I love speaking Spanish and I will prolly minor in it, but when I went to Miami for spring break none of the cubans or argentenians down there could understand me. They wondered if I was mexican or something, it was kind of funny.

But, I practice Spanish a bunch, do I need to study abroad to become fluent?

[Edited on March 11, 2006 at 8:14 PM. Reason : blocks]

3/11/2006 8:12:32 PM

maybe you should major in it

3/11/2006 8:16:15 PM

There are more people in Mexico anyway.

3/11/2006 8:17:45 PM

^?

Are you saying that I need to move to mexico?

3/11/2006 8:18:40 PM

Nah, just saying that sounding Mexican might not be so bad.

Can Mexicans understand you?

3/11/2006 8:21:18 PM

I can talk with random construction workers.

But it would be stereotypical to say that all hispanic construction workers were hispanic.

3/11/2006 8:23:44 PM

Quote :

"it would be stereotypical to say that all hispanic construction workers were hispanic"

3/11/2006 8:39:25 PM

^lol

3/11/2006 8:41:52 PM

Do you have any idea what a dialect is?

And to become fluent it would definitely help to live in the country of your target language.

[Edited on March 11, 2006 at 8:56 PM. Reason : .]

3/11/2006 8:55:27 PM

did u ever think maybe they just didnt want to speak spanish to you? i dont know if they were nice or not but some ppl just pick on those that are trying to speak spanish...

3/11/2006 9:03:41 PM

Surprisingly, a lot of Cubans here do not speak spanish all that great, sort of a "spanglish" sort thing. They speak it with their grandparents down here and stuff. Also, a lot of the Cubans refuse to speak spanish. Some of those folks get annoyed when whiteboys try to speak spanish to them, too.

3/11/2006 9:25:01 PM

^This is definately true. A lot of latins do get insulted when north americans start speeking spanish with them. But, I don't think that was the problem, i was being very polite and asked them if it would be alright to use spanish.

They just did not understand me. I wonder if I can do that shit in the states rather than going abroad. It is best to stay here for my degree.

[Edited on March 11, 2006 at 9:30 PM. Reason : b]

3/11/2006 9:29:31 PM

Obviously you can, since there are hispanohablantes all over the place in the USA. But it might be more uncomfortable than going abroad.

3/11/2006 9:38:29 PM

^yeah, I agree

3/11/2006 9:42:33 PM

Depending on where you've learned, you tend to pick up the accent at the traits of the person or group of people who taught you. My dad is one of few people that I know that uses the vos pronoun. Estoy bien. Y vos? Spanish can be understood by many, but still the expressions and pronunciations differ.

3/11/2006 10:17:31 PM

^ Your dad learned Castilian then.


Nobody outside of Spain uses vos.



Nobody.



I don't know why anyone would have a problem understanding BanjoMan's spanish, though, unless 1. he was really bad at it to begin with, 2. he just doesn't speak clearly, or 3. they weren't fluent in spanish and were speaking spanglish like someone else said


the accents and dialects from country to country don't vary that much with spanish

someone from Mexico can speak with someone from Colombia with ease, and someone from Puerto Rico can speak with someone from Argentina the same way

[Edited on March 12, 2006 at 1:25 AM. Reason : oh and just an fyi, most latinos I know hate being called "hispanic"]

3/12/2006 1:24:30 AM

what about argentina

3/12/2006 1:41:11 AM

that shit about a mexican being able to speak with a columbian is bull.

One of my good friends is from ecuador. She basically said speaking with a mexican is like trying to talk to someone from the appalachians. Their slang is SO bad, it's almost impossible to carry on a meaningful conversation. I don't know what other regions/dialects are like this, but apparently spanish has a much much more diverse set of dialects than English does.

3/12/2006 2:14:50 AM

Quote :

"that shit about a mexican being able to speak with a columbian is bull."

Mexicans do use a lot of slang and they use different words than other cultures. It's like somebody from up north trying to talk to a Southerner with a really bad accent. Plus, the spanish is different in some areas here than others. In Florida alot of it is more upscale and higher class than areas like here.

3/12/2006 2:33:03 AM

It's not that bad guys.


Slang doesn't dominate the language as badly as you seem to think it does, and it def. wouldn't be the reason a non-native speaker like BanjoMan couldn't be understood, because there's no way he would've been taught slang first.

3/12/2006 11:15:11 AM

I have honestly had to translate Mexican to Spanish before for my fianceé (from Spain) when talking to a Mexican.

3/12/2006 11:31:01 AM

Well, I play soccer with a bunch of latinos all the time and the people from different countries have absolutely no problem understanding the mexicans and vice versa




neither do I, in reality

3/12/2006 11:44:47 AM

Yeah, I guess it just takes a buuuunch of practice

3/12/2006 2:06:46 PM

FLS 309- It will help you with the accents.

3/12/2006 2:46:16 PM