 14 April 2010 at 4:21pm | IP Logged |
BelenZP wrote:
| Another thing is I would be wary of anything from northern Mexico, they seem to use a lot of loan words from English that sound funny to everyone else. For example "conducir mi coche" becomes "manejar mi carro" which means "manage my cart" in reality, but sounds closer to English. |
|
|
Manejar and carro are used throughout Latin America and will be understood everywhere, including Spain.
1 person has voted this message useful
| buhrahyun
Newbie
United States
Joined 5354 days ago
24 posts - 25 votes
Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish
| Message 22 of 22 14 April 2010 at 7:21pm | IP Logged |
tractor wrote:
BelenZP wrote:
| Another thing is I would be wary of anything from northern Mexico, they seem to use a lot of loan words from English that sound funny to everyone else. For example "conducir mi coche" becomes "manejar mi carro" which means "manage my cart" in reality, but sounds closer to English. |
|
|
Manejar and carro are used throughout Latin America and will be understood everywhere, including Spain. |
|
|
Great discussion everyone. Just for reference, when I learned this from Pimsleur, it was "manejar mi coche".
1 person has voted this message useful
|
This discussion contains 22 messages over 3 pages: << Prev 1 2 3
If you wish to post a reply to this topic you must first login. If you are not already registered you must first register
You cannot post new topics in this forum - You cannot reply to topics in this forum - You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum - You cannot create polls in this forum - You cannot vote in polls in this forum
This page was generated in 6.7031 seconds.
DHTML Menu By Milonic JavaScript
|
Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages
Printable version
