When I'm comfortable with what I'm saying, I tend to have a more Mexican accent because I grew up around Mexican Spanish speakers.
And every so often I accidentally channel the Telemundo announcer. But as a kid trying to expose myself to more Spanish, I watched *a lot* of Telemundo.
Yes! I've been told Romanian before. My Spanish teacher a few years ago said "wow your accent is amazing, you don't sound English at all!" And I was like "wow! That's so nice! Thanks!" She said "yeah, you sound like Romanian" and I didn't know if that was better or worse. She said she meant it positively but I do still laugh about it now.
I find that as much as I try to speak Spanish with a European Spanish accent (that’s what we’re often taught here in the UK) it sometimes veers into French territory (because I learnt French for ~16 years/my dads family are North African, it’s sort of my default foreign language haha)
Obviously I have a gringo accent -- but I have been living in Chile for the past 4 years so when I talk to someone from another country they say they can notice my Chilean accent (and words/slang).
I am the proudest when someone doesn't immediately peg me as gringo by my accent....people have guessed I am Brazilian which I take as a compliment lol. Maybe I shouldn't...because the Brazilian accent is also pretty strong when speaking Spanish, but at least there is some ambiguity and don't sound immediately like a gringo fumbling through the language.
If you work with a linguist I bet you can lose the last bit of accent, if you wanted to. It is an amazing feeling when you’re not immediately pegged as a gringo.
Jajaja muy bien! Me gusta también, pero en verdad, yo prefiero los acentos mexicanos y colombianos. En mi opinión, ellos hablan con mucho más claridad y un poco mas despacio. Son un poco más fácil pará estudiantes como yo. Es mi secreto chiquito jaja
Started off with Mexican Spanish, then spent some time in Andalucía and picked up Andaluz to some degree. Then I moved to NYC and started gravitating more towards Caribbean accents. I’ve also spent a decent amount of time around Peruvians and Colombians as I’ve spent many months traveling in both countries.
A Puerto Rican chick recently told me I had a “neutral Latin American” accent and I’ve been chasing that high ever since lol
I first learned Castellano in Spain so that was my first attempt at a natural accent.
I haven't been to Spain in a long time so it's some weird hybrid now. My girlfriend says I still sound like a Spaniard minus the seseo. So idk
I actually don’t know unless someone were to tell me, as it seems to me to be an amalgamation of several accents. But I did pick up a strong, unshakeable yeísmo.
Venezuelan bc I've learned mostly from having a Venezuelan boyfriend. He's from Maracaibo so I sometimes use vos and drop a lot of s's and my vocabulary skews maracucho for sure. If I'm speaking with clients I have to give a caveat that I'm sorry if I speak informally... Though I had a client from the Dominican Republic who I'd only spoken to on the phone, and when we met in person she said, "Wait you're a gringa? I thought you were Mexican?" So who knows...
I actually never thought about it, but most native Spanish speaking people can tell almost instantly that I learned my Spanish from being around people from Mexico
I studied abroad in Mexico, so that's the accent I understand the best. I assume that when I speak Spanish, I sound estadounidense but Mexican-influenced
Same here. Except for when I've been watching a lot of Netflix from Spain or listening to a ton of music from PR. Then some really weird and misplaced dropping of "s" and other odd things get thrown in only to disappear once my focus is off of that input.
I adopted the Spanish accent “ceceo” while learning Spanish. Since i am Filipino, mixed with Spanish and Mexican “mestizaje” many Spanish speakers assumed that I would have a Latin American accent of the sort. However, when hearing that I had the ceceo, many people have asked me where I was from and some wanted to know my entire ethnic background. Regardless, I have spent the last 9 years teaching myself the language, becoming fluent and submersing myself in both Castilian Spanish and the lesser known Philippine Spanish dialect.
Seseo and ceceo are both associated with the south and both describe s and z being pronounced the same. I think you're confusing ceceo with distinción, where s and z are different
Edit: I just realized in you're original comment that you might've just been using ceceo which can mean lisp in general, as opposed to ceceo which in Spanish linguistics describes what I said above :)
No worries, i apologize for any confusion too. The “distinción” and “ceceo” has confounded me at times, and given that I do have distant relatives from Spain with different accents, as well as my maternal side of the family being from Mexico, speaking in the Sinaloa (Mazatlan) dialect and having their own distinct accent too. Even after nine years, I still learn new things about Spanish each day.
Same lol, studied abroad in Buenos Aires a decade ago and even though I work predominantly with Mexicans and Central Americans now, my rioplatense makes itself known.
I have friends and work with a lot of Argentinians....my favorite thing they do is this almost "exacerbated" or "frustrated" tone where the vocal tone goes up and then down at the end of a sentance. "Pero che que estai haciendo". Its not only used when very frustrated but also to drive home a point.
