Learning a Spanish Accent

[poli]

In fact the growing lack of freedom of press in Argentina is an international current event both in US and European newspapers. Argentina has had a very dark political past, and if the past is any indication of the future, maybe even messed-up Italy would be a better place to live.

As a foreigner, it appears to me that Argentina can have a bright future. It has a huge middle class where education ia prized. It has vast unpopulated space and natural resources--both of which are the envy of the world.
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A proposito, existe un substituto inglés para la palabra American cuando American significa estadounidense. La palabra de que escribo es un poquito antiguo pero valido hasta un punto. Es Yanks. El problema es que adentro del
mismo pais Yanks o Yankees pertenence a la gente del noreste del pais nada más. Un sudeño no es un Yank.

[aleCcowaN]

Getting Italian citizenship doesn't imply leaving to Italy, not even moving out here. It's just that a doppia citadinanza may be a very useful thing. I can't apply for a French or a British one because generations have passed and -even if legally possible- part of the 19th-century documentation was destroyed when a Presbyterian church in 'Pampa's Podunk' inexplicably burnt down to the ground around 1940, about the times my family most needed it to prove the link with a great great grand uncle of mine who moved to the States and died alone, having an oil company taken his farm in Oklahoma and extracted oil during years.

[A mí tampoco me gustaría que me dijeran que parezco yank cuando me pongo mi quepi sureño -mucho más cómodo que los gorros pochito o golfista que se usan acá- después de haber comido grits o tarta de batata]

[micho]

Originally Posted by caliber1

First of all, this is an excellent thread. I work with a lot of guys from Mexico who have had kids in the US. Their kids are raised in the US speaking Spanish at home and english pretty much everywhere else. They don't sound native in either language. I have a neighbor who is Mexican but born here in the US. We talk about Spanish sometimes, but she asked me if she had an accent. I was honest and said yes. She got mad because she wanted to speak like, as she put it, a gringo. LOL! I try my best to pronounce as best I can. I made a choice a long time ago not to be embarassed and that has helped me improve my pronciation. I still have a long way to go, but I wouldn't keep trying if I didn't think it was possible. Again, great thread!

Estoy completamente de acuerdo con esto: Vivo en una ciudad en el norte de España de 250000 habitantes y puedo distinguir a los que han nacido y vivido en un barrio determinado por el acento. Conozco a una Alemana que ha vivido en Madrid por mas de 30 años y sigue teniendo tremendo acento alemán, y esto se puede aplicar a los andaluces cuando salen de Andalucía: nunca pierden todo el acento. Los gallegos cantamos al hablar español y eso es muy dificil de eliminar.
Sé también que locutores y politicos hacen cursos de técnicas de dicción para eliminar los acentos locales, y que lo consiguen.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Los cursos de dicción a actores extranjeros para que adquirieran el acento mexicano solían ser la norma (de unos quince o veinte años para acá, ya no)... a algunos de nosotros nos sorprendió saber, hasta hace muy poco, la nacionalidad de gente como Amparo Rivelles, por ejemplo.

[CrOtALiTo]

Originally Posted by sparkling

How difficult is it? Hardly anyone who is foreign speaks perfect US accent. Is it possible to learn Spanish accent?

I think that is almost impossible, already you don't catch the accept of other country in your life, you will can speak it clearly but perfectly, I don't think so.