- Hi, amigos.
Jim and May here from Spanish and Go,
your resource for learning real-world travel Spanish.
And today we're talking about accents.
Spanish is spoken in over 20 countries all over the world,
so it makes sense that not all Spanish speakers
sound the same.
- So, today we're collaborating
with other Spanish online teachers to show you
how Spanish sounds in different parts of the world.
- That's right.
So, this is a bit of a quiz.
We want you to listen along and give your best guess
about where each of our friends is from.
Each one is going to talk about
some common phrases in their country
as well as what makes their accent distinct,
common characteristics. - Mm-hmm.
So, we're gonna start off
with a little bit of an introduction
by each of the participants of this video.
Pay attention and try to guess where they are from.
- It's gonna be fun. (May chuckling)
Here we go!
- Hi everyone. I'm Juan from Easy Spanish.
I'm an audiovisual director.
I really like cinema and specialty coffee.
- Hi everyone. I'm Karin.
I'm a Spanish teacher from Idioma Pro
and a social worker.
Well, some of the things I like
are bike riding, traveling, cooking, singing,
and getting to know people from different countries.
- Hi. I'm Marina from Notes in Spanish.
I'm in the northern region of my country.
It's a very mountainous region and
we've come to hike through the mountains
and to spend some time in nature.
- Hello. My name is Mariela
and I'm an on-line Spanish teacher.
What I like the most is food. I love eating.
Especially if I'm sharing it with nice people.
- ¡Hi! My name is Andrea. I'm twenty five years old.
I'm also an on-line Spanish teacher.
And I love teaching Spanish,
I love traveling and also getting to know other cultures.
- Okay, so now we're gonna listen to our friends
talk a little bit more about their accent.
Pay attention and see if you can guess
where they are from.
- Although Spanish is the most spoken language
in my country, it is not the only one.
There are other languages much older than Spanish
which are still used to this day.
And my country has one of the most populated cities in the world.
- The Spanish of my country is a bit different
to the Spanish of other countries in Latin America.
Some say that it's hard to understand us
because we speak too fast.
- In my country, Spanish is spoken in the entire territory
and in some regions, a second language is spoken too.
There's a huge variety of accents and customs
according to the regions.
And the geography of my country is very diverse.
It has many kilometers of coastline,
many mountainous areas,
and a big plateau in the center.
- The Spanish of my country had a big influence
from the Portuguese and Italian immigration.
And that's why some say it sounds a bit like we're singing.
Also, we speak using "tú".
We only use "usted" for more formal situations.
- The Spanish of my country is very interesting.
We use "tú", "usted", and "vos".
In my country it's very common to use "usted" with friends and family.
And it's not considered to be very formal.
- So, what do you think?
Pretty difficult, huh?
I would say that this is one of the hardest things for me
to differentiate different accents.
But we're gonna give you
a little bit more of a clue coming up.
So, each of our friends is going to talk a little bit
about some common phrases in their countries.
- What's up, man? How are you?
I'm doing well. It's all cool here.
- In my country you can hear expressions like: "Boyfriend",
"Do you understand me?", "Do you understand?"
"How are you?", "I'll be right there", "Friend" (or "dude" or "idiot" depending on the context), etc.
- Some of the most popular expressions in my country are:
"It’s amazing!", "How amazing!"
"Incredible!" (or "I can’t believe it!"), "It’s really cool!"
- Three expressions that are common in my country:
"Dude" (or "man") - What are we gonna do today, man / dude?
"Friend" - "He is my friend."
"Cool" - "So cool you could make it!"
- Three very popular expressions in my country are:
Number one: "That's awesome!"
It's like saying "That's awesome!"
Number two: "That's great!"
It's like saying in English: That's great!"
And number three: "What's up?"
Which is like saying in English "What's up?"
- So, what do you think?
Were you able to guess where everyone is from?
I know it's pretty difficult,
but their phrases are really interesting,
so we left a link in our description
where you can download all of them so you can practice.
- Mm-hmm, now, are you ready for the moment of truth?
"The moment of truth."
Let's go hear the answers.
- Now, guess where you think I come from.
That's right. I'm from Mexico.
I was born in Mexico City, the capital of the country
and in fact, one of the biggest and most populated cities in the world.
- Have you guessed where I'm from yet?
Exactly! I'm from Chile.
I was born in Santiago, the capital.
This is where the mayority of the
general pupulation is.
- Do you already know my country?
Well, yes. I'm Spanish. Spanish from Spain.
I was born in the capital, in Madrid.
And that makes me a "Madrileña".
- Do you already know where I come from?
Uhum, from Venezuela!
Venezuela is on the north part of South America.
Bordering the Caribbean Sea. Gorgeous beaches.
And I'm from Caracas, which is the capital.
- Well, where do you think I come from?
What do you think? where do you think I'm from?
I'm from Colombia.
From a city called Bucaramanga.
Located nine hours from Bogota, which is the capital.
- So, how did you do?
Our friends now are gonna talk about
some of the characteristics of their accent
and what makes their accent special.
- Surprisingly, despite Spanish being the
most spoken language in Mexico, it isn't an official language.
There are no official languages in Mexico
because there are more than sixty of them
and more than seven million people speak a language that is not Spanish.
So, Mexico is a place with lots of
cultural richness of languages, words...
And many of the words we use nowadays
are not in Spanish, but come from languages
like Nahuatl, or like Mixtec, or Zapotec.
- As I mentioned before, the Spanish used in my country
is very different from others in Latin America because
in general we use a lot of idioms
and we almost never pronounce the "Ss" at the end of words.
We also invent lots of words to express ourselves.
And some others come directly from our
native culture Mapuche. Like:
"Pichintun" which means that there's not
much left, less than a little.
"Guata" which means belly or stomach.
Generally we say "guatita".
Among other very funny words.
- I wanted to tell you some other details about the Spanish from Spain.
It's said that the purest Spanish is spoken
in the province of Salamanca.
The accents and expressions are very diverse
according to the regions of our country.
And lastly, I wanted to tell you that besides Spanish,
there are other languages spoken in Spain
and the most important ones are the Galician, Basque and Catalan.
- One of the characteristics of the Spanish in Venezuela
is its musicality, its rhythm.
People say it's easy to understand
the Venezuelan accent.
Another characteristic is that we've adopted
many words in English.
I can say "I want to buy new jeans."
Or "I love your look."
Or "My laptop doesn't have a mouse."
- Some very interesting facts about the spanish
we use in Colombia are the following:
We use the diminutives a lot.
For example, we don't say "gato", but "gatico".
We add "-ico" or "-ito" at the end of words.
In the center area of the country, the pronoun "usted" is
used a lot with family, friends, and everyone.
And we use "tú" very little
to show more affection.
- So, what was the biggest difference
that you noticed between each of the accents?
Let us know in the comments,
and also check out our friends' YouTube channels
or social media platforms.
They're all amazing Spanish teachers,
and we're pretty sure that they can help you
learn even more Spanish.
- So, if you wanna improve your accent in Spanish,
we're going to leave a card above where you can go
and get some tips for improving your accent in Spanish.
And don't forget that you can go to the link in our description
and download the common phrases our friends talked about in this video.
Now, thank you guys for watching. We hope you guys enjoyed this video.
Don't forget to like and subscribe for more travel and Spanish tips
and remember:
"El camino es el destino".
The journey is the destination.
See you soon!
Goodbye!