I lived in South Texas for years and learned Spanish there. I moved to Florida and now having difficulties speaking with my boyfriend's family from the Dominican Republic.
What I understand of Caribbean Spanish (like Cuban) is that it's just like Caribbean English, so it's like a Spaniard learning Jamaican. For example, in Cuba they won't ask "Que quieres (tu)?" , they'll say "Que te quiere", literally "What you want?"
Permíteme hacer una sugerencia. No esperes hablar español con muchas personas. No te preocupes por cometer errores. Todo el mundo comete errores. Incluso los hablantes nativos cometen errores todo el tiempo. Nada mejorará tu español que hablar con otras personas. Y no importa si las otras personas son hablantes nativos o otros estudiantes. Lo importante es hablar con los demás a menudo. Deberías preocuparte por no hablar lo suficiente con los demás en lugar de no hablar con los demás en absoluto. Cuanto más a menudo hables con los demás, más fácil será. Te lo garantizo. Mucho de lo que he escrito aquí podría ser incorrecto pero no me importa. Quiero hablar español. No puedes aprender hacer algo sin hacerlo. Leer y escribir en español es genial pero no está hablando en español. Aunque estoy usando la función de dictado para poder hablar más español. Nunca te rindas. Buena suerte.
I suspect Mexican Spanish will overpower other accents by sheer volume, much like Brazil has taken over Portuguese. I spend a lot of time in Mexico and am in CDMX right now. When I started to learn Spanish I was working in Colombia and heard from many people that the Andino accent and vocabulary from Colombia and Ecuador were the cleanest and easiest for foreigners to understand. True, that may be, but I am still left confused when Mexicans let loose a blast of utterances I cannot separate and I'm forced to admit I didn't catch a single word in that sentence. I must keep at it, though, because there are 140 million Mexicans and only 40 million Colombians. Incidentally, I have had the same experience in England when a Cockney fires a question at me, or maybe a Glaswegian, and I am completely lost.
Muchas gracias Paul. I recently found your channel and am finding it super helpful. As an English person I sometimes do the same and have subtitles on for American English some accents/voices are really hard to understand. I have never considered using neutral Spanish as I have usually found it possible to understand and be understood by people whose Spanish is from different countries. There are different words just as in English e.g. we don’t say trunk of a car but the boot. The pronunciation of words is quite different, as my teacher is European Spanish I use the softer sounds particularly with the c. This did cause me a difficulty in being understood recently in New York but generally there’s a work around I find to get a message across. Thanks for your hard work, I did subscribe yesterday as well so one more on the journey to 100k subscribers. Lisa
Thank you for taking the time to comment and for subscribing. I agree with you that we can work around differences in accent and vocabulary. I often have to do it in both English and Spanish. :)
South Florida, where Spanish is a majority idioma, is an interesting blend of accents and idioms. Cuba, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, and Central America with a sprinkling of other countries that I sometimes find confusing come together.
Here in Orlando, Puerto Ricans are the largest Spanish speaking group. Where do you find people who are actually teaching Puerto rican Spanish. Besides a private expensive tutor or something
I’m learning Colombian Spanish. For me Español rolo is the best!❤️ Exquisite, impeccable, noble- really enjoyable to hear🔥 And I also like paisa accent - tan sabroso!🥰😁
Thank You Paul..I just discovered your tube channel and watched a few of your videos already. I am in my 60’s and been visiting Mexico every few years since the late 70’s. I made a promise to myself a few years back after spending a few months traveling in Mexico that I would become fluent in Spanish (Mexican dialect). It’s taken me all this time and I have been stuck in the intermediate swamp for a long time. It looks like your videos are going to help me climb out of that swamp. So thank you and it’s impressive that it only took you two years to become fluent and at the same time a gifted teacher. Best regards from Canada
We can get stuck in Intermediate Purgatory for a very long time until we start working on the more difficult gramatical structures and practicing them over and over in writing and speaking them out loud, over and over and over until they are burned in like burning a track on a CD. You probably have a good base to get into the material that DELE calls B2 and C1, kind of difficult, but those structures are impossible to avoid to get past purgatory. The brain cannot learn a real language by only memorizing small bits. It needs to chain together phrases and to use sentence construction of more than one clause. For one thing a lot of Subjunctive Mode is about what to do with the verb in that second clause. No matter how well we conjugate or how big our vocabulary is, there is a mode of brain operation that has to develop too. You sound ready to go. It's never too late.
With all my respect, please don't call it Mexican's dialect. It is Spanish. As you probably won't call English as Canadian or American dialect. I hope you can improve your Spanish soon. There is always a plateau where it seems we get stuck when learning other languages. ¡Buena suerte! : ))
While all of my language partners have been and are from Colombia & Peru living close to Mexico most of my conversations here are in Mexican Spanish and to add another twist the classes I am taking are based in Equador,other than word usage specific to each place (as you mentioned) it is working for me,the worst thing that happens is, I maybe told, “we say it like this”.Thank you for your great advice!
