Learning a Spanish Accent

[sparkling]

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

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by sparkling

Is it possible to learn Spanish accent?

Given enough time, yes. In my own case, people would estimate about 5000 years . It is time and exposure which makes it possible, plus native people prepared to correct you.

I have proved this possible with German, which I learned as an adult from scratch, until native German speakers thought I was German. At one stage, I was often found out because (quote) my language was too good, and I did not make the correct mistakes. Because any language has regional variations, you can learn a language to a point where a native speaker thinks you are native, but is unable to pin-point the particular dialect (because it is artificial).

This must be possible in Spanish too. German took me about 12 years, working hard . Best of luck .

[Rusty]

I've always tried to mimic the way I heard natives speaking Spanish, because I didn't want to sound like a foreigner. That said, native speakers here in the forums have openly admitted that they adore hearing an English accent.

When a native speaker says your Spanish is good, I believe it's a sure sign that they're trying to be nice. This usually means you have an obvious accent.
If they don't comment on your Spanish, you've arrived. Think about how often someone compliments another native speaker on their accent.

If you're able to perfectly mimic a British accent, or any other accent, it's possible to perfectly mimic a Spanish accent.

There are only a few consonants in the Spanish language that are pronounced the same as we say them in American English. We have more vowel sounds in English, and it's pretty difficult for a beginner to narrow them down to just a few, very consistent sounds. You'll only be able to detect these pronunciation differences if they're pointed out to you.

[chileno]

Originally Posted by sparkling

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

What Rusty says is the same for us non English natives.

The same thing happens to us foreigners. When an English native says that our English is good, usually it is because we have an accent.

One thing for sure, if you practive like Rusty says trying to imitate how Spanish speakers do, and record yourself while reading out loud, revise and retry and so forth, you will get to be fluent and mostlikely your accent will soften. And if you keep doing it you could probably lose your accent altogether.

[wrholt]

My own experience matches the comments of both Perikles and Rusty on all points. Through a combination of exposure to many varieties of spoken Spanish, practice, theoretical training and expert coaching I eventually reached the point of having native speakers think I was a native speaker "from somewhere else" for at least a few minutes until I made some error of grammar, vocabulary, or cultural knowledge that marked me as a second-language speaker.

I was able to do a lot on my own by simply paying attention to what I was hearing and mimicking it as best I could.

However, achieving a native-like accent is more involved than pronouncing the individual sounds correctly in context: meaning is also affected by patterns of pitch, stress, intonation and juncture (that is, the ways of pausing between different parts of an utterance); I needed expert coaching to improve them, and I never realized I needed it until I got it as part of a college course on Spanish pronuncation.

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by wrholt

...until I made some error of grammar, vocabulary, or cultural knowledge that marked me as a second-language speaker..

Yes, in that order of likely mistake. Even if you achieve the ideal grammar and vocabulary and all else, some obscure reference to, say, a children's story which you've never heard of, can give the game away. Not that it matters much. Body language can play a part too.

[Rusty]

Originally Posted by Perikles

Body language can play a part too.

Absolutely! If you don't place your hands just so or use your lips to point, it's a dead giveaway (at least in Central America) that you're not a native speaker!

[Don José]

In Dublin I was once introduced to a guy and he spoke to me in Spanish. After a while he asked me to guess where he was from. I said Madrid. He said he was Irish. Another time it was a Turkish guy, and I thought he was from Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay... I've met other people who spoke a good Spanish but it was obvious that they were not native Spanish speakers.

So it's possible.

Some years ago I came across one of my English teachers who was English. After at least 20 years living in Spain, he kept his English accent.

[Glen]

Among speakers of English there is a tendency to become careless with the sounds of Spanish vowels, which are consistently pure. One thing that I (and many others I've heard speak) have to guard against is unconsciously letting the "a" of the final syllable drift into an English-sounding "uh" - a sound that Spanish does not use at all. For example, it's so easy for us in the heat of conversation to slip up and say the word "tomorrow" as mahn-yah-nuh rather than as mahn-yah-nah.

[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!

[aleCcowaN]

Originally Posted by caliber1

... I have a neighbor who is Mexican but born here in the US...

What would that be? Born in the Mexican embassy? Born before Guadalupe Hidalgo?

[Rusty]

... neighbor who is of Mexican descent but born ...

[chileno]

Originally Posted by aleCcowaN

What would that be? Born in the Mexican embassy? Born before Guadalupe Hidalgo?

Many Americans confuse race with nationality.

[aleCcowaN]

Originally Posted by chileno

Many Americans confuse race with nationality.

Assuming those Americans are from the United States and not from Peru, Brazil or Canada, what do they have in mind when they speak of a Mexican race? A Mayan? Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong and his slant eyes? A lady from Durango that resembles Frida Kahlo? Carlos Slim Helú -the richest man in the world- and his kin? Louis CK? Or a generic, multi-purpose, all-terrain dude or dudette having 75% American Mongoloid genes and 25% Caucasian genes? (If so, what is exactly the racial difference with a Guatemalan? -A quote from Crash comes to mind: Ria: "You want a lesson? I'll give you a lesson. How 'bout a geography lesson? My father's from Puerto Rico. My mother's from El Salvador. Neither one of those is Mexico." | Graham: "Ah. Well then I guess the big mystery is, who gathered all those remarkably different cultures together and taught them all how to park their cars on their lawns?")

