Your Argentine Accent In The Us. Feel Strange?

[dennisr]

Southern US drawl, uneducated, dimwitted

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2012/12/07/why-does-a-southern-drawl-sound-uneducated-to-some/

 

[TLaRoche]

One should be very careful of deciding another's educational background or intellect based on their accent. I'm from Texas and have a very thick "Texas twang" yet I hold degrees in biology and microbiology at very high levels. It amuses me when people think I'm a stupid, sweet, little southern girl in the business world and then they lose their ass to me when bartering deals.

I also know I speak "Texican" when in South America but I do try to correct myself. Usually it's a losing battle though..... Forgive me but don't underestimate me!

 

[Jaredberryman]

Lots of Mexicans that come to Texas, where I am from, come from the country and rural areas. They speak with their mouths very closed and also very softly with lots of slang mixed in. They probably have never heard the Argentine accent before and probably never once heard the word vos, even though it's used in several countries.

 

[irina]

I'm from Texas as well (there's quite a few of us here it seems!), and I speak Spanish quite a bit on trips home with mainly Mexicans but also have spoken with some people from Nicaragua and Honduras and they never had problems understanding me in a conversation. They commented how strong my Argentine accent was but could understand me just fine. The only times they don't understand is when I'm ordering food in a Mexican restaurant and speaking English with the waiter then slip up and order "enchiladas de posho" haha it's unexpected and they don't understand posho=pollo, understandable I think

 

[ajoknoblauch]

I speak with lots of Mexicans and other Central Americans here in the Bay Area, and none of them has ever had any difficulty understanding me. I sometimes have difficulty understanding the Spanish of those who speak Mayan languages.

 

[ajoknoblauch]

Lots of Mexicans that come to Texas, where I am from, come from the country and rural areas. They speak with their mouths very closed and also very softly with lots of slang mixed in. They probably have never heard the Argentine accent before and probably never once heard the word vos, even though it's used in several countries.

Vos is pretty common in Guatemala.

 

[Jibaro 1]

Spanish is like humans we are not created all equally and you must be careful when changing countries as some words that are very common and friendly in one country could have a whole different connotation in another , Funda = bag in Cuba for example , Bolsa = bag in Santo Domingo , Bolas = testicles in Cuba
there is hundreds of these through Latin America not necessary reflects the educational level of the person you are dealing with .

 

[ajoknoblauch]

Spanish is like humans we are not created all equally and you must be careful when changing countries as some words that are very common and friendly in one country could have a whole different connotation in another , Funda = bag in Cuba for example , Bolsa = bag in Santo Domingo , Bolas = testicles in Cuba
there is hundreds of these through Latin America not necessary reflects the educational level of the person you are dealing with .

In Argentina, "Tengo treinta años y pico" is utterly innocuous. In Chile, it means something rather different.

 

[Jaredberryman]

I'm from Texas as well (there's quite a few of us here it seems!), and I speak Spanish quite a bit on trips home with mainly Mexicans but also have spoken with some people from Nicaragua and Honduras and they never had problems understanding me in a conversation. They commented how strong my Argentine accent was but could understand me just fine. The only times they don't understand is when I'm ordering food in a Mexican restaurant and speaking English with the waiter then slip up and order "enchiladas de posho" haha it's unexpected and they don't understand posho=pollo, understandable I think

In Honduras I know they use vos quite a bit, not sure about Nicaragua. That might explain why they are able to understand you better. Sometimes when I visit my Texan family, Mexicans barely understand my wife, and she has to speak very slowly and use usted or tu. Have never had any problems when the person is from a major city in Latin America though. It's like how I can't understand some of my hick relatives from Louisiana....think it's something like that.

 

[Montauk_Project]

I never had problems but last time I went back I noticed a lot of people would speak to me in Spanish before I would speak to them, which I found strange. However, I made an effort to speak more nuetrally. I would also never use vos! I studied in Guatemala before coming here, and in central america vos is considered to be very informal and means a very close relationship, like brother-sister, compañero (same political organization), lover, best friend, etc. Not something you want to use when you just meet someone.
Just like in Argentina Ud can mean you are pissed off at someone, that you are putting distance between yourselves, whereas in other parts of Lat Am that is not the case. My husband only uses it when he is really mad at someone or he is talking to a cop.
On another note, I had a really hard time understanding Chileans and I don´t think they understand me.