If you're learning Spanish without any particular place to go in mind, but rather to consume media or travel through multiple countries, then neutral Spanish is a great option. Even if you do travel, people will often try not to use expressions they know to be very local when they notice you're a non native speaker. If you are, however, planing to spend a considerable amount of time on a specific place, maybe even moving there, then lerning the local slang is indeed a great idea, and maybe even inevitable.
There are two elements here: vocabulary and accent. Very much like British or American English, there are two types of Spanish. There's no way to speak neutral English nor neutral Spanish. It just immediately sounds from one continent or another because of the accent.( The accent in the video is American Spanish, not Spain Spanish, it's instantly recognisable in that respect.) However as you say, by avoiding idiomatic expressions, you can speak a language that is universally understood. So perhaps it should be called Universal Spanish. The accent is always going to be there, let's face it, because everyone has an accent, it makes us who we are. I have an Anglo-Andaluz- Argentinian accent!😅
This has been my observation as well... people see the term "neutral" and misinterpret how it's being used in reference to languages. It was never meant to be taken so literally as if a robot was speaking the most sterile words with absolutely zero clues as to where it came from for it to be rightfully called "neutral"... as applied here, it simply means speaking precisely and clearly in order to effectively communicate with the widest possible audience in the fastest time possible (hence, why dubbed movies use it). Speaking clearly in a well-enunciated way and avoiding too many unnecessary local slang terms is really how news broadcasters speak or how government diplomats would address the public... it doesn't mean they cannot sound as if they are from a particular country with all the normal mannerisms of local pronunciation, or have zero accent (which as you said, wouldn't be possible anyway). I'd even venture to say what we all hear on TV or online ("produced" content) is largely "neutral" speech as well... only we don't really notice it since we are only focusing on what they are communicating to us. Same thing happens in Spanish speaking countries...
You are a GREAT TEACHER ! I appreciate that you seem to know EXACTLY HOW to address ALL the needs of a person who is learning Spanish. This video represents a type of UNIVERSAL idiom that is needed by everyone. Thank you for that VERY INNOVATIVE IDEA!
Thanks for the video Paul. I tend to watch both Spain Spanish and Latin American. The change in accent doesn’t bother me. Basically I’ll watch anything to further my Spanish 😊. I hope your course is going well! X
Thank you for this video. I’m currently learning Spanish using an online app. but I’m afraid that, if I try speaking the Spanish I’m learning the next time I’m in Madrid, Aaahl saaund laak Aaa’m taawken laaahk theees!
Interesting. I think your original advice may make more sense, at least to me, in that it seems easier to focus on a particular country’s version of the language if you’d like to learn their culture, history etc. So I think I’ll focus on European Spanish. It’s interesting that my other fav YT Spanish teacher is a guy named Juan from Granada in Spain. Total immersion, and a lot of it goes over my head, but the guy is hilarious. It’s a good mix for me as an American-your succinct lessons, and Juan’s full bore Spanish culture and humor.
Subtitles for English from England.... It's a god job we love you in the freed colonies, Paul..... lolllllllllllllllllllllllllll Seriously Other English speakers need to consider my (England English's) Wallet (US billforld), tap (faucet) bonnet _of a car_ (hood).... Along with the word ROUTE which in the UK rhymes with the words "boot", "cute", "newt" & "suit" and not "out", "nowt", "lout" or "doubt" .... Yes, We do understand the Americans' unusual / different words and I'm sure they ours but as respective native speakers of at least C1+ ability as natives we have a HUGE advantage in picking up on context, although I was flummoxed the first time I heard the word "billfold" and thought to myself "What on earth is that?"
I grew up watching Neutral Spanish dubs, but I still have a Honduran accent, because of my parents. I wonder how difficult swapping my accent will be as an adult.
Thanks Paul for these tips. I have not watched films on TH-cam but I’ll explore that now. Netflix has been my go to for films and series in Castilian Spanish. What are the main categories to put into the search bar, please. I love historical dramas, crime series, comedy, rom com….. Thanks for your help x
Paul you know I have studied both Castellano y Latino but never Neutral. Not easy but doable. I prefer series like say Cable Girls but I started off with Latino movies. I just found series in Spain that I liked not involving drugs and crime. I spend most of my time now reading and I read books from Spain mostly but there are a lot from South America as well and a few from Mexico but not many. There are several books for travel purposes for almost every region that I have should I plan to travel there I review first. It will help one get by. But neutral Spanish is something I never considered. Just finding what one enjoys is key to me.
I have studied Spanish for over 50 years; have lived, worked, and studied in Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Spain. I have never, until today, even heard of neutral Spanish. The fact that there are a variety of accents and some variations in vocabulary from one country to another doesn't change the fact that there is just one Spanish. Do people learn neutral English? You learn English based on where you live or where your teacher is from; it's still just English. If I go from Indiana to London, there might be some different words and slang but we are essentially all going to understand each other. I feel like, worrying about how "neutral" your Spanish is is much ado about nothing. Just learn Spanish and go from there. A good teacher should be teaching some of those country-specific quirks anyway just as a part of the curriculum. Regards from Indiana!
