For those of you who are fluent..how good or bad is your Castellano accent?

[Ries]

My castellano is pretty crappy, but, curiously enough, they keep indulging me. I guess I am entertaining. I find that if I dont use local words and pronunciations, they REALLY dont understand me. So I do muddle thru a fair amount of Rio Platenese. I know a lot of nouns, but usually can distract them from my crummy verb conjugation by discussing old Rock National bands. I also speak decent ferreteria.

In general, people here are friendly and accomodating to me despite my bad spanish, and its only rarely they break down and speak english to me.

 

[Alby]

In fact, I would argue that a really good Spanish-speaking comedian will, when creating a parody of the typical Porteño, listen to and use the local syntax patterns and in this way set himself or herself apart from lesser comedians who can only fall back on the stereotypical differences in words (e.g., "vos") or accent (e.g.,/ll/).

 

[Alby]

IDK man I watched a long video of him with my ex and she said he spoke perfectly throughout except once.

He's good. But in the videos I've seen, he is talking about easy stuff--himself primarily. He may have mastered the accent and rhythm/stress/cadence of a porteño and, who knows, may even be able to pull it off without the porteño attitude that might alienate Spanish speakers from elsewhere. But, how large is his vocabulary? Could he hold in-depth conversations on a wide range of topic beyond the immediately interpersonal? That would be the real test of his language skills.

Still, what he does, I think he does very well.

 

[Rich One]

yhttps://www.infobae.com/economia/2020/09/23/jetsmart-otra-aerolinea-en-crisis-vamos-a-tratar-de-permanecer-en-la-argentina-pero-son-demasiadas-decisiones-contra-nosotros/
He's good. But in the videos I've seen, he is talking about easy stuff--himself primarily. He may have mastered the accent and rhythm/stress/cadence of a porteño and, who knows, may even be able to pull it off without the porteño attitude that might alienate Spanish speakers from elsewhere. But, how large is his vocabulary? Could he hold in-depth conversations on a wide range of topic beyond the immediately interpersonal? That would be the real test of his language skills.

Still, what he does, I think he does very well.

He's a great stand-up comedian , that surely rehearses his material. Could he do an impromptu in-depth conversation about Greek Philosophy ? Maybe? For an Anglo native brilliant..!

Dustin went back to USA to promote la Chocotorta...! the best known Argeninian dessert..!. Chocolate + Dulce de Leche..? Seems a tasting carried at the Santa Monica walking street was a success..? The lady seems to be regurgitating it ?

Dustin Luke volvió a Estados Unidos y les hizo probar "a los gringos" el mejor postre de Argentina ¿lo aprobaron? | Mirá | La Voz del Interior

El youtuber estadounidense, que vivió durante un tiempo en Buenos Aires, preparó una chocotorta junto a una colega y se las hizo probar a sus compatriotas. ¿Qué opinaron los estadounidenses?

vos.lavoz.com.ar

 

[Alby]

What Dustin does is impressive provided he started learning Spanish as a second language as an adult. But does he explain his background in any of the videos? I don't know.

If, for example, he comes from a bilingual background, if one of his parents is Argentine and he grew up in a house where both language were spoken and travel to Argentina was common, then it is almost inevitable that he would speak as he does. There would be many tens of thousands of young people from the US with similar histories who could perform a similar porteño characterization of themselves, put it on the internet, and gain followers. If you present yourself as "gringo" who has successfully localized their Spanish you've got something to sell--provided you really are a gringo. But maybe you are just another of the multitude of people who (with the benefit bilingual parents, and now the internet and regular cheap travel) grow up between two cultures and languages and are completely fluent in both. I know such people. Some members of this forum may fall into the same category or have children who do. They are awesome. But what they do is not uncommon.

 

[mc kenna]

For those interested in rural Kentucky English here's a test.
M R DUCKS
M R NOT
O S M R
C M WANGS
L I B
M R DUCKS!
Translates to, (guy1)see them ducks (guy 2 ) them are not, (guy 1) oh yes them are, see them wings?( guy 2) i'll be... them are ducks!
Master this and you get your hillbilly credentials.

 

[Alby]

Or this:

 

[UK Man]

Not fluent yet but I'm using vos and pronouncing LL and y as "sh", but I'll keep my Scottish accent while doing so (I don't want to think what this sounds like...).

I'm fae Glesga....the folk in Edinburgh don't even understand me when I speak English!!

 

[Alby]

At a milonga a couple of years ago I danced with a New Zealand woman. She mentioned that she and her husband had been at a class earlier in the day. At a group classes it is common for people to pipe up and help either the Spanish language teachers with limited English understand what their English speaking students are asking, or help the English speakers students understand what the teachers are saying. The New Zealander laughingly related that during the class a variation on that theme had arisen: her husband was asking the teachers questions in his New Zealand English and others had to jump in to interpret him, not for the Spanish language teachers, but for the other English speaking students.

 

[EL_TIGRE_de_Tigre]

Or this:

Absolutely hilarious. Still laughing! (Might watch it again later.)