Nooooooo Superholly!!!! Estudiaba en Barcelona y los acentos del norte de españa son los mejores. Hace 2 años, fui a Memphis y los mejicanis allí creían que era español. ( Soy de Liverpool) Pidé judías y no me entendían. No tenían ningún idea ¡Su palabra era frijoles!
6 ปีที่แล้ว +468
It's pretty cool to find american people who don't want to keep that stereotype of being so self-centered about the language, instead they're making huge efforts to improve their spanish (or any other language whatsoever). Great job! Keep going, manejas un buen español. Saludos.
Hi Luis, I'm one of those Americans. Really trying hard para mejorar mi acento", pero es muy difícil. My listening is fairly good, reading too, but sometimes I want to quit because if I can never improve my accent, then what's the point? No Spanish speaker will ever be able to understand me. :(
Blitz Of The Reich: I agree...so many Hispanic immigrants and migrants having lived here for 5, 10, even up to 20 & 30 years and still haven't learned -- or refuse to learn -- English...
Growing up on the west coast of the US, I was privileged to usually be surrounded by Mexican kids and, feeling left out, I would try to imitate their accents. That was in English, but as I became a bit fluent in Spanish as an adult, it naturally affected my Spanish. Now I am always flattered and a bit proud when Mexicans ask me if I am from Mexico. I often say, 'No, but I am Mexican at heart.' For those who hold back from imitating native speakers, remember that imitation is the highest form of flattery.
That’s fantastic, Jackson. And great point. Imitation is the highest form of flattery. Congrats and getting so good you can fool a Mexican. Those are #lifegoals ! Thanks for watching and commenting. ¡Saludos desde México, amigo! -Jim
I'm the same way, i was the only gringo for 3 years in a kitchen full of people primary from or descended from mexico, but also other latin and south american countries. They almost all spoke English so I didn't really learn too much Spanish other than names for the food (I learned French instead of Spanish in school), but I would subconsciously imitate their way of speech in English. Now that I'm beginning to learn Spanish, I'm definitely still trying to imitate my friends accents when i speak Spanish (primarily a Mexican accent). I hope i perfect it 🥲 still only a few months in
That was my goal when I was learning English. I recently met an American couple whom I became friends with and they asked me what part of the States I was from. It didn't cross their mind to think I'm Mexican.
My partner is Mexican and didn't learn English until his late teens or early 20's. When I introduce him to my American friends, it takes them a minute or two to realize something's not right only to find out English isn't his native language. He's has an almost perfect American English accent. I'm always annoyed he can do that but I can't, as well as proud he can. Oh! And it was all self taught. So it can be done - for inspiration.
Gringo accent can be heard in a lot of languages not just in spanish, I went to france to learn french and it was so easy to identify who came from the US or Canada, just by hearing them speak french
I think your suggestion about listening to singers is actually super helpful. I'm a classically trained singer and we study IPA, the International Phonetic Alphabet, because we must sing in many languages and sound like native speakers. Its important to note that there is a difference between stage speech and regular speech. Certain things are emphasized in stage speech to make it clear over long distances. So we study how to pronounce vowels, consonants, etc. in other languages as a native speaker does down to a very exact positioning of the lips/tongue/ throat/other parts of the mouth, how/where/if the sound is voiced, how air passes through the vocal tract ... its possible to study this down to a science! Linguists take it even further because they don't have the limitations of the stage.
That’s fantastic! For me, improving my accent isn’t about feeling guilty, but about improving my language abilities. I think the subject of correct pronunciation can not be fully explored without also talking about accents. Accents and pronunciations overlap in many ways. Thanks for watching! -Jim
Spanish and Go 🤝 off course I understand, nothing wrong with being better at improving, it really does depend on the situation, Spanish varies from town to town! im a bodywork and paint tech and deal with Nigerians,middle Eastern and a few other races so I know about accents! I decided to learn them just for self improvement also so they would feel offended and to show respect, which ever way it goes, just be yourself and your on the right track! kudos brochacho! 👌👍✌️
I was raised in the US, but my mother is Bolivian and so I learned castillian spanish. I have heard Puerto Rican spanish and spanish from Panama, and I agreee that they are quite difficult to understand. However, my dad runs an orchard, and I often speak to the field manager of the orchard, who is mexican, and have found that my Bolivian/Peruvian Spanish sounds much more clear and less slurred. But, I still find Mexican spanish much easier to understand than puerto rican spanish. But I also find that there is a lot of weird slang and borrow words from english. For example, the word used all around the world for Spanish for "truck" is "camioneta" but in parts of Mexico particularly near the border, you can often hear people say "trocka" instead. Despite the presence of slang, Mexico is a big, and beautiful country, with amazing people and amazing culture, and I really do think that the amount of slang present in the spoken spanish is dependent upon exactly where you are in Mexico.
Hey there, I grew up in the US and my mom is Bolivian and my Dad is English! Kind of crazy to think how I even happened haha. Good for you for learning Spanish and seeking out different dialects!
I'm a native Spanish speaker and I don't even know what I'm doing here but it's hard to keep ur eyes away from this guy's face wth, no homo btw Keep it up, sir
I’m a Mexican American but growing up in Wyoming I wasn’t really able to practice my Spanish. I have a slight American accent which I had no idea of until I went to Mexico and my family pointed it out. Now I’m trying to get rid of it and constantly making progress. As well as increasing my Spanish vocabulary. I’m close but when I start getting into intellectual conversations I lose my grip and my American accent comes out.
Henry Kissinger once commented on people in the US complaining about his strong German accent. He said that when he returned to Germany, people there commented on him speaking German with a Swedish accent! If you don't have a decent accent, people won't understand you. These are great tips, especially imitating the people you are speaking with. When I had exchange students I always told them to pick someone they respected and then mimic their speech as closely as they could, even if they went overboard.
I regularly tell my wife who is from Xalapa Veracruz Mexico and often self conscious about her accent in English , “un acento significa que la persona es muy inteligente, porque puede hablar en más que una idioma!” (an accent means that the person is very intelligent, because they can speak in more than one language)
Accents are beautiful and they get a bad rap because people don’t realize the accents don’t matter at all. It is the PRONUNCIATION which matters! Someone could say that an accent can interfere with good pronunciation but really LISTENING is what is lacking more. Make listening number one if you want good pronunciation.
I stumbled across your channel and love the style of videos you guys are creating! As a fluent non-native Spanish speaker, I still have a strong American accent so I always appreciate tips. One challenge is that I've mixed a number of different accents from living in three different South American countries. However, it wasn't until I started coaching non-native English speakers to reduce their accents that I figured out the primary reason I personally have an obvious accent in Spanish. I always focused on pronunciation of consonants (which varies from dialect to dialect), but the real problem is importing English word stress and intonation into Spanish. Think about it - in Spanish, all syllables are more or less the same length. Yes, some are emphasized with volume, but they're not lengthened like they are in English. In English, we add extra shape to our vowels, but Spanish vowels are more pure (which makes them shorter). On top of that, bringing an enthusiastic American tone into Spanish enhances my accent because pitch is different between the two languages. When I work with Spanish speakers who are fluent in English, they usually have an accent because they're taking the rhythm directly from Spanish and not lengthening stressed syllables. My Cuban-born college Spanish instructor told me to drill vowels and it only took me 15 years to understand what she meant. Hope this insight helps someone! 😀
Thanks for sharing that, Kim! You're right! If you don't have a group of people from one region you can model your accent after it'd be hard not to mix them, but it's good if you can blend in by adapting your accent to the area you're visiting. And you made some very good points about vowels in Spanish and English. Thanks for watching! :) -Jim
Creo que el mejor acento que podrías adoptar es el español de España porque es español neutro (no el del sur que es parecido al latinoamericano) si no el del norte como por ejemplo Madrid
¡Para nada! Si uno es de los Estados Unidos o Canadá, deben estudiar y aprender el español latinoamericano, especialmente el español de México, Centroamérica o el de los países andinos: Colombia, Perú y Ecuador. Esos países o regiones hablan un español MUY claro, bien pronunciado (no como el trabalengua-español del Caribe). Por supuesto, para los europeos, es razonable y tiene mucho sentido que estudien el español peninsular, es el español con lo cual van a tener más contacto. ¡Es tan ridículo un norteamericano estudiar el español de España, como un mexicano aprender el inglés británico! No tiene ningún sentido.
Standard educated Spanish from any country is clear and understandable for all Spanish speakers . Slang can vary a lot ,from a country to other , from a social clase to other , from a city to other .... but once you are fluent in standard Spanish,and have a decent pronunciation , you only need to learn some local slang , phonetics , entonation .... It is like the cream in the cake , only necesary when the cake is already done. To improve your listening skills is good to hear as many different accents as possible .
I'm learning Spanis on duolingo. Learning is difficult enough without worrying about local accents. When i travel the world people understand my Aussie accent in english. I imagine it would be the same for spanish.
No creo que mi acento suena como nativo aún, pero como griego! Griego suena parecido a Español entonces ayuda mucho (y no hablo como hablo inglés jaja). En Europa es más fácil conocer Españoles y también he visto más series españolas entonces creo que mi acento a veces se puede sonar así pero pronuncio con seseo entonces una mezcla! Siempre tengo ese dilema porque tengo amigos de intercambio de México, Colombia y España. Además hablo con vosotros porque me parece más lógico y necesito saberlo por los exámenes de Español! Si vivo un día en un país hispanohablante voy a intentar mucho hablar con ese acento. Saludos de Grecia, me encanta el idioma español!
I love Jim and May of "Learn Spanish and Go." I listen to your podcast religiously as I am trying to improve my intermediate level Spanish to "near fluency!" I don't think we should ever judge people if they can't pronounce certain sounds in other languages that are not their native languages (not just Spanish). My mother is Japanese and has been speaking English since she was in her early twenties but she speaks with a thick Japanese accent. My mother-in-law is Mexican and has been speaking English with a heavy Mexican accent since she was in her late teens. I think the fact that they both have learned another language and are fully literate in both languages without formal learning is highly commendable!!! I admire both of them so much! Of course, making an effort to perfect our second, third and fourth languages is a great thing to do (and Jim's points are all so wonderful!). However, we should also open our hearts and minds and appreciate when people are doing their best to learn other languages and we should become more accustomed to hearing various accents. . . Since I am a native Japanese speaker, pronouncing words in Spanish comes quite easily. However, if I were to learn Arabic or Urdu or another language that I have not spoken before my vocal cords were developed, it would be understandable and acceptable that I wouldn't be able to pronounce certain sounds. Can I practice and try to come close in speaking more like native speakers? Of course! I can try! In any case, this is not a criticism at all. . . Having grown up in multilingually/multiculturally/multiethnically blended households, communities and environments in two countries, my family and friends have all become accustomed to hearing all kinds of beautiful accents and forms of languages! There is nothing wrong with "having accents" ( "So-called accents are just linguist points of view & vantage points." ). . . Due to the inequality of nations (power differences), some accents are valued and given more prestige and status than others. . . And having listened to various forms of Spanish, I find "Mexican Spanish" (which is super broad and also has variations regionally as Jim and May have covered in your various shows) the most comfortable to speak and listen to. . . My friend from Spain would say that's a "Mexican accent" and I would tell her, "I love your Castellano Spanish! Grathias!" LOL! Thanks for another great video, "Spanish and Go!"
YES. THANK YOU. FINALLY SOMEONE THAT UNDERSTANDS MY EXCRUCIATING PEEVE! Authentic accent is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT in ANY LANGUAGE, in order to be taken seriously by whatever language and culture you're trying to blend in with. This is especially important in spanish. They may not ever say it to your face, but when mexicans, latinos, etc hear non Hispanic ppl try to speak Spanish in a very cavemanny like gringo accent, it makes then cringe inside and often feels like an insult to their beautiful language. I made it priority number ONE TO GET MY ACCENT PERFECTLY. For me, knowing a language is meaningless without the skill of authentic accent. I have the fortunate pleasure and privilege to work with mexican coworkers every day, as well as interact with mexicans outside of work often, and when i ask them "como es mi acento", a lot of times, they GENUINELY THOUGHT I WAS MEXICAN! X'D. (Even though I'm Cambodian.) There is nothing more satisfying than being able to blend in with the Mexican community, and understand their language. I take great pride in my effort to perfect my accent.
It's important to me, too, if not for the rr. 😒 I'm not exaggerating when I say that I've been practicing for decades. I just can't roll my rr like a native speaker can, and it's not for lack of trying. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I can't roll the rr at all, but I definitely struggle with some words depending on where in the word the rr sound is. Otherwise, I try to speak Spanish with a Latin or South American accent.
