Learn to Speak the Spanish Language FREE Online
Don't get screwed over, like I did.
After studying the Spanish language for 4 years in high school, 4 years in college, a year abroad in Granada, Spain, a year living in the latino Mission District of San Francisco, California, nearly a year in Santiago, Chile, 4 years of Linguistics at University of California Santa Cruz to get a B.A. in Language Studies, with coursework in phonetics and phonology, I very, very recently made the profound discovery of how to cure my North American 'gringo' accent.
Instead of pronouncing the "r" like "r", I should pronounce it like a "d". It's amazing. It really, really works, and has even elicited clapping and kisses from a member of the opposite sex.
Still, this late in the game, I may never fully integrate it into the way I talk.
But why, with so much background in the Spanish language, didn't I ever learn this basic phonetic rule?
I'm honestly starting to think it's because I never took these free online Spanish lessons and missed the opportunity to buy the CDs, or any other learn Spanish CDs, for that matter. I don't care how good my teachers were, and how much grammar I learned (yes, I unabashedly love grammar), how many Spanish words I know (I have an amazing vocabulary) -- if I'd only taken a couple free online courses with these guys, I'm sure I would have been doing a LOT better with my accent in Spanish, my conversational ability. And that's one of the most important parts of learning a language.
I mean, I read books in Spanish. My vocabulary impresses people (I know the word for confetti, three words for darkness - stuff many Chileans don't know), I can explain complicated grammatical concepts. But who cares? My speaking? Forget about it. People here hardly understand me. My friend a Chilean voice coach for drama students. Yes, she spends a lot of time professionally mocking the north American accent, and teaching other people how to mock it. She once told me that the secret to speaking like a Chilean - or any Spanish speaker - is getting rid of the "r".
She didn't say how. But it got me thinking back to all those phonetics classes, then my cheerful revelation about the "r" and the "d".
Well, in their very first lesson, this online Spanish course plows through what it took me a decade to discover. Don't say "R", say "D"! Man, not once did any of my teachers ever explain that to me.
Probably because too many of my classes doted on the dimmer minds: "It's not pronounced mee lamo Chileno no, it's may YAH-mo Chileno." Stuff like that you shouldn't waste your time with. Better, learn Spanish online. Learn to pronounce the r in Spanish. Then go practice with native speakers in your free time. Don't waste your time in a classroom (by the way, the word for "boring" is "aburrido", although that's a double rr which is a trill or "roll", rather than a flap). Go out and speak to people, join Spanish language conversation groups through your school or community center -- but do so after you've learned the basic tools online.
Try it out. Take a couple free Spanish lessons right now to see how you like it. I liked it. Even more important, I was really, really impressed - and that's coming from someone who majored in Language Studies with an emphasis in Spanish!
Of course, if you really want to delve deep into grammar, you should probably take a Spanish class, hire a teacher, take online Spanish lessons at a university or whatever. But I would definitely recommend talking to the teacher beforehand, and students who completed the course. A great way to learn to speak Spanish online with a teacher talking and teaching on line is through these free Spanish lessons. These are good even if you end up taking a university course because you'll probably get more out of your course if you have some background. Take a few online lessons so you're not a total newby when you walk in door. Use this course to stay ahead. So Click Here now to try it for FREE, and start learning Spanish today!
Of course, I respect your decision as a consumer and so I encourage you to find other ways of learning Spanish, perhaps video language learning is the best method. There are numerous learn Spanish DVDs that provide visual, interactive Spanish language instruction that can really immerse you in the language and culture and help you speak Spanish and aid your pronunciation immensely.
After studying the Spanish language for 4 years in high school, 4 years in college, a year abroad in Granada, Spain, a year living in the latino Mission District of San Francisco, California, nearly a year in Santiago, Chile, 4 years of Linguistics at University of California Santa Cruz to get a B.A. in Language Studies, with coursework in phonetics and phonology, I very, very recently made the profound discovery of how to cure my North American 'gringo' accent.
Instead of pronouncing the "r" like "r", I should pronounce it like a "d". It's amazing. It really, really works, and has even elicited clapping and kisses from a member of the opposite sex.
Still, this late in the game, I may never fully integrate it into the way I talk.
But why, with so much background in the Spanish language, didn't I ever learn this basic phonetic rule?
I'm honestly starting to think it's because I never took these free online Spanish lessons and missed the opportunity to buy the CDs, or any other learn Spanish CDs, for that matter. I don't care how good my teachers were, and how much grammar I learned (yes, I unabashedly love grammar), how many Spanish words I know (I have an amazing vocabulary) -- if I'd only taken a couple free online courses with these guys, I'm sure I would have been doing a LOT better with my accent in Spanish, my conversational ability. And that's one of the most important parts of learning a language.
I mean, I read books in Spanish. My vocabulary impresses people (I know the word for confetti, three words for darkness - stuff many Chileans don't know), I can explain complicated grammatical concepts. But who cares? My speaking? Forget about it. People here hardly understand me. My friend a Chilean voice coach for drama students. Yes, she spends a lot of time professionally mocking the north American accent, and teaching other people how to mock it. She once told me that the secret to speaking like a Chilean - or any Spanish speaker - is getting rid of the "r".
She didn't say how. But it got me thinking back to all those phonetics classes, then my cheerful revelation about the "r" and the "d".
Well, in their very first lesson, this online Spanish course plows through what it took me a decade to discover. Don't say "R", say "D"! Man, not once did any of my teachers ever explain that to me.
