Poland, Italy, and then back In New York after years abroad

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drp9341
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Posts: 241
Joined: Tue Mar 29, 2016 1:21 pm
Location: NY, USA
Languages: Native: English (US)
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B2+: Portuguese
B2: French, Polish
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Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=5978
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Re: Drp9341's POLISH (year 2!) & (French and Russian) LOG / Advanced Proficiency in Italian, Portuguese and Spanish Log

Postby drp9341 » Thu Dec 06, 2018 1:28 pm

So, something I've noticed during the past few weeks...

You need to tell your brain what type of sounds it must look for...
Yesterday I spent about 90 minutes doing French Listening Comprehension in detail, using my listening comprehension method
(here's a link to the post I made about it a few years ago.. https://forum.language-learners.org/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=2457&p=29718#p29718 )

Then I immediately started watching the last episode of the show 1983 (its in Polish,) on Netflix with my Polish girlfriend...

The first few sentences I completely, like 100% missed. I replayed, and listened to the dialogue of those little 5 seconds 3 times. I had my girlfriend tell me, in Polish, what was said. I listened to it a third time, and I heard every word except maybe 3 one syllable words.

I then remembered how a Polish friend of mine spoke English, he spoke with as strong of a Polish of an accent as one reasonably can and still expect to be understood, this was especially true in terms of his melody.

I imagined how 'Bartosz' would say those sentences, (this was going to be my fourth time listening, and I knew exactly what words were used, I just couldn't hear them amongst the rest of the words.)

This time I listened, and I understood it 100%, every word.

What does this mean?
In French, you have to listen a certain way. You need to be aware of half pronounced words, and VOWELS.
In Polish, you don't need to vowels all that much. You need to listen to the consonants, and they usually have a high PITCH/FREQUENCY.

In Spanish you listen for varying sequences of 5 vowels among barely pronounced consonants. In Polish you listen for varying sequences of high-pitched consonants among barely pronounced vowels.

The more I get into SPEAKING AND USING language, the more I realize that it's similar as f*** to MUSIC.
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StringerBell
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Re: Drp9341's POLISH (year 2!) & (French and Russian) LOG / Advanced Proficiency in Italian, Portuguese and Spanish Log

Postby StringerBell » Thu Dec 06, 2018 11:09 pm

drp9341 wrote:Then I immediately started watching the last episode of the show 1983 (its in Polish,) on Netflix


Thanks so much for mentioning this!

I'm in the US and just checked that this is available here. So far, I haven't been able to find any shows with Polish audio, and this one has both Polish audio and subtitles. I just watched an episode of Rodzinka.pl without subtitles and I missed a lot, even though I picked up enough words to follow what they were saying. I'm really excited to finally have Polish TV with subtitles to watch! Are there any other shows you watch on Netflix in Polish? I've tried searching for "Polish audio" and "Polish language" but nothing ever comes up that way.
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Season 4 Lucifer Italian transcripts I created: https://learnanylanguage.fandom.com/wik ... ranscripts

drp9341
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Posts: 241
Joined: Tue Mar 29, 2016 1:21 pm
Location: NY, USA
Languages: Native: English (US)
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B2+: Portuguese
B2: French, Polish
A1: Russian, German
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=5978
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Re: Drp9341's POLISH (year 2!) & (French and Russian) LOG / Advanced Proficiency in Italian, Portuguese and Spanish Log

Postby drp9341 » Mon Dec 10, 2018 5:56 am

StringerBell wrote:
drp9341 wrote:Then I immediately started watching the last episode of the show 1983 (its in Polish,) on Netflix


Thanks so much for mentioning this!

I'm in the US and just checked that this is available here. So far, I haven't been able to find any shows with Polish audio, and this one has both Polish audio and subtitles. I just watched an episode of Rodzinka.pl without subtitles and I missed a lot, even though I picked up enough words to follow what they were saying. I'm really excited to finally have Polish TV with subtitles to watch! Are there any other shows you watch on Netflix in Polish? I've tried searching for "Polish audio" and "Polish language" but nothing ever comes up that way.


