Do the Latinos speak faster than English speakers or is it that the language is so unfamiliar?
"Does the Latino speaker speak faster than the English speaker?"
17 Answers
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
i jus think it depends on the person, where they r from and whatever, como yo aprendi los dos al mismo tiepmo, and personally i think spanish is faster :D
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).
That's because in German, if there is anyway of joining words together, they do so to make a new and bigger word.
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.
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.
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!!
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?
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 
