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Best and Worst Spanish?
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naturegirl321



Joined: 04 May 2003
Posts: 9041
Location: home sweet home

PostPosted: Mon Apr 12, 2004 9:23 am    Post subject: Best and Worst Spanish? Reply with quote

Where do you think are the best and worst countries in Latin America for the Spanish Language? I've heard that Chile has a difficult accent. But other than that I'm not sure. Any ideas?
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khmerhit



Joined: 31 May 2003
Posts: 1874
Location: Reverse Culture Shock Unit

PostPosted: Tue Apr 13, 2004 1:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Supposedly Colombia. That's what it said on one of the website Ive looked at recently, or maybe it was the sticky--i think it was the sticky. Who knows, Naturegirl? Nobody is responding from down there!

Hello!!!

Hello!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, it says on this ssticky from this forum

Quote:
and the only way to experience them is to go there. One major bonus to living in Colombia is the Spanish, which many native Spanish speakers will tell you is the best form spoken today. The danger is not as great as it is made out to be (They say that anywhere from 3000-5000, or more, people die every
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kimchikowboy



Joined: 06 Feb 2003
Posts: 20

PostPosted: Tue Apr 13, 2004 8:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The Chilean accent is horrible. I was there for about a year and a half. I had never studied Spanish before I went, but after a couple of months I was interpreting Chilean into English for people who had lived in Mexico or Spain and could not understand a word of castellano chileno. A friend described their style of speaking as "mush mouth." Large parts of words disappear before they ever escape their mouths.
I've read that for accent and price, Equator is the best.
I like the sound of Argentine Spanish, but the accent throws some people off.
And all things considered, if you can understand a Chilean, you can understand any Spanish speaker.
If you do pick Chile, stay away from Santiago if you have any breathing problems, esp. in winter. The pollution is terrible.
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grahamb



Joined: 30 Apr 2003
Posts: 1945

PostPosted: Tue Apr 13, 2004 9:29 am    Post subject: Best and worst Spanish. Reply with quote

Personally I find Ecuadorian and Mexican Spanish fairly easy to understand. Chilean Spanish is tricky, but it isn't that bad. The worst by a mile is Cuban.
Mind you, any variety of Latin American Spanish is preferable to that gutteral stuff they speak in Madrid. That lisping of the letters c and z is absolutely foul.
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naturegirl321



Joined: 04 May 2003
Posts: 9041
Location: home sweet home

PostPosted: Tue Apr 13, 2004 9:35 am    Post subject: Re: Best and worst Spanish. Reply with quote

grahamb wrote:
Personally I find Ecuadorian and Mexican Spanish fairly easy to understand. Chilean Spanish is tricky, but it isn't that bad. The worst by a mile is Cuban.
Mind you, any variety of Latin American Spanish is preferable to that gutteral stuff they speak in Madrid. That lisping of the letters c and z is absolutely foul.


I like the Spain Spanish. I studied three hours west of Madrid. Fingers crossed, I'll be in Ecuador this fall, if I get the job.
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grahamb



Joined: 30 Apr 2003
Posts: 1945

PostPosted: Tue Apr 13, 2004 10:30 am    Post subject: Autumn leaves Reply with quote

I love Paris in the springtime, I love Quito in the fall...
Well, if you like volcanoes, Ecuador's the place for you. Unlike many other Spanish speakers, the Ecuadorians don't eat the letter "s" when it appears at the end of a word.
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pirateinpanama



Joined: 04 Feb 2003
Posts: 93
Location: Panama City, Panama

PostPosted: Tue Apr 13, 2004 1:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

PANAMA, hands down, has to be one place where the Spanish language has been butchered to death. This strange "Caribbean Spanish" slang seems light years away from what is spoken elsewhere. English words have also been altered and have become part of this odd language.
I sometimes do consulting work for Colombian engineers and they too have problems. One guy told me he only understands about 55-60 % of what is being said here.
COLOMBIA; it's excellent Spanish and easy to understand. Colombians are proud people and they will always tell you their Spanish is the best in Latin America. In my estimation, I'd say they're right.
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naturegirl321



Joined: 04 May 2003
Posts: 9041
Location: home sweet home

PostPosted: Tue Apr 13, 2004 11:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Colombia seems to be the winner, but I don't really think it's all that safe, is it?
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MELEE



Joined: 22 Jan 2003
Posts: 2583
Location: The Mexican Hinterland

PostPosted: Wed Apr 14, 2004 5:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Mad ����I can't believe language teachers are having this conversation!!!!