Check out: Ultraviolet on Netflix, it has Polish subs even on US Netflix. I'll let you form your own opinion on whether or not it's a good show. Regardless of its entertainment quality, I watched the first few episodes and the dialogue is great for language learners. They speak really normally. They don't say things in an overly complex way just to "sound cool" and as far as I recall, there were no characters who spoke poorly; I don't recall any "village accents" or outdated vocabulary.

WATAHA is fantastic. So is BELFER and they're both on HBO Go. Though not in the US as far as I can tell. I would seriously suggest ordering these shows online if you can find them with subtitles. They're great shows. Better than 1983 in my opinion.

WARNING: Even though many will say that Polish doesn't really have "accents," this isn't really true. There are many words that will give away your generation. For example, I heard a lady on a bus say, "Ja dryndnę" and I turned and asked my girlfriend, who told me "Don't worry about learning that word, it's used by old people and was popular in the 80's." There are also common words/expressions that All Poles will concede exist in one region and not the other. The most salient example of this would be "na polu" (meaning outside.) Everyone in Warsaw who's heard me say that immediately makes a comment about how it's a super southern expression, and asks if I have connections to Krakow. There exists much more variation than most natives, in my experience, will lead you to believe. Everyone will admit that Białystok has its own accent, and they'll enthusiastically talk about how different gwara góralska is.

BELOW IS A LONG, SEMI-UNRELATED, AND ACCIDENTAL RANT ABOUT "MOUNTAIN DIALECT" / "ZAKOPANE'S" DIALECT/ACCENT, AS WELL AS MY EXPERIENCE WITH KASZUBSKI AND ŚLĄSK LANGUAGES / DIALECTS

(BTW most Górale can speak both accents/dialects perfectly, I spent 8 days doing some EU related stuff in a Górale middle school, living in górale town etc. and the old ladies who worked in the hotel kitchen had me translate and guide a Western European friend through the process of making Pierogis, and the only features that differed from "correct pronunciation" were: 'trz-' pronounced like 'cz' and pronouncing 'ę' being less nasally, but adding something approximating an /n/ to the end of it.) However, I don't think natives could tell the difference between that accent and a "Krakow" accent. With the exception of maybe those with an outstanding ear, phonetics background, or someone who spent a lot of time with both Górale and people from Krakow. All the natives with me were from the northernmost part of Podkarpacie, and they said they when they spoke 'po Polsku' they wouldn't know they were Górale.

Students from those areas actually learn gwara góralska in school. I had to do something resembling "guided discussions" with that same Western European friend, where I had the chance to converse with 2 groups, each composed of 5 students, aged 14-16, for about an hour each. (Both groups were composed entirely of girls. I didn't get a chance to talk longer than a minute or so with any of the boys, and it was loud environment outside of the "focus groups".) I talked with both groups about their "projects," which were basically big posters on which Polish words and sentences were translated in góralski - (I snapped some pictures of these actually!) Only one girl said she occasionally speaks in góralski at home, and I think two others said they hear it regularly, from a grandparent, naturally.

The fact they were females is actually very much worth taking into account. According to ¡Science! there's a cross-cultural difference between the way men and women treat dialects and accents. According to study(studies? I forget and really don't want to spend 30 minutes right now looking this up,) Men strongly trend towards using the dialect/sociolect of the group they identify with most, whereas females strongly trend towards whatever the prestige dialect / sociolect is.

On the other hand, I have a friend who is "half Górale and half Polish," (yes this is how he is considered by those he grew up with, and how he considers himself, I asked.) He told me that in his school everyone spoke góralski all the time, and that if we were to go to a party etc. no one would be speaking "Polish." He comes from very close to Zakopane, whereas the school was roughly an hour north of Zakopane.


Śląsk (Silesian) is viewed so differently by everyone I've asked. The spectrum of opinions I've heard range from: "It's just an accent" to "It's like old village Polish with lots of German words" all the way to "a totally different langauge."

