Caso cerrado

[caliber1]

So I've been watching the show "Casa Cerrado" on Telemundo because i can understand the judge very well and it gives me an opportunity to listen to accents from many Spanish speaking countries. Now Ive got a couple questions.

1) They refer to the judge as "Doctora". Is that normal to refer to a "juez" as a doctor?

2) Is the judge from Spain? Some of the words with the "s" sound come out with a "th" sound and my partner at work always says that is Spanish from España. Is that "th" sound unique to Spain or are there South American countries thy have the same accent.

¡Gracias a todos!

[Rusty]

The 'th' sound for the letter 'z' and the letter 'c' (when followed by 'e' or 'i') is unique to certain regions of Spain.

'Doctora' is a university degree. Any female with that kind of degree may call herself 'doctora'.

[caliber1]

Gracias Rusty

[Elaina]

¿No se te hacen muy extremos los casos que salen en ese programa?

Te cuento, a veces pienso que son "staged" (¿cómo se dice staged en español?)

[JPablo]

"Staged" = puesto en escena... (montado, organizado, arreglado, orquestado...) (En España, yo diría "montados"...)

[Villa]

Originally Posted by caliber1

So I've been watching the show "Casa Cerrado" on Telemundo because i can understand the judge very well and it gives me an opportunity to listen to accents from many Spanish speaking countries. Now Ive got a couple questions.

1) They refer to the judge as "Doctora". Is that normal to refer to a "juez" as a doctor?

2) Is the judge from Spain? Some of the words with the "s" sound come out with a "th" sound and my partner at work always says that is Spanish from España. Is that "th" sound unique to Spain or are there South American countries thy have the same accent.

¡Gracias a todos!

Hola amigo caliber1. I like this show too. You're right there are people on the show from different Spanish speaking countries. Anyway I love the fact that you say that you understand this judge very well. She is Cuban. Born in Cuba and rasised by Cubans. My wife is Cuban. I've been to Cuba two times and have spent a lot of time with my Cuban relatives(and Cuban friends) in California and Florida where most Cubans live. This judge clearly speaks like a typical Cuban. Ironically most or many Spanish speakers from other Spanish speaking countries usually complain that the Cubans speak too fast etc. etc. I had a Mexican friend that bragged that he could understand Cubans while most Mexicans could not. So good for you if you can understand her.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Originally Posted by caliber1

1) They refer to the judge as "Doctora". Is that normal to refer to a "juez" as a doctor?

2) Is the judge from Spain? Some of the words with the "s" sound come out with a "th" sound and my partner at work always says that is Spanish from España. Is that "th" sound unique to Spain or are there South American countries thy have the same accent.

For your first question, Rusty is right. She seems to have a Ph. D. degree, and that should be the main reason why they call her "Doctora". Also, in many Latin American countries (not in Mexico), lawyers are usually referred to as "doctores". I don't know if they are all compelled to have such university degree.
However, I think that an important reason why she is not called "juez(a)" or "Señoría", as judges are referred to sometimes, is because she isn't a judge, but only a notary public. Her court is just a representation of what a judge would consider and decide, but in fact she's just a referee.
Participants sign two contracts: one before the program starts, where they promise to respect and do what the referee will decide, and one after she closes the case, where both parties are told what to do. But the parties aren't obliged as strongly as if they had received a real sentence from a judge.
These documents are helpful for the "victim" partyt hough: if the other one does not keep their word, the victim can start a judiciary process for not abiding by the referee's decision, and then an actual judge will decide on a sanction and/or a way to enforce the law.

For your second question: she is Cuban, but she seems to have a slight defect of pronunciation. I think this is some sort of neurological thing rather than a regional accent matter.

[Villa]

Originally Posted by AngelicaDeAlquezar

For your first question, Rusty is right. She seems to have a Ph. D. degree, and that should be the main reason why they call her "Doctora". Also, in many Latin American countries (not in Mexico), lawyers are usually referred to as "doctores". I don't know if they are all compelled to have such university degree.
However, I think that an important reason why she is not called "juez(a)" or "Señoría", as judges are referred to sometimes, is because she isn't a judge, but only a notary public. Her court is just a representation of what a judge would consider and decide, but in fact she's just a referee.
Participants sign two contracts: one before the program starts, where they promise to respect and do what the referee will decide, and one after she closes the case, where both parties are told what to do. But the parties aren't obliged as strongly as if they had received a real sentence from a judge.
These documents are helpful for the "victim" partyt hough: if the other one does not keep their word, the victim can start a judiciary process for not abiding by the referee's decision, and then an actual judge will decide on a sanction and/or a way to enforce the law.

