What does Castilian Spanish sound like to you?

[MelinusMargos]

It sounds better than any other spanish accent. Still, I'm not a great fan of it.

[Xochi]

Sounds weird especially with the th sounds.

[kkk77]

It sounds pretty much like... Spanish.

How does Spanish sound to me? It sounds fast, the consonants are blurred and it's like they were tightening their throat. Sometimes it sounds like someone drunk trying to speak fast.

Phonetically, there's the way they pronounce the Z, J, which is very different from Portuguese. I also note the L sound, it sounds more like the LL/LH sound, I'm more used to the L as it sounds in "mall". The S sometimes (specially in some dialects I think) sounds almost like a SH. The rolled RR is funny.

I'm pretty sure the Castilian is the romance language more roughest and sober.

It makes some women sound more low pitch.

I don't know why I have this stereotype in my head because I can recall some Portuguese presenters with low pitch voice too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEL-Rze_nY8, but still, I always think this as the stereotype of spanish women. The same happens with British women, I think that they sound very high pitch.
Is anybody else with this kind of stereotype on their head?

[Comte Arnau]

Sounds weird especially with the th sounds.

English also has the th sound.

but still, I always think this as the stereotype of spanish women. The same happens with British women, I think that they sound very high pitch.
Is anybody else with this kind of stereotype on their head?

No, you're right, I've also noticed that and probably some patterns of the language contribute to that, as well as sometimes cultural ones. English-speaking women sound exaggeratedly high-pitched for many of us, like childish. Spanish-speaking women, specially Castilian ones, sound very low-pitched in contrast, and I'd make it extensive to German-speaking women too. It's as if some languages preferred to go up nose and others down the throat.

[Sikeliot]

It reminds me of Greek in intonation and accent, but not vocabulary of course. It almost sounds like Italian spoken by a Greek.

[Xochi]

English also has the th sound.

Yeah I know. I mean like, I find it kind of weird on how in Spain they pronounce the z and c depending on the word.

Esperanza = Esperantha
Corazón = corathón
Gracias = grathias
etc

I'm used to hearing it as esperansa, corasón, grasias.

[Gauthier]

Not a big fan of ''tongue roll'' they do when speaking. Other than that it is all good.

[Comte Arnau]

Yeah I know. I mean like, I find it kind of weird on how in Spain they pronounce the z and c depending on the word.

Esperanza = Esperantha
Corazón = corathón
Gracias = grathias
etc

I'm used to hearing it as esperansa, corasón, grasias.

Well, it's just a different evolution from the ts sound. And a better one, as it distinguishes homophones. For instance, for Latin Americans la Santa Sede (the Holy See) and la santa cede (the prudish woman is giving in) is exactly the same while for Castilians there's a clear difference.

What I find weird is those English speakers saying that stupid thing about the lisp. For those Irish people who say I tink it is dere, English speakers also have a lisp when they say I think it is there.

[Raikaswinþs]

MADRID ≠ CASTILLA

Spoiler!

The city may lay inside of the Castillian plateau, but it ceased to be a Castillian city long ago. It is a Pan-Spanish city (like Barcelona) made of people from all over the country and all over the world. In that sense it is also a Global city. Madrilenos indeed have a lot more in common with Londoners than they do with the smallfolk of their own region.

The Region of Madrid however (not to be confused with Madrid Metro), it is indeed a Castillian region and it is possible to still get a rough idea of what Castile used to be before the global age by visiting some of its more elusive pueblos. I know, it's complicated. But just take London or Berlin and compare the personalities of those cities and societies with that of the country around them.

CASTELLANO ≠ ESPANOL

Spoiler!

Castellano:

1) Spanish as spoken by the peoples of modern Castile. Not a dialect, not an "accent", but a "variedad diatopica" (geographical variety). The Spanish of Castile has several accents that are quite different to each other. One of such accents is the "neutralized broadcasting Spanish" as spoken by TV presenters across the country. You can think of it as BBC English and nobody in real life speaks like taht. So do not use TV broadcastings as a reference to what Spanish sounds like.

2) The collection of Romance lects spoken in Old Castile during the Middle Ages. It is traditionally taught that the language we call today Spanish descends from the romances spoken in that area between Logrono/Burgos/Santander/Alava, which was at the core of the early county and later kingdom of Castile, therefore many people assume Castellano and Spanish are somehow synonyms linguistically speaking. Well the second part is plainly not true and the first part is starting to be challenged a lot more today. It has been challenged a lot through history, but always encountered rejection from official organisms. In the study of linguistics, however, this isn't even an question: The global, contemporary language is called Spanish and not Castellano

TV SPANISH ≠ SPANISH

Spoiler!

There are two core varieties of TV Spanish. European, which is standarized around the Northern Varieties of Peninsular Spanish and sounds like nothing you will hear anywhere in Spain, and the Latin American Spanish which is standarized around the Mexican Variety but sounds like nothing spoken in real life Mexico or anywhere in Latin America for that matter/

Finally, a small note: Spaniards do not look down on Latin Americans, that's a fallacy exploited mostly by he Latin American elites in order to alienate the masses against a foreign and distant people instead of against who REALLY looks down on Latin Americans: Latin Americans.

We have the same issue in Spain (The whole Barcelona v Madrid scenario plus all the provincial petty rivalries) and I believe it is pretty much a global issue. A human issue.

[Raikaswinþs]

What I find weird is those English speakers saying that stupid thing about the lisp. For those Irish people who say I tink it is dere, English speakers also have a lisp when they say I think it is there.

Al principio lo encontraba fascinante cuando hablando con un Escoces o Ingles sobre la mutua incapacidad para manejarse con soltura en la entonacion y pronunciacion de los respectivos idiomas siempre, y digo SIEMPRE se sacaban de la manga que lo que mas les desagradaba del Espanol era el famoso "lisp" (famoso para ellos digo, yo no conocia de su existencia hasta que me mude a este pais y todo el mundo intentaba convencerme de que he estado hablando con frenillo toda mi vida sin darme cuenta, o que el frenillo es una caracteristica propia del Espanol, como lo es la baja frecuencia tonal o la plasticidad de diptongos e hiatos)

Casi inmediatamente despues de la palabra "lisp" procedian a sacar la lengua y a hacer un sonido muy desagradable que se supone es lo que el Espanol suena para ellos. "th-th-th-th-th-th" . No me podia imaginar de que iba el tema. Por mas que tratase de preguntarles - oye mira, te importa explicarme como es que ese sonido es el que mas raro os parece si de hecho es igual de comun aqui y de hecho puede discutirse que se usa de una forma mucho mas marcada?. La respuesta era casi siempre una risita nerviosa y una cara entre medias de "pa que me sacas del guion"? y "ya, ya, lo que tu digas"

Y bueno, ya cuando tratas de explicarle que en la unica region de Espana que ellos realmente conocen bien, porque tienen casa alli y familia que cojones , ni si quiera existe el sonido "TH" y que en todo el tiempo que han pasado en Espana con cuanta gente han tenido una conversacion en Espanol.

Despues de descartar la mayoria de teorias al respecto del misterio del mito del th (diferencias auditivas, caricaturas en la cultura popular, pasar el erasmus en Bollullos ...o simplemente ignorancia y repeticion cual loro del mantra) aun no tengo una respuesta que me satisfaga completamente. PEro tengo esto.




butros gali!