need info on Latin American Spanish pronunciations please.
hI, I need info on Latin American Spanish translation as translations differ according to dialect. interested in learning all my pronunciations in Latin American Spanish as that is what i am learning.
thanks.
15 Answers
Nor do they in Spain. A lisp is a speech impediment, not an accent.
They DO speak with a lisp in Spain. It is part of their "accent". It is the best way to describe it for a person who is not familiar with a Spaniard's accent. I'm not trying to hurt anyone's feelings, it is just a simple fact. If you want me to call their "accent" a "polliwog" or a "gym bag" or "duck-billed beach ball", I'll just go ahead and do that for you, but that doesn't change that fact that to a pair of ears from any country other than Spain, the accent sounds like a lisp.
I agree on everything except for ceceo. Ceceo is not the enunciation of the /?/ sound. It is actually when you pronounce an s as if it is /?/. This is incorrect & is what would classify as a lisp.
Mira esto:
The "lisp-like" pronunciation of s and z in spain is referred to as a dental fricative consonant. But I think it is just easier to refer to it as a lisp because people know what lisp means and sounds like.
There is a difference between saying "He talks with a lisp" (speech impediment), and "He pronounces his S's and Z's with a lisp" (castellian accent).
So which city in Latin America are we talking about? If you were learning English, you wouldn't want to learn a Boston accent if you were headed to Atlanta.
I don't know if this is a fact, but I heard that a few centuries ago a Spanish king spoke with a lisp. Then everyone else started speaking that way so as not to embarrass him.
Now that is what I call real political correctness!
They don't speak with a lisp in South America.
Nor do they in Spain. A lisp is a speech impediment, not an accent.
Wow, Latin America? Latin America designates all of those countries and territories in the Americas where a Romance language (i.e., languages derived from Latin, and hence the name of the region) is spoken: Spanish, Portuguese, and French, and the creole languages based upon these. Imagine all of the dialects, vernaculars and patois that entails? I know Spanish is your main objective, but I would venture that even among bordering countries in Middle and South America, the same word in Spanish can have enough of a nuance to render it as "two" almost completely different terms... just a thought! 
You need something that has video and transcript so you can follow and know the words you pronounce. The best for that I think is an online program called "Rocket Spanish" You have to pay, but you get a lot of material. This is exactly what you need if you want to learn the Latin American dialect.
They don't speak with a "lisp" ("duck-billed beach ball" for those who need your feelings spared) in South America. Try conversing with someone who doesn't use lots of slang. Colombian Spanish is nice. Argentinian Spanish sounds cool the way they pronounce their double L. Instead of pronouncing it like "ya" they say it like "cha". Just a few things, but I'm not a native speaker.
As I recall, In spain ,Particularly around seville, some sounds are modified from what (at least we English native speakers) are used to hearing. "tramposo" becomes "tramposho" the"S" is softened. Also seville becomes a sound like Theville ( not exactly but its a bit hard to express precisely) there again the "S" is softened. Spanish is not the only language that uses the softened "S" sound. My argentine friend asks for "shebojas" in the market for "cebollas,
Lets see how much trouble this gets me into.
This is why the story of the lisping king is so compelling. If the king lisped, that was an impediment. If others copied him, that was a conscious decision to pronounce words a certain way and not an impediment.
In regard to samdie's eloquence, one has to think that someone was responsible for the unique pronunciation, and it is logical to assume it must have been a figure of some prominence or influence to have caused it.
And there is no shame, stated or implied in that development.
My point was that if anything (at all) could be considered lisping, it is pronouncing an s as /?/. That is not a fact, but just my opinion. It doesn't mean though that they are indeed "lisping." Ok, we can just drop the "lisping" tag and say that pronouncing s as /?/ is part of that group of people's dialect. This was the entry I disagree with:
ceceo is the traditional, proper and I would imagine less offensive term for the speech pattern (not impediment) in which the "z" and soft "c" (and in some cases, "s") are pronounced as /?/.
This is incorrect, since ceceo is when one pronounces an s as if it is /?/, as you yourself pointed out on your quoted text in your most previous post.
Seseo and ceceo is part of the Spaniard's accent.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceceo
Here in the north of mexico we use a hard "che' as in "chihuahua" or "chela". in the south you would hear "shihuahua" or "shela" the "che is just softened in the south. (gospel in accordance with my "bien amigo" Chuy.)
The "lisp-like" pronunciation of s and z in spain is referred to as a dental fricative consonant. But I think it is just easier to refer to it as a lisp because people know what lisp means and sounds like.
I love it when people use technical (linguistic) terms. However, your characterization of Spanish pronunciation is seriously flawed. The people of Spain pronounce 's' the same way as the people of Latin America. (Including the fact that, in some parts of Spain the 's' is aspirated in many phonetic contexts, just as is it is a variety of Latin American countries [though not all]).
However, for the majority of speakers in Spain there are different sounds associated with the letters 'c' (followed by 'e' or 'i') and 'z' and with the letter 's'. It may be worth noting that this distinction is by no means unique to Spain. Among the languages with which I have some familiarity (English, Greek, Arabic and Peninsular Spanish) /s/ and /?/ represent different sounds. Other languages/dialects e.g. Japanese, French, Vietnamese, Latin American Spanish have the /s/ sound but do not have the /?/ sound.
Any competent English language dictionary will tell you that "lisp" refers to the (inappropriate) substitution of /?/ for /s/. When asked about your pronunciation of "thin", "think", etc., do you respond (by way of explaining their pronunciation) that you are simply "lisping* the pronunciation of ""sin" and "sink", etc.? I, for one, would, instead say that there are two different sounds but that people who lisp use the same sound (/?/) for both cases.
Thus, if you insist on characterizing one pronunciation as defective (i.e. the inability to pronounce some particular sound), you should characterize Latin American speakers as having an "anti-lisp" (they "substitute" the /s/ for the /?/) and are "unable" [have difficulty] to produce the /?/ sound). Of course, that characterization would still be wrong. It's not that they can't or don't want to use that sound but, rather, that in their dialect, it isn't used.
I, like 99% of all English speakers, make a distinction between "sin"/"thin" and ""sink"/"think". I (nor any other English speaker of my acquaintance) do not say that, when pronouncing the 2nd of those pairs of words, that I am "lisping". I reserve the term "lisp" to describe those who pronounce both words the same and in the fashion that corresponds to my (our/the usual) pronunciation of the latter members.
Given the "proper"/"traditional" meaning of "lisp", characterizing the pronunciation of Spain as having a "lisp" a) ignores the sounds that they actually use and b) suggests that they should pronounce their 'c'/'z' as they pronounce their 's' (i.e. /s/). What, then, is the basis/authority for such a statement . What person/power decided on the "proper" pronunciation of 'c'/'z'? Is there some passage in the New Testament that I've overlooked that decrees such pronunciation? Some other authority? A N A T O resolution?