Probably because too many of my classes doted on the dimmer minds: "It's not pronounced mee lamo Chileno no, it's may YAH-mo Chileno." Stuff like that you shouldn't waste your time with. Better, learn Spanish online. Learn to pronounce the r in Spanish. Then go practice with native speakers in your free time. Don't waste your time in a classroom (by the way, the word for "boring" is "aburrido", although that's a double rr which is a trill or "roll", rather than a flap). Go out and speak to people, join Spanish language conversation groups through your school or community center -- but do so after you've learned the basic tools online.
Try it out. Take a couple free Spanish lessons right now to see how you like it. I liked it. Even more important, I was really, really impressed - and that's coming from someone who majored in Language Studies with an emphasis in Spanish!
Of course, if you really want to delve deep into grammar, you should probably take a Spanish class, hire a teacher, take online Spanish lessons at a university or whatever. But I would definitely recommend talking to the teacher beforehand, and students who completed the course. A great way to learn to speak Spanish online with a teacher talking and teaching on line is through these free Spanish lessons. These are good even if you end up taking a university course because you'll probably get more out of your course if you have some background. Take a few online lessons so you're not a total newby when you walk in door. Use this course to stay ahead. So Click Here now to try it for FREE, and start learning Spanish today!
Of course, I respect your decision as a consumer and so I encourage you to find other ways of learning Spanish, perhaps video language learning is the best method. There are numerous learn Spanish DVDs that provide visual, interactive Spanish language instruction that can really immerse you in the language and culture and help you speak Spanish and aid your pronunciation immensely.
posted by Chileno @ 3:33 PM
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6 Comments:
Chile has reverse Xenophobia. They love foreigners unlike the some parts of the US where they look at you with beedie eyes. In Chile they look at you stary eyed. Then why would I want to speak Chilean Spanish? You don't get any special treatments if one speaks like a local. Besides people down there assume your smarter if you speak with a nuetral spanish accent. It's kind of akin to New Yorkers gushing when they hear a poshie British accent.
>>>Chile has reverse Xenophobia.
It's a lot more complex than that. I'd call the appearance of Gringo-worship more an affected result of positive discrimination and passive aggressive tendencies developed from an apatronado master-and-servant hacienda culture.
Even so, you can't generalize. I heard about a group of Chileans leaving a blonde gringa in tears after a session of US bashing.
For the most part though you're right, a foreign accent can be used to your advantage in Chile, so yeah, I'm alright; since originally writing this post I've resigned myself to the fact that I'm definitely beyond hope in terms of mimicking the Chilean accent.
My main objective now is to have people understand the words I'm trying to communicate.
In my experience Santiago is a lot more provincial than Argentina, Spain or California. I'm used to hearing English spoken in a thick accent. Most Chileans seem less use to hearing Spanish spoken in a thick accent.
So, it's worth learning how to pronounce things cleanly and correctly, even if it won't cure your foreign accent.
That's where things like "pronounce the 'r' like a 'd'" can help.
Oh of course it is more complex than that. I just wanted to touch the tip of the iceberg. We could discuss it in depth if we wanted to. I dont tend to generalize but I go by the mood as a whole. Yes there are truly articulate and enlighten people in Chile but they are in the minority, everyone else is in a sheeplike follow the heard state of mind. The bottom line many Chileans have a "self-hatred" mentality; effects of the so-called "Hacienda" era you mentioned. It ruled with an iron hand until it breathed it's last "hurrah" during the first part of the 20th century. See if you look at Chile's history it has always been ruled by a Oligarchy.
Have you noticed while living in Chile, that it shares the same weird "white fetish" obsession as the Japanese? Look at the images the media there idolizes. It's always the same nordic blonde or if its native girl it's a whitewashed surgically enhanced version. They want to mate with as many whites in order to have "better looking" children; which it basically saying they dislike themselves so much they want to eradicate their gene pool. I recalled when a pregnant dark Chilena would proudly tell me about getting knocked up by some random white guy she meet like that's an achivement. Then her eyes would light up and tell me "Mi guaguita va a tener sus ojitos azules". The reality is the baby will end up looking like her darkie self. Light skin, eyes and hair are recessive genes. It has slim chances of looking anything like the father. Some people there might "Bash the US" because it's now the trendy thing to do. They are baasically mimicking the leftist ideology of many Chileans living in Sweden. Yet those same guys who bashed the US would love to look just like you to get all the chicks and have all the white privileges you enjoy, that they don't.
now I get the 'r' and 'd' thing! the R in Spanish sounds like a very subtle D when pronounced correctly! I have been wracking my brain trying to work out what you meant...initially I used the word 'pero' to try out your theory only to end up saying 'pedo' out loud a few times....hmmmm. I'm a native speaker and have never picked that up! Thanks for the tit-bit!
Glad you found it helpful :-) If you have friends learning Spanish send 'em over to get some free lessons.
FYI: it's tid-bit, but the mistake is perfectly understandable if you're not a native speaker, as the "t" and "d" are formed in the exact same place in the mouth (tongue hits the palatal-alveolar region although in Spanish both are dental) but the 'd' is backed up by vibrating vocal chords - it's voiced - while the 't' is voiceless.
practice like this : T-D-L...T-D-L... and do it really fast. The Spanish [r] is a combination of the [t] the [d] and the [l]- basically, front of mouth movements with the tongue touching the stop of your mouth/front upper teeth.
it took me years to figure out too!
but make sure the [d] that you pronounce isn't a hard d...you want to say pero, not pedo, which is many places isn't such a nice word, and you might also sound like you have a speech impediment...for example, trying to say "desadollo"...
also, this works best when the [r] is between vowels (claro,pero, hora) but if you have a word like "regresar", try aspirating lightly before you dive into the initial [r]...[h][r]egressar
it might help lift your tongue up and out a little bit, and not get stuck in your throat.
good luck!
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