Are the various Spanish "accents" as distinct as English ones? (similarities)

[Tall Traveler]

I'm far from fluent in Spanish but I can tell the difference between Peruvian, Argentinian, Chilean and España Spanish. Pero I think all Spanish speaking countries can understand each other better than say American and Scottish English.

[Warszawa]

Originally Posted by theunbrainwashed

You live in NYC, how many of those people you talk to are actual native speakers and not born and raised in NYC?

A lot actually, since I live in Queens and most of the people here are straight off the boat. Well most native spakers realize Im not actually Spanish, but they say my Spanish accent sounds somewhat legit.

[LongNote]

Originally Posted by theunbrainwashed

Yeah exactly. 99% of people appreciate that you can speak the language. Getting rid of your accent is just whipped topping on the milkshake. The milkshake still tastes good without the whipped cream

So having an accent would be a knock against me in Colombia?

[AntonioR]

Originally Posted by LongNote

So having an accent would be a knock against me in Colombia?

It will let people know you are not from there, but that may not be such a bad thing. Many women fall for guys with foreign accents in part because they feel that the accent is sexy. It all depends on your particular accent.

[Eivee Sohma]

Originally Posted by LongNote

So what does an "American" Spanish accent sound like to people who are native, fluent speakers? Can you tell?

I would also like to know the answer to this.

I am a Mexican American and i know in mexico (depending were i go) i have an accent.
I know i dont have a "white accent" as they call it, but i speak slightly different.
Do people who speak Spanish notice an accent and say "Hey! That's a Mexican American accent!"?

Just wondering...

[Sugah Ray]

Originally Posted by theunbrainwashed

My accent is 95% similar to the Canaries. Puerto Rican Spanish is my native language and dialect, and ours most closely resembles Canaries Spanish out of all the accents in the Hispanosphere except probably Andalusian. Also, this trend is catching on in central and northern Spain, too.

To me Puerto Ricans don't sound like Canarians. Canarians sound more like Chileans and Puerto Rican sound like themselves LOL.

[Sugah Ray]

Originally Posted by Eivee Sohma

I would also like to know the answer to this.

I am a Mexican American and i know in mexico (depending were i go) i have an accent.
I know i dont have a "white accent" as they call it, but i speak slightly different.
Do people who speak Spanish notice an accent and say "Hey! That's a Mexican American accent!"?

Just wondering...

If they know what Mexican accent sounds like, yes. Some people are not very familiar with accents and cannot tell the difference very easily.

You can have 2 accents at the same time. One could be an American accent either because you are a 2nd language speaker or because you are a hispanic who doesn't speak Spanish very well. Then you will have a Spanish accent from the country your parents are from or from the country you learned Spanish. It sounds a little funny to me but I can almost always tell in what country 2nd language speakers of Spanish learned Spanish.

[CarpoolerAz]

Originally Posted by Tall Traveler

I'm far from fluent in Spanish but I can tell the difference between Peruvian, Argentinian, Chilean and España Spanish. Pero I think all Spanish speaking countries can understand each other better than say American and Scottish English.

Indeed, the cohesiviness of Spanish is amazing. When I hear Bolivians, Peruvians, etc, that are very humble people, their Spanish is very good, and in some cases Spanish is not their first language.

When you compare that to UK, a country with dialects that are barely understandable by their neighbours and even less by foreigners, you can figure.

[baynight]

Originally Posted by bamba_boy

I visited Puerto Rico and had an interesting conversation ordering breakfast. I learned my limited " espanyol-restaurante" in SE Texas from Mexicans from point of background. I order "Quisiera huevos y tocino". They answer back "eggs and what???". I'm trying to stay in espanyol as most PR'cans speak pretty good English and will try to switch to English if they suspect that you're a gringo. I'm trying to improve my Spanish so I stay in character. T-O-C-I-N-O (Mexican and I think Spain Spanish for bacon). They then say "So joo want bay-CON or joo want sausage wit da eggs?". Ooooo. Bacon. Turns out at least in that part of PR the Spanish tocino has been Americanized into bacon but with the accent changed to the second syllable.

I found that some verbs are different too including Mexicon swear words that have total different and acceptable meanings. I also had co-workers from S. America and they were different in other ways from Mexican and textbook Spain Spanish most of gringos learn. PR is great though for visitors, they really appreciate even feeble attempts at our trying to speak their national language from 1493 (Chris Columbus) to the 1898 invasion of Spanish PR by the USA. Actually it's still one of their "co"-national languages. I've visited 6 or 7 times since the 80's and I've never been in a situation somebody in the room didn't speak English, even if the person I originally needed to talk to didn't. They are very helpful generally and the fluent in English folks are quite friendly - they help translate and then tell you about the time they worked for 4 years in NYC or Miami or whatever and honed their English chops. Unlike a lot of Caribbean and other worldwide destinations you really don't need to worry about language barriers.

In Puerto Rico, bacon is "tocineta" in spanish. We know tocino as the pork's thick fatty skin.

[Melchior6]

Yes, but I have noticed that the difference among Spanish speakers has more to do with pronunciation of consonants and rhythm, whereas the difference among English speakers is more about how we pronounce vowels, and differences in word and sentence stress.