Many of the people I work with here in Humboldt Co. Ca. are from Argentina so I try to emulate that when speaking with them. However I am kind of old so this is taking a long hard time. But I shall persist. I really appreciate all that you have shown me. Gracias. Kelly.💥
The best advice I can give you is practise the vowels! A, E, I, O, U, sound different and they always sound the same in spanish. Practise those 5 sounds close perfection and you don't have to worry about anything else as all the consonants sound fairly similar and we'll understand any variations or country accents. But the vowels are absolutely key in Spanish and it is where English speakers screw it the most
@@mellymel8157 just remember that in spanish vowels are just like pure musical notes. It doesn't matter how long they are (contrary to English) and they don't make wavy variations in their tune. Just like musical notes (do, re mi, fa, sol...) *Absolutely key* Begginers guide: pAn, pEn, pIng-pOng, pUnk Stick with those sounds and you'll sound less gringo 😁
@@lahabitaciondelatrapado4621 Thank you! I'm adding your beginners guide to my notebook. Last night I spent some of my Spanish learning time simply focusing on vowel pronunciation. I'm hoping it pays off.
I am kind of proud of my accent, as it is part of my identity. I know that some people may not like it or where I am from, but it tells people who I am, and I am content with that. An important goal for language development is to be communicative. This is what I think people should strive for, and i was hoping to hear about that. Thank you for your video! :)
It's true, but some people aim towards certain scales, where the least non-native speaker you sound the better, so it's understandable why sometimes it's better to try to change your accent to a more native one, as he said, it depends on what your goal in English is.
For most of my time in college, I tried imitating the Castilian Spanish accent (with the distinción of s and z/ci/ce instead of seseo), and I had wanted to study abroad in Spain for a semester, but instead I ended up studying abroad in Chile for my last semester of college. On my way to Chile, I spent 4 days in Costa Rica, and ended up switching to seseo 2 days into my time there. Since I listen to a lot of bands that are from Buenos Aires, I like the Argentinian accent now, but I feel weird about trying to imitate it outside of Argentina/Uruguay (where y and ll are pronounced like sh). In most of my experience in Latin America, I feel like it’s been a dead giveaway that my first language is English, but on a couple of occasions, someone has guessed that I’m from Brazil. Maybe it’s a good sign if I sound like my first language is another Romance language.
I'm trying to figure out if I want to learn Spaniard Spanish or Mexican version, is there a big difference? Or is it more like, UK and America, where some words are slightly different. (My girlfriend speaks Spaniard Spanish, but it's long-distance and i live in the states, so would it be more beneficial to learn the Mexican version?). Or if I speak the Mexican version could I be understood by her?
I would disagree. We should all embrace our differences. When. Spanish speaker speaks English, their is an apparent accent. When in Mexico, people act ignorant in the accent.
Me gusta este vídeo. Estoy aprendiendo español de México porque quiero ir allí y enseñar inglés. una amiga me dijo que mi acento es una mezcla del acento de España y el de Latinoamérica jaja. gracias por tus consejos
¡Hola Tiana! Jajaja ¡Qué fortuna tener dos acentos ya! Puedes perfeccionarlos y usar el que necesites en el momento. ¿Has estado en México? ¿En cuál parte del país te gustaría dar clases de Inglés?
Spanish and Go No, no he estado en México. No sé exactamente donde en México quiero ir. Solo sé que para mi, el acento mexicano es el más fácil de entender. También, me encanta la cultura y la comida de allí. Muchas gracias por responder a mi comentario :)
Wow that’s extremely similar to me, my friend told me i sound like a native spain speaker even though ive been trying to obtain a mexican accent. Ill take it tho 🤷🏾♂️
I think Mexico, Ecuador and Perú have similar accents, in general ; but it's okay that the accent depends where you are even into the country because there are many accents there
It’s strange, and I don’t know if that happens in all languages, but in Spanish you will always tell if a person is a non-native, even if their Spanish is incredibly fluent or they don’t make grammar mistakes, accent in Spanish is really hard to imitate if you speak it as a second language. And I noticed this is due to the fact that most Spanish learners don’t link words or they pause where it’s not right to do so. My tip is LINK AND BLEND THE PREVIOUS WORD WITH THE NEXT ONE. When a person from the US speaks, they always do it as if they were pronouncing every single word. They also use their own vowels (which are lazier and less rounded than Spanish ones). Get rid of that first of all. Then correct your consonants. Remember than Spanish has two ‘d’ sounds, two ‘b’ sounds, three ‘r’ sounds, two ‘s’ allophones, stressed vowels and non-stressed vowels, etc, etc. In ‘dedo’ the first ‘d’ sounds absolutely different from the second one. In ‘babero’ he first b has nothing to do with the second. In ‘acorralar’ the first ‘r’ is stronger than the last one, or in ‘encarar’ both ‘r’s’ sound different even if you think they don’t.
Very interesting! I'm from Germany (German native speaker as well^^) and most times people can't guess I'm from Germany when I talk Spanish. Most times they have no idea where I'm from, though they say, they can hear I'm not an English native speaker. All in all, I have two different opinions about copying an accent. On the one hand I think it's nice blending in and not being identified as a gringo right away. On the other hand I think - what's wrong with the fact that Spanish is not my native language? :) Thank you for this video, very helpful :)
That is interesting! German seems to be the most common guess I get, but a lot of times people are unsure. I think it's okay that other people know that you're not a native by your accent. My main message here is that there's always room for improvement, and sounding like a native - or at least close to one - has some great benefits. Thanks so much for watching! I appreciate your feedback! ☺️ -Jim
Spanish and Go another way of seeing it could be comparing it to cooking recipes from other countries. I believe it is common sense to try to give those recipes the native touch, at least to have it as a goal, regardless of how successful your attempt ends up being. It makes less sense to try to make sure that your paella has a Boston touch.
The whole goal of learning a language is trying to learn it to the best of your ability and to develop as native an accent as possible; otherwise, you are parroting the language, not speaking it. When I speak Spanish, almost all native speakers think I am Mexican, due to my accent. Und wenn ich Deutsch spreche, sagen mir die Deutschen, ich spreche ohne (amerikanischen) Akzent.
We have lots of accents in Colombia but the most neutral is that of Bogotá, it's very clear and well articulated. However, people on the Caribbean coast of the country, where I live, tend to speak with an accent similar to that spoken in Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico
Funny enough, I have been learning Spanish for about eight years now. I started when i was 11 years old and pronunciation was never an issue for me really BUT in terms of listening, my biggest problem is that I live in the caribbean so I'm surrounded by the hardest spanish accents ever so developing listening skills is quite difficult 😭
girl same!!! Im in Grenada and for some reason lots of dominicans and puerto ricans come here, and I also try to listen to their conversations (eavesdropping ik but i have to do what i have to do 🫠😭😭) I never understand them and then i get discouraged cus when I listen to TH-camrs, siempre los entiendo!!!
When I began learning Spanish in middle school, I developed an accent when speaking Spanish rather quickly. I don’t speak too fast or too slow, but I speak slow enough to make sure I don’t get tongue-tied. Oddly enough, I’ve tried that a few times, and the cat got my tongue almost immediately.
This is completely normal. It happens to Jim all the time, too. So don't worry, just keep practicing and looking for ways to use your Spanish more. Little by little you'll be able to keep the cat at bay. :p Thank you for watching and commenting!
Hola soy Americano y creo qué la acento es siempre importante y ayudas mi en conversaciónes en el celular y en persona también, muchos gracias tu dos es e génial video por acentos. Si los de verdad que palabras estár diferentes desde paìs al país. Ustedes el grandesto!
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Just for curious people in Spain we don't say gringo, but guiri. Normally refering to Germans and British, but also to people from the States.
If you are from the US you should learn not Mexican Spanish but the US Spanish. You have forgotten that more than a half of the US territory was part of Spain for 300 years (still in the year 1800: from the Mississipi river to the Pacific Ocean. plus Florida and the south of Alabama, it all was Spanish territory), so Spanish was spoken in the US Southwest 300 years before English was. And people living there have never stopped speaking Spanish. The Spanish language belongs to your country exactly as much as your English.
I'm a native mexican-speaker and the tongue twisters are difficult for us so I think for English-speakers will be more difficulty xD. I want to improve my English listening, accent and grammar, and it is interessant to see tips for improve an accent in spanish
Abraham ENCINAS TERAN *interesting and true. i do think with that accents in English we tend to even associate with regionalism, ethnicity & even classism. (same in every language aka "sociolects" but still). so copying those social division problems (especially when you're more of an outsider) is cumbersome. i think that my search for a spanish accent comes from my experience in English of having to calculate accents to understand words, usually the vowels. and so since in USA about 92% of our population is does the main stuff in English. so we don't really have a generalized sense of other languages. we seek it in classes, read the words, go with the accent notes. also when unfamiliarity happens like this we're trying to do that with speakers to be actually listening instead of hearing. so yeah, reading descriptions of accents is hugely helpful. but then yeah, that way of prescriptivism is counterproductive. but yes, the better approach to this would be discussing what the gringo/USA accent is & discussing how to make it less so. i think encouraging seseo, not saying English z, never do glottal t's. also saying while in english consonants are more stable while vowels change from accent to accent, in spanish it's the opposite. therefore lesrning how to pronounce the vowels precisely is very important to losing your accent. also when you're converting accents you start with the vowels & figure out the consonants. then it's probably developing the raspy h-sound (i suggest actually saying the h at the end of common phonetic spellings in english like uh, ih, eh, ah, oh, etc. then of course r's. basically learning that r's that the beginning of words are also erres while at the end of words is basic is kind of helpful. personally, then i second guess myself in mid-word syllables. especially since sometimes those r's are actually sounding like english d's like "moriré". but to be fair, i also know that spanish d's are more like english th in "the". and then Spanish t's are more like a combination of english t & d. personally also i just make my r's raspier like i do the h-sounds. it's not exact, but i can actually form that & i actually feel some trilling in my own mouth when i do that. also since consonants vary more in Spanish, i assume i can get away with it somewhat. and then i struggle with choosing either english b or v for spanish b/v because it's actually a 3rd sound for spanish. but they're also 1 sound. (although near the USA-Mexico boarder I've heard that some speakers are starting to pronounce them differently as in english.)
Para los que hablamos español se nos hace fácil entender a un Italiano si eres un aprendiz del español y estás entendiendo algo de italiano vas por bien caminó eso significa que lo estás haciendo muy bien
A good reason for learn Mexican Spanish is that almost every country in Latinoamerica understands it, because Mexico produces several material like movies translations, music, tv series. I can't imagine a child in Latinoamerica who don't saw "el Chavo del ocho" or some "novela mexicana". Argentina could be closer but definitely no at the same level.
@@eve36368 We use a lot of slang in a day to day basis, literally I just had to think about it. Argentina has a lot of Italian descents and you definitely can tell on most slangs.
@@giuliana4682 omg my 1st year Spanish teacher learned Spanish through knowing Italian & so she said when she's speaking Spanish less accent-consciously her accent would get perceived as Argentinian (even though she's not Argentinian)
My boyfriend doesn't speak Spanish either and he is gringo too but I would never laugh if he would try to speak it because he would try to make me feel better. We should never laugh inappropriately if someone can't pronounce words well..
Emily Sampson theyre both pretty neutral, I would recommend you Bogotá Colombia Spanish, it's pretty neutral and I think you can understand it easily, even tho Colombia has many many accents but yea id say that one it's ok.
Kerplunk785 yes i like Bogotá Spanish.....it is pretty easy to understand! my boyfriend is from there so that is probably the one i'll end up going with 😊👍🤗
My family is from Colima, I’ve never been, because it’s “dangerous” they say... I’m 24, your videos are really motivating me to make a trip :) My Spanish isn’t the best, I get stuck. Definitely need to expend my vocab. Any tips?
Bloody hell I LOOOOVE Spanish and I speak in Mexican and Chilean accent and end up confusing every human near me....hehe I'm a half Somali half Chilean 😊😎
Awesome! We've been in Mexico City a couple of times. It's a cool place! We want to spend more time there. Where in Mexico are you going this time? -May
I think it’s hilarious that americans hear me speaking Spanish and they are not sure what language it is. I am from Argentina and our accent (especially being from Buenos Aires) is so different to other spanish speakers that can sound like another language lol
I would recomend you the Neutral Mexican Voice Actor accent. Look for any cartoon in Latin American Spanish, and hear their pronunciation (I like a lot the voice actors of the classical Dragon Ball Z). For us native speakers, if you mark one foreign accent heavily, you are putting an extra barrier between the comunication, so neutral spanish works the best worldwide (Even we use it! : ) )
@@howtubeable That's the dumbest thing ever. The vast majority of countries learn the British way of speaking as a second language. And how can be a dialect "neutral"? Only the original language can be neutral.
