Friday, April 18, 2008

How do they do it?

CanadaIt's happened almost every single time I spoke with a Spanish-speaking person here in San Diego.
I will have dialogs that go pretty much like this:
 
Me: Buenos días... (Good morning)
Other person: Are you from Argentina?
 
How can everybody tell so quickly? I'm amazed... I know I must have a strong accent, so everybody should pick it up after two or three sentences (especially if I have to use any words with the "ll" sound, because we pronounce it differently.
 
But the fact that they recognize my origin after having said just two or three words is incredible.
 
Oh, and by the way, I will normally reply: "No, I'm Canadian, we have similar accents" :-)
 
NOTE: I'm really mad. I don't know what happened yesterday, but my post about Juan's birthday was completely destroyed. Gone. I will have to write it all from scratch, and I'm furious. Even worse, I get an e-mail every time I post something, but I deleted it as well.
I don't think anybody is subscribed to my posts individually, but if you happen to have that post, could you please send it to me?
 
 
 
Argentina
Me ha pasado prácticamente cada vez que hablo con un hispano aquí en San Diego.
Tengo conversaciones que van más o menos así:
 
Yo: Buenos días...
Otra persona: Argentino?
 
Cómo pueden saber tan rápidamente? Me maravilla... Sé que debo tener un acento muy marcado, que todos deberían reconocer luego de dos o tres oraciones (especialmente si tengo que usar palabras con el sonido "ll", porque las pronunciamos diferente.
 
Pero el hecho de que 'pesquen' mi origen luego de haber dicho sólo dos o tres palabras es increíble.
 
Ah, y de paso, normalmente respondo: "No, soy de Canadá, tenemos acentos muy similares" :-)
 
NOTA: Estoy muy enojado. No sé qué pasó ayer, pero mi post sobre el nacimiento de Juan fue completamente destruido. Desapareció. Lo voy a tener que escribir todo de nuevo, y eso me pone furioso. Peor aún, yo recibo un e-mail con cada uno de mis posts, pero también lo borré.
No creo que haya nadie suscripto a mis post individuales, pero si acaso tengan una copia de la historia de Juan, no me la mandarían, por favor?
 
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2 comments:

  1. Accents are funny. I was born in New York, raised in Florida, and lived all over the US and UK. People never can place my accent - I get Irish, Australian and Canadian most, but all sorts of things. It's good in a way - mysterious ;)

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  2. Funny you mention that, Chris. I'm very aware that I have a strong accent when I speak in English, but it seems that some people don't believe that.

    I have been told -at least twice- that I have a "New England" accent...you should hear me! :-)

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