It amazes me the effort they put to sort out bloods and still appear as politically correct, for instance in Scotty McCreery's biography and his (not-truly-american?) granny.

[chileno]

Originally Posted by aleCcowaN

Assuming those Americans are from the United States and not from Peru, Brazil or Canada, what do they have in mind when they speak of a Mexican race? A Mayan? Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong and his slant eyes? A lady from Durango that resembles Frida Kahlo? Carlos Slim Helú -the richest man in the world- and his kin? Louis CK? Or a generic, multi-purpose, all-terrain dude or dudette having 75% American Mongoloid genes and 25% Caucasian genes? (If so, what is exactly the racial difference with a Guatemalan? -A quote from Crash comes to mind: Ria: "You want a lesson? I'll give you a lesson. How 'bout a geography lesson? My father's from Puerto Rico. My mother's from El Salvador. Neither one of those is Mexico." | Graham: "Ah. Well then I guess the big mystery is, who gathered all those remarkably different cultures together and taught them all how to park their cars on their lawns?")

It amazes me the effort they put to sort out bloods and still appear as politically correct, for instance in Scotty McCreery's biography and his (not-truly-american?) granny.

The term "American" depends of the context in which it is used.

If a person says "I am an American" and the person was born in the United States of America, he is just stating he is a natural of this country.

If you or I say we are Americans, we are stating we belong to the continent América.

That's all.

It is the same problem I am alluding when I said that americans (naturals of this (USA) country) confuse race with nationality.

In your case, you confuse a country with a continent.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

@Alec: Although this may not necessarily be the interpretation given to the word "Mexican" in this thread, you can actually be a Mexican born in the USA. Mexican government recognizes Mexican nationality to the children of Mexican parents. (Three generations of people born in the USA can keep Mexican nationality if they have demanded it from Mexican government.)

[aleCcowaN]

Originally Posted by chileno

In your case, you confuse a country with a continent.

Yes, it's certainly me . It certainly should come from not following Teddy Roosevelt teachings.

Originally Posted by AngelicaDeAlquezar

@Alec: Although this may not necessarily be the interpretation given to the word "Mexican" in this thread, you can actually be a Mexican born in the USA. Mexican government recognizes Mexican nationality to the children of Mexican parents. (Three generations of people born in the USA can keep Mexican nationality if they have demanded it from Mexican government.)

Good to know. Here we favour ius soli over ius sanguinis. Anyway I'm currently applying for Italian citizenship, just in case the local political and economical developments go more south becoming even more Chavez-like.

[poli]

Italy isn't good either Alec, but at least they got rid of Il Cavaliere. In English we often say the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. From what I've seen, Argentina has a good standard of living.

I'm sure I've written something similar to this before but most natives of the USA do not refer to themselves as Americans because of Teddy Roosevelt's or Monroe's expansionist visions, but because of a lack of a good easy way of saying it any other way. There is no term United Statesians. As of yet we have little other choice. When US citizens call themselves Americans, it may sound jingoistic(although some are) to the rest of America, but it's used mainly because of a lack of a better term. Of course in Spanish you may say estado unidense, but that sounds very clunky to me too. I use it nevertheless.

[chileno]

Originally Posted by aleCcowaN

Yes, it's certainly me . It certainly should come from not following Teddy Roosevelt teachings.

Not sure what you are talking about, but, since you mentioned you are trying to get the Italian citizenship, and here I am assuming, I take it you have an Italian surname.

Not sure, but most likely your family has already been in Argentina for some generation(s), so you were born in Argentina, and your ancestors were Italian.

I bet some people in Argentina, friends and others would call you "tano" (Italian) even though you were born in Argentina.

Well, are you Italian or are you Argentinian? You cannot be both.

Now, the people that call you "tano", are they being mean or racist in anyway? They at any moment call you "tano" in anger, are they being racists or just angry at you?

Originally Posted by poli

Italy isn't good either Alec, but at least they got rid of Il Cavaliere. In English we often say the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. From what I've seen, Argentina has a good standard of living.

I'm sure I've written something similar to this before but most natives of the USA do not refer to themselves as Americans because of Teddy Roosevelt's or Monroe's expansionist visions, but because of a lack of a good easy way of saying it any other way. There is no term United Statesians. As of yet we have little other choice. When US citizens call themselves Americans, it may sound jingoistic(although some are) to the rest of America, but it's used mainly because of a lack of a better term. Of course in Spanish you may say estado unidense, but that sounds very clunky to me too. I use it nevertheless.

When you say the rest of America, you're talking about the continent, clearly.

Estado unidense, is indeed clunky, moreover, it is wrong because Mexican could be called estado unidenses too, since there is that "Estados Unidos Mexicanos" in the name of their country.

Norteamericano isn't a choice either, since Canada and Mexico co-exist with America, in America (the continent)

OK, I'll lay it off now.

[caliber1]

Oops. I didn't mean to start a debate I promise. I meant nothing bad when I said I had a neighbor who is Mexican. I may have been able to word that better