My mother is Salvadoran (San Salvador), and my husband is Colombian (Bogotá). I can understand both of them well, they both speak very clearly, and enjoy speaking to each other. They just have some different hergas. I'm still learning.
I don't think that your american accent be a problem to understanding your Spanish, I don't think at all. In my opinion is most important the vocabulary that you use to, this one could very diferent in every Spanish talking countries. También me resulta extraño que no hablen en español en el vídeo, en los vídeos de consejos para hablar bien inglés hablan en inglés de principio a fin, so talk in Spanish!.
Learning spanish from spain in my opinion is best to learn, because... They use the "vosotros", which is only used there. It‘s not much more work to learn one form more with the others. If you later go to... idk... Colombia you just can leave it out, but if you don‘t learn it at first, it‘s harder to learn it later if you once wanna go to spain or live there. The z, ce/ci, are pronounced th, but in other places like s. If you know the word is pronounced canthión, you will write it: canción. If you know th pronounciation as cansión, you’ll more likely make these spelling mistakes you don’t do when the pronounciation of s and z, ci/ce are different But actually the question of which spanish to learn is answered by: Follow your heart I believe
I was hoping you would give some specifics for things that make English speakers sound obviously foreign when speaking Spanish. For instance: - 1) Not pronouncing the "t" as an explosive sound 2) Incorrect tongue position for the "d" sound (need to put it in position for a "th" sound, but not pronouncing it as a fricative) 3) Not pronouncing "l" far forward enough in the mouth 4) Overly harsh pronunciation of some consonants
Vowels also contribute to a heavy accent. For example, this is what I see a lot of people advising when it comes to approximating Spanish vowels: A = "ah" as in" father" E = "ae" as in "blade" I = "ee" as in "green" O = "oh" as in "phone" U = "oo" as in "moon" While these are "close enough" approximations for the absolute beginner, they are (except for I = "ee" as in green) very imperfect. The Spanish A and U are pronounced further towards the back of the mouth than the vowels in "father" and "moon", respectively. Moreover, the "long" O and A sounds in English are actually diphthongs, whereas the Spanish O and E are both pure vowels. I honestly cringe every time someone advises that the Spanish E is "Like the Fonz...'Ayyyyyy!'"
Good video, and another tip I would recommend (I haven't done this in Spanish, but I don't think the language you're learning really matters) is what's called "adopting a parent." Choose someone (doesn't matter who) in a podcast, youtube channel, radio show, whatever, and try to copy THAT person's speech specifically. Why is this good? Have you ever met someone, then met someone in that same person's family and noticed how similarly they speak? Little things like intonation, certain words they slur together, etc. You probably speak a whole lot like your parents, and if not your parents, someone close to you. That's because you mimicked not just "American English" but SPECIFICALLY that one person's English. Luckily, Spanish is phonetically very similar to English (relatively speaking). I've been doing this with Japanese for a very long time. Japanese and English are NOTHING alike. Japanese doesn't even have stress at all. Furthermore, while Japanese doesn't have tones, it does have pitch. Pitch is very hard to learn for English speakers. And even through all of that, by mimicking this one podcast I found that has a man and a woman (not that the gender matters, but still), I improved my pitch accent, rhythm, and overall very minute details about my Japanese that I would have never been able to do by simply copying "the Japanese language" or "standard Tokyo Japanese." Do this with Spanish and I promise you'll see improvement very very quickly :)
I find Spanish Spanish much easier to understand. Mexican Spanish tends to sound, to me, a bit like American English, where the words are more rolled, as compared to English English. For example, in English, the word sentimental. In English English, they would pronounce both t's. In American English, they roll over them, so it sounds like "Sennimennal".
I think you shouldn't bother with having an accent, but put all your effort in pronounce correctly, particularly vowels and their combinations (dipthongs, tripthongs) which are very tricky for anglo speakers. For better pronunciation listen to boleros, the very old ones, from the 40's and 50's, they are short and low paced songs, you will improve, and also learn the iberic spanish pronunciation, everything will be clear in short time, and you will be able to speak the way that most pleases you. That is my advice. I'm native spanish speaker.
Spanish and Go... Hola!.. Correct pronunciation implies to say "pato" and not "patou" (it sounds like that to a native spanish speaker), or "patara" to say patada or patata. Pronouncing words like eugenio, negar, cuello, hondo, trujillo, cuchillo, usually are difficult for foreigners (not only for english speakers). It is vital to know the difference between single r and double rr so you can be able to say: pero (but) or perro (dog), the initial r (allways strong) like in rosa, ropa, is forgivable. Now the accent, we call accent to a particular way of "singing" the language, and we spot instantly the most known accents or language singing like in a spaniard, or mexican, argentinian, chilean, puertorican, cuban, etc, because they are easily detected by the way they sing, no matters the words they use or how they pronounce them because the pronunciation is the same for every word, but some particular regional inflexions on the language makes for argentina "plasha" not playa, and for others plaia... for shortened words, well, these can be easily noted, and they also exist in english too... these details you can know them but you will be understood if you use any form of them. For spanish the pronunciation is the same, it doesn't matter the singing. A neutral spanish is what you are looking for, do not go for regional words to name things, there are common words to everything that are universal to everyone in every place. I think that having several words for an object is an advantage. I hope this helps. And congratulations in learning other language, to me it opens frontiers and bring you closer to cultures that were once far away.
Cutting off the end of words is known as "clipping". For example, in southern Spain, I notice that the hispanohablantes say, "Buen dia" for "Buenos días". Whether in Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Spain, or other Spanish speaking country, I try to use phrases the locals say.
From the other side of the Atlantic ocean, english from England, and spanish from Spain. Saying that standard english is the one from the U.S. is like saying, Trump is the president of the world. I enforce you to come to Spain, and take a look at the many accents we have, not only the one from the south as you said, cutting letters... I probably will say that US accent is like "chewing bubble gums" english accent, not the "standard" one at all.
¡Hola, Juan! Thanks for commenting. I just want to be clear - I never said that Mexican Spanish, or any Spanish for that matter, is the "standard." What I did say was the type of Spanish you should learn ultimately comes down to the region you want to visit or live in. For most people in the US (TH-cam tells us this is where most of our audience is from) who want to learn Spanish but don't know where they would like to visit, Mexican Spanish makes a lot of sense. For those who want to visit or live in Spain, learning Spanish from there makes the most sense. For those who are undecided about where they'd like to visit, it all comes down to the numbers for me. Mexico simply has the most native Spanish-speakers of any Spanish-speaking country. ¡Saludos! -Jim
Isn't saying that Spanish from Spain is more 'standard" than let's say Spanish from Latin America like doing the same thing but on the other side of Atlantic? ;-) I do love a lot Spanish from Spain, but let's be fair. Spanish speaking word all over the globe is diverse and part of it's beauty and appeal stems from this diversity. Of course Spanish from Spain is not uniform, just like Italian is not one standard monolith, but rather a mixture of dialects, some as exotic as "el greco" which is a mixture of greek words with italian grammar and phonetics. As for "standard English"- British will always claim it's British, Amercians that's it's Amercian English, while most learners will know there is more to this than just those two versions plus some will prefer aussie or even Canadian version. ;-) Or will use one of various international versions- like people from China or African countries wh freely mix their own native language with English. And yes, people from India who use some words with stems from Hindi also claim that they speak pure British English. ;-)
They can claim whatever they want. I understand american people is more about to learn spanish from Mexico because they are neighbours, meanwhile there is no wall... and there are many mexican people living in the States, but also chinese people. So the standard language doesn't come from the biggest country or the biggest population speaking that language, it has nothing to do in my opinion. I guess it's more a question of neighbourhood or proximity, so it's fair you learn the spanish from the closest country to yours, or whatever but that doesn't mean its the most extended or even it's the standard one. In that case spanish did not came from South America as english did not came from USA. Peace.
Peace to You too. Or like some sources say Spanish people would say "tengamos la fiesta en paz".;-) As far as USA goes, I suppose the entire world already is well aware that it's all about "drinking Tequilla in Tijuana at least once in the lifetime", right? ;-) As for the wall- if anyone would ask me, with or without it, looks like Spaniards are likely to win in the end anyway. Just look at how strong Spanish got in USA economy recently. In practice it's just second language of the business world inside the United States. I guess former white dominant class of this society has hard time while coming to terms with this fact. Whereas as for now there is no indication of any slow down on the part of dynamic Spaniards.
Im Hispanic, therefore I speak Spanish. Even though my goal is learn English, I felt curious abt your channel and I loved it! Great accent by the way, saludos desde Mx. Ya cuentas con una decidirá más 😊
¿Qué acento mexicano quieres aprender? Hay muchos acentos en las diferentes regiones de México: el norte, la península de Yucatán, la Ciudad de México, la zona occidente (Guadalajara, Sinaloa)... Hay acentos también de acuerdo con el nivel socioeconómico.
Así como habla la mayoría de los mexicanos cultos de clase media y alta, no como los campesinos del rancho (que apenas se entiende la mitad de lo que dicen).
Mexico does have a variety of accents and tonalities. The most pronounced ones are in the southern beach areas. Some people's first language is an indigenous one so their Spanish accent is unique.
Funny how this is about learning an accent and all this time i have proclaimed to be trying to loose my accent, as a i came to the us when i was nine, i have achieved to sound like a "natural" english speaker but i never thought i was learning an accent, i was getting rid of one.
I don't know what accent I have but I know I have one. I had a co-worker who was originally from Honduras and when I started talking she gasped and was all " You have an accent!" lol
:p Hahahaha It's probably the same accent of the person you learned the language from, or the resources you used for learning. Thanks for watching! -May
Sunshine18 "I'm already Spanish" referring to the fact that I am a native at the Spanish language. I'm sorry if sounds weird in English. That happens when English only have the "am" but for us might be "ser" or "estar" and sometimes there is a clear difference between those two.
Sunshine18 I thought it could be inferred, just like Jim did. But I guess not everyone has the capability to do it. I'm sorry, I'll be more careful while typing next time ;) .
I am curious if you ever met any native Russians speaking Spanish they learned at some point. Russians have a pretty distinct accent in English because of their Rs, the way the roll them. I wonder if it helps them developing a good accent in Spanish.
Elizabeth Jones well I don't mean to offend you but is really bad accent, you don't pronounce words correctly especially the R sound you pronounce it like an L
Daniel Sandoval it the way we grew up speaking Spanish, am learning Mandarin Chinese and some people from other areas of China , drop certain letters and pronounce things differently, so I think you will get variety in the way people speak regardless of the language,but am not offended, I love speaking to my family and friends from Puertorico
Daniel Sandoval Maybe its just some of the people you know, here in puerto rico all we do is use our R's lol.. its just some people just like in other countries or cities have a deeper accent like in texas or minnesota. The majority here do use their R's correctly.
Yo tampoco elegiría el acento mexicano como ideal para aprender, es demasiado marcado y no el más "entendible". Les aconsejaría el boliviano. Es más neutro y mejor hablado... Por lo menos desde un punto de vista de un chileno.
I think depends on where you come from if you are from Italy will be easier to learn Argentinian Spanish or if you are from brazil will be easier to learn Colombian Spanish
@@QuarianGhost esta probablemente hablando del acento rolo, de la capital, aunque es verdad que para gente de otros países es bastante marcado ademas de que la mayoría de gente asocia el acento de la región cafetera y antioquia con Colombia
Maria Ximena Otalora Cordoba yo creo más que nada es porque está acostumbrado a su acento, para mi el neutro es el de mi región porque lo escucho todos los días que ni siquiera noto el acento, los colombianos todos los días escuchan su acento por lo cual sentirán que es neutro. Al final todo el acento que no sea el tuyo sonará muy diferente porque es algo a lo que no estás acostumbrado
@@LikeAStone1016 no es exactamente marcado, pero en este caso sería "strong". Marked sería en otros contextos, "remarkable" Puede usarse para decir es muy notorio.
I'm afraid I do not agree with you on that. I believe that the purpose of a language is to be able to communicate efficiently and as long as I speak clearly and be understood, I don't think I have to be worried about my accent. I met siblings who grew up together and yet they have different accents. Imagine three friends talking. One of them is a non native Spanish speaker with a clear accent and the other two are native Spanish speakers but one of them has a very strong & thick accent and speaks super fast. Which two of the three do you think will be able to communicate efficiently? Besides, I have a question and this is for you and for those who read this comment. I've watched many videos on this topic on TH-cam and came across some hostility from some Americans and South Americans towards Spain and Spanish accents. Does anyone know the reason for it? Thanks for reading.
