Bolillo's speaking practice

[bolillo]

How does this sound to you (Not the actual sound of my voice, which I don't like)? This is after several attempts. I think I do fairly well on the pronunciation, but I have a hard time not sounding...like an English speaker learning Spanish. have heard worse, but how obvious is it or how natural does it sound to Spanish speakers?

text:
El aire todavía es gratis; hablar no. Hoy se habla más por teléfono móvil que en vivo; se vuelcan más palabras por la red de celulares que en la red de la vida. La tecnología nos puso al descubierto. Palabras que antes no salían de la boca ahora salen como si nada. El celular las incita.
No es ya raro que una mucama lo mantenga incrustado en la oreja mientras pasa el plumero y habla sin parar en voz baja para que la dueña de casa no la oiga. Es una suerte que el sonido del mar como fondo mejore en la playa el derrame de los gritos humanos en los aparatitos. Sé que hay partos donde captan el llanto del recién nacido para que sus abuelos en alguna otra parte, por celular, lo escuchen al instante.

[JPablo]

Not bad at all, Bolillo.
To me (with a Spain viewpoint) few points show that you are not native,
* The sound of the “r” in “aire” and maybe in some other places. (suerte)
* The sound of “j”, sounds too “h”. Spaniards from Spain pronounced harder, maybe in the South and/or Latin América is more aspirated (as you say it, but to me is one of the points to work on.) “Oreja” (oreha). Tecnolohía...

There are some words like (abuelos) that can be more articulated. Otherwise, you are doing fine... Keep practicing!

(Let’s see what others say... that’s my own perception.)

[wafflestomp]

Originally Posted by JPablo

Not bad at all, Bolillo.
To me (with a Spain viewpoint) few points show that you are not native,
* The sound of the “r” in “aire” and maybe in some other places. (suerte)
* The sound of “j”, sounds too “h”. Spaniards from Spain pronounced harder, maybe in the South and/or Latin América is more aspirated (as you say it, but to me is one of the points to work on.) “Oreja” (oreha). Tecnolohía...

There are some words like (abuelos) that can be more articulated. Otherwise, you are doing fine... Keep practicing!

(Let’s see what others say... that’s my own perception.)

Nice work

I agree with the j sounding too much like an "h"... also, when you say descubierto, pronounce it more like "des - coob - e - air - toe with a lot of stress on the coob... the way you pronounce it just sounds not right to me.

Everything else was great though... you sound very Latin American

[JPablo]

Yes, I agree with Wafflestomp, on this "descubierto". What he is telling you is a very good advice. I.e., Spanish tends to be very well articulated. That doesn't mean that people do not slur words and go fast... but if you hear a telecaster, even if they talk fast, the articulation of the syllables is very precise and clear...

As far as accent goes (Latin American/Castilian) I wouldn't put much attention on that, but I would stress my practices in DICTION. (I.e., concentrate on improving one aspect at a time...)

When I talk "English" my accent is typically Spanish, (not as marked as Rafa Nadal) maybe closer to how Pau Gasol talks, if you've heard these guys talk... but my attention is on communicating a concept with the best articulation I can... But the key point, is that if you articulate the correct vowels and consonants, you are understood by the person who listens to you. And one key point too, is to be interest-ED, not to be interest-ING. I.e., the more interested you are in the person you are talking too, even if you do not "talk" perfectly, but want to convey a concept, you'll do it. Anyhow... I am maybe going few steps ahead... but I hope that helps you.

[ookami]

Well, they've gave very good advices. I will add for you to speak slower, separating the words (at least at first) with emphasis. I think you're going to improve really fast if you continue practicing this way. But for speaking well, the main activity is listening and repeating. Listening.

[JPablo]

Originally Posted by ookami

Well, they've given you very good advices. I will add for you to speak slower, separating the words (at least at first) with emphasis. I think you're going to improve really fast if you continue practicing this way. But in order to speak well, the main activity is listening and repeating. Listening.

I agree with Ookami on the listening part, listening and repeating does the trick, if you keep at it.

[Ookami, I fixed your first sentence as noted. You could also say, "they gave you very good advices" But "they've gave" doesn't work.]
(Bolillo or some other English native speaker, can tell us if my other fixes are applicable or not.)

[bolillo]

Thank you, thank you, thank you!! This is exactly the sort of advice I was hoping for. I agree that I need to work on the "j" and the "r". I don't think that Latin American Spanish does as hard of a "j" sound, but it is definately not an "h" sound. I think that in English the "h" is the closest and without meaning to I tend to pronounce that. And I am in total agreement with Wafflestomp (cool name!), and JPablo about the articulation. I think that is what makes Spanish so hard for native English speakers to understand, is the fast and articulate speaking making an almost staccato type sound. I will practice on that for sure! Clearly ookami is right that I need to work on speaking correctly slower and maybe the proper velocity will come to me later...

P.S. ookami, Advice is the plural of advice. JPablo is correct that it is "they gave" or "they've given" and "I would add that you speak slower". But otherwise perfectly put. Advice that I will be putting into practice. Thank you guys so much!

[wafflestomp]

Your fix is correct.. however you missed something, it's "very good advice" not "advices". You never say "advices" in English. You can also say "They've given very good advice" without the "you" there.

You could have said "for speaking well" also, but your correction is much more grammatically correct than his original, although what he said was not entirely wrong.

[JPablo]

Thank you for these points, Wafflestomp!

[CrOtALiTo]

Originally Posted by bolillo

How does this sound to you (Not the actual sound of my voice, which I don't like)? This is after several attempts. I think I do fairly well on the pronunciation, but I have a hard time not sounding...like an English speaker learning Spanish. have heard worse, but how obvious is it or how natural does it sound to Spanish speakers?

text:
El aire todavía es gratis; hablar no. Hoy se habla más por teléfono móvil que en vivo; se vuelcan más palabras por la red de celulares que en la red de la vida. La tecnología nos puso al descubierto. Palabras que antes no salían de la boca ahora salen como si nada. El celular las incita.
No es ya raro que una mucama lo mantenga incrustado en la oreja mientras pasa el plumero y habla sin parar en voz baja para que la dueña de casa no la oiga. Es una suerte que el sonido del mar como fondo mejore en la playa el derrame de los gritos humanos en los aparatitos. Sé que hay partos donde captan el llanto del recién nacido para que sus abuelos en alguna otra parte, por celular, lo escuchen al instante.

It's good your improve in the language, really you did it good in the practice, I believe that you only need more improve in the words, you need to be more clean in the you are saying, you try to leave the American accent, you try to speak more fluently the language.

You reach that with the daily practice, you should to listen the radio or the TV in Spanish, so I believe that you will reach the goal in to speak with a truly native.

But is a good beginning.