@@davidcattin7006 I believe there is such a thing as neutral Spanish only that people see the word "neutral" and often misinterpret how it's being used in reference to languages. It was never meant to be taken so literally as if a robot was speaking the most sterile words with absolutely zero clues as to where it came from for it to be rightfully called "neutral"... as applied here, it simply means speaking precisely and clearly in order to effectively communicate with the widest possible audience in the fastest time possible (hence, why dubbed movies use it). Speaking clearly in a well-enunciated way and avoiding too many unnecessary local slang terms is really how news broadcasters would speak or how government diplomats would address the public in *any* language... it doesn't mean they cannot sound as if they are from a particular country with all the normal mannerisms of local pronunciation, or have zero accent (which as you said, wouldn't be possible anyway). I'd even venture to say what we all hear on TV or online ("produced" content) is largely "neutral" speech as well... only we don't really notice it since we are only focusing on what they are communicating to us. Same thing happens in Spanish speaking countries...
What happend to all of the shorts that you initially posted now its only two. I was practicing them one by one and now they are all gone. Love your content btw you are actually the best Spanish teacher on youtube trust me i have watched them all. Lol
Everyone starts out wanting to speak "everywhere" Spanish only to find out that... It's much like how it's very hard to understand Indian, Australian, Scottish, Irish, Southern US and Californian US English without being a native (or even as a native). As a non-native Spanish learner, I've come to terms (slowly) with the idea that since I'm in Mexico, I should really focus on how we speak it here.
Neutral Spanish is based on the Spanish in Central Mexico, but people often refer to the Spanish spoken in Bogota as being neutral in terms of the accent.
Hi Paul, thank you for all your videos, I watch them and take notes as I want to be fluent in Spanish some day. I just have a question, do you recommend watching the dubbed movies with English subtitles or Spanish?
Hi. I would recommend Spanish subtitles, otherwise you will just be focusing on the English. It will help to see the Spanish constructions. I actually watch a lot of Korean action films with either English or Spanish subtitles. After hundreds of hours of this, I still can't speak any Korean because I am focusing solely on the subtitles.
In your experience is the Spanish word "techo" used universally to denote both a building's external "roof" as well as an interior room's "ceiling"? I found the word "tejado" that specifically denotes a "tiled roof" and "cielo raso" for "ceiling" but I'm not sure if they are used as frequently as "tscho".
In my experience, techo is universal for ceiling (interior); however, I have heard tejado used most often for the exterior roof. I am sure this changes quite a bit by region.
I admire your work because yesterday I was practicing the phrase "To make sure" and thanks to you, I noticed a Subjunctive Trigger Pattern with Asegurarse de que + Subjunctive. "Quiero Asegurarme de que salgamos a tiempo", "Asegurate de que puedan verte". But to me this video is like that old saying - Paralysis by Analysis - for being too concerned with splitting hairs with words or sayings that rarely comes up, like trunk. I think focusing on another old saying - Master the Fundamentals, Master the Art - can be done no matter the region. Focus on what is common throughout like The Keystone etc. For example I understood a lot in that clip you showed "Tengo una pregunta. Hay una pistola en la casa?" Of course the dialect effected how I comprehended that, but the bigger challenge is staying on the train as I call it, comprehending the speaker in real time as the conversation flows back and forth. Bottom line is I think there's plenty of room to train comprehension by sticking to the fundamentals, like The Keystone etc. Just my two cents.
Actually if you learn Spanish from specific region or country you are already taken the "neutral spanish" embeded with the language. Any spanish speaker is understood by natives of any spanish country. The spanish from Argentinian is very non standard but eventually everybody understand them, no matter what.
My Ecuadorian abuelo taught me to say straw “Una sorbete” I have never come across another Latino who uses that word. I always get blank stares at restaurants 😂 Oh well. I’m off to watch some dubbed movies 🎥 🇪🇨
Why do sometimes you sound the "double L" like a 'y' and sometimes like a 'j'? Also, it seems that in some instances 'yo' sounds like 'yo' or 'Joe'. It doesn't seems like it's regional.
This is a lesson I learned early on. I've traveled to Mexico, Ecuador, Puerto Rico and a number of Spanish-speaking Caribbean countries. Since I've traveled to Mexico the most I know mostly Mecxican spanish but when I traveled to Ecuador so many of the everyday words were different that it was almost rendered useless due to my small vocab. On a trip to Mexico with a friend who was a native Spanish speaker from Spain I remember alot of my friend's Espana Spanish got lost in translation in Mexico. I am in the I don't really think neutral spanish exists camp.
I think once you expand your vocabulary considerably, you'll find there is such a thing as "neutral" Spanish (as is exists with just about any other language)...
When I visit Guatemala, I'll often find US expats with good Spanish BUT make absolutely no attempt at any accent, cadence or pronunciation. They sound totally ridiculous and it hurts my ears. Guys, never ever ignore accents.
