Spanish Views on Accents

[Perro Callejero]

In the United States, a lot of people find accents extremely sexy!

But somehow, when I am speaking Spanish, I cannot possibly see how anybody would find my awful accent sexy!! So, I got to thinking...is that sentiment only true in English...or more specifically, the US? Or do Spanish people find accents cool? Or some cool and some not?

What's the coolest sounding foreign accent in Spanish? What's the worst?

[Acosta]

What does an English person's accent speaking spainish sound like to the Spainish speaking people.

Cool, Stupid, just an accent, funny when we can't roll our R's and mix up the sexes of the nouns, ???


Just curious

[tomc52]

My accent hasn't helped me at all.

[Pepino]

This is an interesting subject for me, as I truly hate that my Manchester accent remains pretty much just as strong when I speak Spanish as in English.

More than that though, as I´ve improved my Spanish and can now look beyond the effort of just getting the words out of my mouth, I´ve started to notice that it´s not so much my accent that´s the problem, but the intonation of my voice. I´ve tried it for myself, saying a short sentence in English, and then repeating the Spanish equivalent, and I know I´m emphasising all the wrong parts of the sentence, as I notice that the Spanish version goes up and down in exactly the same way as the English, when I know that it shouldn´t in most cases. I´m not talking about the official accents in individual words (for example Llegué versus Llegue), as I´ve been told I´m pretty good at getting them right, but it´s just the rhythm of my voice that remains totally English throughout.

Anyway, the point of all this is, that I too would love to know what Spaniards consider sexy/replusive/amusing/irritating/endearing when a foreigner speaks Spanish. (I know I could just ask my friends here in Spain, but I reckon the Spaniards who use this forum will be more brutally honest! jeje)

[Marina]

Pepino, you have a nice accent!!!
I actually find that northern accent is a bit stronger and therefore more similar to the way the Spanish in general talk.

I find the British / American accent sweet... and the mistakes they make even sweeter. But then I also make mistakes in English and I have a terrible Spanish accent.

[bil]

Emphasis is vital. It doesn't matter how well you know a language, if you get the emphasis wrong, it scrambles all meaning.

Try changing the emphasis on the word calendar in English from cAlendar to calEndar, and see how strange it sounds.

I don't mind accents on other people, as it's said, it can be rather attractive, but for myself I want to be able to speak Spanish with the accent and intonation of where I am going to be living.

[Edith]

Originally Posted by icecold

Personally I don't find accents sexy at all. I appreciate if somebody makes a the effort to pronounce Spanish reasonably well. Many have lived here for ages and haven't even tried.

Some people will never lose their accent, no matter how hard they keep trying. Young children are the fastest learners because they have got an innate knack for language acquisition, but things change drastically after the onset of puberty.

Some of us adults are good at languages, others are not. My mother lived in Holland for almost 50 years and she became fluent in Dutch, but she never really lost her native German accent. She had no trouble making herself understood, though, and that's what mattered.

Therefore, I think people should be more tolerant as far as foreign accents are concerned. Too much fault-finding may actually thwart someone's learning process because some people are rather self-conscious of their oral skills. This is especially true for older immigrants and ex-pats.

[omeyas]

Originally Posted by Pepino

This is an interesting subject for me, as I truly hate that my Manchester accent remains pretty much just as strong when I speak Spanish as in English.

Yes, it's strange, it seems to affect some people but not others. In several of the videos here, the American accent seems to come through quite strongly, whilst with others, it's not noticeable. At a Spanish meeting I used to go to, I used to speak with a guy that had lived in Andalucia, and no trace of any accent to indicate where he came from, just spoke with a very strong Andalucian accent. The first time I ever spoke to him in English, I was amazed, he had one of the strongest London accents I had ever heard. But none of it came through in his Spanish. But as you say, with some it seems to transfer to Spanish. Not sure what the secret is, wish I did! I think perhaps that as your spoken Spanish improves, so your "home" accent will disappear. I have noted that people that do speak Spanish at a very good level, don't seem to have any other accent coming through. We'll have to work at it!

[Juanjo]

[quote=Edith;42459]My mother lived in Holland for almost 50 years and she became fluent in Dutch, but she never really lost her native German accent. quote]

My English wife's German teacher had a very strong Scots accent that must have transferred to her teaching with her pupils picking up the hybrid accent.

When we lived in Germany, the locals in our village in the Taunus thought my wife was Dutch because of her Scots-German accent. Don't ask me why because she can swear fluently in the Hessisch dialect!

Juanjo

[Edith]

Originally Posted by Juanjo

When we lived in Germany, the locals in our village in the Taunus thought my wife was Dutch because of her Scots-German accent. Don't ask me why because she can swear fluently in the Hessisch dialect!

Juanjo

I have been told Scots and Dutch sound somewhat alike. It's very easy for us to pronounce words like 'loch'!

[ValenciaSon]

Originally Posted by Marina

I have a terrible Spanish accent.

Marina, I find your accent fun to listen to and this is why:your Spanish accent to me is reminiscent of the days when I lived and visited Spain but it has an influence of British English so the two sound quite cool and I'm sure many Americans would share that sentiment with me. BTW, I wish I could speak Spanish as well as you speak English.

[Finster]

Personally, I like hearing different accents... and trying to guess where people are from.

