Columbian dialects?

[Fazor]

First off, jeeze has it been a while since I've been here! Time sure flies.

Anyway, I was watching an ESPN special the other day on the Columbian National Fútbol club and it's rise and subsequent fall, as it was tied into the narco-terrorism culture and, more specifically, financial influence from Pedro Escobar.

More to the point; much of the show consisted of interviews, most of which were Columbians and in Spanish with English sub-titles. But I couldn't make out anything they were saying . . . not that I can typically comprehend Spanish as spoken by a fluent speaker that well anyway. But with the subtitles, I'd see words that I should know, but didn't hear spoken anywhere. While I was watching, I though that Columbia must have their own language that's related to Spanish but different; but after watching the show and checking the 'net, I see that the official language is Spanish, but that there's some 75 different dialects spoken.

Are these just that different from Mexican-Spanish (which is what was taught mostly in school)? Or must I have just missed that much of it (it wasn't exactly a happy subject, and a lot of the interviewees were speaking sorta softly . . . and it's already hard to hear over all the fans we have running since it's the middle of summer and very hot in our house).

[chileno]

Originally Posted by Fazor

First off, jeeze has it been a while since I've been here! Time sure flies.

Anyway, I was watching an ESPN special the other day on the Columbian National Fútbol club and it's rise and subsequent fall, as it was tied into the narco-terrorism culture and, more specifically, financial influence from Pedro Escobar.

More to the point; much of the show consisted of interviews, most of which were Columbians and in Spanish with English sub-titles. But I couldn't make out anything they were saying . . . not that I can typically comprehend Spanish as spoken by a fluent speaker that well anyway. But with the subtitles, I'd see words that I should know, but didn't hear spoken anywhere. While I was watching, I though that Columbia must have their own language that's related to Spanish but different; but after watching the show and checking the 'net, I see that the official language is Spanish, but that there's some 75 different dialects spoken.

Are these just that different from Mexican-Spanish (which is what was taught mostly in school)? Or must I have just missed that much of it (it wasn't exactly a happy subject, and a lot of the interviewees were speaking sorta softly . . . and it's already hard to hear over all the fans we have running since it's the middle of summer and very hot in our house).

No, pretty much it is the same. most likely the movie was translated by so Spanish person who translated too literally. That's all.

[Fazor]

Originally Posted by chileno

No, pretty much it is the same. most likely the movie was translated by so Spanish person who translated too literally. That's all.

Hmm. Too bad I didn't save the recording; I could have gone back and used it for practice then. I really didn't understand a thing they said.

They had some amazing talent on their National team. It's just sad the way things turned out.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Well, sportspeople don't speak "standard Spanish".
That doesn't have much to do with dialects really, but with their "abuse" of colloquial words together with their regional accents.
(Moral: never try to understand what a soccer player says.)

I think you can actually understand some words if you watch the interviews several times, until you get used to their accent.

[Fazor]

Originally Posted by AngelicaDeAlquezar

I think you can actually understand some words if you watch the interviews several times, until you get used to their accent.

It wasn't all athletes (in fact, most of the soccer players spoke in English, likely because of the international nature of their competition.) Most of the Spanish was spoken by members of Pedro Escobar's . . . gang? Cartel? Whatever you want to call it. And members of the government.

I'm sure there were a lot of idioms and colliquialisms used though. It's also hard to differentiate words, as when trying to listen to a native speaker, everything flows into everything else (which is part of the beauty of the language). I'll have to get some CD's or something to practice listening to spoken Spanish.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Oh, ok... what I said is still true about soccer players.

The cartel people could have been speaking with many regionalisms, but government officials should be easier to understand... unless they have very local posts.

[Fazor]

I'll have to look and see if they re-air the episode. It doesn't help that I'm half-deaf (literally). It was a very interesting documentary though.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

I guess it will be mostly a matter of practice.
Have fun and good luck with that.

[jrheath]

Improve your Colombian (or, at least, Paisa) pronunciation by reading the Tola y Maruja column in elespectador.com