Kaszubski (Kashubian) is considered a completely different language, and Kaszubi are considered by most Poles to be a distinct 'Naród' or 'nation' within the country of Poland, (I'm sure opinions on this vary greatly, but one of the guys who said this also happens to be the most knowledgeable on, passionate about history Pole I've yet to meet. He also is the most "Poles are Slavic stop acting like you're better than Ukrainians because you're Polish" guy I've yet met. (I don't know what the right adjective to describe someone holding these sorts of views is. I've heard contradicting definitions of what constitutes someone being a "pan slavicist,")
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cjareck
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Re: Drp9341's POLISH (year 2!) & (French and Russian) LOG / Advanced Proficiency in Italian, Portuguese and Spanish Log

Postby cjareck » Mon Dec 10, 2018 9:29 pm

drp9341 wrote: There are many words that will give away your generation. For example, I heard a lady on a bus say, "Ja dryndnę" and I turned and asked my girlfriend, who told me "Don't worry about learning that word, it's used by old people and was popular in the 80's."

I am from 1980 and do not use it, however, I understand. The other such word, that I actually used was przekręcę. That means "I will turn". It comes from other times when you had to turn the part of the phone to choose numbers. Since there are no such phones, I almost do not use it.

drp9341 wrote: There are also common words/expressions that All Poles will concede exist in one region and not the other. The most salient example of this would be "na polu" (meaning outside.) Everyone in Warsaw who's heard me say that immediately makes a comment about how it's a super southern expression, and asks if I have connections to Krakow.

It is that if we say "Idę na dwór" it means I go outside. But - if I remember it correctly - in Kraków, it means "I go inside". I think they say "Idę na pole" to indicate going outside.
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Please feel free to correct me in any language


Listening: 1+ (83% content, 90% linguistic)
Reading: 1 (83% content, 90% linguistic)


MSA DLI : 30 / 141ESKK : 18 / 40


Mandarin Assimil : 62 / 105

drp9341
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Posts: 241
Joined: Tue Mar 29, 2016 1:21 pm
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Languages: Native: English (US)
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Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=5978
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Re: Drp9341's POLISH (year 2!) & (French and Russian) LOG / Advanced Proficiency in Italian, Portuguese and Spanish Log

Postby drp9341 » Tue Dec 11, 2018 2:00 am

cjareck wrote:
drp9341 wrote: There are many words that will give away your generation. For example, I heard a lady on a bus say, "Ja dryndnę" and I turned and asked my girlfriend, who told me "Don't worry about learning that word, it's used by old people and was popular in the 80's."

I am from 1980 and do not use it, however, I understand. The other such word, that I actually used was przekręcę. That means "I will turn". It comes from other times when you had to turn the part of the phone to choose numbers. Since there are no such phones, I almost do not use it.


It's amazing how much attention cases get when mentioning the Slavic languages. In my own experience, and judging from the experience of other non-slavs who studied and speak some Polish, verbs are the biggest challenge. You can talk your way around certain verbs, and make yourself understood, yes. However, in order to truly feel the meaning of the verbs like a native does would take a lifetime.

Most verbs apart from those describing the most simple of actions, don't have a word for word translation. You have to describe what their meanings.

cjareck wrote:
drp9341 wrote: There are also common words/expressions that All Poles will concede exist in one region and not the other. The most salient example of this would be "na polu" (meaning outside.) Everyone in Warsaw who's heard me say that immediately makes a comment about how it's a super southern expression, and asks if I have connections to Krakow.

It is that if we say "Idę na dwór" it means I go outside. But - if I remember it correctly - in Kraków, it means "I go inside". I think they say "Idę na pole" to indicate going outside.


na dworze in the sense of "to be outside" is normally considered as a northern or "Gdańsk" way of speaking. In Warsaw they usually say, "Na zewnątrz" and my friends who went to acting school, (where they had to train standard pronunciation, supposedly,) say that "Na zewnątrz" is the "neutral" way of saying it; no one will know where you're from.
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drp9341
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Re: Drp9341's POLISH (year 2!) & (French and Russian) LOG / Advanced Proficiency in Italian, Portuguese and Spanish Log

Postby drp9341 » Sun Dec 16, 2018 10:21 am

So I've been off and on with Russian and French for the last few weeks. There's been way too much traveling and overall lack of instability for me to have anything even resembling a routine. However, my Russian learning experience has been really interesting.



