Video- The Spiciest Accent- Caribbean Spanish

[Lucifer]

Far from impressive. You got anything more interesting? Eh vale? 🤣

SIR, please accept my apologies, SIR.

In addition to my lack of scholarship on all things linguistics, I have the distinction of illustrating the word 'mediocrity' with my mugshot in the latest edition of Merrien-Webster and Collins dictionaries. And that's nothing of which to be proud, or to write home about.

(Somehow, these institutions stroke a deal with the Texas DOT, and requested a photo of my DL. I suspect now that I relocated to the 305 NPA, FLA will be compelled to follow in TX's giant footsteps.)

Now, SIR, please allow me this opportunity to thank you for spending your incredibly valuable time to point out my deficiencies and inaccuracies on many of my posts since you joined this domain. One could argue that you keep me on my toes, but I'm so deep into that yellow woods... kilometers to go before I climb out of my ignorant excrement hole.

Although not an ultranationalist as some of my fellow compatriots, I feel nothing but deep-rooted pride in knowing one of our own fits the definition of a gentleman and a scholar. I only wish most Dominicans were as astute and well-read as you.

You, SIR, are a Dominican for the ages, a Renaissance man in these times dominated by social media, get-rich-quick schemes, and 30-second short videos satisfying the curiosity of most Dominicans... me, myself and I included.

 

[Marianopolita]

Now that you responded Lucifer (and I don’t blame you) please ignore El Hijo de Manolo.

I and I am sure others appreciate your contributions in the Spanish forum.

I am not sure why the Mods don’t say anything but I will to save my thread.

Carry on everyone. This is a good discussion 🙂

 

[Lucifer]

Thank you, Marianopolita.

Here's a fellow I follow on YouTube by the name of Olly Richards. He's a British polyglot who recently uploaded a video in which he talks about the 10 most difficult Spanish accents.
He has also uploaded several videos on the language of Cervantes. I find them fascinating.

 

[Marianopolita]

Fantástico el video y realmente esos acentos me fascinan sobre todo #6-10. Los reconocí fácilmente incluso el acento de Guinea Equatorial por la pronunciación de las palabras. Para mí suena muy africano (es decir la influencia de algunos idiomas africanos)

I have seen video from Olly but not this one. He made some interesting choices and I agree with most of them. He should have also specified that the more mountainous the location the more difficult the Spanish is to understand. One reason is due to isolation. Just think of all those regions in the Andes of South America in Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia mixed with the native languages like Aymara and Quechua and it makes other regions sound easy.

Great video….gracias por compartir.

 

[Lucifer]

Absolutely! And thank you for reviving this interesting subject.

I once had a conversation with a married couple from Bolivia, and I had a difficult time understanding them.
I've spoken to other Bolivians since, and had no issues. They clued me in on the regional variations and the possible mix with indigenous languages and Guaraní dialects.

I've had conversations with Garífuna folks, but they're clever enough to switch to Spanish when they realize they say a word in their language.

Not so easy for some folks for whom I've had the pleasure of interpreting and who hail from the Mexican state of Chiapas.

I'd venture to say that the Spanish-speaking nations of the insular Caribbean are probably the exception in terms of possessing local dialects. I know of no dialects in P.R., Cuba, and D.R. Yes, there are regional variations of Spanish, but no dialects per se.

 

[Marianopolita]

@Lucifer

My experience with Spanish from Bolivia is just one individual. When I was studying for my translation degree (many years ago now how time flies) I had a fellow classmate from Bolivia and his Spanish was fantastic. Very clear, excellent grammar and to be honest I did not expect that. Needless to say, I was impressed. I don’t think there is a large Bolivian diaspora anywhere so to run into a Bolivian would be unusual.

Same with Honduras. I had one colleague many years ago who was Honduran and she just sounded Central American with typical speech patterns of the region. Garífuna is specific to the Black Honduran population. Unless one travels, reads or has interest in Latin American history, one probably does not know of this group of people who are significant to the history of Honduras.

I met ladies from Chiapas this year for the first time and I found them easy to understand. We had great conversations and I never really paid attention prior to where Chiapas is located until I was with them and they were showing me on the map. It‘s very to close to Guatemala. My goodness. That’s how you get linguistic cross over.

