My accent?

[Jake]

Hi all :D This isn't a video but there wasn't anywhere else which seemed suited to what I wanted to post.

I'm 16 and learning Spanish at school and would like some critical comments on my Spanish accent! I recorded a short sentence for all to hear..

Link: http://onestamp.co.uk/yo.wav
Please right click and download (656KB) or click directly on the link.

Please comment on it, I'm not sure if its good/bad etc. Someone once said my accent sounded as if I were from Argentina however I would like to develop an accent from Spain.

Thanks all that comment.

Jake.

[aleCcowaN]

It's a very short sample to draw conclusions, but your pronunciation sounds pretty good to me. It sounds to me a bit like a Spaniard from Canary Islands with a lot of Mexican. But I suppose a Mexican would say it sounds like Argentine with a bit from Spain and a Spaniard would say it sounds like Mexican and/or Argentine.

Don't worry, if you like to develop an accent from Spain, I'm sure the moment you get there your accent will start to evolve toward the one you like. But be sure you have no distinctive "foreign" accent.

[Gringo Sean]

To me it sounds pretty South American

Sounds like you speak it well

[Jake]

Here is something else I recorded:

http://www.onestamp.co.uk/recording.wav

[gastephen]

Here is something else I recorded:

http://www.onestamp.co.uk/recording.wav

You might want to save your audio files as MP3 rather than WAV. You'll then be able to store the audio much more efficiently (smaller file size; faster download).

If you don't have any software that will do this for you, you could try

WavePad (http://nch.com.au/wavepad/index.html) (Windows/Mac/Linux freeware)

or

Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/) (also cross platform freeware)

[lazarus1907]

Jake, your recordings are easy to understand, but in "yo.wav" your vowels are not clear enough compared to the way they are pronounced in Spanish.

Me voy a ir de viaje a España en cuatro días.

Also, you join correctly "viaje_a", but you could do it a little bit more in "España_en".

The recording "recording.wav" sounds much better somehow, especially at the beginning. To improve: your "G" in "Gracias" is too hard, and so is your "C" in "carta" and your "T" in "estaré". We don't have the explosions that you make in English when you pronounce those consonants. Also, for the "b/v" sound in "amigos que vienen" you should not touch your lips at all.

By the way, when you say "Gracias", you are using the standard pronunciation in Spain. Is this on purpose?

[Jake]

Thanks for the replies,Could you tell me what you mean by "the explosions", I have no idea what you mean by that!Also using the standard pronounciation with "Gracias" ... i never knew there was a standard pronounicaion, I'm just pronouncing the word how I pronounce Spanish...

[Jake]

Here's my latest:

http://www.onestamp.co.uk/recording2.wav

[fside69]

i think you sound mexican

[jvmills]

Sounds way better than most expat Spanish I hear everyday!!!

[Jake]

I tried recording again, but this time something much longer ... I make quite a few mistakes with pronunciation and grammar and also a speak VERY slow!

Comments please guys, some Spanish people have said it's weird, (maybe because of the mistakes??), however please comment on it as a whole and my pronunciation, and how I can improve. Do I say all the sounds correctly? The stress? Etc

http://podcast.jakestainer.co.uk/

Thanks all, I look forward to hearing some comments:)

[Calcetina]

He escuchado el podcast. Tu pronunciación es muy, muy buena.

Hay algún fallito. Dices pérfil en vez de perfil; siría en vez de sería; en "empecé a estudiar español" suenan más erres de las que hay; me parte el culo en vez de me parto el culo; sistima en vez de sistema; para je la gente sepa en vez de para que la gente sepa y el "luego" de "hasta luego" suena algo diferente.

También hay algún error que no es de pronunciación.

Enhorabuena, sigue así porque la verdad es que se te entiende perfectamente :thumbs-up: