- Thread starter Marianopolita
- Start date
How Dominican is your Spanish?
Even having a Dominican father, he never spoke to me or my sibling in Spanish when we were younger so in 2013 I came here for an extended time and picked up a good amount since then. I'd say I'm 70% fluent and my accent is 100% Dominican no doubt. To the previous comment saying Dominican Spanish is the ugliest, I don't agree with that. No would like to listen to romeo santos or other types of music and other Dominican singers and fall in love with their voices lol just my opinion. Also, even though I speak dominicaized, I speak as formal as possible most of the time even though I can speak with all of the slang terms. I think it really depends on how much of a certain accent and culture you are immersed in to truly understand one's distinct accent. Spaniards for example, I don't quite care for the lispy sounding Spanish even though that's as formal as it gets with the Spanish language.
RTVE is an international Spanish channel. The headquarters are in Madrid. I try to remember to watch it on a semi regular basis. I watch just the news. The accent is notably madrileno. I find it’s a very closed mouth speech meaning it seems like the speakers don’t open their mouth. However, quite comprehensible. I am not in favour of the ceceo (the distinct lisp in pronunciation with certain letters) but to each his own. Any foreigner that learns Spanish in Spain is taught ceceo pronunciation based on my observation. I was surprised even in the south of Spain.
If anyone has access to Spanish television in the US the choice is quite clear. It’s Univision aka Mexicovision or channels from abroad. Some of the local broadcasts of major networks like Telemundo have journalists from diverse backgrounds. They speak quite a neutral Spanish because of their job requirement but an accent is not something you can change overnight if at all. Some accents you can clearly recognize where they are from or the region at least.
-MP.
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I am glad you took control of your Spanish acquisition. In my opinion, it’s a disservice when parents don’t speak to their kids in their heritage language. Furthermore, one like Spanish that is a globalized language. Unbelievable.
I think you have the advantage because you can choose how Dominican or not you want to sound. I think the choice to sound more formal is good. The slang and really raw speech has its place and like it or not people judge a person by the way they speak. I am not saying it’s right or that it should be that way but that’s the way it is. As well, it’s easier to go from formal to informal speech but not informal to formal. That requires education and knowledge and I have met so many people who struggle in English and Spanish with this concept.
-MP.
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It was neither, I must have hit it accidentally. Fixed now.
All good.
People say you sound Colombian? From what part of Colombia?
-MP.
I mean, by default my Spanish accent would sound Panamanian or Boricua for the most part but if around people rom countries I've lived in I also tend to follow their lead and pick up that accent instead since its familiar to my lexicon by prior living experiences.
Hope that clarifies things.
When I first got to the DR, people would ask me if I was from the US, New York, Germany... because of my accent and obvious lack of spanish. 7 or 8 years later it changed to, "Tu no eres de aqui, verdad?". When I met my hubby 6 years ago, he didn't believe I was Canadian until he saw my passport 3 months later.
I assume my spanish sounds Dominican but when speaking to a non-Dominican, I try to make it as neutral and correct as possible so they can understand me. Helps when you work for an international company and then in tourism where you have to speak to people from other latin countries.
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I assume my spanish sounds Dominican but when speaking to a non-Dominican, I try to make it as neutral and correct as possible so they can understand me. Helps when you work for an international company and then in tourism where you have to speak to people from other latin countries.
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Not a clue, just generic Colombian I thought. I’ve never been there, and didn’t realize they speak differently depending on the area.
I’m assuming something along the lines of the difference between a Dominican from a Santo Domingo, and one from the Cibao......?
Thanks. Well, as I told another poster in the thread I would like to hear you speak. Imitating or mirroring many accents is not easy. You realize some of PR speech sounds Dominican and you said you did not like the DR accent. Food for thought.
-MP.
Nadie quiere hablar en español. Bueno por lo menos pensaba que ibas a contestar en español.
A través de los años mejoraste y eso es normal si hablas y lo practicas todos los días. La ventaja que tienes es que vives en la RD. Estoy de acuerdo si tienes que hablar con otros hispanohablantes es mejor hablar de una manera neutral y es fácil de entender, es decir, con acento de ningún país si es posible. Siempre es mejor.
-MP.