The spanish of an educated speaker from any spanish-speaking country is the best spanish. This idea that mexican spanish is the best to learn is nonsense, unless Mexico is where you want to go. 1/3 of spanish speakers are from Mexico? It's actually more like 1/4. The "dropping of sounds" from words - particulalry the "S" is so widespread (all of the Caribbean, most of Central America, many parts of South America, and most of southern Spain) that this feature is basically the norm in Spanish. If the Spanish you learn is the one where the "s" is always pronounced, you'll struggle with the millions of spanish-speakers who don't speak this way.
Thanks for commenting! About 25% if native Spanish-speakers live in Mexico. There’s another 10% living in the US, 63% of whom are Mexican. So roughly 31% of spanish-speakers world-wide speak Mexican spanish. Just short of 1/3 by 2 points. -Jim
I was being generous with my 1/4 statistic - it assumes all residents of Mexico are native Spanish speakers. If you subtract the speakers of native languages and immigrants living in Mexico, you realize that Mexico actually contains less than 1/4 of all native spanish speakers in the world. If you add second language spakers to this statistic, the weight of Mexico is even lower, since there are millions more second language speakers who are not from Mexico. To say that 1/3 Spanish speakers in the world are from Mexico is an exaggeration, regardless of whether you count Mexicans in the US and their descendants.
but OMG the suggestion of conforming to seseo is hugely awesome. like i notice that when i actually try to do that, my syllable pace picks up more fluently. basically i trip over such s's. i suppose actually keeping the s's is very anglo-gringuese because in English s's are so prominent. also not making our consonants change voicing. this is especially important with ses. because english z basically doesn't exist. and english tends to drop our t's with glottal stops. so -st literally becomes s while in spanish it'd become t. so basically using seseo & pronouncing t's that tap with my tongue instead of glottal stops is important.
samot8728 Mexican Spanish is the worst. Come at me Mejicanos. Personally, I'm probably the only second language speaker I know who regularly "drops the S" when I speak Spanish, even in an area dominated by Puerto Ricans and Dominicans among Spanish speakers. I also regularly use forms like -ao, instead of -ado, which is also pretty rare among the second language speakers I know.
Nathan Nguyen i just want to say back in the x meant sh which then became h. since it's a transcription of an indigenous word, i hate the erasure of that j in this case. granted, it's there like in spain in order to tell other europeans that it's not ks. then again, as a native English speaker etymology affecting spelling is kind of a priority.
😆 We’re glad you stopped by! You wouldn’t believe how many people try to argue with us and say that your accent is Dominican! I always send them back to your channel. ¡Saludos! -Jim
As for the "RRRRRRRRRR," I can't do it! In 40 years of speaking -- and relearning -- the language, I have a speech impediment, I simply can't trill my r's.! I'm jealous of you all! Envidia sana!
I'm in south Alabama so my assumption is Mexican Spanish is what I should work on. Though I'm still just trying to figure out where the hell to start... I've started a few video programs but they all go way too fast for me... I'm considering just learning a word a day from the "50% of spoken Spanish" videos, though that's not going to help me with understanding the differences and when to use the variations Japanese didn't have all these issues! Though I never did finish learning Japanese, the more I'm trying to start with Spanish, the more I want to run back to it, two alphabets, kanji and all!
Im learning the catilliano from Spain a bit. My favoriete spanish accents are : 1castilliano with catalan accent. Im not sure if i heared it right. But a few times near barcelona i heared a spanish I liked very much to listen to. 2 textbook spanish i learned from a spanish course, here also took up the virus for romance languages 😁 3 argentinian spanish 4 colombian spanish. My birth place. So far as which accents to learn after learning the basics ,for handyness, colombian but i also like to develop my own accent as a pièce of art: arefalo-martín a spanish with some Dutch pronounciation of some letters and a japanese r in words. at the end rr. I like that r
Adam Zepeda Español Latino, dice usted ¿Sabe lo que realmente significa latino? Si usted es latino es porque habla una lengua latina como es el español, además del francés, italiano, portugués y rumano, entre otras muchas menos importantes. Todas estas lenguas latinas, que le hacen a usted ser “latino”, nacen y son europeas mucho antes del descubrimiento de América. Son lenguas derivadas del latín, que era la lengua hablada por los antiguos Romanos.
Sylvie :v No, no lo es. A los latinos Americanos se les comenzó a llamar latinos porque hablaban español, pero no son realmente latinos, o mejor dicho no son los originarios latinos. Se lo intentaré explicar. Los auténticos latinos originales son los Europeos, y lo son porque hablan lenguas latinas. . En Europa existía una uniformidad racial, todo el mundo era blanco. En la América de habla inglesa la colonización prácticamente exterminó a los antiguos pueblos nativos, en la América de habla española, esto no fue así. Los españoles no hicimos colonias, sino que incorporamos territorios a La Corona, otorgando a los antiguos nativos los mismos derechos que al resto de españoles de la península, mezclamos nuestra sangre con los antiguos pueblos que habitaban el continente, por eso hoy en día los norteamericanos son mayoritariamente blancos de origen europeo o negros venidos de Africa, mientras que los latinoamericanos son mayoritariamente una mezcla de razas o nativos americanos que hablan español o portugués. Está muy generalizado tanto en USA como en el resto de America la creencia errónea de que los términos latino, y Spanish son una raza, cuando NO lo son, solo hace referencia al origen de una lengua o a una nacionalidad. En USA existe la palabra Spaniard para para dar a entender que eres europeo, porque si dices que eres Spanish se creen que eres mejicano en muchos casos, o te dicen que no pareces Spanish, teniendo que explicar incluso a veces donde está España. Sin embargo si dices French, German o Italian todos lo entienden. No se puede decir que en America se habla inglés de USA o español latino, como si el español de España no fuera latino y los únicos latinos fueran los latinoamericanos. Es conveniente clarificar los términos. Los latinoamericanos se les llama latinos porque hablan una lengua latina derivada del latín, simplemente. Latinoamericano es también, atendiendo al verdadero significado del término, un canadiense de Quebec cuya lengua materna sea el francés, mucho más latino de verdad que un “latino” de origen mexicano, que vive en USA y que ya apenas habla español porque ha nacido en USA y es de segunda o tercera generación norteamericano. Sin embargo el de Quebec nunca es considerado latino, cuando ciertamente lo es al hablar francés, mientras el de origen mexicano siempre será considerado latino cuando ni siquiera habla una lengua latina. Sí, si es relevante. Se habla de latino y no se entiende realmente cual es significado de latino, confundiendo idiomas con orígenes étnicos. Espero sirva de algo la larga explicación. Un saludo y si lo necesitan estaré encantado en traducirlo al inglés.
I lived in Oaxaca for less than a year, but I found a distinctive accent there from the ''southern'' one. I've lived in Mexico city and Guanajuato and every place has its own variants. I am from the northwest (Culiacán) and people from the south can't tell the diffence between northern accents, only that CH/SH thing you talk about that mostly happens with people from Chihuahua state.
Me sorprendió mucho cómo pudiste pulir tu acento gringo, aunque debes dejar un poquito para que te pueda distinguir de los otros acentos del Español. Te felicito porque hablas el Español a la perfección y eso habla de tu enorme esfuerzo por lograrlo. Saludos desde Chile!!
¡Gracias, Alejandro! Tienes razon, toma práctica diaria pero es posible. Todavía hay cosas que quiero mejorar. May y yo siempre hablamos español en casa y eso me ayuda pero cuando estamos en Minnesota no tengo muchas oportunidades de aprender del lexico de otros. Aprecio tu comentario mucho. ¡Sigo practicando! Saludos desde Minnesota. -Jim
MEXICAN SPANISH FOR THE WIN!
🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼
¿Verdad que si? Superholly! ¡Nos encanta tu canal! Thanks for leaving us a comment. 😊 -Jim
superholly what are you doing here??!! Hahha I’m just kidding!, solo quiero mi like no esperaba verte aquí 😍 saludos
Are you his wife? V:
superholly / ME ENCANTA TU CONTENIDO, HOLLY. TE ADMIRO MUCHÍSIMO.
Y claro que sí, Mexican spanish!
Nooooooo Superholly!!!!
Estudiaba en Barcelona y los acentos del norte de españa son los mejores.
Hace 2 años, fui a Memphis y los mejicanis allí creían que era español. ( Soy de Liverpool)
Pidé judías y no me entendían. No tenían ningún idea ¡Su palabra era frijoles!
It's pretty cool to find american people who don't want to keep that stereotype of being so self-centered about the language, instead they're making huge efforts to improve their spanish (or any other language whatsoever). Great job! Keep going, manejas un buen español. Saludos.
¡Gracias, Luis! Lo aprecio. Thanks for watching. Saludos. -Jim
Hi Luis, I'm one of those Americans. Really trying hard para mejorar mi acento", pero es muy difícil. My listening is fairly good, reading too, but sometimes I want to quit because if I can never improve my accent, then what's the point? No Spanish speaker will ever be able to understand me. :(
Honestly Hispanic people can be quite the same.
Blitz Of The Reich: I agree...so many Hispanic immigrants and migrants having lived here for 5, 10, even up to 20 & 30 years and still haven't learned -- or refuse to learn -- English...
I honestly think both groups (no offense) are ignorant. Learn each others languages. It will intellectually benefit you.
Growing up on the west coast of the US, I was privileged to usually be surrounded by Mexican kids and, feeling left out, I would try to imitate their accents. That was in English, but as I became a bit fluent in Spanish as an adult, it naturally affected my Spanish. Now I am always flattered and a bit proud when Mexicans ask me if I am from Mexico. I often say, 'No, but I am Mexican at heart.'
For those who hold back from imitating native speakers, remember that imitation is the highest form of flattery.
That’s fantastic, Jackson. And great point. Imitation is the highest form of flattery. Congrats and getting so good you can fool a Mexican. Those are #lifegoals ! Thanks for watching and commenting. ¡Saludos desde México, amigo! -Jim
wow thats a really cool story, never thought of that before
@Halcon Serrano ya no creo que lo lea, habra olvidado o borrado su cuenta
I'm the same way, i was the only gringo for 3 years in a kitchen full of people primary from or descended from mexico, but also other latin and south american countries. They almost all spoke English so I didn't really learn too much Spanish other than names for the food (I learned French instead of Spanish in school), but I would subconsciously imitate their way of speech in English. Now that I'm beginning to learn Spanish, I'm definitely still trying to imitate my friends accents when i speak Spanish (primarily a Mexican accent). I hope i perfect it 🥲 still only a few months in
That was my goal when I was learning English. I recently met an American couple whom I became friends with and they asked me what part of the States I was from. It didn't cross their mind to think I'm Mexican.
Que hago viendo este video si hablo español? xdd
Luiska Jimenez la curiosidad por saber que dicen de nosotros te pudo
Jajajaja
iba a comentar lo mismo xD
Soi io
Haha igual 😂
My partner is Mexican and didn't learn English until his late teens or early 20's. When I introduce him to my American friends, it takes them a minute or two to realize something's not right only to find out English isn't his native language. He's has an almost perfect American English accent. I'm always annoyed he can do that but I can't, as well as proud he can. Oh! And it was all self taught. So it can be done - for inspiration.
Gringo accent can be heard in a lot of languages not just in spanish, I went to france to learn french and it was so easy to identify who came from the US or Canada, just by hearing them speak french
But gringo is a spanish thing. I dont know what they call dumb white people in french...lol
I think your suggestion about listening to singers is actually super helpful. I'm a classically trained singer and we study IPA, the International Phonetic Alphabet, because we must sing in many languages and sound like native speakers. Its important to note that there is a difference between stage speech and regular speech. Certain things are emphasized in stage speech to make it clear over long distances. So we study how to pronounce vowels, consonants, etc. in other languages as a native speaker does down to a very exact positioning of the lips/tongue/ throat/other parts of the mouth, how/where/if the sound is voiced, how air passes through the vocal tract ... its possible to study this down to a science! Linguists take it even further because they don't have the limitations of the stage.
where I'm from, we don't judge about the accents, we appreciate you for trying! just be yourself and don't feel guilt! ✌️
That’s fantastic! For me, improving my accent isn’t about feeling guilty, but about improving my language abilities. I think the subject of correct pronunciation can not be fully explored without also talking about accents. Accents and pronunciations overlap in many ways. Thanks for watching! -Jim
Spanish and Go 🤝 off course I understand, nothing wrong with being better at improving, it really does depend on the situation, Spanish varies from town to town! im a bodywork and paint tech and deal with Nigerians,middle Eastern and a few other races so I know about accents! I decided to learn them just for self improvement also so they would feel offended and to show respect, which ever way it goes, just be yourself and your on the right track! kudos brochacho! 👌👍✌️
Thank you for being wonderful
I was raised in the US, but my mother is Bolivian and so I learned castillian spanish. I have heard Puerto Rican spanish and spanish from Panama, and I agreee that they are quite difficult to understand. However, my dad runs an orchard, and I often speak to the field manager of the orchard, who is mexican, and have found that my Bolivian/Peruvian Spanish sounds much more clear and less slurred. But, I still find Mexican spanish much easier to understand than puerto rican spanish. But I also find that there is a lot of weird slang and borrow words from english. For example, the word used all around the world for Spanish for "truck" is "camioneta" but in parts of Mexico particularly near the border, you can often hear people say "trocka" instead. Despite the presence of slang, Mexico is a big, and beautiful country, with amazing people and amazing culture, and I really do think that the amount of slang present in the spoken spanish is dependent upon exactly where you are in Mexico.
