Teacher/narrator: Why not a native speaker?
Without wanting to offend anyone, I have a serious question:
Why wouldn't Spanishdict.com want to use a bilingual-from-birth or a native speaker to narrate the lessons? The woman who narrates the lessons has a strong US English accent. I am not fluent by any means, but I hear Spanish speakers all day, and the teacher here, in my own opinion, has a non-native pronunciation of Spanish vowels, especially "i." Would it be better for learners to hear and imitate a native speaker?
13 Answers
I'm learning French and when at level 4 I had my first native French speaker teacher... wow! Almost all the pronunciation I'd got from Mexican teachers just wasn't enough good to communicate with the new teacher so finally I decided to learn the accent by listening to French lessons (CDs, Internet, TV) from people from France, Ivory Coast and Quebec. From my Mexican teachers I just learn grammar, no more pronunciation, no more phonetics... and today I was testing my pronunciation with a special software and after a year that I've been doing my best I hardly got 60% (from 100%) of an accurate pronunciation. My advice: learn from native speakers.
chris said
Without wanting to offend anyone, I have a serious question:
This is purely a personal view and nothing to do with the adminstrator's of this site. Although I am not offended by this post I feel slightly "peeved". A site which costs absolutely nothing, zilch, nada, rien. A site which contains what I consider a wealth of resources. A site which vigorously tries to maintain a family friendly atmosphere. A site where you can form lasting friendships. A site where, etc, etc, etc, etc. And still there exists a complaint, and this is a complaint, that the site is not perfect.
Sorry Chris but you have to take an "overall view" of what this site is offering.
Unfortunately in your case the lessons are not being given by a native. If that is what is important to you, then there are probably many sites out there which will offer you this requirement, but I wouldn't mind betting they are not half as good as this one.
In short I think this site is
Wouldn't it be better for learners to hear and imitate a native speaker?
Of course it would, but that dog won't hunt here.
No, but there a standard, correct Spanish pronunciation, just as there is in English.
Which varies from country to country. I can't count the number of times I've heard one group of Latinos talking about another group of Latinos that 'talk funny'.
I think there is a project involving native speakers for improving SD contents.
Check this thread
Well you have to look at it like this, most of us are native English Speakers, my tutor Maria has been here awhile and is a genious but she still retains her accent, my college teacher, a Mexican lady, had to ask me constantly for help with her English. A native English teacher is better for beginner students unless the teacher has a native level of fluency with pronunciation. Not everyone does. Even fluent people don't have perfect English pronunciation like an English native does, neither can you expect to have perfect Spanish pronunciation even though you might be very well understood you will still have an "accent" that you won't recognize as an English native....
Everyone has an accent. It is correct pronunciation which is important.
Update
I think Paralee's lessons are as near to perfect as one can get.
There is an added advantage in a non-native speaker giving the lesson - I would call it an "in-built" empathy with the learner.
I think there is a project involving native speakers for improving S
Actually, this project was carried out.
At the beginning, the new videos for pronunciation, like on this word, were created by Paralee, but we thought a native would be better for this. So two natives were chosen.
New videos will be published soon, for intermediate to advanced students in which a native speaker was chosen for the conversations.
The learn Spanish lessons, right, a native speaker would have had a better accent, B U T would the lessons be that good? Would they have been better understood? I don't think so.
As a matter of fact, I am Spanish and an English teacher
There are lots of words with videos , but I can't seem to find one
Please add one to this post !!
I do not understand all this talk about accents ,what are they? Down here in the
land of OZ we do not have them, we all speak the saime waiy . 
But accents affect pronounication.....
No, but there a standard, correct Spanish pronunciation, just as there is in English.
In terms of pronunciation and connotation of words you're correct. That's why we value the help of native speakers how volunteer their time on this site . Some people suggest that it is better to learn from a non native because they understand what it like to learn the language and the diffculties that learners might face with a certain language . Here's a lletter on the subject.
This question has been discussed before if you care to make a search
Well, if the teacher has a great level of Spanish (which Paralee does), then it shouldn't really be a problem. Alternatively, if you find that this teacher is not suited to your learning purposes, you could use another learning resource.
And it depends what you mean by native. I don't really think that there is a standard Spanish accent.....
Once I checked out Paralee's facebook page and saw a link to this article. It resonated with me and my learning experience of having both native and non-native Spanish teachers. I remember the article because I sent the link to the non-native Spanish teacher. I am glad I had the opportunity to learn from both kinds of teachers.