Oh yes, Colombia is a big country. It covers a lot of territory in South America (considering what Brazil left for other South American countries). In terms of linguistic zones there are many but I would say five major ones. The Colombian accent in itself is very distinct regardless of the zones but you can’t miss a Colombian from Colombia. Now if a Colombian says you sound Colombian then you know it’s true.
The common accents that you will most likely hear outside of Colombia or have familiarity with is the capital, Bogotá (rolo accent), paisa (Medellín and surrounding area), Valle del Cauca (Cali) then of course the famous Caribbean Spanish (costeño- Cartagena, Barranquilla), and Isleño- San Andrés. From a linguistic perspective, it’s an amazing geographical region to analyze. I wish I had the time to dig deeper but depending on the type of Spanish you speak, it’s important to understand the roots. In my opinion, the paisa accent is too strong. One of the recent ex-presidents of Colombia, Álvaro Uribe is paisa and unfortunately, I could not listen to him for more than 5 minutes at time. His accent was too strong paisa. It became a distraction to listen to him speak. On the other hand his compatriot and also former president Andrés Pastrana had a simpler accent and was the mayor of Bogotá. Nice Spanish on the ears.
Linguistically, the DR is a lot smaller and really is considered to have three major linguistic zones, la capital, el sur and el Cibao -cibaeño dialect which covers quite a bit of territory. Speakers tend to get lumped into these categories although one could add el norte in there. Each region has it own features and characteristics and of course each person will say nosotros hablamos mejor. You know how it is.
-MP.
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I get asked if I'm from Spain. In Germany speaking German they ask me if I'm Danish.
Jajaja creo que es la primera vez que alguien me dice eso. Efectivamente, el hecho de vivir aquí y el haber vivido entre dominicanos que no hablaban casi nada de inglés me obligó a aprender a defenderme. Recuerdo bien en el primer año, les encantaba pedirme que dijera croqueta, guacarataina y otorrinolaringologia. No tuve de otra que practicar mucho para que dejaran de reirse... En cuánto a mi español escrito, aprendí mucho en mi primer trabajo como digitadora cerca de la Duarte en Sto. Dgo. Lo chistoso es que creo que aprendí más con el corrector de Word que con los textos que me entregaban!
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Novice interjecting
You guys are way above me but the thread is interesting reading. A story based on our fourth trip to the DR around about 1992.
I was trying to mimic the Dominicano grammar and inflection so when I heard 'doycerveza' from a waiter in Puerto Plata confirming our order for two beer I filed it under: drop the terminal 's'. The next day in Sosua I ordered 'doycerveza' and was politely corrected by that waiter who pronounced in the purest manner: 'dos cerveza senior'.
I just drop the terminal 's'. LaGalera, LaTerrena etc and so on through nouns and verb forms whenever I think of it. I'm not trying to pass for a Dominicano, simply to make myself understood and not too ponsified.
wbr
You guys are way above me but the thread is interesting reading. A story based on our fourth trip to the DR around about 1992.
I was trying to mimic the Dominicano grammar and inflection so when I heard 'doycerveza' from a waiter in Puerto Plata confirming our order for two beer I filed it under: drop the terminal 's'. The next day in Sosua I ordered 'doycerveza' and was politely corrected by that waiter who pronounced in the purest manner: 'dos cerveza senior'.
I just drop the terminal 's'. LaGalera, LaTerrena etc and so on through nouns and verb forms whenever I think of it. I'm not trying to pass for a Dominicano, simply to make myself understood and not too ponsified.
wbr
It was neither, I must have hit it accidentally. Fixed now.
Mods can fix that. Oh the power!
I learned some basic Spanish from a Mexican teacher in high school, then a Spaniard professora woman in college, then traipsed all over Latin America and the Caribbean for work, and finally ended up in Argentina after several years, after a stint in Brazil, before moving to Miami, and then to the DR. Imagine. The Cubans in Miami said I spoke with an Argentine Spanish, the Dominicans said I sounded Cuban, and while in Chile they said I sounded Peruvian, where I was in and out a lot, so, I have no idea, but do pick up colloquial stuff by ear and mannerisms. None of it matters much to me, as I was more or less a chameleon as the situation dictated. I do think a light mix of Colombian/Peruvian/Ecuadorean is the most pleasant for me to use and understand. I'm put off by DR/Boricua/Cuban Spanish and if I listen to a gaggle of pedestrian street talk in the DR I just walk away and know I'm in the wrong neighborhood.