I'm learning spanish at the moment but god damn it.. they speak FAST! i couldnt get a grip of what they're saying most of the time! is it a normal speed of native spanish speakers? or is it just that actors in almodovar's films speak fast? silly question.. but i need some advice!
shareThat's about the average pace. I lived in Spain for a few months and most people spoke about that fast. They're generally nice enough to tailor to your abilities though, and slow down if you ask them to. If you're looking for a Spanish speaking film where they speak slowly, you should check out Pan's Labyrinth or El Orfanato. Actually, in almost anything in Spanish by Guillermo Del Toro they speak pretty slowly, so you could watch some of his stuff.
"Also, I can kill you with my brain." - River Tam
[deleted]
Cubans and puerto ricans speaks even faster!
About spaniards: Well, it changes from place to place, in Andalusia and Murcia they speak "almost" as fast as in Cuba, but in the Basque Country people speaks slower, same in Cantabria (Northern Spain).
I am not spaniard (Mexican) but I have visited several regions of Spain, hence I did notice that.
BTW in the port of Veracruz, México, people speaks really fast as well (faster than on the central highlands where I live).
I dunno why, perhaps is something related with weather. The hotter the weather is, the faster the people speaks.
I.e. in Colombia the people from Cartagena or Barranquilla (caribbean coast) speaks faster than the people from Bogotá (Highlands).
Does this happens with english as well? Does jamaicans speak faster than londoners? I think so.
Jamaicans are about the slowest English speakers I can think of.
"We're not Gods, we're the next best thing...Englishmen"
It's exactly the opposite in English, at least within the United States. People in the south have that slow southern drawl, while people in the north (New York, Boston) speak very rapidly.
Same with walking speeds. People in cities in the north walk much faster than others.
the spanish from Spain is hard even for us! (Latin Americans)
I recomend you that if you want to learn spanish, go to Mexico, Ecuador or Peru, the spanish there is slower paced and the pronunciation is not too tricky (especially Mexico), avoid Chile, Argentina, Spain and Uruguay, their spanish is fast and the accent is complex.
... Viva Clark Gable, el eterno y único Rey de Hollywoodshare
Well, I learned Spanish in Chile and it is totally possible. I still like the Chilean Accent best although I know all other Latin Americans make jokes about it. It's beautiful! Unique! :D
God bless atheism.
Is there, like, a different accent in ´every´ Latin American country or something?
"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan
Yes... Well Uruguay and Argentina accent are almost the same (almost), but all the others are very different. They are different in the same country, say a person from Buenos Aires speaks different from somebody from Córdoba (Argentina), all the same in Ecuador and Colombia, a person from the coast (Guayaquil - Cartagena) speaks very different from a person from the highlands (Quito - Bogota).
... Viva Clark Gable, el eterno y único Rey de Hollywoodshare
You'll find regional accents within countries, let alone across countries that speak the same language. Many Canadian accents sound nothing like those you find in the US. You have a range of accents across Great Britain. The same is true in other languages. There are regional accents in France and Germany, and people will make jokes about it. Accents will vary because language evolved differently, based on different sets of circumstances. Even in the same geographical region, you can find differences in accents between a rural community and an urban one.
"Fortunately, Ah keep mah feathers numbered for just such an emergency!"
Spanish and Mexican people are the most fast talking Spanish speaking people. Sometimes even I can't understand them and I speak Spanish!
Not the ideal film to learn the language