For your second question: she is Cuban, but she seems to have a slight defect of pronunciation. I think this is some sort of neurological thing rather than a regional accent matter.

Angelica,

Since my wife of many many years is Cuban and we only speak Spanish and I have a very extended relationship with Cubans and am use to how they speak Spanish I was just wondering how you came to the conclusion that this Cuban judge has a slight defect of pronunciation and or a sort of neurological thing. Did you read that somewhere or are you just saying that because to you she sounds that way? Maybe you could be right but to me she just sounds like any other Cuban speaking. However I would like to point out that Cuba is a fairly big island about 600 miles long and they do have a variation of accent from one end of the island to the other. For example my wife is from the far eastern part of the island away from the capital La Havana and her accent is different from theirs. Of course all Cubans share many of the same traits of speech. That being said I was quite surprised in the difference in the accent from the Cubans of La Havana and the part of the island my wife is from.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

She definitely has a Cuban accent, but her pronunciation is certainly not a matter of regional accent, as it's not a consistent replacement of "s" for Spaniards' "z". This is a personal speech feature.
Some pedagogues believe this is a neurological problem, while some others believe it's a vice people acquire as they grow up. I don't necessarily agree with vice-theories.

[Villa]

Originally Posted by AngelicaDeAlquezar

She definitely has a Cuban accent, but her pronunciation is certainly not a matter of regional accent, as it's not a consistent replacement of "s" for Spaniards' "z". This is a personal speech feature.
Some pedagogues believe this is a neurological problem, while some others believe it's a vice people acquire as they grow up. I don't necessarily agree with vice-theories.

I would like to hear from some of our other native Spanish speakers about this. Especially native speakers from Cuba.
Listen below and tell us what you think.


caso cerrado - YouTube

Was just talking to my wife about this in Spanish. She says la doctora of Casos Cerrados talks like any other Cuban and has no speech defect.

My wife found this and I translated it into English.


Cuban Spanish Is almost Identical to Canarian Spanish(Canary Islands, Spain)

As you know that Cuba received the most Canarian immigrants in Latin America, except for Venezuela. Because of this, many Cubans are just Canarians who grew up in Cuba, and some are just mixes of Canarian, Galician, and Asturian(different regions of Spain). But, because of the huge Canarian emigration, the Canarians pretty much formed the base for the Cuban dialect themselves, with help from others. But, the swapping of cultures between the Canary Islands and Cuba is also bi-directional, to the point that much of the music in the Canary Islands stems from Cuban music. As you can see in the link below, the Canarian dialect of Spanish is close enough to Cuban Spanish, that when a Cuban comes in contact with a Canarian he/she may think they are Cubans from a different part of the Island. Also, when a Canarian hears a hears a Cuban speak, they may assume that they are Canarian from another part of the archipelago( usually the island of La Palma).

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by Villa

Cuban Spanish Is almost Identical to Canarian Spanish(Canary Islands, Spain)

Yes, except that the Canarian dialect has significant differences between the seven island. Not that it matters much because they are all totally incomprehensible.

[Villa]

Originally Posted by Perikles

Yes, except that the Canarian dialect has significant differences between the seven island. Not that it matters much because they are all totally incomprehensible.

Hola amigo Perikles. ¿Cómo has estado? Espero que bien.

So you are saying that they are incomprehensible to you? By "they" you mean the Cubans or the Canarians or both? Do you have contact with people that speak the Canarian dialect and or Cubans? The article basically says that the Canarian dialect and the Cuban dialect/accent is almost the same. So I would take it that both the Cuban and the Canarian dialect is totally incomprehensible to you. ¿No es así?

My wife is Cuban and we speak only Spanish together so I really want to know if you can understand Cubans when they speak. Above is a video/audio of Cubans talking. Can you understand them or are they totally incomprehensible to you? I can understand Cubans and Puerto Ricans perfectly along with Mexicans. I also understand Portuguese, Italian and French. I wonder how I would do trying to understand Canarian dialect.
Since they say it is very similar to Cuban dialect I don't think it would be a problem for me. At any rate you say you have not had contact with Cubans. Well here is your contact with them now. Let me know if you understand them.