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What is the difference between Spanish that is spoken in Spain, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Argentina...? I would love to see videos of the difference between different accents.
And is it possible for a person that is learning Spanish to ever learn how to speak Spanish without an accent (basically speaking like its their first language) just by watching video/movies?
The differences between Spanish spoken in different Spanish speaking countries is similar to the differences in English spoken in different English speaking countries.
Yes they are very different. Some regions it's more similar but almost ever contry has their own accent just like English does.
For instance, I actually have trouble understanding people from Aregntina. Mexican accent and Puerto Rican accent are like night and day. I actually detest the Mexican accent. I love everything about Mexico, it's people, it's culture, it's food, it's cities, but one thing I cannot stand is the Mexican accent.
Then you have regions we are there are similar accents but different at the same time. For instance, Puerto Rico, Cuba and the Dominican Republic have similar accents, but then they are different. Kind of like what you find in the southern U.S. Kind of like how Georgia, Louisiana and Texas have southern accents, but they actually differ from one another.
They are all really different. It's hard to explain. You will have to find videos/samples of different accent to get an idea of how different they are. I think the accents of Spain, Costa Rica, and Paraguay are easiest to understand. The Chilean accent is the only one that I hate. My favorite is Argentinian.
To your second question: It depends on how old you are, but it is very hard to speak a language that was learned in adulthood without an accent, even if you are immersed in it. After a certain age you just loose the ability to produce new sounds. You'll most likely always have a slight accent.
It's funny because some people can tell the difference who don't know Spanish. In Chicago, most of the Spanish you hear out in the streets is Mexican. So a couple of my friends that don't speak Spanish are used to listening to it with a Mexican accent. However, these two friends when they went out with my family (we are all Puerto Rican) and heard us speaking Spanish amongst ourselves were surprised about how different we sounded. They actually told me it almost sounded like we weren't speaking Spanish, but another language.
We all understand each other, but each country and even region in each country has different slangs
there's many slang ways of saying "body parts", bus, beer, etc.
But we understand 95% of what each other says.
I recommend you watching this video.
It shows 2 guys doing different accents and making people guess where they are from.
Something I also wonder about: do Spaniards that have Catalan or Basque for mother tongue also have a different accent compared to, say, people from Madrid or Andalucia?
^^ yes of course, even within countries accent can vary greatly, especially from costal regions to inland. Look at bogota accent vs Cartagena accent in Colombia it's night and day.
Standard Spanish should be understandable by all Spanish speakers. However the devlopment of the language in each country grew differetly and what is used in one country may not be used in the next. it's also when you hit the streets when the differences really separate where you are from.
Something I also wonder about: do Spaniards that have Catalan or Basque for mother tongue also have a different accent compared to, say, people from Madrid or Andalucia?
Yes, accents in Spain are very different.
Keep in mind that Spain has about 4 different Spanish dialects, I believe they are influenced by Portuguese (Galician) and French (Catalan)
And then you have the Basque language in Northen Spain that has no relation to any language in Europe.
The so-called Caribbean Spanish accent is inherited from the Canarian aIslands because of a large influx of people from there.
Sorry, I couldn't find the galician accent
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