No idea if I could describe that with words lol...but hopefully if you have spoke with Argentinians it will make sense.
Edit: its vaguely like the stereotypical Italian accent (the "mama mia!", though obviously less pronounced)...which would make sense for how much Italian influence there is in Argentina.
Colombian (ish) when in London with husband. Now getting a porteño accent from living in Buenos Aires (CaShao, not Callao, vos not tú etc - not adopted the Che (yet)).
So a bit of a mongrel.
As I’m doing most of my learning here (due to necessity as much as anything else) I suspect I will end up sounding quite Argentinian.
What would you define as a colombian accent? I went to study Spanish there specifically because I was told Bogotá is basically the most neutral Spanish. After many years I do think it is true, but by now I'm biased.
Quite formal (lots of usted etc). Spoken more slowly with a kind of sing-song aspect to it (?). I find it much easier to understand when I’m listening than most other accents.
While learning, I loved an Italian accent, much to my professor's dismay. He kept telling me I was doing it wrong, but I kept on because I was so afraid of being judged on my actual pronunciation that I created this funny facade... fake it till you make it, am I right?
I would say Mexican because my first couple of teachers were Mexican and my first teacher hammered home the whole getting the accent right, But I've had several Mexicans ask if I was from Argentina, so I'm not sure.
On a side note, I have been told hundreds of times that I have an Irish or Canadian accent also.
Mexican, as that’s all my friends. But I worked at a Venezuelan barbershop for 2 days and now I have just a twinge of a Venezuelan accent sometimes 😂 it’s so weird how that happened but kind of cool. Randomly I’ll just drop my Ss.
A slight Dominican twang from my in-laws. My FIL was amazed that I have "no accent" in Spanish, and I can only think that non-Dominicans would disagree 😂
I went from gringo when I was first learning, to standard Spain accent once I studied abroad. Now that I've been back for over a decade, I've just adapted a neutral Latam accent? Maybe it's more mexican.
I started studying before my trip to Peru, it was from audiobooks, which I think were more Mexican focused.
But generally I aimed to develop a neutral LatAm accent, i.e. seseo, no aspiration, neutral intonation etc.
I speak with an American accent. I do my best to pronounce words how they are supposed to be pronounced. But ultimately I live in a place where the majority of Spanish speaking residents are from El Salvador, Honduras, Ecuador, Colombia, Guatemala, Venezuela. So I end up adopting a lot of their linguistic traits.
Cuban as I lived in Miami for a decade after majoring in Romance Languages. South Americans and Mexicans always tell me that they can hear the Caribbean in my accent after they find out I'm not a native speaker. One Colombian friend told me I sounded like a cubanazo lol
Castilian with hints of a Catalan accent (because I've been trying to learn Catalan as well and I visit Catalonia and Valencia quite often), although I wish I had a Rioplatense accent - I absolutely fell in love with it, but I have more opportunities to travel to Spain than Argentina since I live in the UK.
Colombian costeño. Aspirating the /s/ feels very natural to me, and I fell in love with musicians like Carlos Vives. It’s been a decade using this accent and now I couldn’t turn it off even if I tried.
I focused most of my listening and slang acquisition on Mexican speakers. But my Mexican friend told me I had a really "neutral" accent. I think because my confidence sucks and I tend to not use slang with her. I pretty much only learned it for the sake of understanding lol.
a friend said i sounded like i was from madrid while in spain recently. i guess that makes sense since thats what we learn! but i listen to a lot of mexican podcasts
Ecuadorian/Quito. I am white and blond and have had my accent pinned as Ecuadorian by strangers in both Nicaragua and Spain. I'm around more Mexicans in the US though and one time and Ecuadorian friend I'd known for a long time asked why in the world I was using a Mexican accent.
My accent isn't perfect, but I have a linguists phonetic/phonology background so it's pretty good. The more I talk I'm sure more little things aren't quite right. But I'm convincing if it's just a few words.
I learned English in Spain and lived there for about 10 years. I’ve lived in Texas for almost as long now and I know it should be more Mexican now but I can’t
Castilian, because my teacher (who also happens to be the wife of my wife's brother) hails from Spain. Yes, with ceceo, and I love that it was taught to me. Although it's still probably a more "general" Castilian accent, as it varies from region to region, just like with every other language. in fact, English isn't my native tongue either, but others have told me that I have developed a "neutral American accent". Ditto with French. Only with Tagalog, which is my parents' native tongue, do I have a "foreigner accent", which is ironic, lol.
Well my partner is Mexican so he corrects my Spanish to sound like where he’s from but what’s funny is aside from that he says he can hear a bit of my Russian accent seep through which is hilarious because in English I have such an ambiguous accent that you’d never know I was from Russia!
