strongest foreign accents
<< As you might guess, I don't practice listening very often. It's mostly because I have nothing I really want to listen to.>>
Best bet is to listen to ads and newscasts, where the Spanish is very clear and formal (hence easy to undersdtand), then progress on to the on-air news magazines (where you'll earn all sorts of fascinating things, like how they boil kittens in Equador to cure asthma). Talk shows are good, too.
Of course, being able to listen to Spanish-language TV hardly helps at all with understanding 'real' spoken Spanish. (street Spanish)
Wow, guest. You are one gruesome character. Coal for Christmas or whatever holiday you celebrate...
<< Best bet is to listen to ads and newscasts, where the Spanish is very clear and formal (hence easy to undersdtand), then progress on to the on-air news magazines (where you'll earn all sorts of fascinating things, like how they boil kittens in Equador to cure asthma). Talk shows are good, too. >>
The problem is that I don't want to listen to most of that stuff. I want to watch cartoons, comedy shows, stuff like that. Most of the stuff on Spanish TV here is either news or telenovelas...
- Kef
Kef,
Who can advise you? You already know what you want to watch. There is a show called "Chespirito" on one of the networks. It's an old show, but still funny, but you'd probably think it was lame even though it is enjoyed by people throughout the Spanish-speaking world.
Being able to talk to people about their common cultural knowledge can break down barriers. I'll mention a character from a show like "Chespirito" and everyone understands immediately and the ice is broken. Maybe "Condorito" may help you in a similar way, I don't know.
Maybe someone can suggest Youtube clips of comedy shows for you.
Telenovelas may not be so interesting, but you can learn everyday words from them.
In my language(s), everyone speaks with a thick accent, except foreigners who (help) teach Mandarin - I suppose no foreigner would EVER be able to teach anything other than Mandarin, and, well, my poor language is seldom learnt, and few can master it - that's why the few people who do make it earn really a lot.
Or would anyone ever learn it? I find it extremely hard to find someone interested in my language(s), have the courage to learn it/them, and have the chance and materials to learn thoroughly. I'm afraid I have to offer English instead. :)
Because of the universal extreme obscurity and exotic nature of my language(s), we natives, likewise, find many of your languages to be very obscure and exotic, and so many of us speak with thick accents, and virtually in any foreign language. I've heard a lot of very distinct Mandarin and Cantonese accents of English, and even (renowned) teachers of English/French/German etc speak horribly. I suppose people speak Korean/Japanese somewhat better, but I don't know much.
It came to me unsurprising that, in some books of renowned university professors, it's said that we Chinese have poor ears for (almost any) languages, because we aren't used to phonetic stuff - not having a phonetic script as native.
Xie,
Doesn't Steve (?) Kaufmann from Canada (aka The Linguist) speak Cantonese? He goes by another name at Learning languages. I know what it is, but I don't want to reveal it here. Hint: It looks Chinese.
If I learned Mandarin (I'm just playing with it now.), I'd probably go on to Shanghai dialect, then Cantonese. I know that some people are interested in Cantonese.
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Xie,
I want to tell you that your English has improved here over the months.
I've noticed it gradually. You should be happy. Whatever you are doing, it's working. I mean that as a sincere compliment. I'm not an edgy sarcastic person (except on occasion, lol)...
I've actually read about Kaufmann's own story (or biography?), too. A couple of years ago, his Cantonese was still intermediate; but given his great motivation, he might have improved somewhat ever since. IIRC, Cantonese might be his eighth language or so, so it might be "surprising" to see him at at least the intermediate level (for few would learn it) and unsurprising to see him just intermediate (as the ??eighth??). I couldn't imagine spreading my jam so much over the same slice of bread. Perhaps, given my mindset, I might be able to achieve what he can now even before my retirement. :)
I still have to work on. Yes, the rule is still: do at least a little every day.
Speaking of accents again, I actually also think that you should be happy with having "an accent" - before, during and after you work on it. It'd be a sad thing if you couldn't even start building an accent. There are numerous Chinese languages that are simply so poorly documented that "I" couldn't find any reliable or readable materials in one of the largest libraries in the city. You don't speak a dead language. You may, but you read almost exclusively.
But then, some scholars at my university are studying Teochew, something I could hear all the time if I dare to go to Chaozhou (no, I don't), but something so much removed from my life. Shanghainese is getting suppressed on the media, but since the city is as important as Hong Kong, you could still "hear" it, which, I believe, is the twin of reading in learning any language, without which you can't virtually do anything other than treating it as a quasi-dead language. On the other hand, the presence of millions of English accents might suggest the huge popularity of the language.