Hey there, I grew up in the US and my mom is Bolivian and my Dad is English! Kind of crazy to think how I even happened haha. Good for you for learning Spanish and seeking out different dialects!
The gringo accent is so funny though 😂 when I hear my friends talking like that I can't help but to laugh 😂 I'm so happy I can speak fluent spanish
Good for you 👍
Same 😂
Not trying to be that guy, but isn't it a bit rude? To laugh at somebody's accent when they are not native in the language.
@@brolin96 soy gringo y no me importa jaja.
@@brolin96 si,pienso lo mismo. Esta bien que le cause gracia,pero que no se burle y se ría de sus acentos,eso es algo ofensivo.
I'm a native Spanish speaker and I don't even know what I'm doing here but it's hard to keep ur eyes away from this guy's face wth, no homo btw
Keep it up, sir
😆 thanks for watching! Much more to come. -Jim
I’m a Mexican American but growing up in Wyoming I wasn’t really able to practice my Spanish. I have a slight American accent which I had no idea of until I went to Mexico and my family pointed it out. Now I’m trying to get rid of it and constantly making progress. As well as increasing my Spanish vocabulary. I’m close but when I start getting into intellectual conversations I lose my grip and my American accent comes out.
”Disculpame mientras beso a esta chico” jajaja. Vamos Jimi! Un buen Jim!
😆 ¡Gracias, Dodo! -Jim
Sorry bud but its kiss the sky...
Beso al cielo.
Angel De Paz Sí, es un de más ”mal oidido” liricas, y por eso divertido.
It's such a famously misheard lyric that someone made a website called "kissthisguy.com - The Archive of Misheard Lyrics.”
Jaja me encanta la musica de JImi Hendrix. Cuando era joven, pensé que dijo “perdóneme mientras beso a este chico”
Henry Kissinger once commented on people in the US complaining about his strong German accent. He said that when he returned to Germany, people there commented on him speaking German with a Swedish accent! If you don't have a decent accent, people won't understand you. These are great tips, especially imitating the people you are speaking with. When I had exchange students I always told them to pick someone they respected and then mimic their speech as closely as they could, even if they went overboard.
Castillian Spanish accent is the more neutral one. The one used in the movies and tv. It's pretty clear to understand too.
I regularly tell my wife who is from Xalapa Veracruz Mexico and often self conscious about her accent in English , “un acento significa que la persona es muy inteligente, porque puede hablar en más que una idioma!” (an accent means that the person is very intelligent, because they can speak in more than one language)
Accents are beautiful and they get a bad rap because people don’t realize the accents don’t matter at all. It is the PRONUNCIATION which matters! Someone could say that an accent can interfere with good pronunciation but really LISTENING is what is lacking more. Make listening number one if you want good pronunciation.
I stumbled across your channel and love the style of videos you guys are creating! As a fluent non-native Spanish speaker, I still have a strong American accent so I always appreciate tips. One challenge is that I've mixed a number of different accents from living in three different South American countries. However, it wasn't until I started coaching non-native English speakers to reduce their accents that I figured out the primary reason I personally have an obvious accent in Spanish. I always focused on pronunciation of consonants (which varies from dialect to dialect), but the real problem is importing English word stress and intonation into Spanish. Think about it - in Spanish, all syllables are more or less the same length. Yes, some are emphasized with volume, but they're not lengthened like they are in English. In English, we add extra shape to our vowels, but Spanish vowels are more pure (which makes them shorter). On top of that, bringing an enthusiastic American tone into Spanish enhances my accent because pitch is different between the two languages. When I work with Spanish speakers who are fluent in English, they usually have an accent because they're taking the rhythm directly from Spanish and not lengthening stressed syllables. My Cuban-born college Spanish instructor told me to drill vowels and it only took me 15 years to understand what she meant. Hope this insight helps someone! 😀
Thanks for sharing that, Kim!
You're right! If you don't have a group
of people from one region you can model your accent after it'd be hard
not to mix them, but it's good if you can blend in by adapting your
accent to the area you're visiting.
And you made some very good points about vowels in Spanish and English. Thanks for watching! :)
-Jim
You are totally right.
That is about right. Instead of consonants (also), that which brings us apart are vowels.
Creo que el mejor acento que podrías adoptar es el español de España porque es español neutro (no el del sur que es parecido al latinoamericano) si no el del norte como por ejemplo Madrid
¡Para nada! Si uno es de los Estados Unidos o Canadá, deben estudiar y aprender el español latinoamericano, especialmente el español de México, Centroamérica o el de los países andinos: Colombia, Perú y Ecuador. Esos países o regiones hablan un español MUY claro, bien pronunciado (no como el trabalengua-español del Caribe). Por supuesto, para los europeos, es razonable y tiene mucho sentido que estudien el español peninsular, es el español con lo cual van a tener más contacto. ¡Es tan ridículo un norteamericano estudiar el español de España, como un mexicano aprender el inglés británico! No tiene ningún sentido.
Thank you so much! This is so helpful. I try to speak Spanish and I cringe so hard I can feel a single tear roll down my cheek.
Standard educated Spanish from any country is clear and understandable for all Spanish speakers . Slang can vary a lot ,from a country to other , from a social clase to other , from a city to other .... but once you are fluent in standard Spanish,and have a decent pronunciation , you only need to learn some local slang , phonetics , entonation .... It is like the cream in the cake , only necesary when the cake is already done. To improve your listening skills is good to hear as many different accents as possible .
I'm learning Spanis on duolingo. Learning is difficult enough without worrying about local accents. When i travel the world people understand my Aussie accent in english. I imagine it would be the same for spanish.
No creo que mi acento suena como nativo aún, pero como griego! Griego suena parecido a Español entonces ayuda mucho (y no hablo como hablo inglés jaja). En Europa es más fácil conocer Españoles y también he visto más series españolas entonces creo que mi acento a veces se puede sonar así pero pronuncio con seseo entonces una mezcla! Siempre tengo ese dilema porque tengo amigos de intercambio de México, Colombia y España. Además hablo con vosotros porque me parece más lógico y necesito saberlo por los exámenes de Español! Si vivo un día en un país hispanohablante voy a intentar mucho hablar con ese acento. Saludos de Grecia, me encanta el idioma español!
Jajajaja el español no suena nada parecido al griego ese idioma se parece más al ruso y portugués
I love Jim and May of "Learn Spanish and Go." I listen to your podcast religiously as I am trying to improve my intermediate level Spanish to "near fluency!" I don't think we should ever judge people if they can't pronounce certain sounds in other languages that are not their native languages (not just Spanish). My mother is Japanese and has been speaking English since she was in her early twenties but she speaks with a thick Japanese accent. My mother-in-law is Mexican and has been speaking English with a heavy Mexican accent since she was in her late teens. I think the fact that they both have learned another language and are fully literate in both languages without formal learning is highly commendable!!! I admire both of them so much! Of course, making an effort to perfect our second, third and fourth languages is a great thing to do (and Jim's points are all so wonderful!). However, we should also open our hearts and minds and appreciate when people are doing their best to learn other languages and we should become more accustomed to hearing various accents. . . Since I am a native Japanese speaker, pronouncing words in Spanish comes quite easily. However, if I were to learn Arabic or Urdu or another language that I have not spoken before my vocal cords were developed, it would be understandable and acceptable that I wouldn't be able to pronounce certain sounds. Can I practice and try to come close in speaking more like native speakers? Of course! I can try! In any case, this is not a criticism at all. . . Having grown up in multilingually/multiculturally/multiethnically blended households, communities and environments in two countries, my family and friends have all become accustomed to hearing all kinds of beautiful accents and forms of languages! There is nothing wrong with "having accents" ( "So-called accents are just linguist points of view & vantage points." ). . . Due to the inequality of nations (power differences), some accents are valued and given more prestige and status than others. . . And having listened to various forms of Spanish, I find "Mexican Spanish" (which is super broad and also has variations regionally as Jim and May have covered in your various shows) the most comfortable to speak and listen to. . . My friend from Spain would say that's a "Mexican accent" and I would tell her, "I love your Castellano Spanish! Grathias!" LOL! Thanks for another great video, "Spanish and Go!"
YES. THANK YOU. FINALLY SOMEONE THAT UNDERSTANDS MY EXCRUCIATING PEEVE!
Authentic accent is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT in ANY LANGUAGE, in order to be taken seriously by whatever language and culture you're trying to blend in with.
This is especially important in spanish. They may not ever say it to your face, but when mexicans, latinos, etc hear non Hispanic ppl try to speak Spanish in a very cavemanny like gringo accent, it makes then cringe inside and often feels like an insult to their beautiful language.
I made it priority number ONE TO GET MY ACCENT PERFECTLY. For me, knowing a language is meaningless without the skill of authentic accent. I have the fortunate pleasure and privilege to work with mexican coworkers every day, as well as interact with mexicans outside of work often, and when i ask them "como es mi acento", a lot of times, they GENUINELY THOUGHT I WAS MEXICAN! X'D. (Even though I'm Cambodian.)
There is nothing more satisfying than being able to blend in with the Mexican community, and understand their language. I take great pride in my effort to perfect my accent.
Angelina Dash that’s great you work to perfect your accent! Keep up the great work. Thanks for watching. ¡Saludos! -Jim
It's important to me, too, if not for the rr. 😒 I'm not exaggerating when I say that I've been practicing for decades. I just can't roll my rr like a native speaker can, and it's not for lack of trying. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I can't roll the rr at all, but I definitely struggle with some words depending on where in the word the rr sound is. Otherwise, I try to speak Spanish with a Latin or South American accent.
Many of the people I work with here in Humboldt Co. Ca. are from Argentina so I try to emulate that when speaking with them. However I am kind of old so this is taking a long hard time. But I shall persist. I really appreciate all that you have shown me. Gracias. Kelly.💥
I love this advice! Learn the accent of your friends and loved ones, or the place you’re interested in. It makes the whole thing a labor of love.
The best advice I can give you is practise the vowels!
A, E, I, O, U, sound different and they always sound the same in spanish.
Practise those 5 sounds close perfection and you don't have to worry about anything else as all the consonants sound fairly similar and we'll understand any variations or country accents. But the vowels are absolutely key in Spanish and it is where English speakers screw it the most
Just watched another video on this and it really rang in my head because I'm struggling so hard to sound a little less "gringo". The vowels!
@@mellymel8157 just remember that in spanish vowels are just like pure musical notes.
It doesn't matter how long they are (contrary to English) and they don't make wavy variations in their tune.
Just like musical notes (do, re mi, fa, sol...)
*Absolutely key*
Begginers guide: pAn, pEn, pIng-pOng, pUnk
Stick with those sounds and you'll sound less gringo 😁
@@lahabitaciondelatrapado4621 Thank you! I'm adding your beginners guide to my notebook. Last night I spent some of my Spanish learning time simply focusing on vowel pronunciation. I'm hoping it pays off.
I am kind of proud of my accent, as it is part of my identity. I know that some people may not like it or where I am from, but it tells people who I am, and I am content with that.
An important goal for language development is to be communicative. This is what I think people should strive for, and i was hoping to hear about that.
Thank you for your video! :)
It's true, but some people aim towards certain scales, where the least non-native speaker you sound the better, so it's understandable why sometimes it's better to try to change your accent to a more native one, as he said, it depends on what your goal in English is.
