Job Discussion Forums

[M@tt]

i think the norteno accent is the most singsong. i sometimes get comments on my spanish accent that it sounds close to norteno, and i think that's what they mean. not that i do it intentionally!

to be honest, i can't distinguish accents here well at all. i'm ashamed to say that but I lived in veracruz for a year and now DF, and i really don't notice much of a difference at all, even when i travel back and forth. if you're with certain people on the coast you will get a kind of coastal accent where they drop s's, etc. but apart from that, i can't tell.


all over the country people say buey/guey/wey, and all over they say "no mames", but as far as i can tell it's more common in veracruz along with "la verga!" as a generic exclamation. i heard a lot of stories about alvarado, but i'm not sure whether they are true. the most common bit of folklore where i lived was that they greet each other in the streets by yelling "chinga tu madre" and the answer is of course "y tu mama tambien." but again, i've never been there to verify.

i have a friend from a village on the southern coast of chiapas and he uses the old old old school spanish endings for past tense tu, with an -s at the end: "ya comistes?" etc. that's fairly regional, according to my teacher at UNAM who told me that it marks people as from a certain part of the country, and that while it's seen as a sign of poor education in the rest of the country, it's fairly standard in a few states and can be traced back to classical spanish.

just some interesting trivia.
incidentally, if you spend any time around people who speak like that, you will probably adapt their habit very quickly. i have to correct myself all the time now, as it feels much more natural to say "-astes/istes." i prefer it, actually, but i get corrected by my friends when i slip.

[thelmadatter]

Fran Drescher! ja ja ja Guy!

Whenever the topic of "naco" comes up in class, I have to tell my kids that it depends on what part of the country if you want to make a comparison to the US. While picking on our southern (southeastern really) cousins is too easy, I have to admit that for the northeast (us "damn Yankees" according to my Alabaman ex- mother-in-law), Fran really represents as close to "naco" as I can get.

To show how much English can vary, I use the sentence "I went to the mall to buy a ball for my dog and then went to the bathroom." done in my bestest Jersey-talk and no one understands a word. (Curiously enough, Ive found that native Mandarin speakers can nail the imitation of this, however)

While all varieties have their place and value, not ALL are useful for second language learners. I would NEVER consider teaching my students the "Fran Drescher" English I grew up speaking and really didnt learn to modify until I was in college. I do not think it is "bad," but it really won't do my students any good when, as second language speakers, they might be speaking to anyone from almost anywhere in the world. I call what I teach "book English" --- not really native to anyone, but the most useful form to know, as the greatest number of people will understand it.

I claim to speak only "book Spanish"... with a few mexicanismos thrown in.

FWIW, the most "beautiful" English I ever heard was from a woman from Uganda - could have listened to her all day.

[Ben Round de Bloc]

[Guy Courchesne]

Londoners might cringe, but I enjoy hearing Manchester or Liverpool English.

[MELEE]

[MELEE]

M@tt,
A lot of people here do the s on the end of second person singular simple past verbs. Vistes? Ya fuistes? Oiestes?
But those who don't speak this way take it to be an uneduacted corruption of the s that marks the second person singular in the simple present and tacking that on to the simple past.

The big difference in Oaxaca is the rural versus urban accents. I noticed it in Michoacan as well. Even if the rural people are monolingual Spanish speakers they speak very similar to those who are second language Spanish speakers.

My husband has a really good friend who is from Puebla and quiet fresa. I actually try to avoid this guy, because I find it really hard not to laugh when he speaks. He's like a comedian doing a skit or something.

My brother-in-law tutors me when ever I have to take my car to the mechanic, he claims that if I speak a certain way I won't get ripped off.

[M@tt]

that sounds fun. i wish i had a mexican brother in law and some car problems.

[wildnfree]

Hi

Could you explain what you mean by "fresa"? sounds intruiging.

I always like the Puerto Rico and Dominican accents myself, but the Mexican accent is also very unique and nice.

[Guy Courchesne]

Try this site. At least you can find out whether you are fresa or naco.

http://www.chidochido.com/

[Ben Round de Bloc]

[cultureman]

no english accent is pretty in my opinion and i am a native english speaker. cannot compare accents to different regions because i have not been to every region. nahuatl on the other hand is the most beautiful language i have heard.

[bryan_s]

The Texas accent sounds pleasant. Also, their pronunciantion is better than here, in Arizona. People from the metropolitan area (the only Arizonans I know) sometimes compress words using a "gutteral" sound.

[wildnfree]

For someone unfamiliar with Mexican spanish, can someone explain what "fresca" refers to ? Is it a reference to the sing-song quality?

How sing-song are people in Oaxaca and the south?

I currently speak with a strong Peninsular accent. It is probably the least attractive of Spanish accents to me, but my teacher is from Spain and I pick up accents way too easily.

[Cdaniels]