Distinguishing Accents

Question

I have a question for people who grew up bilingual in English and Spanish (2nd and 3rd generation Latinos usually, but anyone is welcome to answer). How effectively can you differentiate accents when listening to Spanish speakers from other countries (Spain, Argentina, etc)?

Twice I have had native Spanish/English speakers (those who were born and raised in the USA) not realize that I was speaking European Spanish. They just assumed I had a lisp. I imagine that there are probably a large percentage of Spanish speakers who speak the language at home and are rather fluent, but have been exposed mostly to Univision/Galavision and are probably mostly familiar with the sort of "neutral" Spanish that only exists in the USA.

For most native speakers outside of the USA, you can immediately tell where in the Spanish-speaking world someone is from just by listening to their accents. Were my two experiences just isolated incidents, or do 2nd and 3rd generation Latinos have a harder time distinguishing accents?

Answer 1

First of all hispanohablantes from Spain do not lisp. Both the "th" sound and the "s" sound exist. I'm from there and I ought to know. "c" before "e or i" get the "th" and also "z"

Where there is an "s", it is pronounced as an "s". Although the Spanish "s" is an "apical" "s" where in the tongue is placed in such a manner as to give it an almost "sh" sound. Within Spain itself there are various "accents" In the South, not everybody uses the "ceceo" and sometimes the "s" is suppressed as you may hear among Cubans and PuertoRicans and some venezolanos. You will hear ¿Cómo e'tá u'té? for ¿Cómo está usted? for example. The gallegos are almost unintelligible to me, but the madrileños are quite easy to understand, although they speak quite fast.

Perhaps the easiest for English speaking learners of Spanish is what I call the "University of México Spanish" It is quite pleasant to listen to and very clear. Even clearer is the Spanish spoken by the ecuatorianos and the colombianos.

I hope that this will give you a start on your investigation into the different kinds of accents you will hear among Spanish speakers.

Now as far as 2nd or 3rd generation latinos are concerned, They might be, as you have surmised, totally ignorant of all that you and I have both stated.

Answer 2

My first of all goes to "generally people who grew up bilingual..."

That would be mostly 1st generations, if they are bilingual. By the 2nd generation it is less the amount of people who will be bilingual.

Now, it is difficult for those first generation who become bilingual to recognize anything else that are accustomed to listening on TV. They might pick up
people talking with a weird accent, but most will not be able to pinpoint where is the accent from, unless of course they have a friend from that particular country etc...