There is just-- Spanish. Regardless of the background of your teacher, you will be learning the basics of the language. You can pick up the words and phrases unique to each country as you progress. In fact, a good teacher should help you learn these along the way. My first two teachers (junior high thru college) were Cubans. I have lived, worked, or studied in Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Spain. People find my Spanish now to be neutral, but as I was learning, I wasn't thinking that I was learning any particular "kind" of Spanish because-- there is just Spanish. Thanks.
Haha, you are experienced enough to know what vocab to avoid! It's true, and even in English down here in Belize I avoid a lot of my natural phraseology to spare the brains of the native English speakers who have never been exposed to the "matices" of our language. Sometimes I do it in the spirit of teaching them something, but never just blurt it out and expect them to understand it.
The basics are largely the same, and at an expert level it's probably easier to suss out various dialects and accents. Imagine being a new English speaker listening to a conversation between a recent Scottish immigrant and a Creole from Louisiana. Its going to be tough to follow. Same for any language. I get along pretty well in Mexican Spanish, but found it *very* difficult to understand many speakers in certain regions of Spain. Madrid and Barcelona were pretty easy, but get around Malaga and the accent is so different and the way they create contractions of words to speak faster makes if very very tough for someone not familiar with it to understand. I rented a VRBO outside Granada and had to speak with the female owner pretty exclusively because I couldn't grasp the male owner's accent very well, and his brother was even worse. Took me 15 minutes of pondering to figure out anything he said. :D My wife is a native Arabic speaker, but the dialects are so different sometimes her and my friends from Yemen did better speaking in English than their native versions of Arabic...
I remember back in college; we had a fellow student from Switzerland who had come specifically to our school in Texas to study and learn English (his native language was French)... When he first told me this, I said "But why did you choose to come to the U.S. to study English when you could've traveled a much shorter distance and studied it in England?" His response was "Oh no, I didn't want to learn "British" English..."
Yeah, okay. While what your are saying is accurate, you know your spewing nonsense. Then you spew truth! Your killing with the wonderful way to make sense of this. That clip was so vanilla, who watches that shrit. Btw, they all speak Spanish in Andorra. Please add to your Spain or Andorra reference. :-) andorra is non schengen btw. Im pushing subscribers on all the facebooks over aqui
In real life, if someone speaks "universal Spanish" as shown in the clip, would natives think that sounds weird? Or does it actually sound normal to them?
I don't think any native speaker would see it as being "weird"... One of my older family members loves watching American movies dubbed into Spanish (which has this particular "type" of Spanish) and not once has she ever said it sounds odd or unusual in any way... She's just grateful to finally understand the dialogue of these American movies since her English is very poor...
@@rsmrymcgwn I think it is a marketing strategy to "name" it español latino... but if you notice all movies, series, cartoons, books are really in mexico spanish... even Japanese or korean movies/series/anime, label it as latin america spanish, but it is very obvious mexican spanish...
I believe it's just a way to distinguish it from a dubbed track made in Spain... some DVD or Blu-ray movie discs offer "both types" of Spanish as a menu option.
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Yes, in Latin America there is the Univision News Accent, and in Spain there is RTVE News Accent. Similar to the CBS/ABC/NBC News Accent in the USA. 😄
I lived in South Texas for years and learned Spanish there. I moved to Florida and now having difficulties speaking with my boyfriend's family from the Dominican Republic.
They should have the decency to speak spanish in a way you would understand.
You are having problems identifyng the sounds. the more you stay listening the new accent, the more you will understand eventually.
It is so easy to find lessons about Mexican or Spain Spanish, but carribean Spanish is difficult to come by a lot of times
Check out Bilingüe Blogs-American speaking Dominican Spanish
Bilingüe blogs on TH-cam teaches Caribbean Spanish
@@NoaNoirThank you
What I understand of Caribbean Spanish (like Cuban) is that it's just like Caribbean English, so it's like a Spaniard learning Jamaican.
For example, in Cuba they won't ask "Que quieres (tu)?" , they'll say "Que te quiere", literally "What you want?"
As a new Spanish student, this video really helped answer the "accent" question for me. Thank you Paul. Your videos are always so helpful.
Happy to help! Thanks for watching.
Permíteme hacer una sugerencia. No esperes hablar español con muchas personas. No te preocupes por cometer errores. Todo el mundo comete errores. Incluso los hablantes nativos cometen errores todo el tiempo. Nada mejorará tu español que hablar con otras personas. Y no importa si las otras personas son hablantes nativos o otros estudiantes. Lo importante es hablar con los demás a menudo. Deberías preocuparte por no hablar lo suficiente con los demás en lugar de no hablar con los demás en absoluto. Cuanto más a menudo hables con los demás, más fácil será. Te lo garantizo. Mucho de lo que he escrito aquí podría ser incorrecto pero no me importa. Quiero hablar español. No puedes aprender hacer algo sin hacerlo. Leer y escribir en español es genial pero no está hablando en español. Aunque estoy usando la función de dictado para poder hablar más español. Nunca te rindas. Buena suerte.
I have been enjoying your classes. I gave been watching programs on Netflix also. Netflix gives the origin Colombia,Spain, Mexico.