For most of my time in college, I tried imitating the Castilian Spanish accent (with the distinción of s and z/ci/ce instead of seseo), and I had wanted to study abroad in Spain for a semester, but instead I ended up studying abroad in Chile for my last semester of college. On my way to Chile, I spent 4 days in Costa Rica, and ended up switching to seseo 2 days into my time there. Since I listen to a lot of bands that are from Buenos Aires, I like the Argentinian accent now, but I feel weird about trying to imitate it outside of Argentina/Uruguay (where y and ll are pronounced like sh). In most of my experience in Latin America, I feel like it’s been a dead giveaway that my first language is English, but on a couple of occasions, someone has guessed that I’m from Brazil. Maybe it’s a good sign if I sound like my first language is another Romance language.
I'm trying to figure out if I want to learn Spaniard Spanish or Mexican version, is there a big difference? Or is it more like, UK and America, where some words are slightly different. (My girlfriend speaks Spaniard Spanish, but it's long-distance and i live in the states, so would it be more beneficial to learn the Mexican version?). Or if I speak the Mexican version could I be understood by her?
Awesome video. I always tell my students about this.
Thanks for watching and commenting!
That's grat! It's an important part of learning a language.
¡Saludos!
I would disagree. We should all embrace our differences. When. Spanish speaker speaks English, their is an apparent accent. When in Mexico, people act ignorant in the accent.
@@wesleysmith2934 What do you disagree on?
Me gusta este vídeo. Estoy aprendiendo español de México porque quiero ir allí y enseñar inglés. una amiga me dijo que mi acento es una mezcla del acento de España y el de Latinoamérica jaja.
gracias por tus consejos
¡Hola Tiana! Jajaja ¡Qué fortuna tener dos acentos ya! Puedes perfeccionarlos y usar el que necesites en el momento. ¿Has estado en México? ¿En cuál parte del país te gustaría dar clases de Inglés?
Spanish and Go
No, no he estado en México. No sé exactamente donde en México quiero ir. Solo sé que para mi, el acento mexicano es el más fácil de entender. También, me encanta la cultura y la comida de allí. Muchas gracias por responder a mi comentario :)
O wow esto me motiva mucho en ponerle más empeño al inglés!!! Al menos tengo la fortuna de estar en USA para aprenderlo 👏🏻
Wow that’s extremely similar to me, my friend told me i sound like a native spain speaker even though ive been trying to obtain a mexican accent. Ill take it tho 🤷🏾♂️
Yo vi tu video y creo q tu español es muy bueno con poco acento. Y aunq no existe totalmente el acento neutro el tuyo se puede llamar. Felicidades.
I think Mexico, Ecuador and Perú have similar accents, in general ; but it's okay that the accent depends where you are even into the country because there are many accents there
It’s strange, and I don’t know if that happens in all languages, but in Spanish you will always tell if a person is a non-native, even if their Spanish is incredibly fluent or they don’t make grammar mistakes, accent in Spanish is really hard to imitate if you speak it as a second language. And I noticed this is due to the fact that most Spanish learners don’t link words or they pause where it’s not right to do so. My tip is LINK AND BLEND THE PREVIOUS WORD WITH THE NEXT ONE. When a person from the US speaks, they always do it as if they were pronouncing every single word. They also use their own vowels (which are lazier and less rounded than Spanish ones). Get rid of that first of all. Then correct your consonants. Remember than Spanish has two ‘d’ sounds, two ‘b’ sounds, three ‘r’ sounds, two ‘s’ allophones, stressed vowels and non-stressed vowels, etc, etc. In ‘dedo’ the first ‘d’ sounds absolutely different from the second one. In ‘babero’ he first b has nothing to do with the second. In ‘acorralar’ the first ‘r’ is stronger than the last one, or in ‘encarar’ both ‘r’s’ sound different even if you think they don’t.
Very interesting! I'm from Germany (German native speaker as well^^) and most times people can't guess I'm from Germany when I talk Spanish. Most times they have no idea where I'm from, though they say, they can hear I'm not an English native speaker.
All in all, I have two different opinions about copying an accent. On the one hand I think it's nice blending in and not being identified as a gringo right away. On the other hand I think - what's wrong with the fact that Spanish is not my native language? :)
Thank you for this video, very helpful :)
That is interesting! German seems to be the most common guess I get, but a lot of times people are unsure.
I think it's okay that other people know that you're not a native by your accent. My main message here is that there's always room for improvement, and sounding like a native - or at least close to one - has some great benefits.
Thanks so much for watching! I appreciate your feedback! ☺️ -Jim
Spanish and Go another way of seeing it could be comparing it to cooking recipes from other countries. I believe it is common sense to try to give those recipes the native touch, at least to have it as a goal, regardless of how successful your attempt ends up being. It makes less sense to try to make sure that your paella has a Boston touch.
The whole goal of learning a language is trying to learn it to the best of your ability and to develop as native an accent as possible; otherwise, you are parroting the language, not speaking it. When I speak Spanish, almost all native speakers think I am Mexican, due to my accent. Und wenn ich Deutsch spreche, sagen mir die Deutschen, ich spreche ohne (amerikanischen) Akzent.
@Halcon Serrano Now I actually speak four languages fluently: German, Spanish, English and Norwegian.
@Halcon Serrano ¿Cómo puedo explicarlo? Creo que puedo expresar basicamente todo.
We have lots of accents in Colombia but the most neutral is that of Bogotá, it's very clear and well articulated. However, people on the Caribbean coast of the country, where I live, tend to speak with an accent similar to that spoken in Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico
Funny enough, I have been learning Spanish for about eight years now. I started when i was 11 years old and pronunciation was never an issue for me really BUT in terms of listening, my biggest problem is that I live in the caribbean so I'm surrounded by the hardest spanish accents ever so developing listening skills is quite difficult 😭
F
girl same!!! Im in Grenada and for some reason lots of dominicans and puerto ricans come here, and I also try to listen to their conversations (eavesdropping ik but i have to do what i have to do 🫠😭😭) I never understand them and then i get discouraged cus when I listen to TH-camrs, siempre los entiendo!!!
When I began learning Spanish in middle school, I developed an accent when speaking Spanish rather quickly. I don’t speak too fast or too slow, but I speak slow enough to make sure I don’t get tongue-tied. Oddly enough, I’ve tried that a few times, and the cat got my tongue almost immediately.
This is completely normal. It happens to Jim all the time, too. So don't worry, just keep practicing and looking for ways to use your Spanish more. Little by little you'll be able to keep the cat at bay. :p
Thank you for watching and commenting!
In fact, my accent is so good, some Mexicans actually think I'm Mexican myself! 😂
I'm jealous now. Whenever I start speaking in English, people always wonder "what kind of accent is that?".
The tongue twister idea is a good one. I am looking them up right now.
My name is Solomon from Eritrea 🇪🇷 I like to speak spanish guys and I like your lessons keep it up and God bless you guys
Hi, Solomon! Thank you so much for watching!
We have many more videos coming! :)
Hola soy Americano y creo qué la acento es siempre importante y ayudas mi en conversaciónes en el celular y en persona también, muchos gracias tu dos es e génial video por acentos. Si los de verdad que palabras estár diferentes desde paìs al país. Ustedes el grandesto!
Just for curious people in Spain we don't say gringo, but guiri. Normally refering to Germans and British, but also to people from the States.
If you are from the US you should learn not Mexican Spanish but the US Spanish. You have forgotten that more than a half of the US territory was part of Spain for 300 years (still in the year 1800: from the Mississipi river to the Pacific Ocean. plus Florida and the south of Alabama, it all was Spanish territory), so Spanish was spoken in the US Southwest 300 years before English was. And people living there have never stopped speaking Spanish. The Spanish language belongs to your country exactly as much as your English.
I'm a native mexican-speaker and the tongue twisters are difficult for us so I think for English-speakers will be more difficulty xD.
I want to improve my English listening, accent and grammar, and it is interessant to see tips for improve an accent in spanish
Abraham ENCINAS TERAN *interesting
and true.
i do think with that accents in English we tend to even associate with regionalism, ethnicity & even classism. (same in every language aka "sociolects" but still). so copying those social division problems (especially when you're more of an outsider) is cumbersome.
i think that my search for a spanish accent comes from my experience in English of having to calculate accents to understand words, usually the vowels. and so since in USA about 92% of our population is does the main stuff in English. so we don't really have a generalized sense of other languages. we seek it in classes, read the words, go with the accent notes. also when unfamiliarity happens like this we're trying to do that with speakers to be actually listening instead of hearing. so yeah, reading descriptions of accents is hugely helpful. but then yeah, that way of prescriptivism is counterproductive.
but yes, the better approach to this would be discussing what the gringo/USA accent is & discussing how to make it less so. i think encouraging seseo, not saying English z, never do glottal t's.
also saying while in english consonants are more stable while vowels change from accent to accent, in spanish it's the opposite. therefore lesrning how to pronounce the vowels precisely is very important to losing your accent. also when you're converting accents you start with the vowels & figure out the consonants.
then it's probably developing the raspy h-sound (i suggest actually saying the h at the end of common phonetic spellings in english like uh, ih, eh, ah, oh, etc.
then of course r's. basically learning that r's that the beginning of words are also erres while at the end of words is basic is kind of helpful.
personally, then i second guess myself in mid-word syllables. especially since sometimes those r's are actually sounding like english d's like "moriré".
but to be fair, i also know that spanish d's are more like english th in "the". and then Spanish t's are more like a combination of english t & d.
personally also i just make my r's raspier like i do the h-sounds. it's not exact, but i can actually form that & i actually feel some trilling in my own mouth when i do that. also since consonants vary more in Spanish, i assume i can get away with it somewhat.
and then i struggle with choosing either english b or v for spanish b/v because it's actually a 3rd sound for spanish. but they're also 1 sound. (although near the USA-Mexico boarder I've heard that some speakers are starting to pronounce them differently as in english.)
Para los que hablamos español se nos hace fácil entender a un Italiano si eres un aprendiz del español y estás entendiendo algo de italiano vas por bien caminó eso significa que lo estás haciendo muy bien
Se nos pueden hacer fáciles algunas palabras sueltas, pero si un italiano se pone a hablar seguido no te enteras de nada.
A good reason for learn Mexican Spanish is that almost every country in Latinoamerica understands it, because Mexico produces several material like movies translations, music, tv series. I can't imagine a child in Latinoamerica who don't saw "el Chavo del ocho" or some "novela mexicana". Argentina could be closer but definitely no at the same level.
Chilu Pereira i know Argentina uses a lot of "slang" because a lot of the country are immigrants from europe. (they also tend to speak a slower pace).
Está bien..!
@@eve36368 We use a lot of slang in a day to day basis, literally I just had to think about it. Argentina has a lot of Italian descents and you definitely can tell on most slangs.
@@giuliana4682 omg my 1st year Spanish teacher learned Spanish through knowing Italian & so she said when she's speaking Spanish less accent-consciously her accent would get perceived as Argentinian (even though she's not Argentinian)
You didn't give any characteristic that other Spanish speaking countries don't have. Sounds like dumb patriotism to me.
My boyfriend doesn't speak Spanish either and he is gringo too but I would never laugh if he would try to speak it because he would try to make me feel better. We should never laugh inappropriately if someone can't pronounce words well..
I think I'm learning a mixture of Mexican spanish And Colombian spanish, i have friends From both countries lol 😂
Emily Sampson theyre both pretty neutral, I would recommend you Bogotá Colombia Spanish, it's pretty neutral and I think you can understand it easily, even tho Colombia has many many accents but yea id say that one it's ok.
Kerplunk785 yes i like Bogotá Spanish.....it is pretty easy to understand! my boyfriend is from there so that is probably the one i'll end up going with 😊👍🤗
Watch out for muchas personas cutting out the "s" in the middle of a word even in Colombia. Piscado pronunced picado.
@@drakefire1800 depends on the region we have a lot of different accents, normaly on the caribbean coast they cut letters
Estoy de Colombia, he nacido? Allà
Im still learning though.
My family is from Colima, I’ve never been, because it’s “dangerous” they say... I’m 24, your videos are really motivating me to make a trip :) My Spanish isn’t the best, I get stuck. Definitely need to expend my vocab. Any tips?
Extend*
Bloody hell I LOOOOVE Spanish and I speak in Mexican and Chilean accent and end up confusing every human near me....hehe I'm a half Somali half Chilean 😊😎
That's an interesting mix of accents!
Where did you get your Mexican accent from?
¡Saludos!
-May
Spanish and Go gracias 😊.....I lived in Mexico City for nearly a year and I'm visiting Mexico soon
Awesome! We've been in Mexico City a couple of times. It's a cool place! We want to spend more time there.
Where in Mexico are you going this time?
-May
Qué andas hueveando por acá??
Si hablas en chileno no te entenderá nadie, jajajaja...
