Identify the accents

That was hard. Only got 4 right.

Interesting and easy test. The only one I was not familiar with is one of the two Spanish accents I have no exposure to which are Bolivia and Paraguay. I know from my reading and studies that the Paraguayan accent is Río Platense and considered similar to Argentina. I have listened to some samples on You Tube and it varies depending on the speaker but you can hear the similarity.


Here is my score:

Mi puntaje en el cuestionario ¿Reconoces de dónde son estos acentos? (7) / (8)



The message on the picture said (which I tried to save but it did not work)- Tiene muy buen oído. ¡Felicitaciones!


I am disappointed. I should have gotten 8/8. ¡Qué pena!


-MP.

Chirimoya said:

A quiz about different accents from around the Spanish-speaking world.

I only got 5/8 and I've spent time in most of the countries and known people from all of them.

http://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-42755400

Click to expand...

Which ones did you find challenging?


-MP.

Chirimoya said:

The Bolivian - admittedly the nationality I've had the least exposure to. But I also missed one of the Venezuelans despite being exposed to that accent since birth.

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A few concepts to consider, in my experience the odds of getting exposure to Bolivian Spanish outside of Bolivia are extremely low. The good thing about Bolivia is it was formerly el alto Peru therefore, the Peruvian accent and Bolivian accent have similarity if you can identify Peruvian Spanish.


Being exposed to an accent since birth has no guarantees. Some people don’t recognize the various accents within their own country. The example given was not typical and certainly not the most common of Venezuelan accents. Don’t forget the examples are cine Spanish so it’s not going to be typical like you what you hear on the street. 

As well, I use other identifiers other than the accent itself. In many of those examples the speech patterns and words were a dead give away. Phraseology and such definitely identify a group of speakers from xxx country.



-MP.

¡Genial!

Resultado:
(6) / (8)
Demostraste tener buen oído. ¡Felicitaciones!

Chirimoya said:

For some reason, Peruvian Spanish sounds practically accentless to me and I can't pinpoint it. I've been to Peru but not to Bolivia.


That must be the reason. Mr C did not recognise the Cuban accent yet he lived and studied there and has visited regularly for the last 30+ years.


I looked out for those too.

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Regarding the Peruvian accent that is the perception. However, I have worked with Peruvians for years over 10 years straight at one point and believe it or not they do have an identifiable accent. Especially those from Lima. I did not realize I acquired an ear for it because when I hear it now unexpectedly I can get it right away. Accents outside of Lima I don’t if I would recognize them.

You may want to go through the test again. IMO there were three guanteed points. The Colombian, Cuban and Uruguayan accent. Listen to the first few words of the Cuban speaker that was a give way I think.

Anyway these are all aspects that make languages fun especially Spanish with so many varieties.



-MP.

7/8 between wife and I. In fact, I would have had 8/8 but we disagreed on one that was Venezuelan, and I let her choose..
The Mexican one was cool. I got it because of the last intonation on her last word....

Pretty good for old ears..

HB

Actually, she was much quicker to identify them than I was.

I got 6/8

Well, I FALIED miserably: 4/8. And the Cuban accent was not that "cubano" to me.

Lucifer said:

Well, I FALIED miserably: 4/8. And the Cuban accent was not that "cubano" to me.

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I failed with the Cuban too, didnt sound too much as Cuban

Mi esposo-6/8. He missed the Colombian despite having visited there, and a Venezuelan one even though he relatives from there. When we are travelling and he hears a Spanish speaker, he can usually tell me where they are from based on the accent.
The only ones that sounded obvious to me were the Cuban, Argentinian and Chilean. I would have likely got 3-4/8

Marianopolita said:

Listen to the first few words of the Cuban speaker that was a give way I think.

.

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Got the Cuban accent quickly, now that I am watching Señora Acero 4 with the two cubanas there it was easy...

Same as Spanish (the second actor was a giveaway), Uruguay and Argentina. I probably could not differentiate between Argentina and Uruguay though.

I thought I could recognize Colombian accent very well as I am watching a lot of programming from Colombia but recently some Venezuelans have me doubt, because some speak very closely to Colombian accent. Like my Uber driver in La Capital yesterday...

rubio_higuey said:

Got the Cuban accent quickly, now that I am watching Señora Acero 4 with the two cubanas there it was easy...

Same as Spanish (the second actor was a giveaway), Uruguay and Argentina. I probably could not differentiate between Argentina and Uruguay though.

I thought I could recognize Colombian accent very well as I am watching a lot of programming from Colombia but recently some Venezuelans have me doubt, because some speak very closely to Colombian accent. Like my Uber driver in La Capital yesterday...

Click to expand...

Very good. That’s great to hear.

Even with a wealth of exposure to various accents you will hear some that will challenge you. Don’t forget these speakers are from various countries and acting in a movie. Normally, they want actors/actresses to speak in a neutral way if possible. I think that is why some people in the thread missed the Cuban accent because it was not the typical Cuban accent that you hear from everyday speakers but even so it did not fool me. After the first line I clicked cubano.

It is said that there are only a few countries in the world that have almost identical cultural and linguistic similarity. Venezuela and Colombia, and Argentina and Uruguay are on this exclusive list. It makes sense to me not only because of their history but what you see in real life. The Venezuela-Colombian similarity accent wise is scary and it is only specific to certain accents from each country that mirror each other like that. It is said that anyone from the northern boarder of either country their accent is indistinguishable and I believe it.

It is said that Uruguayans for the most part especially people from Montevideo speak bonarense Spanish accent wise meaning from Buenos Aires, Argentina. The accents are very similar in my experience and I have to really listen to key factors like intonation and starts and stops to figure where the speaker is from but there are no guarantees. Don’t go by voseo usage as they are both voseo-speaking countries (but there is a specific type usage of voseo in Uruguay that can help but I won’t get into that here) An example is two prominent soccer players from their respective countries. Listen to Leo Messi speak vs. Edinson Cavani. There is a clear difference. Cavani is authentic Uruguayan no doubt. Then listen to Messi. The accents are similar but not the same. It is all about exposure.


-MP.

Listen to the accnets.....

Here is a video with examples of 10 accents in Latin America. Most are accents that were also in the test.

In my opinion, a few are right on. For example, the Mexican, Cuban (listen to how the speaker says the word Cuba. That is so Cuban!, the Peruvian example reveals an accent and Spain- right on. I think it's a Madrid accent)



[video=youtube;5gQ8KyvPYBg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gQ8KyvPYBg&sns=em[/video]



-MP.

4/8 and I'm a fluent spanish speaker and been to every country except for venezuela.. lol, guess I'm just bad..

Chirimoya said:

A quiz about different accents from around the Spanish-speaking world.

I only got 5/8 and I've spent time in most of the countries and known people from all of them.

http://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-42755400

Click to expand...

Oh, my, I only got 3/8. Well, I did get the Cuban.

I got 5 with my brother's help and he is supposedly qualified to teach Spanish at college level though i have a lot more days where it is actually spoken.