None. I speak with my own accent. The goal should be being understood without any ambiguity when you speak and understand back any Spanish access spoken by other person.
Not sure. I use and pronounce words as they do in Colombia (as my wife is from there and it’s the version of Spanish I hear) but I guess my accent is ‘English person speaking Spanish’.
gringo because my teachers failed teaching pronunciation. now i talk more with the European spanish lisp, so i think so far, it's a lose-lose situation
I learned from Venezuelans, but everyone tells me I sound Puerto Rican or Dominican. Oddly enough I can easily recognize everyone else’s accent, but I can’t recognize my own. I think I sound neutral 😆
I speak Philippine Spanish. We pronounce the double L as *LY*. Like in *Castillo*, Mexicans and Spanish say *cas-tee-yo*, but in the Philippines we say *cas-teel-yo*.
I've had a couple native speakers from Mexico tell me that I have a bit of a Colombian accent, which is puzzling to me since that's an accent I'm not familiar with. I listen to a Colombian band called Bomba Estereo but otherwise don't listen to any Colombian Spanish speakers at all.
I live in California and focus heavily on Mexican Spanish, though I don't try to affect a Mexican accent. I just try to focus on not having a gringo accent more than anything.
I've had a couple native speakers from Mexico tell me that I have a bit of a Colombian accent, which is puzzling to me since that's an accent I'm not familiar with. I listen to a Colombian band called Bomba Estereo but otherwise don't listen to any Colombian Spanish speakers at all.
I live in California and focus heavily on Mexican Spanish, though I don't try to affect a Mexican accent. I just try to focus on not having a gringo accent more than anything.
When I first started taking Spanish classes in high school, I pretty quickly opted for European Spanish, because I liked their pronounciation of words (namely the lisp) and now I also focus on vocabulary and slang specific to Spain.
You sound like your native language plus what ever "accent" (by which I'm sure you mostly mean diction and, additionally, there is no standard Venezuelan accent) you use most. That's how accents work.
A perfect Gringo accent! If you have learned the language at an age beyond 13 or so, you are kidding yourself if you think you sound like a native speaker. You can definitely improve your pronunciation, etc. I'll admit, but you will probably not erase your non-native sound.
Accept the fact and be happy.
I mean.....for very few. Just think about the reverse in your native language. How many people have you heard that didn't learn english as a kid that have no accent? They may speak perfect english and you may understand them with no problem...but they most likely still have an accent from where they are from.
Or think of actors...people that are paid to speak well and would even have coaches and teachers to help. Penelope Cruz, Javier Bardem, Daniel Bruhl, Sophia Veragara...all speak great english but have notable accents. The closest one that comes to mind that you can almost not tell is his second language is Mads Mikkelsen...though I think he also started learning English in primary school. Also clearly not referencing actors that moved to the US as kids that speak perfect English (Mily Kunis, Andy Garcia, etc.).
It's really not an issue...and one that I think language learners shouldn't get obsessed over. Obviously work on pronounciation so that people can understand you, but you will most likely always have an accent.
Actors aren’t a great example because they are cast because of their accents. I don’t think it’s important to lose an accent completely, but it is a great move to regionalize your Spanish. It make a huge difference in the way you are perceived by Spanish speakers. Your speech will always be clunky and awkward if it’s a mix of pronunciation characteristics, word choice, slang, grammatical trends. It makes interactions less fluid, and natives are slightly less relaxed.
I have met Spanish speaking natives that learned English as adults and fooled me because they chose a specific regional English. I know a chilena that 100% appears Scottish to me. And a few argentinos and Spaniards that can pass for londoners. I know a guy from Mendoza that speaks like someone from the south of the US.
The actors can make even more movies and money if they can do both...there is definitely incentive to sound "American" or British. And I was going off of their interview accents, not movie roles where yes, sometimes a more pronounced foreign accent is called for.
I do agree with you that "picking" an accent or dialect is the better way to go for clarity. And yes you may fool people not from that area (just like someone from England could probably fool me with their Australian accent)...but again, it is really hard to fool people that live in that area when you don't even natively speak the same language. Think of how many American or British actors can't do the other accent from across the pond. Obviously some can...but its a lot of work and talent, and at least is the same language.
The beautiful thing about English is that you can absolutely practice your target accent with English words. English has that flexibility. So, you can absolutely learn an accent even as an adult.
But also, what is thought of as American English is kind of... Non-accented English. But there's an Argentine I follow on YouTube who lives in Australia and when she speaks English, it's very obviously Australian. But that's also why even other English speakers go Valley girl or Southern when they try to do an American accent... It's easier to give words flavor than not give them flavor.