So I watched this video tonight, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCz9DmHMLhg&ab_channel=RU-LANDCLUB
She talks about the history of Ukrainian currency.

I've been trying to watch those Ru-Land videos on grammar as often as I can. The lady gives really professional grammar explanations - like you're in a class at university. I have been choosing videos wisely, picking those that explain grammar that doesn't exist in Polish.

Tonight, I watched some random videos, and tried to see how much I could understand if I really put my mind to it.
I was shocked.
I was able to understand, at times, every word, multiple sentences in a row. On the contrary, there were times I couldn't understand more than a few words. Overall, I got the meaning of around 40% of the sentences.

After about 2 minutes, I put on English subtitles... I was able to understand almost every word as long as I didn't loose my "hyper focus."
I wasn't looking at the subtitles, I was using them when she said something to check the meaning of words.

Impressions as a beginner:
1. Most of the words are not the same as in Polish. However, most if not nearly all the words are similar to Polish / English / Latin.

2. The pronunciation is very different. The unfixed accent is crazy, I tried to shadow a few sentences, and it was just so weird and hard to replicate such an 'unpredictable' prosody.

Today I spoke with an old Russian lady at the store who didn't speak English.
I know it was Russian, because I didn't understand one thing she said, and I asked if she knew Ukrainian, since I don't actually know Russian, but Polish, and Ukrainian is more transparent for Polish speakers, (even the non-native ones like me lol.) She said she didn't.
We talked for probably 2 minutes. She asked if she was on the right train, (in Russian,) I responded in Russified-polish, and we started chatting.

I am horrible at speaking, but that's okay. I'm in no rush to speak Russian well. I want to do LOTS of listening, so that I can sort of "skip" the word stress thing by internalizing it. I'll let you all know in about a year how it worked out ;)

Old Slavs in the USA keep speaking to me in Russian / Polish (?) assuming I speak that language.
I lived here my whole life. I also dress the same as I did before. I have been adressed, (by old slavic immigrants, not tourists,) in Russian or Polish about 6 times in a total of 10 days of me being here. 5 days in November, 6 days since I got back here this time.

My body language must be different, I really am curious what's going on. What changed? In any case, it's awesome and great for language practice. I really hope these old slavs continue mistaking me for one of their countrymen. If the next time it happens it's in Polish I'll ask them how they knew.

Even a Polish American lady in the doctors office straight up asked me, "are you Polish?" as I sat down. She said I "look Polish." She said her parents were from Poland. She even tried speaking to me in broken Polish. When I would rephrase her question 'correctly' to clarify what she was asking she would go, "ah yeah! I always mess that stuff up." This lasted about 5 minutes. However, this is too much coincidence. I need to read up on Russian / Polish body language. Something is happening!!!
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drp9341
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Languages: Native: English (US)
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Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=5978
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Re: Drp9341's POLISH (year 2!) & (French and Russian) LOG / Advanced Proficiency in Italian, Portuguese and Spanish Log

Postby drp9341 » Wed Mar 13, 2019 1:46 am

Wow, it's been quite a while since I posted!

Okay, so a quick update since December, (it's been roughly 3 months since then!)

I took a break from "intensive" or maybe it's better to say, "intentional" language learning for a while.


For the last 3 weeks it's been FRENCH
The only intentional language learning I've been doing is slowly muddling through Français Authentique : Pack 2 Discussions Authentiques

This program was precisely what I needed for my French. I've also been going to weekly French language meet ups here in Warsaw, where the ratio of natives to learners is like 4 natives for every learner, it's quite strange - but in a great way.