I think it’s hilarious that americans hear me speaking Spanish and they are not sure what language it is. I am from Argentina and our accent (especially being from Buenos Aires) is so different to other spanish speakers that can sound like another language lol
I would recomend you the Neutral Mexican Voice Actor accent. Look for any cartoon in Latin American Spanish, and hear their pronunciation (I like a lot the voice actors of the classical Dragon Ball Z).
For us native speakers, if you mark one foreign accent heavily, you are putting an extra barrier between the comunication, so neutral spanish works the best worldwide (Even we use it! : ) )
Exactly. You wouldn't learn English as a second language with posh British accent, even if you planned to visit London. A neutral accent is better.
@@howtubeable That's the dumbest thing ever. The vast majority of countries learn the British way of speaking as a second language. And how can be a dialect "neutral"? Only the original language can be neutral.
My mother is Salvadoran (San Salvador), and my husband is Colombian (Bogotá). I can understand both of them well, they both speak very clearly, and enjoy speaking to each other. They just have some different hergas. I'm still learning.
I don't think that your american accent be a problem to understanding your Spanish, I don't think at all. In my opinion is most important the vocabulary that you use to, this one could very diferent in every Spanish talking countries.
También me resulta extraño que no hablen en español en el vídeo, en los vídeos de consejos para hablar bien inglés hablan en inglés de principio a fin, so talk in Spanish!.
Vikutttmare Vikuttmare oye si tenes razon bueno menos en los dr holly pero son muy utiles
Learning spanish from spain in my opinion is best to learn, because...
They use the "vosotros", which is only used there. It‘s not much more work to learn one form more with the others. If you later go to... idk... Colombia you just can leave it out, but if you don‘t learn it at first, it‘s harder to learn it later if you once wanna go to spain or live there.
The z, ce/ci, are pronounced th, but in other places like s. If you know the word is pronounced canthión, you will write it: canción. If you know th pronounciation as cansión, you’ll more likely make these spelling mistakes you don’t do when the pronounciation of s and z, ci/ce are different
But actually the question of which spanish to learn is answered by: Follow your heart I believe
I was hoping you would give some specifics for things that make English speakers sound obviously foreign when speaking Spanish. For instance: -
1) Not pronouncing the "t" as an explosive sound
2) Incorrect tongue position for the "d" sound (need to put it in position for a "th" sound, but not pronouncing it as a fricative)
3) Not pronouncing "l" far forward enough in the mouth
4) Overly harsh pronunciation of some consonants
Vowels also contribute to a heavy accent. For example, this is what I see a lot of people advising when it comes to approximating Spanish vowels:
A = "ah" as in" father"
E = "ae" as in "blade"
I = "ee" as in "green"
O = "oh" as in "phone"
U = "oo" as in "moon"
While these are "close enough" approximations for the absolute beginner, they are (except for I = "ee" as in green) very imperfect. The Spanish A and U are pronounced further towards the back of the mouth than the vowels in "father" and "moon", respectively. Moreover, the "long" O and A sounds in English are actually diphthongs, whereas the Spanish O and E are both pure vowels. I honestly cringe every time someone advises that the Spanish E is "Like the Fonz...'Ayyyyyy!'"
Good video, and another tip I would recommend (I haven't done this in Spanish, but I don't think the language you're learning really matters) is what's called "adopting a parent." Choose someone (doesn't matter who) in a podcast, youtube channel, radio show, whatever, and try to copy THAT person's speech specifically. Why is this good? Have you ever met someone, then met someone in that same person's family and noticed how similarly they speak? Little things like intonation, certain words they slur together, etc. You probably speak a whole lot like your parents, and if not your parents, someone close to you. That's because you mimicked not just "American English" but SPECIFICALLY that one person's English.
Luckily, Spanish is phonetically very similar to English (relatively speaking). I've been doing this with Japanese for a very long time. Japanese and English are NOTHING alike. Japanese doesn't even have stress at all. Furthermore, while Japanese doesn't have tones, it does have pitch. Pitch is very hard to learn for English speakers. And even through all of that, by mimicking this one podcast I found that has a man and a woman (not that the gender matters, but still), I improved my pitch accent, rhythm, and overall very minute details about my Japanese that I would have never been able to do by simply copying "the Japanese language" or "standard Tokyo Japanese."
Do this with Spanish and I promise you'll see improvement very very quickly :)
AMAZING!!!!!!
I’ve learnt so much!
I know, right?!
Glad to hear that! Thanks for watching. ¡Saludos! -Jim
Gratitude to the editor so much!
Hello from Colombia 💛💙❤
¡Hola, Carolina! ☺️ -Jim
I find Spanish Spanish much easier to understand. Mexican Spanish tends to sound, to me, a bit like American English, where the words are more rolled, as compared to English English. For example, in English, the word sentimental. In English English, they would pronounce both t's. In American English, they roll over them, so it sounds like "Sennimennal".
Do you all have a Spanish music playlist we can listen to & sing ?
My grandfather is from Puerto Rico so I wish I could learn that accent...but Mexican seems more practical
I think you shouldn't bother with having an accent, but put all your effort in pronounce correctly, particularly vowels and their combinations (dipthongs, tripthongs) which are very tricky for anglo speakers.
For better pronunciation listen to boleros, the very old ones, from the 40's and 50's, they are short and low paced songs, you will improve, and also learn the iberic spanish pronunciation, everything will be clear in short time, and you will be able to speak the way that most pleases you. That is my advice.
I'm native spanish speaker.
sunshine7018c thanks for commenting! I’m curious, what do you consider the difference between correct pronunciation, and developing an accent? -Jim
Spanish and Go...
Hola!.. Correct pronunciation implies to say "pato" and not "patou" (it sounds like that to a native spanish speaker), or "patara" to say patada or patata. Pronouncing words like eugenio, negar, cuello, hondo, trujillo, cuchillo, usually are difficult for foreigners (not only for english speakers).
It is vital to know the difference between single r and double rr so you can be able to say: pero (but) or perro (dog), the initial r (allways strong) like in rosa, ropa, is forgivable.
Now the accent, we call accent to a particular way of "singing" the language, and we spot instantly the most known accents or language singing like in a spaniard, or mexican, argentinian, chilean, puertorican, cuban, etc, because they are easily detected by the way they sing, no matters the words they use or how they pronounce them because the pronunciation is the same for every word, but some particular regional inflexions on the language makes for argentina "plasha" not playa, and for others plaia...
for shortened words, well, these can be easily noted, and they also exist in english too... these details you can know them but you will be understood if you use any form of them.
For spanish the pronunciation is the same, it doesn't matter the singing. A neutral spanish is what you are looking for, do not go for regional words to name things, there are common words to everything that are universal to everyone in every place. I think that having several words for an object is an advantage.
I hope this helps.
And congratulations in learning other language, to me it opens frontiers and bring you closer to cultures that were once far away.
sunshine7018c I agree 100% with you!
um. hey. I'm trying to learn Spanish and I'd appreciate it if u can help me. (Its okay if u don't want to. :)
Cutting off the end of words is known as "clipping". For example, in southern Spain, I notice that the hispanohablantes say, "Buen dia" for "Buenos días". Whether in Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Spain, or other Spanish speaking country, I try to use phrases the locals say.
The Argentinians also say buen dia.
Do y’all teach accents? I’m new to the channel so just curious
My first language was actually Spanish, but now that I learned English I’m so used to it that when I speak Spanish it sounds weird.
From the other side of the Atlantic ocean, english from England, and spanish from Spain. Saying that standard english is the one from the U.S. is like saying, Trump is the president of the world. I enforce you to come to Spain, and take a look at the many accents we have, not only the one from the south as you said, cutting letters... I probably will say that US accent is like "chewing bubble gums" english accent, not the "standard" one at all.
¡Hola, Juan! Thanks for commenting. I just want to be clear - I never said that Mexican Spanish, or any Spanish for that matter, is the "standard." What I did say was the type of Spanish you should learn ultimately comes down to the region you want to visit or live in. For most people in the US (TH-cam tells us this is where most of our audience is from) who want to learn Spanish but don't know where they would like to visit, Mexican Spanish makes a lot of sense. For those who want to visit or live in Spain, learning Spanish from there makes the most sense. For those who are undecided about where they'd like to visit, it all comes down to the numbers for me. Mexico simply has the most native Spanish-speakers of any Spanish-speaking country. ¡Saludos! -Jim
Isn't saying that Spanish from Spain is more 'standard" than let's say Spanish from Latin America like doing the same thing but on the other side of Atlantic? ;-) I do love a lot Spanish from Spain, but let's be fair. Spanish speaking word all over the globe is diverse and part of it's beauty and appeal stems from this diversity. Of course Spanish from Spain is not uniform, just like Italian is not one standard monolith, but rather a mixture of dialects, some as exotic as "el greco" which is a mixture of greek words with italian grammar and phonetics. As for "standard English"- British will always claim it's British, Amercians that's it's Amercian English, while most learners will know there is more to this than just those two versions plus some will prefer aussie or even Canadian version. ;-) Or will use one of various international versions- like people from China or African countries wh freely mix their own native language with English. And yes, people from India who use some words with stems from Hindi also claim that they speak pure British English. ;-)
They can claim whatever they want. I understand american people is more about to learn spanish from Mexico because they are neighbours, meanwhile there is no wall... and there are many mexican people living in the States, but also chinese people. So the standard language doesn't come from the biggest country or the biggest population speaking that language, it has nothing to do in my opinion. I guess it's more a question of neighbourhood or proximity, so it's fair you learn the spanish from the closest country to yours, or whatever but that doesn't mean its the most extended or even it's the standard one. In that case spanish did not came from South America as english did not came from USA. Peace.
Peace to You too. Or like some sources say Spanish people would say "tengamos la fiesta en paz".;-) As far as USA goes, I suppose the entire world already is well aware that it's all about "drinking Tequilla in Tijuana at least once in the lifetime", right? ;-) As for the wall- if anyone would ask me, with or without it, looks like Spaniards are likely to win in the end anyway. Just look at how strong Spanish got in USA economy recently. In practice it's just second language of the business world inside the United States. I guess former white dominant class of this society has hard time while coming to terms with this fact. Whereas as for now there is no indication of any slow down on the part of dynamic Spaniards.
femmeNikita27 Spaniards!!??!? or Spanish.... Tengamos la fiesta en paz, si mejor.
Im Hispanic, therefore I speak Spanish. Even though my goal is learn English, I felt curious abt your channel and I loved it! Great accent by the way, saludos desde Mx. Ya cuentas con una decidirá más 😊
Excelente video @Jim @Spanish&Go! Tu acento español es muy bueno ya casi un mexicano! !!
¡Muchas gracias, Caro! Lo aprecio mucho. ¡Saludos! ☺️
también hay que tener en cuenta que en el mismo país hay diferentes acentos, por ejemplo en méxico esta el de puebla, el de yucatan, etc.
¿Qué acento mexicano quieres aprender? Hay muchos acentos en las diferentes regiones de México: el norte, la península de Yucatán, la Ciudad de México, la zona occidente (Guadalajara, Sinaloa)... Hay acentos también de acuerdo con el nivel socioeconómico.
Así como habla la mayoría de los mexicanos cultos de clase media y alta, no como los campesinos del rancho (que apenas se entiende la mitad de lo que dicen).
Mexico does have a variety of accents and tonalities. The most pronounced ones are in the southern beach areas. Some people's first language is an indigenous one so their Spanish accent is unique.
Funny how this is about learning an accent and all this time i have proclaimed to be trying to loose my accent, as a i came to the us when i was nine, i have achieved to sound like a "natural" english speaker but i never thought i was learning an accent, i was getting rid of one.
This is why I speak english with a thick italian accent. I am from Spain.
I don't know what accent I have but I know I have one. I had a co-worker who was originally from Honduras and when I started talking she gasped and was all " You have an accent!" lol
:p Hahahaha It's probably the same accent of the person you learned the language from, or the resources you used for learning.
Thanks for watching!
-May
I choose mexicano español porque, mi padre es de México. So for me it means since to learn that form spanish!
I not ever sure how I ended up here xD if Im already spanish .However Spread the spanish word ma' fren xD cool videos dude.
😂 ¡Gracias! Thanks for watching anyway. We'll have more adventure videos soon exploring cool places in Spanish-speaking countries. ¡Saludos! -Jim
Spanish and Go Colombial could be a really beautiful place to visit, you can find al weathers in here. #justsaying
Sunshine18 "I'm already Spanish" referring to the fact that I am a native at the Spanish language. I'm sorry if sounds weird in English. That happens when English only have the "am" but for us might be "ser" or "estar" and sometimes there is a clear difference between those two.
Sunshine18 "yo ya soy español (hablante)" but you get from there "yo ya estoy español(lugar)" which I agree has no sense at all.
