Is Mexican Spanish uniform?
Lisa,
What about Argentina and Uruguay? The Spanish there certainly seems distinctive, with the Italianesque intonation, "zh" or "sh" where others use "y," and voseo even in the media. Do other Spanish speakers find it difficult to understand? And is it considered charming/interesting or odd/annoying?
People from Spain tend to fond most LA accents charming and nice. People from Norther South America tend to find Argentine accent ugly, Argentines find Mexican accents comical.
"What about Argentina and Uruguay? The Spanish there certainly seems distinctive, with the Italianesque intonation, "zh" or "sh" where others use "y," and voseo even in the media. Do other Spanish speakers find it difficult to understand? And is it considered charming/interesting or odd/annoying?"
In regards with the "zh" (and also "dj") for "y" and for "LL" those pronunciations and not just limited to Argentina and Uruguay but are used in many other Spanish accents such as Caribbean (Panamanian), Some Andalusian accents in Spain, and also in some Canary islands accents. If you want to say are particular features of Argentine and Uruguayan accents would be the "sh" pronunciation and their Italian intonation. Also, I don't know about you but I always can pick out a Mexican accent no matter if it considered "neutral". Even Chilango (DF) has that very sing sung pronunciation that is typical of Mexican Spanish. Also Mexicans pronounce ALL OF THEIR S's which all other accent's (with the exception of the Highlands Colombian accent) have some level of aspiration of their s's even if minimal. Finally there are certain words they use that I never hear out of every other Latin American Spanish accent used such as "mande", or "platicamos???", "coquetiamos", or "pinche" etc...etc...There is a lot more to mention but I can't remember right now since its late.
Guest2,
In Mexico, Argetine Spanish is made fun of. I imagine the reverse is true. They're not too difficult to understand unless they start speaking in their regional slang. Also, many Mexicans can't tell the difference between Uruguayan and Argentine Spanish or even Chilean Spanish for that matter. I've heard some Spaniards say they find the Argentine accent beautiful.
Now with regards to what JGreco stated about the Mexican Accent:
1. The Chilango accent is NOT typical or standard Mexican accent. I don't know where he got that from. It's just another regional accent.
2. Yes, indeed, Mexicans do pronounce all their S's as anyone who is EDUCATED and speaks neutral Spanish is supposed to, but this alleged "level of aspiration" is just something he made up. An educated Mexican speaker would NOT and does NOT aspirate his S's. Don't be ridiculous.
3. Some regional variations in Mexico retain archaic Spanish words. The rest is just regional jargon with the exception of some bad words which are common in all of Mexico. Just because something isn't said in Colombia and is elsewhere, doesn't make the country that says it less of anything. There ISN'T a single Latin American country that doesn't have it's own parlance.
4. Like I said, if you're educated, you pick up neutral Spanish, at least that's what I know in regards to Mexico.
It's not right to say that Mexican Spanish is uniform because it's not a clothing, it's a language.
Hahahahaha! LOL! Just kidding here.
LOL! Good one! I love those double entendre jokes! Yeeehaaa!
The only thing uniform about Mexico is that it's a bloody hell hole everywhere you go....
The Colombians who use USTED with everybody are the ones from Bogotá and vicinities.
In the western half of Colombia, VOS is used, and in the North, TÚ is used.
People get the impression that Colombians use USTED to everyone because that's the practice in the capital city.
Something I find interesting about Colombians is that unlike many Central Americans, they conjugate the verbs properly.
So they say:
VOS PODÉS
TÚ PUEDES
USTED PUEDE
or
NO ME MINTÁS VOS!
NO ME MIENTAS TÚ!
NO ME MIENTA USTED!
Whereas in Central America, including the state Chiapas in Mexico with over 4 million inhabitants, many people mix up VOS & TÚ.
I totally agree with Lisa in everything she said, it's all true. Lisa are Mexican? If you know quite a lot of about the language here.
Illegal Immigrants usually came from the lowest socioeconomic ladder in the country, so they speak Spanish in a very trashy way, some of them don't speak Spanish but Indian dialects. It is very easy to make a comparision and spot the differences between the Spanish spoken by a illegal Mexican peasant in the US and the Spanish spoken by a legal Mexican graduate Student doing a MBA in the US.
Argentinian Spanish in Mexico is extremely comical and we make fun of Argentinians all the time for that (they do the same with us by the way). You can spot an Argentinian in Mexico instantly even though he or she tries to hide his / her accent, I think it must be the same with Mexicans in Argentina.
"The only thing uniform about Mexico is that it's a bloody hell hole everywhere you go...."
>>lol, really?... I find it funny that you used the word "bloody" to make us think you're british.. anyways whereever the fuck you're from, I'm happy that at least Mexico is the only country that comes to your little mind when you think of Latin America.
I am British. What makes you think Mexico is the only country that comes to my noble mind when I think of Latin America?The whole region is a hell hole.
"The only thing uniform about Mexico is that it's a bloody hell hole everywhere you go...."
This little prick is obvioulsy from the US.
""I am British""
British people are proud, educated and intelligent unlike their American counterparts who are ignorant, arrogant and rude. You are an American pretending to be British.
<<The whole region is a hell hole.
"The only thing uniform about Mexico is that it's a bloody hell hole everywhere you go...." >>
PERFIDIA, PERFIDIA
"British people are proud, educated and intelligent unlike their American counterparts who are ignorant, arrogant and rude. You are an American pretending to be British"
I didn't write that, but that's a funny sweeping stereotype. Some British people are educated and intelligent and some are less so. We just have more people in the US, so more of us are going to be educated and also more are going to be boors.