Weird Bastard Spanish

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katarinaantalya
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Weird Bastard Spanish

Postby katarinaantalya » Wed Mar 14, 2018 9:55 pm

Hello again, I'm back with more problems :) This time, straight up advice is needed. I've been learning Spanish inconsistently for around two years now and would put myself in a B1 speaking B2 reading-type level. However, what I've been learning with has been a terrible mixture of Castilian and Mexican. My study books are all German-Spanish (Spanish was a spur-of-the-moment thing when I fell in love with a Catalan boy in Germany), so that's obviously Castilian, but as an American, almost everything else I have exposure to is Mexican, and quite frankly that's what I like better anyhow. As a result, though, my own language has become a godawful melange of the two that gets strange looks from everyone around and that barely makes sense to me. Half the time I lisp, the other not, I speak too rapidly for the Mexicans and too slowly for the Spaniards, and that's not even to start on vocabulary or the use of vosotros. Does anybody have any tips how to weed out these (unfortunately mostly fossilized) errors and force my language to one way or the other. Also, with the situation I've described, does anybody know which side would be better? Five years of linguistics courses and I'm somewhat at a loss for the whole thing. I'd just like to get my Spanish back on track.
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iguanamon
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Re: Weird Bastard Spanish

Postby iguanamon » Wed Mar 14, 2018 10:16 pm

While Spanish is Spanish, there are certain uses of vocabulary and, as you said, rhythm and prosody that can throw people off. If you want to model an accent, you can shadow with a native-speaker of that accent and a text. A little more difficult to do is to make yourself use more Mexican basic vocabulary. Glossika has a "Mexican Spanish" course. You could also try a Mexican narrated audio book, but what I would do in your shoes is to pick a Mexican series on Netflix or a Mexican telenovela and watch a hundred episodes or so.

The vocabulary issue will sort itself out over time with reading, listening and speaking. Accent and prosody will take conscious effort.

Another solution is to skip the whole "Mexican accent" thing and just go for general Latin American. In which case FSI Spanish Basic course would be helpful, and its free. It will also help your grammar and deepen your Spanish ability. It's very useful at B1. The vocabulary will be drilled and will be generic LA. The accent and prosody will work itself out modelling the speakers in the audio.
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Decidida
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Re: Weird Bastard Spanish

Postby Decidida » Thu Mar 15, 2018 1:18 pm

As a child, I moved back and forth between 2 English speaking countries. My accent would change after about 2 weeks, and I had no ability to purposely speak one accent or the other. To this day my accent varies, and my spelling is a mixture of English spellings, even though I have resided in the United States for my entire adulthood. It doesn't help that I continue to read widely from the USA, UK, Canada, Australia, India, and anything else that I get my hands on. My English speech and writing reflect my eclectic eventful past and instantly broadcast a full life. I am comfortable with that.

Right now I am being heavily exposed to Puerto Rico, El Salvador, and Venezuela Spanish, and am even corrected by people from all three countries for things that are obviously absorbed from one of the other countries. I am having to defend myself during the corrections that I cannot be expected to switch accents, vocabulary, and grammar depending on who I am speaking with. When I am consciously learning new vocabulary from a textbook, I am trying to adopt a consistent default pronunciation, but it is a losing battle because I am hearing such a hodgepodge when speaking to native speakers and when using audio lessons and listening to media.

I think we just have to accept that our speech – in any language – is going to reflect our story, and be okay with our story.

Watch the average American watch a BBC TV show and complain that they cannot understand it. Not being instantly understood by everyone is okay. Type the word out on your phone or write it on a piece of paper if someone cannot understand a word you are saying. A friend from El Salvador tried to say "subtitle" to me yesterday using Spanish phonics and I didn't have a clue what he was saying. He typed it on the phone screen, and we laughed, and I gave him a quick English phonics lesson, using that word as an example.

Native speakers cannot always understand native speakers from another country. We cannot expect more from ourselves in a non-native language than native speakers can expect of themselves.
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Decidida
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Re: Weird Bastard Spanish

Postby Decidida » Thu Mar 15, 2018 1:21 pm

Oh, and my college textbook is Spain grammar and my teacher is from Puerto Rico. Fun times.
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