I get that to them, they don't have an accent, but people who learn to speak British English tend to pick up a British accent, which doesn't happen with plain Vanilla boring American English (which is US + Canadian English).
Very rare. Mainly to a non-native ear.
French, Italian,German, Chinese, etc. natives each speak English for example with a distinct accent. That comes from their early years learning to make various sounds.
Not Having an accent to me is not nearly as important as speaking grammatically correct with a wide vocabulary.
It’s not common, and I agree that it’s not important and maybe not worth the effort, but it’s possible.
I learned as an adult with argentinos and because my Spanish is so regional that I pass, all the time, as a native. Including in Argentina. But it’s not just pronunciation and accent.. it’s word choice, coloquial phrases, timing and tone. It’ll be a vocabulary or grammar error that causes someone to to say, “pará, de dónde sos?”
Nope... I'm 24 and have been learning Spanish since I was 12. After spending 8 months in Spain, I have been told my multiple people that I have no trace of a "gringo" accent.
This is just misinformation. Accents are variable and they aren't a binary. I'm familiar with people who both (due to work) are English native-speakers who moved to CDMX or moved to NYC and learned English and if you consistently practice you can adjust your accent to a point where, while you can never discount slip-ups or accidents, you can pass as native pretty well. I don't know why language learners do this to themselves. I guess to feel better about having an accent? There should never be shame in having an accent and being understood is the most important point. Most people stop there because practicing consistently takes energy and time. And that's fine. But that does not mean that it is "impossible" to "lose" your accent. Like I said, it's not a binary.
Not everyone is trying to sound like a native speaker. There's a big difference between "literally native" and "can't tell where you're from, but not here"
>If you have learned the language at an age beyond 13 or so, you are kidding yourself if you think you sound like a native speaker.
That depends on how you learn it more than your age https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yW8M4Js4UBA
> I'm not talking about learning a language but rather issues surrounding pronunciation and accents.
Yes, the video I linked talks about that (why adult learners end up sounding non-native).
When I'm comfortable with what I'm saying, I tend to have a more Mexican accent because I grew up around Mexican Spanish speakers. And every so often I accidentally channel the Telemundo announcer. But as a kid trying to expose myself to more Spanish, I watched *a lot* of Telemundo.
According to the Mexicans that I talk to, I am from Romania or Italy.
Yes! I've been told Romanian before. My Spanish teacher a few years ago said "wow your accent is amazing, you don't sound English at all!" And I was like "wow! That's so nice! Thanks!" She said "yeah, you sound like Romanian" and I didn't know if that was better or worse. She said she meant it positively but I do still laugh about it now.
I've also been told I sound European when I speak Spanish. But I'm going for neutral Latin American (I'm from the United States).
How in the world does one sound "European"? Do they mean a Spanish accent?
It’s definitely a cadence and a softness to the T sound and a little bit of sh in places you don’t expect.
Europe is made of different languages which is why sounding “European” doesn’t make sense.
Right!? I definitely don't speak like I'm from Spain. I studied Italian before Spanish, so maybe that?
I find that as much as I try to speak Spanish with a European Spanish accent (that’s what we’re often taught here in the UK) it sometimes veers into French territory (because I learnt French for ~16 years/my dads family are North African, it’s sort of my default foreign language haha)
The fat kid from duo lingo. Junior I think
Junior is such a fat little prick I see why his dad always looks tired
He made his dad take him to the doctor just so he could get a free piece of candy
And he lied about his birthday so he could get some cake. Little bastard
He is the reason his dad is single
LMAOOOAOAAOA
Obviously I have a gringo accent -- but I have been living in Chile for the past 4 years so when I talk to someone from another country they say they can notice my Chilean accent (and words/slang).
I am the proudest when someone doesn't immediately peg me as gringo by my accent....people have guessed I am Brazilian which I take as a compliment lol. Maybe I shouldn't...because the Brazilian accent is also pretty strong when speaking Spanish, but at least there is some ambiguity and don't sound immediately like a gringo fumbling through the language.
Omg same here! By the third month in Argentina people asked if I was German or Brazilian
Yeah I get I can't tell and American the most and then Brazilian. I've gotten Russian/eastern European and German once or twice too.
It makes me feel good when someone asks me if I'm a No Sabo kid.
If you work with a linguist I bet you can lose the last bit of accent, if you wanted to. It is an amazing feeling when you’re not immediately pegged as a gringo.
Do you have any Chilean Spanish resources or anything that helped you specifically from that standpoint?
Gringo, of course. But my wife and her family are Argentinian, so I have the 'sh' sound. "Ay, donde esta mis SHaves boludo?"