Mos amigos Mexicanos dicen "te extraño" y no echar de menos. Gracias por tu trabajo!
That works too. Lots of ways to say the same thing. Thanks for watching.
I suspect Mexican Spanish will overpower other accents by sheer volume, much like Brazil has taken over Portuguese. I spend a lot of time in Mexico and am in CDMX right now. When I started to learn Spanish I was working in Colombia and heard from many people that the Andino accent and vocabulary from Colombia and Ecuador were the cleanest and easiest for foreigners to understand. True, that may be, but I am still left confused when Mexicans let loose a blast of utterances I cannot separate and I'm forced to admit I didn't catch a single word in that sentence. I must keep at it, though, because there are 140 million Mexicans and only 40 million Colombians.
Incidentally, I have had the same experience in England when a Cockney fires a question at me, or maybe a Glaswegian, and I am completely lost.
Muchas gracias Paul. I recently found your channel and am finding it super helpful. As an English person I sometimes do the same and have subtitles on for American English some accents/voices are really hard to understand. I have never considered using neutral Spanish as I have usually found it possible to understand and be understood by people whose Spanish is from different countries. There are different words just as in English e.g. we don’t say trunk of a car but the boot. The pronunciation of words is quite different, as my teacher is European Spanish I use the softer sounds particularly with the c. This did cause me a difficulty in being understood recently in New York but generally there’s a work around I find to get a message across.
Thanks for your hard work, I did subscribe yesterday as well so one more on the journey to 100k subscribers. Lisa
Thank you for taking the time to comment and for subscribing. I agree with you that we can work around differences in accent and vocabulary. I often have to do it in both English and Spanish. :)
Good info to know and where to find different accents!!!! Gracias
South Florida, where Spanish is a majority idioma, is an interesting blend of accents and idioms. Cuba, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, and Central America with a sprinkling of other countries that I sometimes find confusing come together.
Here in Orlando, Puerto Ricans are the largest Spanish speaking group. Where do you find people who are actually teaching Puerto rican Spanish. Besides a private expensive tutor or something
@@johnmiller3970italki
I’m learning Colombian Spanish. For me Español rolo is the best!❤️ Exquisite, impeccable, noble- really enjoyable to hear🔥 And I also like paisa accent - tan sabroso!🥰😁
Your presentations and examples show the nuances of living in Spanish speaking neighborhoods, which are transportable as well .
Thank You Paul..I just discovered your tube channel and watched a few of your videos already. I am in my 60’s and been visiting Mexico every few years since the late 70’s. I made a promise to myself a few years back after spending a few months traveling in Mexico that I would become fluent in Spanish (Mexican dialect). It’s taken me all this time and I have been stuck in the intermediate swamp for a long time. It looks like your videos are going to help me climb out of that swamp. So thank you and it’s impressive that it only took you two years to become fluent and at the same time a gifted teacher.
Best regards from Canada
We can get stuck in Intermediate Purgatory for a very long time until we start working on the more difficult gramatical structures and practicing them over and over in writing and speaking them out loud, over and over and over until they are burned in like burning a track on a CD. You probably have a good base to get into the material that DELE calls B2 and C1, kind of difficult, but those structures are impossible to avoid to get past purgatory. The brain cannot learn a real language by only memorizing small bits. It needs to chain together phrases and to use sentence construction of more than one clause. For one thing a lot of Subjunctive Mode is about what to do with the verb in that second clause. No matter how well we conjugate or how big our vocabulary is, there is a mode of brain operation that has to develop too. You sound ready to go. It's never too late.
With all my respect, please don't call it Mexican's dialect. It is Spanish. As you probably won't call English as Canadian or American dialect. I hope you can improve your Spanish soon. There is always a plateau where it seems we get stuck when learning other languages. ¡Buena suerte! : ))
@@santgenisfashion1I razz my Canadian and Brit friends all the time about their "dialect". Of course, I also have a sense of humor.
Sent you three new subscribers.. . Thanks for what you do😊
Solo, quiero entender, y estar entendé en español, por favor continuar estos videos Paul, gracias. Phil
En neuva zelanda no es trunk, es boot 😊
While all of my language partners have been and are from Colombia & Peru living close to Mexico most of my conversations here are in Mexican Spanish and to add another twist the classes I am taking are based in Equador,other than word usage specific to each place (as you mentioned) it is working for me,the worst thing that happens is, I maybe told, “we say it like this”.Thank you for your great advice!
Thanks for the tips. In the UK we say boot for a trunk,bonnet for hood and autumn for the fall.
Interesting... "autumn" is used interchangeably instead with "fall" in the US.
If you're learning Spanish without any particular place to go in mind, but rather to consume media or travel through multiple countries, then neutral Spanish is a great option. Even if you do travel, people will often try not to use expressions they know to be very local when they notice you're a non native speaker. If you are, however, planing to spend a considerable amount of time on a specific place, maybe even moving there, then lerning the local slang is indeed a great idea, and maybe even inevitable.
Many thumbs up Paul. Thank you so much.
