No sé nunca cual acento quiero. El acento general de España o el acento general de México.
Cuando estaba en la universidad, siempre hablaba con un acento de España, más bien el acento alrededor de Cartagena porque escuchaba un rapero que se llama Kaze. También todos mis profesores eran de España (Galicia, Barcelona).
Pero ahora, en la vida real donde vivo (EE.UU), la mayoría de la población hispana es de Latinoamérica, sobretodo los países México, Honduras y El Salvador.
¿Cuál acento debo elegir?
Y a vosotros, os pregunto si habéis elegido un acento, ¿el cuál y por qué?
Yo soy andaluz )) (gracias, +niek1337) pero estoy de acuerdo con +josephtk, el acento no es importante. No debe importarte mezclar diferentes características de cada acento: pronuncia como te sea más cómodo. Poco a poco tu acento irá cambiando sin darte cuenta y acabarás encontrando el “tuyo” propio.
A little more elaboration, in case you find it difficult. My English accent is actually a mixture of different Englishes. I usually pronounce “Rs” the American way (although I tend to drop them more when I’m visiting Britain) and my general “phonotactics” (to use a fancy word) are American. However i seldom tap my ts and ds (although I do it more when I’m in the States) and in general I strive to go for an accent that gets the English sounds “right” but which is not very specific of any given area. The result is that English-speaking people tend to accept me as a plausible native speaker (at least, when I’m at my best at the language, it does vary) but they can’t quite pin down where I’m from. British people always think that I’m American. Americans may think I come from a strange corner of the country or from Canada, … Of course, I always point out that I’m not native when they ask.
I think this is a good strategy because:
a) It relieves some of the stress of having to get every single sound and cadence in a predefined, “right” way. That’s very difficult and may even get close to impossible unless you live for a very long time in a particular area.
b) You still pass as “native enough” in a first approach, which makes people pay more attention because they think that they “should” understand you. Natives sometimes give up on speakers with thick foreign accents because they consider that they won’t be able to get what they say.
c) If you come across as native but foreigner, slight mistakes will be considered as idiosyncrasies of your particular version of Spanish, not as errors. They may even go unnoticed. That’s particularly true when you use a given word in a way which is not perfectly right. It doesn’t apply to grammar mistakes, however.
Another example of the impression you may produce by following this strategy: A friend of mine has a Brazilian girlfriend. She lives with him in Madrid and speaks very good Spanish. She doesn’t have the stereotypical Brazilian accent when speaking Spanish so people do think she’s a native. However, she doesn’t speak exactly as in Madrid, which is very difficult as I explained in point a. So Madrilians listen to her and try to guess where she comes from. A popular guess is “from the Canary Islands”. That’s very funny because she doesn’t speak like that at all! She even pronounces “z” as “th”, very unlike the Canarian accent. I guess those people find her accent perfectly native but kind of “exotic” so they go for whatever suits that profile in their minds.
My experience speaking English and French, as I explained above, has been similar (on the other hand, for some reason, when I speak German, everybody thinks I’m French ).
Well, speaking as a Spaniard would, I’ve been complemented several times by different native speakers saying that “they thought I was native” when I spoke in Spanish. Which is what attracts me more to how I normally would speak the language. But, I’m more so torn between two cultures I would say. The Spanish culture is so rich in history, people I know, and a lot of different things, while the Mexican culture is full of delicious food, friendly people, and music that I love also.
Good for you! I understand but you don’t have to choose between cultures, go for all that you feel attracted to! And your accent should have no bearing on that.
Accents mostly matter for me as a listener in that I prefer to hear a language spoken in the way I first learnt it … For me that means the ‘easy option’ would be an educated, European speaker with RP.
Once I am really familiar with the language, the need to hear a specific way of pronunciation decreases and so do the “negative” feelings around the voices I hear.
I know that with diligence and, dare I say it, comprehensible input, my feelings towards a particular accents lessen, and so there really is no point in not opening my ears, mind and heart to all speakers whether they be from the north, south, middle, east, or even “abroad”
As to my own accent in the various languages, I strive for what I think is the best and I am grateful every time someone understands me!
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