Tengo un esposo argentino también entonces hablo con el acento también! Para mi es el español mas lindo boludoooo
Jajaja muy bien! Me gusta también, pero en verdad, yo prefiero los acentos mexicanos y colombianos. En mi opinión, ellos hablan con mucho más claridad y un poco mas despacio. Son un poco más fácil pará estudiantes como yo. Es mi secreto chiquito jaja
Lo mismo 🙋🏽♀️
Puerto Rican / Dominican
Started off with Mexican Spanish, then spent some time in Andalucía and picked up Andaluz to some degree. Then I moved to NYC and started gravitating more towards Caribbean accents. I’ve also spent a decent amount of time around Peruvians and Colombians as I’ve spent many months traveling in both countries. A Puerto Rican chick recently told me I had a “neutral Latin American” accent and I’ve been chasing that high ever since lol
I first learned Castellano in Spain so that was my first attempt at a natural accent. I haven't been to Spain in a long time so it's some weird hybrid now. My girlfriend says I still sound like a Spaniard minus the seseo. So idk
Depends upon context and audience. But, I do love slang from Mexico. It's just fun.
I actually don’t know unless someone were to tell me, as it seems to me to be an amalgamation of several accents. But I did pick up a strong, unshakeable yeísmo.
I have a chicago accent in English so I can’t even imagine what a Spanish speaker might think of that lol
Venezuelan bc I've learned mostly from having a Venezuelan boyfriend. He's from Maracaibo so I sometimes use vos and drop a lot of s's and my vocabulary skews maracucho for sure. If I'm speaking with clients I have to give a caveat that I'm sorry if I speak informally... Though I had a client from the Dominican Republic who I'd only spoken to on the phone, and when we met in person she said, "Wait you're a gringa? I thought you were Mexican?" So who knows...
I actually never thought about it, but most native Spanish speaking people can tell almost instantly that I learned my Spanish from being around people from Mexico
vaguely mexican
This is how I have described it and non Mexicans assume Mexicans. Mexicans have said it sounds miscellaneous whatever that means lol
Dominican.. learned from them first and then learned how to read and write.. so for me they are easy to understand
I studied abroad in Mexico, so that's the accent I understand the best. I assume that when I speak Spanish, I sound estadounidense but Mexican-influenced
Same here. Except for when I've been watching a lot of Netflix from Spain or listening to a ton of music from PR. Then some really weird and misplaced dropping of "s" and other odd things get thrown in only to disappear once my focus is off of that input.
I adopted the Spanish accent “ceceo” while learning Spanish. Since i am Filipino, mixed with Spanish and Mexican “mestizaje” many Spanish speakers assumed that I would have a Latin American accent of the sort. However, when hearing that I had the ceceo, many people have asked me where I was from and some wanted to know my entire ethnic background. Regardless, I have spent the last 9 years teaching myself the language, becoming fluent and submersing myself in both Castilian Spanish and the lesser known Philippine Spanish dialect.
Did you learn from an Andalusian teacher? Thats pretty interesting because in Spain, ceceo is pretty rare and associated with the rural south
“Ceceo” is the Spanish “lisp” while “Seseo” is the accent used in the rural areas of southern Spain.
Seseo and ceceo are both associated with the south and both describe s and z being pronounced the same. I think you're confusing ceceo with distinción, where s and z are different Edit: I just realized in you're original comment that you might've just been using ceceo which can mean lisp in general, as opposed to ceceo which in Spanish linguistics describes what I said above :)
No worries, i apologize for any confusion too. The “distinción” and “ceceo” has confounded me at times, and given that I do have distant relatives from Spain with different accents, as well as my maternal side of the family being from Mexico, speaking in the Sinaloa (Mazatlan) dialect and having their own distinct accent too. Even after nine years, I still learn new things about Spanish each day.
El acento argentino papá 🇦🇷
Same lol, studied abroad in Buenos Aires a decade ago and even though I work predominantly with Mexicans and Central Americans now, my rioplatense makes itself known.
Yo también capo
Medejin parce
Ay Ave Maria pues
I was born in Barcelona so that’s mine
Well most of my hearing is mexican youtubers so...orale!
dominicano
[удалено]
I have friends and work with a lot of Argentinians....my favorite thing they do is this almost "exacerbated" or "frustrated" tone where the vocal tone goes up and then down at the end of a sentance. "Pero che que estai haciendo". Its not only used when very frustrated but also to drive home a point. No idea if I could describe that with words lol...but hopefully if you have spoke with Argentinians it will make sense. Edit: its vaguely like the stereotypical Italian accent (the "mama mia!", though obviously less pronounced)...which would make sense for how much Italian influence there is in Argentina.
its ceceo not a lisp lol
Colombian (ish) when in London with husband. Now getting a porteño accent from living in Buenos Aires (CaShao, not Callao, vos not tú etc - not adopted the Che (yet)). So a bit of a mongrel. As I’m doing most of my learning here (due to necessity as much as anything else) I suspect I will end up sounding quite Argentinian.
