Help with a video on rtve.es

[oktavian]

Thanks very much for clarifying that, it was driving me nuts. Now that you transcribed it, I can hear it. This forum is great.

By the way, I don't think the problem here is that the speaker is Catalan. The man at 0:08 is clearly influenced by his mother tongue when speaking Spanish - you can hear the underlying intonation of Catalan, but not the guy at 0:38. That guy speaks very much the type of colloquial, underpronounced Spanish that you often hear it wherever you go and that is a huge challenge for us, foreigners.

Maybe Tomisimo can open a separate forum for this type of questions - listening Spanish, where people can ask about small parts of videos on youtube, rtve.es etc that they can't hear/understand well or at all. This is the most important part of learning the language, with millions of people struggling, and if you don't have a native speaker around, there's no one help available. This being the most difficult part of learning Spanish, it will make this forum very popular, and more popular than wordreference forums, as they do not allow posting links and this type of questions.

[aleCcowaN]

Originally Posted by oktavian

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Maybe Tomisimo can open a separate forum for this type of questions - listening Spanish, where people can ask about small parts of videos on youtube, rtve.es etc that they can't hear/understand well or at all.

Good idea. I've learnt a lot doing the same as you do. I've sometimes asked in Youtube and got excellent answers through their comments section.

About your video, my experience with Catalan speakers is that those who speak Spanish at home have a perfect European Spanish pronunciation; those speaking both Catalan and Spanish at home have an excellent pronunciation with a slightly Catalan accent; but those speaking Catalan in their home while growing have the kind of accent you -and me- have troubles to understand.

[oktavian]

Thanks for that. I'm in Australia, and with no native speakers around me, I'll post my questions with links here from time to time. I'll tell other people that study Spanish at a more advanced level that they can get help here with fragments of clips (audio or video). But if we open a separate forum section, it will be great. I - and everyone else - would come here more often not only to look for answers to my questions, but see what other people find challenging regarding spoken Spanish from different parts of the world. If I find something very hard to understand, the chance is other students will. In that way, the more listening practice we get, by listening to clips other people post, the better our understanding will be. I vote for a specialized listening forum It will be hugely popular.

[Don José]

Originally Posted by oktavian

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By the way, I don't think the problem here is that the speaker is Catalan. The man at 0:08 is clearly influenced by his mother tongue when speaking Spanish - you can hear the underlying intonation of Catalan, but not the guy at 0:38. That guy speaks very much the type of colloquial, underpronounced Spanish that you often hear it wherever you go and that is a huge challenge for us, foreigners.

There has been a lot of migrants from Andalucía to Catalonia, and now it's not difficult to see the influence in the language. That guy at 0:38 says something as:

"Hombre, no sé quién vendría, pero sería un palo grande pah toh loh aficionaos, seguro."

This is similar to the standard way of talking in Andalucía. "Aficionaos" instead of "aficionados" can be hear in many (?) places in Spain.

I've met people born in Catalonia whose parents were Andalusian, who show clearly the Andalusian influence, although they don't sound Andalusian at all. This influence can also be contagious. I wouldn't dare to assure it is the case of the guy at 0:38, but it could be.

[Tabita]

Originally Posted by oktavian

Thanks very much for clarifying that, it was driving me nuts. Now that you transcribed it, I can hear it. This forum is great.

By the way, I don't think the problem here is that the speaker is Catalan. The man at 0:08 is clearly influenced by his mother tongue when speaking Spanish - you can hear the underlying intonation of Catalan, but not the guy at 0:38. That guy speaks very much the type of colloquial, underpronounced Spanish that you often hear it wherever you go and that is a huge challenge for us, foreigners.

Maybe Tomisimo can open a separate forum for this type of questions - listening Spanish, where people can ask about small parts of videos on youtube, rtve.es etc that they can't hear/understand well or at all. This is the most important part of learning the language, with millions of people struggling, and if you don't have a native speaker around, there's no one help available. This being the most difficult part of learning Spanish, it will make this forum very popular, and more popular than wordreference forums, as they do not allow posting links and this type of questions.

The guy at 0:38 speak perfect spanish but speaks very very very fast so it is hard to understand for not native speakers. I'm Spanish (Madrid) and I've never heard someone talk so fast.