Is it necessary for Spanish speaking people to speak so fast?

Question

Anytime you hear someone speaking Spanish they talk ridiculously fast. Is it really necessary for this language to be spoken so rapidly? Isn't it possible for people to speak Spanish at a "Ben Stein" pace?

(P.S. If you don't know who Ben Stein is, he's the slow-talking guy in those Clear Eyes commercials and the teacher in Ferris Bueller's Day Off.)

Answer 1

No it is not necessary for them to talk really fast but I realized that everyone, no matter what country they are from including us as English speaking people, has a certain amount of people who have poor speaking skills. Some people, stutter or slur their words while others speak extremely fast or extremely slow. There are also those who speak extremely quiet while others sound as if they are yelling. I realized this with Mexicans. I've been studying Spanish for 8 years and now it's the only language I speak at work.

My point is, don't beat yourself up if you don't understand what they are saying. Part of it is just that you don't understand the words. In Spanish, there are allot ways to say things with fewer words too. So it can be said allot quicker. On the other hand, part of it has to with the speaker having poor speaking skills. There is this guy I work with who speaks so poorly he almost sounds like he is speaking like Japanese gibberish than Spanish. He is the one out of several hundred Mexicans that I can't understand when he speaks. He is so fast unnecessarily.

Answer 2

Part of the problem is that English is such an efficient language (can say a lot with fewer words) that most languages by contrast sound fast because the speakers have to jam in many more words per minute than English speakers have to - just to say the same thing.

Now I have a question for you: Is it necessary for young people to speak English so fast that someone over 45 like myself cannot understand them? See what I mean!

Answer 3

Silver, we aren't ridiculous when we speak Spanish. What happens is that our language has a way to speak it or to pronounce. And at the same time, people that are from other Spanish's speaking countries speak different, so that's why you notice the difference. For example, people from Cuba, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Colombia, speak very fast and mainly in the Caribbeans countries. But people from Argentina and Uruguay speak slowly because they have a accent and influence from the Italians and that mix of accents makes them to speak more slowly and clear. People from Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Ecuador, speak clear and a "normal" pace. In Spain they speak their language fast and with a very pronounce accent. If your language can't be speak fast is because you use to roll the tongue so much in order to pronounce well the words. I am from Southern Mexico and the people from Yucatan state speak slow and clear the same from Campeche, but from Tabasco, we speak fast and we don't pronounce or we "eat" the '"S". I hope that I help you with my explanation. To speak like Ben Stein in Spanish you need to have a speech problem or a to suffer retardation. Believe me.

Answer 4

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Answer 5

They aren't speaking too fast; it just sounds that way to you. Years ago, one of my professors told us that any foreign language will sound fast to someone who has not achieved fluency in the language because their brain has to struggle to decode the words and the grammar. Once a person has achieved some fluency, it doesn't sound nearly as "fast" anymore.

Some of my own students are international students, and they often say the same thing, that Americans speak way too fast. They even tell me that, and I'm known for speaking pretty slowly! So it's really not a Spanish thing at all. Just a problem with comprehension.

And of course Spanish speakers could speak more slowly, but it would come out sounding like the stereotype of how to talk to non-native speakers of English: "Doooo.... yoooouuuuu.... understaaaaaand.... whaaaaaat..... I..... meeean?" :)

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Answer 6

Pretty much any language you do not thoroughly understand will sound "too fast" to you. If it's a question of some tongue you know nothing at all about -- say Serbian or Bantu -- it won't make any difference, as you have no expectation of understanding. But you do know some Spanish, so you expect more than you will get.

In most countries Spanish speakers will courteously adjust their speed and their vocabulary once they know they are dealing with a foreigner. The price for that is being an identified foreigner.

Answer 7

I don't think Spanish-speaking people speak ridiculously fast - perhaps you are listening ridiculously slowly!!!

Seriously, though, all Spanish vowel sounds are short in length and most Spanish sentences contain more syllables than their English counterparts because of the structure and nature of the language. Spanish people in particular, and speakers of Latin-based languages in general also articulate better than most English speakers, and so the speed Spanish is normally spoken at sounds quite natural to them.

Answer 8

well i have been speaking Spanish since i was born and speaking English since I was 6...... we Spanish speaking people talk really fast compared to English, it helps with the pronunciation because you can understand better fast than slow..... buy in my opinion you English speakers talk ridiculously slow

Answer 9

Actually, Spanish syllables are equally weighted, so they're not talking faster, but because it comes out evenly, it sounds fast.
for example:
Cotton, button, Congeniality
All these words have syllables that are "swallowed" (not pronounced as written).
Algodon, boton, congenialidad
Spanish is like a machine gun.

Answer 10

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