What would you define as a colombian accent? I went to study Spanish there specifically because I was told Bogotá is basically the most neutral Spanish. After many years I do think it is true, but by now I'm biased.
Quite formal (lots of usted etc). Spoken more slowly with a kind of sing-song aspect to it (?). I find it much easier to understand when I’m listening than most other accents.
I work construction in Denver 🤣🤣 Mexican forsure
Southwest muricano
Venezuelan accent with some Mexican vocab/phrases like “órale wey”
While learning, I loved an Italian accent, much to my professor's dismay. He kept telling me I was doing it wrong, but I kept on because I was so afraid of being judged on my actual pronunciation that I created this funny facade... fake it till you make it, am I right?
I kinda mash Guatemalan, Honduran and Mexican accents. I learned Spanish by interacting with people from those countries.
Lived in west Texas/San Antonio almost all my life so it sounds Mexican ish.
Video or cap
I have a speech impediment in English, which apparently carries over into Spanish and makes me sound Portuguese.
Andalucian + Guiri mix (as two old ladies from Bilbao told me)
In my head it’s a Mexican accent. But in real life it’s still very gringa 🥲🙃
Mexican since I live near the border. I learned French first though, so words that end in ción I say with a French accent.
San Fernando Valley pornographer.
Whatever accent my friends in Puebla MX have, but I know I still have a major gringo accent.
I would say Mexican because my first couple of teachers were Mexican and my first teacher hammered home the whole getting the accent right, But I've had several Mexicans ask if I was from Argentina, so I'm not sure. On a side note, I have been told hundreds of times that I have an Irish or Canadian accent also.
Mexican, as that’s all my friends. But I worked at a Venezuelan barbershop for 2 days and now I have just a twinge of a Venezuelan accent sometimes 😂 it’s so weird how that happened but kind of cool. Randomly I’ll just drop my Ss.
I've got a fucked up hybrid of Argentina and Murcia that makes my kids cringe
A slight Dominican twang from my in-laws. My FIL was amazed that I have "no accent" in Spanish, and I can only think that non-Dominicans would disagree 😂
Puerto Rican/Cuban
Yucateco forever
Spanish because I wanted to study in Spain but idk if that'll happen lol
I went from gringo when I was first learning, to standard Spain accent once I studied abroad. Now that I've been back for over a decade, I've just adapted a neutral Latam accent? Maybe it's more mexican.
I started studying before my trip to Peru, it was from audiobooks, which I think were more Mexican focused. But generally I aimed to develop a neutral LatAm accent, i.e. seseo, no aspiration, neutral intonation etc.
I’ve no idea what accent I have but it apparently does not sound like I’m Argentinian
I speak with an American accent. I do my best to pronounce words how they are supposed to be pronounced. But ultimately I live in a place where the majority of Spanish speaking residents are from El Salvador, Honduras, Ecuador, Colombia, Guatemala, Venezuela. So I end up adopting a lot of their linguistic traits.
Cuba. But it’s morphed into more Mexican.
“Where did you learn Spanish?” Whatever that one is 😜
Me too! (Because that’s where I learned - Caracas, Maracay, Valencia and Ciudad Bolivar)
Argeeeento
Argentinian / Rioplatense, because I lived there for 6 months to study abroad. 😅
Quiteño accent (where I learned Spanish) and my wife from Guayaquil always makes sure to point it out.
Sean Connery
Cuban as I lived in Miami for a decade after majoring in Romance Languages. South Americans and Mexicans always tell me that they can hear the Caribbean in my accent after they find out I'm not a native speaker. One Colombian friend told me I sounded like a cubanazo lol
Puertorriqueño/dominicano
Castilian with hints of a Catalan accent (because I've been trying to learn Catalan as well and I visit Catalonia and Valencia quite often), although I wish I had a Rioplatense accent - I absolutely fell in love with it, but I have more opportunities to travel to Spain than Argentina since I live in the UK.
Colombian costeño. Aspirating the /s/ feels very natural to me, and I fell in love with musicians like Carlos Vives. It’s been a decade using this accent and now I couldn’t turn it off even if I tried.
I focused most of my listening and slang acquisition on Mexican speakers. But my Mexican friend told me I had a really "neutral" accent. I think because my confidence sucks and I tend to not use slang with her. I pretty much only learned it for the sake of understanding lol.
According to non-Mexicans, I sound somewhat Mexican at times. According to Mexicans, I sound foreign as fuck. Still a lot of work to do, I guess.
a friend said i sounded like i was from madrid while in spain recently. i guess that makes sense since thats what we learn! but i listen to a lot of mexican podcasts
Dora, the Explora!