Thanks for watching!
Can’t wait until you hit 100,000 subscribers. You certainly deserve it!!!
Fingers crossed!
There are two elements here: vocabulary and accent.
Very much like British or American English, there are two types of Spanish. There's no way to speak neutral English nor neutral Spanish. It just immediately sounds from one continent or another because of the accent.( The accent in the video is American Spanish, not Spain Spanish, it's instantly recognisable in that respect.)
However as you say, by avoiding idiomatic expressions, you can speak a language that is universally understood. So perhaps it should be called Universal Spanish.
The accent is always going to be there, let's face it, because everyone has an accent, it makes us who we are. I have an Anglo-Andaluz- Argentinian accent!😅
This has been my observation as well... people see the term "neutral" and misinterpret how it's being used in reference to languages.
It was never meant to be taken so literally as if a robot was speaking the most sterile words with absolutely zero clues as to where it came from for it to be rightfully called "neutral"... as applied here, it simply means speaking precisely and clearly in order to effectively communicate with the widest possible audience in the fastest time possible (hence, why dubbed movies use it).
Speaking clearly in a well-enunciated way and avoiding too many unnecessary local slang terms is really how news broadcasters speak or how government diplomats would address the public... it doesn't mean they cannot sound as if they are from a particular country with all the normal mannerisms of local pronunciation, or have zero accent (which as you said, wouldn't be possible anyway).
I'd even venture to say what we all hear on TV or online ("produced" content) is largely "neutral" speech as well... only we don't really notice it since we are only focusing on what they are communicating to us.
Same thing happens in Spanish speaking countries...
You are a GREAT TEACHER !
I appreciate that you seem to know EXACTLY HOW to address ALL the needs of a person who is learning Spanish.
This video represents a type of UNIVERSAL idiom that is needed by everyone.
Thank you for that VERY INNOVATIVE IDEA!
Thanks for the video Paul. I tend to watch both Spain Spanish and Latin American. The change in accent doesn’t bother me. Basically I’ll watch anything to further my Spanish 😊. I hope your course is going well! X
Thanks, my course is going fine so far, but I have a test in a few hours so things could change....lol.
@@QrooSpanish I would wish you good luck, but I’m sure you don’t need it 🤞x
Thanks!
Good advice. Thank you Mr.Paul
Thank you for this video. I’m currently learning Spanish using an online app. but I’m afraid that, if I try speaking the Spanish I’m learning the next time I’m in Madrid, Aaahl saaund laak Aaa’m taawken laaahk theees!
Interesting. I think your original advice may make more sense, at least to me, in that it seems easier to focus on a particular country’s version of the language if you’d like to learn their culture, history etc. So I think I’ll focus on European Spanish.
It’s interesting that my other fav YT Spanish teacher is a guy named Juan from Granada in Spain. Total immersion, and a lot of it goes over my head, but the guy is hilarious. It’s a good mix for me as an American-your succinct lessons, and Juan’s full bore Spanish culture and humor.
Buen idea, gracias por todo
Subtitles for English from England.... It's a god job we love you in the freed colonies, Paul..... lolllllllllllllllllllllllllll Seriously Other English speakers need to consider my (England English's) Wallet (US billforld), tap (faucet) bonnet _of a car_ (hood).... Along with the word ROUTE which in the UK rhymes with the words "boot", "cute", "newt" & "suit" and not "out", "nowt", "lout" or "doubt" .... Yes, We do understand the Americans' unusual / different words and I'm sure they ours but as respective native speakers of at least C1+ ability as natives we have a HUGE advantage in picking up on context, although I was flummoxed the first time I heard the word "billfold" and thought to myself "What on earth is that?"
Haha.
I grew up watching Neutral Spanish dubs, but I still have a Honduran accent, because of my parents.
I wonder how difficult swapping my accent will be as an adult.
Love your videos. You do an amazing job explaining things. Thanks again
Glad you like them!
Hey Paul, are there shows or movies that you would recommend for beginner Spanish
Really useful - thanks
You're welcome!
Thanks Paul for these tips. I have not watched films on TH-cam but I’ll explore that now. Netflix has been my go to for films and series in Castilian Spanish. What are the main categories to put into the search bar, please. I love historical dramas, crime series, comedy, rom com….. Thanks for your help x
Paul you know I have studied both Castellano y Latino but never Neutral. Not easy but doable. I prefer series like say Cable Girls but I started off with Latino movies. I just found series in Spain that I liked not involving drugs and crime. I spend most of my time now reading and I read books from Spain mostly but there are a lot from South America as well and a few from Mexico but not many.
There are several books for travel purposes for almost every region that I have should I plan to travel there I review first. It will help one get by.
But neutral Spanish is something I never considered.
Just finding what one enjoys is key to me.