I have no problem talking about almost anything in French, however I make tons of mistakes, and have gaps before I'm really a solid B2.
For example...
1. Word Choice (using Italian or English cognates instead of the more normal French word.)
2. Pronunciation - I probably have a very strange accent. Supposedly I can produce all the sounds, and speak with a very good intonation. However, I pronounce words incorrectly, and need to start using more of the "Liasions" to sound more fluent.
3. Idiomatic Expressions / Constructions. I tend to say things literally. I don't "think like a Frenchman." This is hard to explain, but basically, if the structure doesn't exist in English or Italian, I don't use it in French.
4. Prepositions

Those are the "main" things I need to work on. My listening comprehension is appropriate for my level of proficiency, and since I'm really going through and dissecting the Français Authentique course's audio in order to improve my pronunciation and ability to better distinguish and reproduce phonemes that aren't present in any other language I'm proficient in, I am not worried about listening comprehension at the moment.

for Russian, I spent 1 week, going through Busuu's A1 course, and getting more familiar with the alphabet and pronunciation. This helps a lot. I need a good understanding of a language's phonetics, as well as how the phonetics are represented through spelling in order to build a solid base. I'm putting Russian on the back-burner for now, but every few days I'll do a lesson, or speak to a taxi driver in a Russian-Polish Creole.

Polish...
I feel like I'm finally at a really comfortable B2 level. I very rarely make mistakes in terms of using the correct case, and I've somehow internalized and become able to instinctively use the correct declension without thinking. My sentences are still quite simple, but I rarely feel like I can't say what I want to say, and I can speak Polish for hours without it tiring me in the slightest. There are still tons of new words I learn daily, but this doesn't really affect my ability to communicate.

Yesterday I wanted to say, "What's the earliest I can be in Katowice by? Train or bus." (or something like that.) I know how to say this. However, the thought just wouldn't come out. I ended up having to express that idea using 2 or 3 sentences. This happens to me every once in a while. It's not that I don't know how to say it, it's simply that the structure necessary to convey that thought requires me to actually, "think about how to say it," so I say something else instead of all of a sudden going all foreigner and slowing down to think.

I'm reading a novel meant for teenagers, and it's going pretty well. I come across a lot of words that I indeed know, but don't recognize upon first glance.

I'm also trying to watch an episode of that show "Ultraviolet" on netflix every few days. The language is pretty simple, and the characters speak really clearly. The show is just so bad though :D . I slow it down every time I hear a sentence that I wouldn't be able to say spontaneously. I'm not using it to improve my vocabulary or proficiency, (that's what the reading is for,) but rather to better my spoken and aural "proficiency."

Spanish
I use Spanish regularly with friends here, there's a whole group of (relatively) recent ex-pats from Spain that I'm a part of, and we meet up and go out regularly. My Spanish is becoming more international - I'm trying to change my vocabulary so that it's less "Latino" and more "pan-hispanic" (if that's even a word.)


In terms of Italian and Portuguese, I'm just using these languages as a part of my life. Most of my students require that we speak Portuguese during our lessons due to their low level of English, and I text and call friends and relatives in Italian frequently.

That's the update.

My goal by the time the summer comes around is... French at a good B2 level, and Polish at an upper B2 level. I would call this, "fluency," although not "professional level" or the type of fluency that people go, "Holy sh*t, how do you speak (language) so well!?" Fluency in the sense that it wouldn't bother me much if I were to need to spend hours, or days, functioning almost entirely in that language.

In August I'm moving to Italy, (in the same city as my friends and family,) so I'm hoping to get my Italian to a true "C2" level in every regard. I want to feel almost as proficient in Italian as I do in English, and possibly even be able to pass for a native speaker. That's is a real long shot, but I feel that if I reach "near native fluency" in one language, I'll be better prepared to do it again in others! and Italian is the only language where I could easily slip into an almost complete immersion environment without having to spend energy building up a social circle.
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drp9341
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Posts: 241
Joined: Tue Mar 29, 2016 1:21 pm
Location: NY, USA
Languages: Native: English (US)
C1/C2: Spanish, Italian
B2+: Portuguese
B2: French, Polish
A1: Russian, German
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=5978
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Re: Danny's POLISH & French, + RU / ITA / SPA / PT log!