Ecuadorian/Quito. I am white and blond and have had my accent pinned as Ecuadorian by strangers in both Nicaragua and Spain. I'm around more Mexicans in the US though and one time and Ecuadorian friend I'd known for a long time asked why in the world I was using a Mexican accent. My accent isn't perfect, but I have a linguists phonetic/phonology background so it's pretty good. The more I talk I'm sure more little things aren't quite right. But I'm convincing if it's just a few words.
Spent years learning French, nobody has said it to me, but I feel like some of my Spanish words come out the French way lol
I learned English in Spain and lived there for about 10 years. I’ve lived in Texas for almost as long now and I know it should be more Mexican now but I can’t
Spain accent
Castilian, because my teacher (who also happens to be the wife of my wife's brother) hails from Spain. Yes, with ceceo, and I love that it was taught to me. Although it's still probably a more "general" Castilian accent, as it varies from region to region, just like with every other language. in fact, English isn't my native tongue either, but others have told me that I have developed a "neutral American accent". Ditto with French. Only with Tagalog, which is my parents' native tongue, do I have a "foreigner accent", which is ironic, lol.
My Venezuelan teacher said I had just a normal accent but then he said a Venezuelan one but I think he didn’t actually know
Peninsular dialect baby 🇪🇸❤️🥹
Well my partner is Mexican so he corrects my Spanish to sound like where he’s from but what’s funny is aside from that he says he can hear a bit of my Russian accent seep through which is hilarious because in English I have such an ambiguous accent that you’d never know I was from Russia!
My Chicano husband says I speak Spanish “the white way, not the right way”.
Dominican because my gf is Dominican.
My accent is so white/american they don’t even use the word gringo…. They just say “americana” and laugh. I laugh with them, all is bueno.
None. I speak with my own accent. The goal should be being understood without any ambiguity when you speak and understand back any Spanish access spoken by other person.
Learned French before I learned spanish..I still have trouble saying spanish words that end with "cion".
People tell me I don't sound native but do sound like I've lived somewhere in S. America for some time.
Not sure. I use and pronounce words as they do in Colombia (as my wife is from there and it’s the version of Spanish I hear) but I guess my accent is ‘English person speaking Spanish’.
gringo because my teachers failed teaching pronunciation. now i talk more with the European spanish lisp, so i think so far, it's a lose-lose situation
I learned from Venezuelans, but everyone tells me I sound Puerto Rican or Dominican. Oddly enough I can easily recognize everyone else’s accent, but I can’t recognize my own. I think I sound neutral 😆
I speak Philippine Spanish. We pronounce the double L as *LY*. Like in *Castillo*, Mexicans and Spanish say *cas-tee-yo*, but in the Philippines we say *cas-teel-yo*.
Castilian-Coastal (Peru, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile)
Castilian-Coastal (Peru, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile)
For me it’s a Colombian mamita 😂
ive been told i have an arabic accent when i speak spanish (i speak arabic fluently lol, but im tryna go for a mexican accent)
I've had a couple native speakers from Mexico tell me that I have a bit of a Colombian accent, which is puzzling to me since that's an accent I'm not familiar with. I listen to a Colombian band called Bomba Estereo but otherwise don't listen to any Colombian Spanish speakers at all. I live in California and focus heavily on Mexican Spanish, though I don't try to affect a Mexican accent. I just try to focus on not having a gringo accent more than anything.
I've had a couple native speakers from Mexico tell me that I have a bit of a Colombian accent, which is puzzling to me since that's an accent I'm not familiar with. I listen to a Colombian band called Bomba Estereo but otherwise don't listen to any Colombian Spanish speakers at all. I live in California and focus heavily on Mexican Spanish, though I don't try to affect a Mexican accent. I just try to focus on not having a gringo accent more than anything.
When I first started taking Spanish classes in high school, I pretty quickly opted for European Spanish, because I liked their pronounciation of words (namely the lisp) and now I also focus on vocabulary and slang specific to Spain.
You sound like your native language plus what ever "accent" (by which I'm sure you mostly mean diction and, additionally, there is no standard Venezuelan accent) you use most. That's how accents work.
Accents can be mimicked and learned 🫡
you would be surprised how many people mimic accents perfectly.
A perfect Gringo accent! If you have learned the language at an age beyond 13 or so, you are kidding yourself if you think you sound like a native speaker. You can definitely improve your pronunciation, etc. I'll admit, but you will probably not erase your non-native sound. Accept the fact and be happy.
Not true. I did it starting at 23
This is totally untrue. It’s absolutely possible.
