But they speak too fast!
Sunday December 23, 2007
One of the most frustrating thing about learning Spanish (and probably just about any other foreign language) is that it seems like Spanish speakers talk too fast. By the time you have the first two words of a sentence figured out, the speaker is on the next sentence (or maybe the next paragraph!). But is it really true that Spanish is spoken faster than English is? To tell the truth, despite considerable effort I haven't been able to prove things one way or another. But certainly seems they speak faster. Read more...
Comments
I’ve just read your article and I found it really interesting. I’m from Spain and I had the opportunity to spend 6 months in California trying to improve my English. I also thought the same about the way Americans speak. Too fast. My personal opinion is that the problem is not about the language you are speaking. Of course the kind of language that Spaniards or Americans speak on the streets is quite different and it is usually spoken faster. As students of Spanish or English in my case, we are not able to comprehend 100% of a conversation because we are not native speakers. Anyways, I’m going to be honest. I’m Spaniard, I live in Spain and I do think people from South America speak too fast. I don’t know how you can understand sometimes. It’s difficult even for me.
That’s reassuring! A lot can depend on the context too. As a news junkie, understanding international news in Spanish comes relatively easy for me. But stand-up comedy is definitely a challenge!
we talk fast in Latin America because we “connect” the words that begin with the same letter or vowel .
for example: instead of saying “estrella azul” ..we said “estrella- zul”.
I think the real trouble is to learn the regional latin american vocabulary… each latin american country has its own and most of the time we cannot understand each other.
who speaks faster is a moot point. werdjago? wudjado? Owno. yaoh wudjasee? whodjasee? hoozgonnago? Regionalismos have much to do with the rate of speech. I speak several languages but all with the same rate of speech–slowly. But, away from English I’m much more emtional adn perhaps speak a bit faster.