Latinos piss me off sometimes

[syka16]

J/K. But gringos annoy me when they try to pronounce Spanish words with a butchered phony accent. Why do people do that crap? And why is it seemingly only with Spanish words. Every week I hear some tool on TV talking about what happened to Marrrrria Gonzalez. My friend went off to Chile but came back from Cheeelay.

I’m from Russia and when Americans try to pronounce my name with a Russian accent it just sounds lame. And if you’re Latino pronounce your name they way you’re like but if you’re not (or worse you studied in Spain for a summer) don’t use an accent. I’ve watched Telemundo and I know it’s the norm to pronounce English words with an English accent (the same is true in Russia although to a lesser extent) but stop your American friends from thinking their cool, respectful, or whatever. When they address you with a foreign accent, respond in Spanish until they get a clue.

- and never order a burrrrito.

[xadrez]

I agree this is so annoying...

This reminds me of the alltime King of doing this, Alex Trebek on Jeopardy. He does it constantly, with all languages and its so annoying. However, hes a dumbass. In the rare instances there is a Portuguese word, such as "Rio de Janeiro", he regularly pronounces it with a Spanish accent, which is just plain wrong, as the accents are completely different.

[syka16]

[ QUOTE ]
there is a Portuguese word, such as "Rio de Janeiro", he regularly pronounces it with a Spanish accent, which is just plain wrong, as the accents are completely different.

[/ QUOTE ]

What is Rio de CHaneiro?

[syka16]

His French R is just disgusting.

[astroglide]

there's a guy in my office that calls tortillas thor-TEE-yas. emphasis on the 'H' there, it's hard to type out but goddamn is it annoying. it's this soft-sounding t with his tongue between his teeth.

[MicroBob]

I do a fake accent that is some sort of weird cross between Antonio Banderas and Pepe Le Peu as a joke sometimes with my GF.
"Hallo. Do you zink I am sex-EE with my ack-SENT?"
Something like that.
She giggles a lot at it.

She is from Peru and spanish is her first language.


when my GF and I go to a mexican restaurant here in Memphis she is more inclined to pronounce enchiladas los pollo (or whatever chicked enchilada is) or sangria or
whatever so correctly that the waitress isn't quite sure what she's saying.
She doesn't realize that saying it correctly might actually confuse someone around here though and it's obviously just natural for her to say it that way.


I agree that Alex Trebek is annoying though when he does this.
So is Jon Miller on ESPN baseball broadcasts.

I've also known people who have done the Cheee-lay thing and it annoys me too.



I think there are some situations where it is more appropriate though.

If I'm in France or Quebec or wherever I'm going to at least attempt to do the accent as best I can.
I'll still be a million miles off....but I will at least be closer than some red-neck saying "Well...I just ain't gettin' this par-lezz vows frann-say crap."
I mean...at least you could freaking make an attempt, right?


Somebody once said that the trick to speaking other languages is not being afraid to say things in a really weird and goofy way that doesn't initially seem normal.

[MicroBob]

GF and I agree that if we ever went to Peru together to meet some of her family that everyone would be saying/thinking "that boy is SUCH a gringo."

[elwoodblues]

I've heard that it is a good indication that someone has a strong ability/willingness to empathize with others if they (slightly) adopt their accent when speaking to them.

[pokerjo22]

[ QUOTE ]
I do a fake accent that is some sort of weird cross between Antonio Banderas and Pepe Le Peu as a joke sometimes with my GF.
"Hallo. Do you zink I am sex-EE with my ack-SENT?"
Something like that.
She giggles a lot at it.


[/ QUOTE ]

Boy, those long winter evenings must just fly by /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[M2d]

[ QUOTE ]
So is Jon Miller on ESPN baseball broadcasts.

[/ QUOTE ]

I believe Jon Miller is fluent in Spanish, so his pronunciation may just be second nature.

anyone remember the SNL skit that they did on this?

[Jack of Arcades]

I love that Miller pronounces the name correctly.

However, I also love it that Eric Chavez pronounces his name anglicized, but Miller still says it chuh-VESS. I'm sure there're others.

[thatpfunk]

If you speak spanish it comes out how you would naturally say it. Its not something you think about or do on purpose.

[thatpfunk]

[ QUOTE ]
there's a guy in my office that calls tortillas thor-TEE-yas. emphasis on the 'H' there, it's hard to type out but goddamn is it annoying. it's this soft-sounding t with his tongue between his teeth.

[/ QUOTE ]

Is he from Spain?

[Alobar]

I find that less anoying than people who have no idea how to pronounce spanish words. I worked as a waiter in a mexican restaurant at Carlsbad Caverns, and it was nothing but tourists, mostly from back east. I constantly took orders for "fah gee tuz" (fajitas) "en chill lid as". At least twice a night I had to explain to someone what a "tor til uh" was. I dont think its as bad now, mostly because of taco bell menu. Now items such as "asado" and "steak fajitas" are more common place.

Heh, I have this hillarious picture from florida at a fair, there was a stand selling "Fahitas" and "green chilly".

[tek]

[ QUOTE ]
there's a guy in my office that calls tortillas thor-TEE-yas. emphasis on the 'H' there, it's hard to type out but goddamn is it annoying. it's this soft-sounding t with his tongue between his teeth.

[/ QUOTE ]

Si, what joo say es Verthad /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[chabibi]

i agree 100% mixing accents in a sentince just doesnt sound right. However when im speaking to my dad in english and happen to have to say a word in hebrew i use a canadian accent and it really pisses him off, go figure. it usually ends with me getting a smack upside the head /images/graemlins/mad.gif

[astroglide]

it is quite controllable

[thatpfunk]

[ QUOTE ]
it is quite controllable

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm not sure which you're responding to, the tortillas guy, or the general response...

If its the general response, obviously you can control how you speak, anyone can. But does it annoy you when people from the south say 'yall or speak in a southern accent? If we met would it annoy you that I speak in a Southern Californian accent and probably say "dude" too much? I monitor my speech when necessary, but in the context of a normal conversation I wouldn't.

If you speak another language (even if it is not your native) this is simply how you pronounce the words. You do so without thinking. When I read a spanish word, because I have done so much of it, it appears in my mind as the correct pronunciation. The same goes for speech. You can change it to sound Americanized, but why would you?

As far as tortilla-guy goes, is this the only Spanish word he pronounces like that? If it is, it would annoy the hell out of me as well. But if he pronounced all Spanish words as such, I would write it off as him having the lisp that Spaniards use. It sounds weird to some, but is completely natural to them.

[astroglide]

the general response. you wouldn't say 'dude' too much if you were in certain social situations. if somebody is in a casual office context in america it's a total douche move to get hardcore on pronunciation. just as inappropriate as saying 'dude' to a judge.

i know french pretty well and i still called my town 'KREEVE CORE' despite the fact that it's a french name, 'creve coeur' which is said more like 'krehv cuerre'. i would just sound like an [censored] if i said that in front of anybody unless they were french. i can assure you that if i spent the next 10 years in paris i would come back and still pronounce it the american way.

people realize it when they're doing it. they're doing it to be 'correct', which is unadulterated douchity in most contexts.

[Michael Davis]

The word is douchebaggery.

-Michael