I have studied Spanish for over 50 years; have lived, worked, and studied in Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Spain. I have never, until today, even heard of neutral Spanish. The fact that there are a variety of accents and some variations in vocabulary from one country to another doesn't change the fact that there is just one Spanish. Do people learn neutral English? You learn English based on where you live or where your teacher is from; it's still just English. If I go from Indiana to London, there might be some different words and slang but we are essentially all going to understand each other. I feel like, worrying about how "neutral" your Spanish is is much ado about nothing. Just learn Spanish and go from there. A good teacher should be teaching some of those country-specific quirks anyway just as a part of the curriculum. Regards from Indiana!
@@davidcattin7006 I believe there is such a thing as neutral Spanish only that people see the word "neutral" and often misinterpret how it's being used in reference to languages.
It was never meant to be taken so literally as if a robot was speaking the most sterile words with absolutely zero clues as to where it came from for it to be rightfully called "neutral"... as applied here, it simply means speaking precisely and clearly in order to effectively communicate with the widest possible audience in the fastest time possible (hence, why dubbed movies use it).
Speaking clearly in a well-enunciated way and avoiding too many unnecessary local slang terms is really how news broadcasters would speak or how government diplomats would address the public in *any* language... it doesn't mean they cannot sound as if they are from a particular country with all the normal mannerisms of local pronunciation, or have zero accent (which as you said, wouldn't be possible anyway).
I'd even venture to say what we all hear on TV or online ("produced" content) is largely "neutral" speech as well... only we don't really notice it since we are only focusing on what they are communicating to us.
Same thing happens in Spanish speaking countries...
I loooove this!!!
I'm glad to hear that! Thanks for watching.
¡Hasta luego!
What happend to all of the shorts that you initially posted now its only two. I was practicing them one by one and now they are all gone. Love your content btw you are actually the best Spanish teacher on youtube trust me i have watched them all. Lol
Everyone starts out wanting to speak "everywhere" Spanish only to find out that... It's much like how it's very hard to understand Indian, Australian, Scottish, Irish, Southern US and Californian US English without being a native (or even as a native). As a non-native Spanish learner, I've come to terms (slowly) with the idea that since I'm in Mexico, I should really focus on how we speak it here.
Correct.
Y para encontrar las peliculas en español europea que necesito añadir de busqueda?
Castellano o España
I have heard a few people call Colombian spanish somewhat neutral for American Spanish.
My guess is, Columbia. At 3:00 in...
Perhaps similar to Colombia
Neutral Spanish is based on the Spanish in Central Mexico, but people often refer to the Spanish spoken in Bogota as being neutral in terms of the accent.
Hi Paul, thank you for all your videos, I watch them and take notes as I want to be fluent in Spanish some day. I just have a question, do you recommend watching the dubbed movies with English subtitles or Spanish?
Hi. I would recommend Spanish subtitles, otherwise you will just be focusing on the English. It will help to see the Spanish constructions.
I actually watch a lot of Korean action films with either English or Spanish subtitles. After hundreds of hours of this, I still can't speak any Korean because I am focusing solely on the subtitles.
@@QrooSpanish Got it. Thank you!
In your experience is the Spanish word "techo" used universally to denote both a building's external "roof" as well as an interior room's "ceiling"? I found the word "tejado" that specifically denotes a "tiled roof" and "cielo raso" for "ceiling" but I'm not sure if they are used as frequently as "tscho".
In my experience, techo is universal for ceiling (interior); however, I have heard tejado used most often for the exterior roof. I am sure this changes quite a bit by region.
That clip you played was v neutral
I admire your work because yesterday I was practicing the phrase "To make sure" and thanks to you, I noticed a Subjunctive Trigger Pattern with Asegurarse de que + Subjunctive. "Quiero Asegurarme de que salgamos a tiempo", "Asegurate de que puedan verte". But to me this video is like that old saying - Paralysis by Analysis - for being too concerned with splitting hairs with words or sayings that rarely comes up, like trunk. I think focusing on another old saying - Master the Fundamentals, Master the Art - can be done no matter the region. Focus on what is common throughout like The Keystone etc. For example I understood a lot in that clip you showed "Tengo una pregunta. Hay una pistola en la casa?" Of course the dialect effected how I comprehended that, but the bigger challenge is staying on the train as I call it, comprehending the speaker in real time as the conversation flows back and forth. Bottom line is I think there's plenty of room to train comprehension by sticking to the fundamentals, like The Keystone etc. Just my two cents.
I’m focused on Mexican Spanish, and I’ve found it easier to speak faster when I use a Mexican accent.
Me too!
Actually if you learn Spanish from specific region or country you are already taken the "neutral spanish" embeded with the language. Any spanish speaker is understood by natives of any spanish country. The spanish from Argentinian is very non standard but eventually everybody understand them, no matter what.
My Ecuadorian abuelo taught me to say straw “Una sorbete” I have never come across another Latino who uses that word. I always get blank stares at restaurants 😂
Oh well. I’m off to watch some dubbed movies 🎥 🇪🇨
Yes, sorbete is another one. I was going to mention that one in the video but changed my mind at the last minute.
Oh man I thought my grandpa and I had some code language! Glad I’m not crazy.
Thanks for the great videos 😊
@@QrooSpanish In some Latin American countries, it's called "una caña" as well...
can you give us samples how to use No Mas
Good video suggestion.