Postby drp9341 » Wed May 08, 2019 3:49 am

AFTER TWO YEARS, MY POLISH JOURNEY IS COMPLETE. I HOPE TO RECORD AND UPLOAD AN INTERVIEW IN POLISH THAT I WILL SHARE WITH THE GROUP IN THE NEXT FEW MONTHS

To be honest, I'm not proud of the level I've achieved. Not because it's not a good level, but because I stopped trying after about 6 months. I went from 5-6 hours a day of active learning, to maybe 1 hour a week by the end. I don't know precisely what happened, but I think I got bored of struggling to communicate, and ended up hanging out with Spanish expats my last 6 months there instead of Poles.

My girlfriend and I talk Polish together, but I hope that I can soon get into the habit of 30 minutes a day of Polish. 30 minutes a day, and dating a native speaker, will get me to a nice and natural C1 level if I am consistent over the next few years.

Polish is an awesome language, and Poland is a great country. However, it's time to move on, and apply what I've learned to other endeavors.

Thanks for actually reading my rambling messages, and rooting for me the past two years.

The only regret I have is not learning "in moderation." I obsessed over Polish, couldn't handle the stress I was putting on myself, and just stopped studying it after I was able to socialize and do basically everything. I did what many immigrants do, and settle for a functional level. Nonetheless, I never settled for poor pronunciation or grammar!!! So I sound like I'm much more proficient than I really am, which is pretty cool.
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Saim
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Re: Danny's POLISH & French, + RU / ITA / SPA / PT log!

Postby Saim » Wed May 08, 2019 8:24 am

Well done! It's a shame you felt burnout but since you've decided to keep at it at a calmer pace you're definitely going to keep progressing. Good luck! :)
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drp9341
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Posts: 241
Joined: Tue Mar 29, 2016 1:21 pm
Location: NY, USA
Languages: Native: English (US)
C1/C2: Spanish, Italian
B2+: Portuguese
B2: French, Polish
A1: Russian, German
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=5978
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Re: Danny's 2 year long POLISH immersion experience!

Postby drp9341 » Fri May 24, 2019 4:58 am

So here's to Spanish.
I spoke in Spanish most of the day with an old coworker, and he said a few times that my Spanish sounds really different.

I started paying attention, and I realized that I was saying the letter 'e' like Italians - except backwards. I was saying /ɛ/ on unstressed vowels and /e/ on stressed vowels. I was distinguishing between /ɛ/ and /e/.

I would say a word (I'm using this word because of how many times it uses the letter 'e') "hereje" like /ɛrexɛ/ when it should be just /ɛrɛxɛ/

I think this might be the influence of my time in Argentina ;)

Also, my rhythm is strange. I say certain phrases with a mexican intonation/stress, other's with a 'carribean' intonation/stress, and others with (what sounds to me,) like a Spaniard intonation.

I don't care all that much, my Spanish is still 100% in terms of everything except pronunciation. I make mistakes with the subjunctive slightly more, but not all that much.

I think I need to pick one dialect, and stick with it. The problem is I don't like any one dialect all that much. I think I might go for Spain Spanish though. I'm gonna be in Europe, and it's better to be mistaken for a Spaniard than for a 'Brazilian' (as of recently everyone always assumes I'm Brazilian, despite the fact I've been neglecting Portuguese for like 7 months,) since no one will try to switch to English with you that way. I don't have the switching problem with Spaniards, mainly with Latin Americans in the US, so I should try this strategy out.

Also, Spain Spanishs seems to be a lot more standardized than any one dialect of Latin American Spanish. Mexican Spanish may be more present in the media, but Telenovela Mexican Spanish isn't real Mexican Spanish by a long shot, whereas "Spanish TV Spanish" (lol) seems to be a lot closer to the way most people in Spain actually speak.

This may be just my erroneous assumption, since I am much more familiar with Latin American accents than Spain accents, so please correct me if I'm wrong.

This post was written in a very sloppy, off the top of my head sort of way, so point out if I wrote anything that doesn't make sense!
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