Sunshine18 I thought it could be inferred, just like Jim did. But I guess not everyone has the capability to do it. I'm sorry, I'll be more careful while typing next time ;) .
I am curious if you ever met any native Russians speaking Spanish they learned at some point. Russians have a pretty distinct accent in English because of their Rs, the way the roll them. I wonder if it helps them developing a good accent in Spanish.
Yes our Puerto Rican spanish is unique ,:)
😆 Unique is good! Just takes a little getting used to after mostly hearing Mexican Spanish. Thanks for watching! 🙏
Elizabeth Jones well I don't mean to offend you but is really bad accent, you don't pronounce words correctly especially the R sound you pronounce it like an L
Daniel Sandoval it the way we grew up speaking Spanish, am learning Mandarin Chinese and some people from other areas of China , drop certain letters and pronounce things differently, so I think you will get variety in the way people speak regardless of the language,but am not offended, I love speaking to my family and friends from Puertorico
Ariok it's unique because the way to we speak is different from the majority, that way I agree it's unique, but that just my opinion,😉
Daniel Sandoval
Maybe its just some of the people you know, here in puerto rico all we do is use our R's lol.. its just some people just like in other countries or cities have a deeper accent like in texas or minnesota. The majority here do use their R's correctly.
Muy bueno este video. Estoy de acuerdo en todos los puntos que trajo a discussion.
¡Gracias! Un saludo desde México. -Jim
Mexican Spanish is clear? Ha ha ha
Hey Christian - Thanks for watching! Which Spanish accent do you think is the clearest and why? -Jim
I'd say Bolivian accent. They pronounce clear final clusters, including the s, which is commonly dropped in many accents
Yo tampoco elegiría el acento mexicano como ideal para aprender, es demasiado marcado y no el más "entendible".
Les aconsejaría el boliviano. Es más neutro y mejor hablado... Por lo menos desde un punto de vista de un chileno.
I agree. Some Mexican accents tend to be very strong (and funny in a good way). I'd say the Peruvian accent is the most intelligible.
Spanish and Go am Puertorican and I think Columbian Spanish is the most clear, they speak slower
I think depends on where you come from if you are from Italy will be easier to learn Argentinian Spanish or if you are from brazil will be easier to learn Colombian Spanish
En El Salvador no tenemos un ascento muy marcado, y tienen en confundirnos con los colombianos
como se dice "marcado" en ingles?
Adam Zepeda si no es marcado por qué los confundirían con el acento de un país (Colombia) que es de los más marcados?
@@QuarianGhost esta probablemente hablando del acento rolo, de la capital, aunque es verdad que para gente de otros países es bastante marcado ademas de que la mayoría de gente asocia el acento de la región cafetera y antioquia con Colombia
Maria Ximena Otalora Cordoba yo creo más que nada es porque está acostumbrado a su acento, para mi el neutro es el de mi región porque lo escucho todos los días que ni siquiera noto el acento, los colombianos todos los días escuchan su acento por lo cual sentirán que es neutro.
Al final todo el acento que no sea el tuyo sonará muy diferente porque es algo a lo que no estás acostumbrado
@@LikeAStone1016 no es exactamente marcado, pero en este caso sería "strong". Marked sería en otros contextos, "remarkable" Puede usarse para decir es muy notorio.
Great job dude
Hello from Argentina!
Hello! Thanks for watching! -Jim
I want to travel to Uruguay and I'm trying to develop their accent
You're Tom cruise's voice twin
😆 I get that a lot. Thanks for watching! -Jim
no es Tom Cruise, es el capitán América con barba
I'm afraid I do not agree with you on that. I believe that the purpose of a language is to be able to communicate efficiently and as long as I speak clearly and be understood, I don't think I have to be worried about my accent. I met siblings who grew up together and yet they have different accents. Imagine three friends talking. One of them is a non native Spanish speaker with a clear accent and the other two are native Spanish speakers but one of them has a very strong & thick accent and speaks super fast. Which two of the three do you think will be able to communicate efficiently? Besides, I have a question and this is for you and for those who read this comment. I've watched many videos on this topic on TH-cam and came across some hostility from some Americans and South Americans towards Spain and Spanish accents. Does anyone know the reason for it? Thanks for reading.
The spanish of an educated speaker from any spanish-speaking country is the best spanish. This idea that mexican spanish is the best to learn is nonsense, unless Mexico is where you want to go. 1/3 of spanish speakers are from Mexico? It's actually more like 1/4. The "dropping of sounds" from words - particulalry the "S" is so widespread (all of the Caribbean, most of Central America, many parts of South America, and most of southern Spain) that this feature is basically the norm in Spanish. If the Spanish you learn is the one where the "s" is always pronounced, you'll struggle with the millions of spanish-speakers who don't speak this way.
Thanks for commenting! About 25% if native Spanish-speakers live in Mexico. There’s another 10% living in the US, 63% of whom are Mexican. So roughly 31% of spanish-speakers world-wide speak Mexican spanish. Just short of 1/3 by 2 points. -Jim
I was being generous with my 1/4 statistic - it assumes all residents of Mexico are native Spanish speakers. If you subtract the speakers of native languages and immigrants living in Mexico, you realize that Mexico actually contains less than 1/4 of all native spanish speakers in the world. If you add second language spakers to this statistic, the weight of Mexico is even lower, since there are millions more second language speakers who are not from Mexico. To say that 1/3 Spanish speakers in the world are from Mexico is an exaggeration, regardless of whether you count Mexicans in the US and their descendants.
but OMG the suggestion of conforming to seseo is hugely awesome. like i notice that when i actually try to do that, my syllable pace picks up more fluently. basically i trip over such s's. i suppose actually keeping the s's is very anglo-gringuese because in English s's are so prominent.
also not making our consonants change voicing. this is especially important with ses. because english z basically doesn't exist.
and english tends to drop our t's with glottal stops. so -st literally becomes s while in spanish it'd become t.
so basically using seseo & pronouncing t's that tap with my tongue instead of glottal stops is important.
samot8728 Mexican Spanish is the worst. Come at me Mejicanos. Personally, I'm probably the only second language speaker I know who regularly "drops the S" when I speak Spanish, even in an area dominated by Puerto Ricans and Dominicans among Spanish speakers. I also regularly use forms like -ao, instead of -ado, which is also pretty rare among the second language speakers I know.
Nathan Nguyen i just want to say back in the x meant sh which then became h. since it's a transcription of an indigenous word, i hate the erasure of that j in this case. granted, it's there like in spain in order to tell other europeans that it's not ks. then again, as a native English speaker etymology affecting spelling is kind of a priority.
Hahaha someone just showed me this!! Thanks for linking my video! ☺️
😆 We’re glad you stopped by! You wouldn’t believe how many people try to argue with us and say that your accent is Dominican! I always send them back to your channel. ¡Saludos! -Jim
Spanish and Go hahaha, story of my life! Thanks again!
Natalia Garcia 😆 ¡De nada!
I’m Spanish native speaker, And i have issues the RRRRRRRRR sound. Good luck
As for the "RRRRRRRRRR," I can't do it! In 40 years of speaking -- and relearning -- the language, I have a speech impediment, I simply can't trill my r's.! I'm jealous of you all! Envidia sana!
I'm in south Alabama so my assumption is Mexican Spanish is what I should work on.
Though I'm still just trying to figure out where the hell to start...
I've started a few video programs but they all go way too fast for me...
I'm considering just learning a word a day from the "50% of spoken Spanish" videos, though that's not going to help me with understanding the differences and when to use the variations
Japanese didn't have all these issues!
Though I never did finish learning Japanese, the more I'm trying to start with Spanish, the more I want to run back to it, two alphabets, kanji and all!
I’m gonna learn the Spanish accent cause I live in Europe, hehe
Good idea! That makes perfect sense. Thanks for watching! ¡Saludos! -Jim
Im learning the catilliano from Spain a bit.
My favoriete spanish accents are :
1castilliano with catalan accent. Im not sure if i heared it right. But a few times near barcelona i heared a spanish I liked very much to listen to.
2 textbook spanish i learned from a spanish course, here also took up the virus for romance languages 😁
3 argentinian spanish
4 colombian spanish. My birth place.
So far as which accents to learn after learning the basics ,for handyness, colombian but i also like to develop my own accent as a pièce of art: arefalo-martín a spanish with some Dutch pronounciation of some letters and a japanese r in words. at the end rr. I like that r
Español de España
Inglés de Inglaterra
Italiano de Italia.... and so on and so forth...
enrique casas inglés americano, español latino, estamos en América no Europa, esa es una manera correcta de decir las cosas.
Adam Zepeda Español Latino, dice usted ¿Sabe lo que realmente significa latino? Si usted es latino es porque habla una lengua latina como es el español, además del francés, italiano, portugués y rumano, entre otras muchas menos importantes. Todas estas lenguas latinas, que le hacen a usted ser “latino”, nacen y son europeas mucho antes del descubrimiento de América. Son lenguas derivadas del latín, que era la lengua hablada por los antiguos Romanos.
Sylvie :v No, no lo es. A los latinos Americanos se les comenzó a llamar latinos porque hablaban español, pero no son realmente latinos, o mejor dicho no son los originarios latinos. Se lo intentaré explicar.
Los auténticos latinos originales son los Europeos, y lo son porque hablan lenguas latinas.
. En Europa existía una uniformidad racial, todo el mundo era blanco. En la América de habla inglesa la colonización prácticamente exterminó a los antiguos pueblos nativos, en la América de habla española, esto no fue así.
Los españoles no hicimos colonias, sino que incorporamos territorios a La Corona, otorgando a los antiguos nativos los mismos derechos que al resto de españoles de la península, mezclamos nuestra sangre con los antiguos pueblos que habitaban el continente, por eso hoy en día los norteamericanos son mayoritariamente blancos de origen europeo o negros venidos de Africa, mientras que los latinoamericanos son mayoritariamente una mezcla de razas o nativos americanos que hablan español o portugués.
Está muy generalizado tanto en USA como en el resto de America la creencia errónea de que los términos latino, y Spanish son una raza, cuando NO lo son, solo hace referencia al origen de una lengua o a una nacionalidad. En USA existe la palabra Spaniard para para dar a entender que eres europeo, porque si dices que eres Spanish se creen que eres mejicano en muchos casos, o te dicen que no pareces Spanish, teniendo que explicar incluso a veces donde está España. Sin embargo si dices French, German o Italian todos lo entienden.
No se puede decir que en America se habla inglés de USA o español latino, como si el español de España no fuera latino y los únicos latinos fueran los latinoamericanos.
Es conveniente clarificar los términos. Los latinoamericanos se les llama latinos porque hablan una lengua latina derivada del latín, simplemente.
Latinoamericano es también, atendiendo al verdadero significado del término, un canadiense de Quebec cuya lengua materna sea el francés, mucho más latino de verdad que un “latino” de origen mexicano, que vive en USA y que ya apenas habla español porque ha nacido en USA y es de segunda o tercera generación norteamericano. Sin embargo el de Quebec nunca es considerado latino, cuando ciertamente lo es al hablar francés, mientras el de origen mexicano siempre será considerado latino cuando ni siquiera habla una lengua latina.
Sí, si es relevante. Se habla de latino y no se entiende realmente cual es significado de latino, confundiendo idiomas con orígenes étnicos.
Espero sirva de algo la larga explicación. Un saludo y si lo necesitan estaré encantado en traducirlo al inglés.
Sylvie :v You didn’t get my point.
En España hay diferentes acentos...
Excellent
Oaxacan spanish
Great! We’ve heard great things about Oaxaca and can’t wait to visit! Do you have friends there?
I lived in Oaxaca for less than a year, but I found a distinctive accent there from the ''southern'' one. I've lived in Mexico city and Guanajuato and every place has its own variants. I am from the northwest (Culiacán) and people from the south can't tell the diffence between northern accents, only that CH/SH thing you talk about that mostly happens with people from Chihuahua state.
Me sorprendió mucho cómo pudiste pulir tu acento gringo, aunque debes dejar un poquito para que te pueda distinguir de los otros acentos del Español. Te felicito porque hablas el Español a la perfección y eso habla de tu enorme esfuerzo por lograrlo. Saludos desde Chile!!
¡Gracias, Alejandro! Tienes razon, toma práctica diaria pero es posible. Todavía hay cosas que quiero mejorar. May y yo siempre hablamos español en casa y eso me ayuda pero cuando estamos en Minnesota no tengo muchas oportunidades de aprender del lexico de otros. Aprecio tu comentario mucho. ¡Sigo practicando! Saludos desde Minnesota. -Jim