Speaking of Bolivia since you read a lot if you want to try a different author from Latin America, I recommend Edmundo Paz Soldán from Cochabamba, Bolivia. He is quite a good writer and among the contemporary bests of Latin America.

 

[Marianopolita]

@Lucifer

Actually, some linguists say there are only two dialects in Spanish- Cibaeño (RD) and Lunfardo spoken in Argentina. They classify all others outside of the standard as regional variations.

 

[Lucifer]

@Lucifer



Speaking of Bolivia since you read a lot if you want to try a different author from Latin America, I recommend Edmundo Paz Soldán from Cochabamba, Bolivia. He is quite a good writer and among the contemporary bests of Latin America.

Great! I'll definitely look into it. I keep saying I need to get acquainted with contemporary writers, but laziness gets in the way.

 

[Lucifer]

@Lucifer

Actually, some linguists say there are only two dialects in Spanish- Cibaeño (RD) and Lunfardo spoken in Argentina. They classify all others outside of the standard as regional variations.

Well now, that's interesting on Cibaeño being considered a dialect. I find it as charming as the version they speak in the Dominican south (Baní, San Juan), where folks have the tendency to replace 'L' with 'R' at the end of a syllable:

Cuando saRga eR soR, iré aR coRmado a comprar una libra de saR.

 

[Marianopolita]

Great! I'll definitely look into it. I keep saying I need to get acquainted with contemporary writers, but laziness gets in the way.

You will like his writing….I am not hesitant to try authors that don’t get the traditional spotlight like GGM, Mario Vargas Llosa, Carlos Fuentes, Octavio Paz, Isabel Allende (who is the most read author in Latin America) etc. 📚

 

[Marianopolita]

Well now, that's interesting on Cibaeño being considered a dialect. I find it as charming as the version they speak in the Dominican south (Baní, San Juan), where folks have the tendency to replace 'L' with 'R' at the end of a syllable:

Cuando saRga eR soR, iré aR coRmado a comprar una libra de saR.

Yes, believe it or not. I have read a lot of linguistic material over the past two decades ( I had to) and there is good material out there. I thought it was interesting too when I read about the distinction of Cibaeño.

I have a good friend from Baní and I love her accent. I have no confirmed linguistic evidence but I noticed people from Southern DR and Southern PR sound similar. Linguistic drift maybe but I hear strong similarities in the accents.

 

[El Hijo de Manolo]

SIR, please accept my apologies, SIR.

In addition to my lack of scholarship on all things linguistics, I have the distinction of illustrating the word 'mediocrity' with my mugshot in the latest edition of Merrien-Webster and Collins dictionaries. And that's nothing of which to be proud, or to write home about.

(Somehow, these institutions stroke a deal with the Texas DOT, and requested a photo of my DL. I suspect now that I relocated to the 305 NPA, FLA will be compelled to follow in TX's giant footsteps.)

Now, SIR, please allow me this opportunity to thank you for spending your incredibly valuable time to point out my deficiencies and inaccuracies on many of my posts since you joined this domain. One could argue that you keep me on my toes, but I'm so deep into that yellow woods... kilometers to go before I climb out of my ignorant excrement hole.

Although not an ultranationalist as some of my fellow compatriots, I feel nothing but deep-rooted pride in knowing one of our own fits the definition of a gentleman and a scholar. I only wish most Dominicans were as astute and well-read as you.

You, SIR, are a Dominican for the ages, a Renaissance man in these times dominated by social media, get-rich-quick schemes, and 30-second short videos satisfying the curiosity of most Dominicans... me, myself and I included.

I guess I was looking to you for the nature/origin of "vale" as that seems to be what has replaced pana and/or compai. I feel it's mostly a thug life term. I guess I should have been more direct, but thank you for the left handed breakdown

 

[Marianopolita]

This video is brief but informative enough about the topic at hand.

The accents of the Spanish Caribbean are rooted in Andalucía and the Canary Islands. For a long while, I never heard examples of Canary Islanders that sounded like the accents of the Caribbean (Antilles) but now I am coming across videos with good examples like in this one. It’s on my bucket list of places to visit.

Cuba, DR and PR- similar accents -> origin-> Andalucía and Canary Islands

Venezuela- origin > Islas Baleares


This is why the accents and speech patterns of these countries are identical and/ or similar.


Which accent is hardest to understand in the Caribbean? I think if you ask five people you will get five different answers.