When speaking spanish... accent...?

Question

How do you speak Spain spanish? Like, how do you do the accent with the z's and c's and when and all that? Right now i think i speak with a mexican or puerto rican accent, i forgot what my teacher told me. I am just wondering if someone could describe the accent from where they come from, not just necesarily the Spain one. Thanks!

Answer 1

The accent in Spain is quite different from the latin american ones... (except the people from the Canary Islands who speak almost identical to the cubans, with the same musical intonation and the "S") (this is called "sesear" in spanish).
In Spain the Z and C are pronounced as a soft "th" sound, (like th in path or cloth) whereas in American spanish they use the S sound...
For example:
Vamos a cazar (lets go hunting) would be:
"Vamos a cah-thar" (in Spain)
and
"Vamos a ca-sar" in latin America...

In south America each country has a different accent...People in Argentina, and in somewhat the same manner, Urugauy and Paraguay, speak with a very sing-song intonation, due to the italian and spanish immigrants of the late 19th century. If you don't understand spanish, you might think that they ARE speaking italian!.
Central America, Colombia and Venezuela have an accent similar to the people of southern Mexico. Also very sing song, but different to the argentinian as it lacks the italian tone. The smaller countries nearby are influenced by these larger countries.

The people of Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador have an accent more influenced by the native people, who depending on their area, speak also their native language, (such as Quechua) besides spanish..
Even in different areas of Spain there are different accents...The peoples of Galicia have their own language (gallego) and their accent is similar to portuguese... Then there are the Catalonians, who speak catalá and the Basques who speak euskera. The north center of Spain has the pure castillian, and the andalusians have the spanish equivalent to a southern drawl..sometimes swallowing the last letters or syllables of their words.

Answer 2

Let me preface this with, I am not a native Spanish speaker, but I'm proficient and have Spanish speaking friends from many different countries (including Spain). So my answer is not at all authoritative, it's just my point of view as someone who loves Spanish and who could listen to it being spoken all day, whichever accent they have. And I liked your question, so I wanted to answer it.

The soft C's and Z's from Spain are sort of lisped, but not harshly. Just put the tip of your tongue slightly between your teeth and don't vocalize the sound. Say "ceniza." It should sound a little like you would say "thenitha," but the c's and z's are nowhere near as harsh as an American theta sound. Just remember that it's only the soft c's (the ones that come before i's or e's and would sound like s's usually) that do that, but all the z's. It also depends a lot on which region of Spain you're looking at. To my ear, Spaniards from the south of the country, like Valencia, tend to not pronounce their s's as much as other Spaniards (though this sort of "swallowing your s's" is found in a few different accents of Spanish). So, "niño" and "niños" pretty much sound the same, though it seems like you can sometimes hear a tiny, little, barely pronounced s at the end. So, they might say "lo niño," basically. But that would likely only be if the following words have a consonant at the beginning. If there´s a vowel at the beginning of the next word, you´d probably hear the s more easily.

The vowels are something else, and it´s harder to notice the differences, at least for me. Some Spaniards (from the north and from the Madrid area, I think) have a very closed-mouth kind of thing with their vowels...like they just don´t open their mouths very much. Others have a sort of French-sounding, nasalized "ah" sound to their vowels. I'm not sure where you find this accent, exactly, though it would make sense for it to come from the parts that are closer to France, but maybe not. I've actually noticed it on some people from around the Cuenca area.

Anyway, so yeah, I'm definitely no expert, and I could be completely wrong. My answer just comes from a love of Spanish and personal observations.

Answer 3

First. Puerto Ricans do have an accent.
Second. Costa rican accent is pretty similar to a colombian accent, except the colombian accent is more rythmic and quick. When costa ricans speak, we put special focus on the r's, so the way north americans pronounce the r when they no nothing about spanish accent, that is the way we pronounce the r's. In spanish we have a r and rr. We costa ricans only use the r sound, which is pretty strong. When we say words with tr, it sounds a bit like there was an s somewhere in between. It sounds like trsh, like the sound you make when you say trash. You have to curl the tip of your tongue and place it on the top of you mouth right behing the teeth but never touching them. That is kind of the way to reproduce the sound.

Answer 4

For best results, ask a native Spaniard. The explanations above are excellent, but any explanation will be lacking. Only hearing the real deal will answer your questions. Perhaps if you befriended a Spaniard, and used some sort of voice chat mechanism so that you can hear their dialect?

I have several Arabic speaking friends, both online and in person. The best times I ever learned the very little Arabic that I do know were when I could the other person speaking. They may type the words phonetically, (I prefer they use actual Arabic script, more exact than transliteration), and it can be done very well, but really, the best way of pronouncing any language is by hearing it being spoken.

Answer 5

Wow! These are great answers! I work with people from all Spanish-speaking countries and recently went to South America for the first time. I agree with what Abuela Nany says about the differences in accents. My Spanish is from Mexico, though I am not a native speaker. In Argentina, I heard people say a word that sounded like "ro-cho." I racked my brain to figure out what it was, and it turned out to be "rio." Also, a hotel there, the LLao LLao, is pronounced "Chow Chow." I have an easier time understanding people from Spain than from Argentina.

Answer 6

To begin with, everybody has an accent. Only that some people don't notice it.

Secondly, in the accent from Spain, you just pronounce all your Z's as the TH in "THINK", and also all the C's followed by E's or I's. But that's not enough. You should make your S closer to a SH than in English. It's half way between them. And your LL's should sound like Y's. And in the South of Spain, they make their J's and G's (after E or I) sound like an English H.

On the other hand, where I am from (Santa Fe, Argentina) the most characteristic features are:

-S and Z before another consonant sounds like an English H.
-Z and C (in CE or CI) sound like an Enlglish S in "six".
-Y and LL may sound alternatively as SH (shake) or as s "visual". (French or Portuguese J).

Besides remember that the V sound does not exist in Spanish (not in any version). We pronounce our V's as a B (and both sound a little softer than your English B. It's the same difference between our D's and yours. Ours sound like TH in "THEY" (Compare it to "DAY" to see the difference).

And another great difference between different accents is in the words you choose. You may sound like Spanish or Argentinian, if you just choose the right words. But that's too difficult and long to explain it here. If you want, you can write to me.

Answer 7

Well, to speak with Spanish accent, you pronounce the Z very clear, and the C like Z, in the right moment.
Well, I could describe it, but I am not sure that you would understand

Answer 8

Actually....the spanish spoken in spain is the spanish without any accent, that is one of the resons why its called spanish, u can also take a look at history to understand it....
Spanish spoken in latin america is as good as the spain spanish....but im afraid to say that in latin american they do have accent (also Puerto Rico)

Answer 9

Puerto Ricans does not have any accent.

Answer 10

they are no accents in c or z they are only accents in a e i o u