😍🤩
Try Chilean.
Hys sir i am from india please help me i want to learn Spanish language
The accent in the clip sounded very odd. A bit like Italian to me. 🤷🏻♂️🤷🏻♂️🤷🏻♂️
Why do sometimes you sound the "double L" like a 'y' and sometimes like a 'j'? Also, it seems that in some instances 'yo' sounds like 'yo' or 'Joe'. It doesn't seems like it's regional.
My wife pronounces it LL and Y like a soft J. That's where I picked it up from. You will find that pronunciation used in certain areas.
This is a lesson I learned early on. I've traveled to Mexico, Ecuador, Puerto Rico and a number of Spanish-speaking Caribbean countries. Since I've traveled to Mexico the most I know mostly Mecxican spanish but when I traveled to Ecuador so many of the everyday words were different that it was almost rendered useless due to my small vocab. On a trip to Mexico with a friend who was a native Spanish speaker from Spain I remember alot of my friend's Espana Spanish got lost in translation in Mexico. I am in the I don't really think neutral spanish exists camp.
I think once you expand your vocabulary considerably, you'll find there is such a thing as "neutral" Spanish (as is exists with just about any other language)...
When I visit Guatemala, I'll often find US expats with good Spanish BUT make absolutely no attempt at any accent, cadence or pronunciation.
They sound totally ridiculous and it hurts my ears.
Guys, never ever ignore accents.
One thing i noticed is that some spanish accents sound like they have a lisp because the pronounce c and s as th
There is just-- Spanish. Regardless of the background of your teacher, you will be learning the basics of the language. You can pick up the words and phrases unique to each country as you progress. In fact, a good teacher should help you learn these along the way. My first two teachers (junior high thru college) were Cubans. I have lived, worked, or studied in Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Spain. People find my Spanish now to be neutral, but as I was learning, I wasn't thinking that I was learning any particular "kind" of Spanish because-- there is just Spanish. Thanks.
Haha, you are experienced enough to know what vocab to avoid! It's true, and even in English down here in Belize I avoid a lot of my natural phraseology to spare the brains of the native English speakers who have never been exposed to the "matices" of our language. Sometimes I do it in the spirit of teaching them something, but never just blurt it out and expect them to understand it.
The basics are largely the same, and at an expert level it's probably easier to suss out various dialects and accents. Imagine being a new English speaker listening to a conversation between a recent Scottish immigrant and a Creole from Louisiana. Its going to be tough to follow. Same for any language. I get along pretty well in Mexican Spanish, but found it *very* difficult to understand many speakers in certain regions of Spain. Madrid and Barcelona were pretty easy, but get around Malaga and the accent is so different and the way they create contractions of words to speak faster makes if very very tough for someone not familiar with it to understand. I rented a VRBO outside Granada and had to speak with the female owner pretty exclusively because I couldn't grasp the male owner's accent very well, and his brother was even worse. Took me 15 minutes of pondering to figure out anything he said. :D My wife is a native Arabic speaker, but the dialects are so different sometimes her and my friends from Yemen did better speaking in English than their native versions of Arabic...
There is not just Spanish. There are different types.
I remember back in college; we had a fellow student from Switzerland who had come specifically to our school in Texas to study and learn English (his native language was French)...
When he first told me this, I said "But why did you choose to come to the U.S. to study English when you could've traveled a much shorter distance and studied it in England?"
His response was "Oh no, I didn't want to learn "British" English..."
If you know "neutral English" well you should be able to figure out what it means to say, "50% of this sport is 90% mental". Hahaha, good luck!
Yeah, okay. While what your are saying is accurate, you know your spewing nonsense. Then you spew truth! Your killing with the wonderful way to make sense of this. That clip was so vanilla, who watches that shrit. Btw, they all speak Spanish in Andorra. Please add to your Spain or Andorra reference. :-) andorra is non schengen btw. Im pushing subscribers on all the facebooks over aqui
Haha, I'm not a fan of 100% neutral but the option does exist.
In real life, if someone speaks "universal Spanish" as shown in the clip, would natives think that sounds weird? Or does it actually sound normal to them?
I don't think any native speaker would see it as being "weird"...
One of my older family members loves watching American movies dubbed into Spanish (which has this particular "type" of Spanish) and not once has she ever said it sounds odd or unusual in any way...
She's just grateful to finally understand the dialogue of these American movies since her English is very poor...
There is not such thing as español latino... It Is México Spanish in movies, tv series, documentales, books, etc... There is Europe Spanish tho...
If you input "español latino" in youtube you will find many channels. "Español méxicano" will also give you more options as well.
@@rsmrymcgwn I think it is a marketing strategy to "name" it español latino... but if you notice all movies, series, cartoons, books are really in mexico spanish... even Japanese or korean movies/series/anime, label it as latin america spanish, but it is very obvious mexican spanish...
I believe it's just a way to distinguish it from a dubbed track made in Spain... some DVD or Blu-ray movie discs offer "both types" of Spanish as a menu option.