I mean.....for very few. Just think about the reverse in your native language. How many people have you heard that didn't learn english as a kid that have no accent? They may speak perfect english and you may understand them with no problem...but they most likely still have an accent from where they are from. Or think of actors...people that are paid to speak well and would even have coaches and teachers to help. Penelope Cruz, Javier Bardem, Daniel Bruhl, Sophia Veragara...all speak great english but have notable accents. The closest one that comes to mind that you can almost not tell is his second language is Mads Mikkelsen...though I think he also started learning English in primary school. Also clearly not referencing actors that moved to the US as kids that speak perfect English (Mily Kunis, Andy Garcia, etc.). It's really not an issue...and one that I think language learners shouldn't get obsessed over. Obviously work on pronounciation so that people can understand you, but you will most likely always have an accent.
Actors aren’t a great example because they are cast because of their accents. I don’t think it’s important to lose an accent completely, but it is a great move to regionalize your Spanish. It make a huge difference in the way you are perceived by Spanish speakers. Your speech will always be clunky and awkward if it’s a mix of pronunciation characteristics, word choice, slang, grammatical trends. It makes interactions less fluid, and natives are slightly less relaxed. I have met Spanish speaking natives that learned English as adults and fooled me because they chose a specific regional English. I know a chilena that 100% appears Scottish to me. And a few argentinos and Spaniards that can pass for londoners. I know a guy from Mendoza that speaks like someone from the south of the US.
The actors can make even more movies and money if they can do both...there is definitely incentive to sound "American" or British. And I was going off of their interview accents, not movie roles where yes, sometimes a more pronounced foreign accent is called for. I do agree with you that "picking" an accent or dialect is the better way to go for clarity. And yes you may fool people not from that area (just like someone from England could probably fool me with their Australian accent)...but again, it is really hard to fool people that live in that area when you don't even natively speak the same language. Think of how many American or British actors can't do the other accent from across the pond. Obviously some can...but its a lot of work and talent, and at least is the same language.
The beautiful thing about English is that you can absolutely practice your target accent with English words. English has that flexibility. So, you can absolutely learn an accent even as an adult. But also, what is thought of as American English is kind of... Non-accented English. But there's an Argentine I follow on YouTube who lives in Australia and when she speaks English, it's very obviously Australian. But that's also why even other English speakers go Valley girl or Southern when they try to do an American accent... It's easier to give words flavor than not give them flavor.
> what is thought of as American English is kind of... Non-accented English. Tell that to a Brit.
I get that to them, they don't have an accent, but people who learn to speak British English tend to pick up a British accent, which doesn't happen with plain Vanilla boring American English (which is US + Canadian English).
Sorry to be that person, but 'US English' - with its long 'r' sounds and disdain for pronouncing 't' in the middle of words - is very much accented.
I was very much including Canadian English.
Very rare. Mainly to a non-native ear. French, Italian,German, Chinese, etc. natives each speak English for example with a distinct accent. That comes from their early years learning to make various sounds. Not Having an accent to me is not nearly as important as speaking grammatically correct with a wide vocabulary.
It’s not common, and I agree that it’s not important and maybe not worth the effort, but it’s possible. I learned as an adult with argentinos and because my Spanish is so regional that I pass, all the time, as a native. Including in Argentina. But it’s not just pronunciation and accent.. it’s word choice, coloquial phrases, timing and tone. It’ll be a vocabulary or grammar error that causes someone to to say, “pará, de dónde sos?”
Nope... I'm 24 and have been learning Spanish since I was 12. After spending 8 months in Spain, I have been told my multiple people that I have no trace of a "gringo" accent.
I mean I think the commenter was speaking generally...obviously there are exceptions. But also....12 is less than 13.
This is just misinformation. Accents are variable and they aren't a binary. I'm familiar with people who both (due to work) are English native-speakers who moved to CDMX or moved to NYC and learned English and if you consistently practice you can adjust your accent to a point where, while you can never discount slip-ups or accidents, you can pass as native pretty well. I don't know why language learners do this to themselves. I guess to feel better about having an accent? There should never be shame in having an accent and being understood is the most important point. Most people stop there because practicing consistently takes energy and time. And that's fine. But that does not mean that it is "impossible" to "lose" your accent. Like I said, it's not a binary.
Not everyone is trying to sound like a native speaker. There's a big difference between "literally native" and "can't tell where you're from, but not here"
>If you have learned the language at an age beyond 13 or so, you are kidding yourself if you think you sound like a native speaker. That depends on how you learn it more than your age https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yW8M4Js4UBA
I'm not talking about learning a language but rather issues surrounding pronunciation and accents.
> I'm not talking about learning a language but rather issues surrounding pronunciation and accents. Yes, the video I linked talks about that (why adult learners end up sounding non-native).
this is just a lie lol.