Two years ago I was in Germany speaking with a bartender in the hotel who had very good English, but with a slight Hispanic accent. I didn't ask, but I was wondering why. When she mentioned that her boyfriend was from the states, I asked if he was Hispanic and she was floored that I would know something like that. She had picked up some of his accent, hehe.

[Berti]

I remember my first trip from the south of Spain to Galicia, Prior to this trip I had not travelled across Spain as a resident, and of course I was learning to communicate in Spanish according to my local environment. I was acutely aware of the vast local differences and of course of the actual different languages that exist in Spain, but only from a distance.

Having finally arrived in Galicia, close to my final destination of Porto de Son, I stopped at a petrol station and was walking towards the pay area, when I stopped dead in my tracks.

All I could hear was the other people, chatting away, just routine petrol station interactions, but as I listened, I had the sensation that I was listening to another language that was not Spanish and at the same time was struck by the wonderful lilt of this language, which as Celt, reminded me of the almost "sea sounding tilt /tone" of the Scottish Islanders.

Four days or so later, I had cast of my "panic pants" (new language here pal and you know diddly squat) and was simply enjoying the listening experience.
When I returned home to the south of Spain, I was invigorated by first hand experience of having heard, enjoyed and discovered, a part of ,the versatility of the spoken languages of Spain.

In many ways that trip focused my mind as to the complex and interesting history of this country and above all to realise and ponder on the differences, that both unite and divide Spain.

The weather presenter may now, as they do most days, enter my home and give a prediction of all of Spain's weather, but I am now alert to the mix of language and life variety that truly exist( as they do in any sizeable country) in Spain.

En fin que acento tenga los Galegos!

[deecree]

Originally Posted by omeyas

Not sure what the secret is, wish I did!

I honestly think the secret is in the listening. Those who listen more than talk, I am sure have less of an accent. I can't prove it, but I'm certain it's related somehow.

I don't know Mr Dave Pepino well for example, but I am quite sure he never shuts up. If he were to spend an entire month mingling with groups of people just listening to what they say... I'm sure the intonations of each sentence would be burnt into his mind.
However, if he spent all his time thinking up a witty remark to reply with, or only listens in order to reply rather than just listen, then such things aren't absorbed as easily.
Of course, even someone who converses with more focus on talking than listening will eventually get the hang of it.

[jonk]

Berti, hilarious story.

Hopefully I can help some forumites with an experience I had

I don't have a great accent yet but I had an interesting time in India which I think would help.

In 2002 I went with a group of people to India, a part where the spoken language was Telugu. While there I tried really hard to learn as much language as possible.

Something I noticed with many, many people is that when they learn a word they'll say it as if they've just learned a new word in the English language. They would repeat the correct letters and syllables back but in my opinion, lose the true vibrancy and feeling.

My approach was to mimic as best as I could the way it was said - tone, pitch, speed, emphasis, whatever. Try and say it like an Indian would say it, no matter how stupid I felt. My fellow travellers thought the Indians would be offended by what I was doing but they LOVED it!

After 3 weeks I had nailed the accent and many Indians told me that they couldn't believe my voice was coming out of a white man's mouth!

I've always kept that lesson in the back of my head. It's not just "how would you say this in Spanish" it's "how would a SPANIARD say this in Spanish" - take the latter path and you'll accelerate your spoken ability by leaps and bounds.

(Currently after watching Zapa and Rajoys debates over and over, my accent is like a mix of those two plus a huge dose of Aussie! Jeje)

[Pepino]

Originally Posted by deecree

I don't know Mr Dave Pepino well for example, but I am quite sure he never shuts up.

Pop the required amount of G&T in my slot and I can babble for hours, but by nature I´m more of a listener than a talker. Fairly quiet at times in fact. Especially in Spanish, I get mind-blown if there´s a lot of chatter in the background, as I need a clear conversation where people more or less take it in turns to speak in order to understand well and be able to contribute back myself. The lucky thing for me is that I´m pretty much totally immersed in Spanish. My life is conducted in about 85% Spanish and 15% English (and 100% bullsh..)

I´ve said quite a few times that I hate my accent, and I´m sure it´s not changed that much, but I know it´s got "better" as someone pointed out just yesterday that my pronunciation of "joder" is even more swallowed than even your average Spaniard. It comes out as something like "jo-errr" nowadays.

I should make a short recording of myself speaking and play it back to myself to get a full grip on how I´m improving or not.

[richardksa]

Originally Posted by Pepino

... my pronunciation of "joder" is even more swallowed than even your average Spaniard. It comes out as something like "jo-errr" nowadays.

Watching "Aida" on Sunday evening (a great source of "real", and also very rude Spanish) I noticed the d in "Joder" was pronounced with a soft "th". But we are Madrid and you are BCN, so maybe that's the difference.

Originally Posted by Perro Callejero

What's the coolest sounding foreign accent in Spanish? What's the worst?

Coolest, Italian speaking Spanish.

Worst, tie between German and Swedish.

[Urgellenk]

I think it is not the accents which are sexy but the speakers.

Having strong accents did not prevent several foreign celebrities from having successful carreers in Spanish tv. However, I beleive that very few people would call the accent of immigrants in Lavapiés or El Raval "sexy".

[eldeano]

Originally Posted by Pepino

I should make a short recording of myself speaking and play it back to myself to get a full grip on how I´m improving or not.

Why not do another video blog?