We have native English speaking teachers from eight different countries, and if a student came into my office and said they wanted to change class because they didn't want to learn the English of X country, I would be extremely firm in telling them that no one variation was better than any other, and if fact they should consider themselves extremely lucky to have the oportuntiy to be exposed to a wide variety of accents, vocabulary and usuage as it will help them to develope a broad base of "understandablity". After a semester each with a Jamaican, an Australian, a Mississippian, a Scot, a Bostonian, and a Ugandan, understand RP will be a piece of cake.

If you want to be able to speak Spanish with anyone you'll need to listen to everyone.
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ls650



Joined: 10 May 2003
Posts: 3484
Location: British Columbia

PostPosted: Wed Apr 14, 2004 11:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

MELEE wrote:
We have native English speaking teachers from eight different countries, and if a student came into my office and said they wanted to change class because they didn't want to learn the English of X country, I would be extremely firm in telling them that no one variation was better than any other, and if fact they should consider


BUT the fact remains that for learners, some variations of English ARE easier to understand than others. Hell, *I* have trouble understanding the accents of some of my fellow teachers!!
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naturegirl321



Joined: 04 May 2003
Posts: 9041
Location: home sweet home

PostPosted: Thu Apr 15, 2004 9:25 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

MELEE wrote:
Mad ����I can't believe language teachers are having this conversation!!!!

We have native English speaking teachers from eight different countries, and if a student came into my office and said they wanted to change class because they didn't want to learn the English of X country, I would be extremely firm in telling them that no one variation was better than any other, and if fact they should consider themselves extremely lucky to have the oportuntiy to be exposed to a wide variety of accents, vocabulary and usuage as it will help them to develope a broad base of "understandablity".

If you want to be able to speak Spanish with anyone you'll need to listen to everyone.


I think it's normal that language teachers would have this discussion. First of all, I'm not talking about learning from a teacher from X or Y country. but living in that country for one or two years. So normally, I would pick up that accent of that country and I want it to be a pure accent.

Like if someone wants to study English, chances are they wouldn't want to go to the deep South of America, or way up north in England or Birmingham. Even people who are native speakers of English have trouble understanding these people.

And for Spanish, there are many forms, you live in Mexico, you know. When I lived in Spain, there are four languages of Spanish, and just because you speak castellano, doesn't mean that you can understand the people from Pais Basco or from Malaga or Andalucia.

So besides from Colombia, which country has pure Spanish?
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grahamb



Joined: 30 Apr 2003
Posts: 1945

PostPosted: Thu Apr 15, 2004 9:59 am    Post subject: Opinion is free Reply with quote

Melee, why shouldn't EFL teachers express their lingusitic likes and dislikes? I've lost count of the number of occasions when students have done exactly the same thing, e.g. "I prefer British English," "I find Americans easier to understand," "Australians are impossible to understand," etc etc. You could prepare a fantastic class based on comments like these, and I'm sure your students would be very interested in hearing your opinion.
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naturegirl321



Joined: 04 May 2003
Posts: 9041
Location: home sweet home

PostPosted: Thu Apr 15, 2004 11:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Another thing I forgot to mention. when people stay away from their country, they tend to get a nuetral accent. For example, i've been away only two and a half years and when I go "Home", people ask me where I'm from.
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khmerhit



Joined: 31 May 2003
Posts: 1874
Location: Reverse Culture Shock Unit

PostPosted: Thu Apr 15, 2004 11:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Where are you from, NG? Not Trafalmador, i trust. Wink
kh
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naturegirl321



Joined: 04 May 2003
Posts: 9041
Location: home sweet home

PostPosted: Fri Apr 16, 2004 8:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

khmerhit wrote:
Where are you from, NG? Not Trafalmador, i trust. Wink
kh


Nope. Around Chicago. About 15 miles. Went to school 4 miles from downtown.
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