Do the Latinos speak faster than English speakers or is it that the language is so unfamiliar?

Question

"Does the Latino speaker speak faster than the English speaker?"

• I think mostly it is that the language is unfamiliar so it "seems" really fast when it is in reality normal speed. - cheeseisyumm Oct 20, 2009
• great question - DJ_Huero Oct 20, 2009

Answer 1

I was born in Cali, Colombia. It is amazing, you can find people living up north on the atlantic coast (Barranquilla, Cartagena), talking real fast Spanish, we call them “costeños”. Then, we have other people living on the pacific coast (Buenaventura), most of them blacks, talking slow. In the capital, Bogotá, people talk slow. In Medellín, people talk like singing, very different from Cali and very different from people living close to the Venezuelan border, and very different from people living close to the Equatorian border.

• Interesting! - --Mariana-- Oct 20, 2009
• Thanks for the insight Ricardo - Izanoni1 Oct 20, 2009

Answer 2

Ok, hear's what I observed and how I see it. It's a matter of opinion really. I believe Puerto Ricans can probably hold a record for rambling words with numerous syllables in seconds, although at the same time, the world guinness record for fastest speaker is a rapper named Twista (last time I checked) and he speak English. Elder Native Mexicans are also known to speak quiet fast, BUT the sound of the language plays a large roll also. In spanish you can have run-on sentences and it's completely correct, and there are many words that are smooth and just flow together, therefore making it sound like more is being said quicker than it really is. Not only the sound of it plays a big part, but definently the accent also. Puerto Ricans have a smoother accent which allows them to talk, or atleast sound, faster. As I said though, it's really a matter of opinion.

Answer 3

Some hard data, please! Until someone can provide references to a serious study (better, yet, several studies) that measures syllables/second and reasonable controls for the "kinds" of speakers/speech, I will continue to believe that when someone says The people in X (country/region/city) speak fast." what the person really means is "I have difficulty understanding/following their conversation." and that the essential problem is with the listener rather than the speaker.

link

Small sample, but it is experimental data and does show the syllable rate for the Spanish speakers tested was higher than that of the English speakers.

• Interesting - just a quick comment. - In Spanish all vowels are always pronounced in English very often not so a Spanish speaker could be making more individual sounds without actually saying more. - ian-hill Oct 21, 2009
• How much faster, in syllables/sec? What kinds of speakers and under what circumstances (prepared text/impromptu speech requiring thinking/planing)? Such considerations can make a huge difference. - samdie Oct 26, 2009

Answer 4

In my experience of South America, each country is different. I can understand the language in almost all the countries except Chile where they speak soooooo fast! Colombia is easy to understand and so is Argentina where they almost sing as they speak.

• I love the Chilean accent, and listening to strictly Chilean music has helped me to have a quick ear to the spanish language. - LAtINaPunKRO Oct 20, 2009
• They almost sing as they speak in Cordoba, maybe in the provinces surrounding it, but not so much in Buenos Aires. - Nathaniel Oct 20, 2009
• I found the people of Santiago de Chile to speak at what what I would consider to be a "normal" rate. - samdie Oct 20, 2009
• I love the Chilean people, they are so vibrant. - LAtINaPunKRO Oct 20, 2009

Answer 5

Of the people I know, the one that speaks English the fastest is a native Spanish speaker who grew up in Mexico. She's just a fast talker. I also know several Spanish speaking people who speak slowly, although not as slowly as most Southerners.

• I agree that there are alot of slow speakers. Mostly, in my opinion, Mexicans speak the slowest compared to those from other countries. - LAtINaPunKRO Oct 20, 2009

Answer 6

When it comes to English it may seem fast for a learner because we have so many contractions. I've - he'd - would've - wouldn't've etc. etc.

Answer 7

my text book says that the vowel sounds in spanish are much shorter than in english, i think that may have something to do with it

• This is a reference to the difference between "pure" vowels and diphthongs; not rate of speech. - samdie Oct 20, 2009

Answer 8

Some hard data, please! Until someone can provide references to a serious study (better, yet, several studies) that measures syllables/second and reasonable controls for the "kinds" of speakers/speech, I will continue to believe that when someone says The people in X (country/region/city) speak fast." what the person really means is "I have difficulty understanding/following their conversation." and that the essential problem is with the listener rather than the speaker.

Answer 9

My boyfriend is Spanish and he says english speakers talk quick, so I guess its just that when you're learned in a language, you speak naturally quicker.

Answer 10

I would say on AVERAGE, Spanish speaking people speak faster than English speaking people.

Answer 11

And not only contractions, but also weak forms and a lot of linking between words, which makes the melody of English a constant flow, and very few staccatos

• I agree Issabela - ian-hill Oct 20, 2009

Answer 12

Si, si, absolutamente si. It seems this way to me also, and here's my idea:

English has lots of emphasis on different syllables as part of speaking the word -- it actually imparts the meaning at times (think of the difference between Green House, emphasis on the second word, and Greenhouse, emphasis on the first.)

Part of the way English emphasizes or stresses syllables is a "stronger" sound, but part is a loooonger treatment of the vowel. You might not sense it, but in every English sentence there is a mass of different stresses, all of which take time! Spanish is spoken at times with almost equal emphasis given to syllables. Although they still stress certain syllables, it is not as vital and doesn't take as much vocal time. Think of how a Spanish speaker says the name Ruben, almost equally stressed, but an English speaker must say Ruuuben, emphasizing the first syllable strongly.

So my answer took up a lot of time too, eh?

Answer 13

Perhaps it has to do with the speaker himself. I have a profe from Panama who speaks at a normal pace, in my opinion, but I also spent a summer in Costa Rica in an immersion program. Mi profe de México, in my opinion, speaks very fast and I have a very hard time understanding him. It sounds as if he is speaking in one long, run-on sentence. I am getting better at hearing certain sounds from him, but for the most part, I always, after class, ask a classmate for a translation of homework due!!

Answer 14

And not only contractions, but also weak forms and a lot of linking between words, which makes the melody of English a constant flow, and very few staccatos

To Issabela,

Do you really consider English to be melodic and to have "a lot of linking between words?" I am truly curious as I'll never know what it's like to not understand English. By linking do you mean things like turning "what are you" into "wutchya"?

Of all the languages, the sound of Russian is one of my favorites. I of course cannot understand it, but it has this z-like sound that it makes a lot, which I find fascinating.

Answer 15

I am sure that a lot of it has to do with our lack of familiarity with Spanish, but, honestly, their words do seem to run together a lot, and I have a hard time distinguishing where one word ends and another begins.

To compare it to another language, I have also studied German a bit. My vocabulary in German is probably less than my vocabulary in Spanish. But, when I listen to German, it just doesn't sound fast like Spanish does. And, I can kind of tell when words are stopping and new words are beginning (not always of course).

However, as I listen to movies in Spanish, the words that I AM familiar with do sound "slower" than all the other sounds which I don't recognize. I've noticed too that Spanish spoken in movies sounds slower then the Spanish that I might hear on a YouTube video.

On the other hand, I know that English is spoken faster than we English speakers realize -- especially conversational English. Think about things like "what did you" becoming "wudjyu" and "want to" becoming "wanna." So, "what did you want to do" becomes "wudjyuwanna do." And, yes "what did you want to" does run together like that so that probably only the word "do" is recognizable to many non-English speakers who have a beginner to intermediate level of proficiency in English. The wudjyuwanna part probably sounds incomprehensibly fast.