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Spanish: DELE, classes and regionalisms

 Language Learning Forum : Immersion, Schools & Certificates Post Reply
Quabazaa
Tetraglot
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United States
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Speaks: English*, Spanish, German, French
Studies: Japanese, Korean, Maori, Scottish Gaelic, Arabic (Levantine), Arabic (Egyptian), Arabic (Written)

 
 Message 1 of 4
11 December 2009 at 4:18am | IP Logged 
So I've been thinking about testing my Spanish officially... but my problem is that I speak Argentine Spanish, with features such as vos, LL and Y sounding like porteño sh and so on.

I'm just wondering, if I was to take the DELE would I be penalised for pronouncing words so differently? In the oral part of the test, would I have to use tú? Also, does an official test exist for any form of Latin American Spanish??

The official website says "Para la obtención de los diplomas de español, además de la norma castellana, será considerada válida toda norma lingüística hispánica respaldada por grupos amplios de hablantes cultos y seguida coherentemente por el candidato."
But I guess I don't understand exactly what they mean by it.. they want you to be consistent and speak a recognised version of Spanish, right? Recognised by whom? Who would set the rules for how one might speak Mexican or Argentine Spanish or whatever??


I'm not so worried about writing and things like that, it's easier for me to force myself to write in a more standard Spanish than it would be to try to speak it!! I think I could manage to use tú and conjugate verbs for tú etc, but I'm not sure how easy it would be to change my pronunciation of letters such as Z, C, LL, Y...

Also I've never actually taken a class - does anyone have any experiences in speaking with a different accent / regionalism than the rest of your class and your teacher? I suppose it depends on the particular school you attend, but were you expected to change how you spoke and wrote? Considering I am living in Europe I imagine teachers and students will not be speaking Latin American Spanish.

So yeah well any comments welcome! Regionalisms are one thing I adore about Spanish, but I'm wondering how this is approached in the classroom and so on?

Edited by Quabazaa on 11 December 2009 at 4:30am

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datsunking1
Diglot
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United States
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 Message 2 of 4
11 December 2009 at 4:32am | IP Logged 
I honestly wouldn't see the issue, if Argentinian Spanish is what you have learned, the people grading you orally should be able to detect it and grade you accordingly. Just because the pronounciation is a little different doesn't mean it's not Spanish! You could possibly be asked to use tú, when referring to friends, family etc, but I'm not completely sure, since many courses and tests rely on the polite Usted form. If you are that nervous about your speaking listen to a different dialect like puertorican or mexican, they all sound a little different, but after listening to an interview or something you can "change" your accent a bit.

Best of luck!!
-Jordan
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Quabazaa
Tetraglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5612 days ago

414 posts - 543 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish, German, French
Studies: Japanese, Korean, Maori, Scottish Gaelic, Arabic (Levantine), Arabic (Egyptian), Arabic (Written)

 
 Message 3 of 4
11 December 2009 at 4:51am | IP Logged 
Hi thanks for your reply! I suppose I was just thinking that if they are not intimately familiar with the regionalisms, some things may get me marked down. For example, in Argentine Spanish for "take an exam" (as a student) you say "dar examen" and for "give an exam" (as a teacher), you say "tomar examen" which is the exact opposite meaning to the phrases in Spain. If I used that, would they not just think I was saying it wrong? I'm not nervous so much as just conscious that sometimes there are vast differences in meaning and usage.

Edited by Quabazaa on 11 December 2009 at 4:51am

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Alvinho
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Brazil
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 Message 4 of 4
02 January 2010 at 12:30am | IP Logged 
I've a DELE intermediate book and still haven't studied it.....

I think during the written test you should avoid writing "vos" and other Argentine slangs, for instance...I believe as you'll have to speak out you don't have to scrap your Argentine accent even you should set aside the local slangs....I don't think the fella who will evaluate you just might let you down by disliking your Argie way of speaking......

Edited by Alvinho on 02 January 2010 at 12:31am



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