Friday, July 21, 2006

Si hablo español...

There is this guy by my shool who sells fruit. He will make you these really great fruit salads with the fruits you pick out from his little cart/stand thing and I love that! Some other fruit guys sometimes cut the fruit too big or too small but this guy's pieces are just perfect bitesize pieces. At least every other day, I buy fruit from him and I always get the same ones: mango, pineapple, canteloupe, banana, and tangerines or oranges.

Anyway, I have been talking to Mr. Fruit guy a lot since I started school, but then two days ago he told someone that I was Puertorican. I was like "whaaaaaaaaaaat?" very politely I told him that I was not in fact Puertorican, but that I was Dominican and hoped that he would leave it at that but he said that it was nice that "I felt Dominican" but that I was really Puertorican.

How did he figure that? My accented Spanish apparently...

Now, no offense to Puertoricans (or Cubans or anybody else), I could speak the worse Spanish in the face of humanity (which I most certainly don't) but there is no way in hell I sound Puertorican; and what's more, if I did, I would just shut my mouth and never speak Spanish again. I am sorry to say it, but it is my belief that Puertorican Spanish is an insult to the Spanish language.

I am not saying that they should go around speaking Castillian but propper pronunciation is beautiful. The "r" is a letter and is not there for decoration: SAY IT. You are speaking not singing and if you think that you are singing pick a better beat because it sounds stupid, especially when you consider that every statement sounds like a question. What is it with all the guttural sounds? There is no sound in the Spanish language that requires you to pronounce it and sound like you are choking! ewwwwwww...

I could bitch and whine about Cuban Spanish but my only complain about that one is the sing- song aspect of it. That's not necesasry. WHY???? But Cuban American Spanish sucks. It's like Spanglish on crack...

I know that I am bitching and that I am going to get 500 emails (because people don't comment anymore, they email) saying that I am being a bitch and that Dominican Spanish is horrible. Well, I believe that Dominican Spanish has plenty of flaws too, but I try to correct myself before I make stupid mistakes like not pronouncing the "s", which a lot of people seem to forget exists. And we do speak horribly fast, and of that, I am guilty myself; but I believe that's because we have a faster thought process, which would make sense scientifically speaking. I know that people from the country, like my housekeeper for example, speak kinda like they are singing and that annoys the living crap out of me, but it's never nearly as bad as the sing-songy Puertorican Spanish I am forced to listen to every day of my life.

So what's my favorite kind of Spanish? The kind that's written down because I realize that every Hispanic culture has made it into their own by giving it a little something to make it sound different. Personally, I kinda like Argentinian Spanish but all that "vos" nonsense would drive me insane after a while. I like "tu"...

9 comments:

Jonas said...

Besides for Spain, I like Colombian spanish. I've heard its the closest to Spain.

la flaquita said...

no, you get used to vos really fast...

vos qué pensás? daaaaaale, decímelo che!

(and me making fun of the chetas...) VISTE???

i agree... colombian spanish is nice. but i have to admit that my favorite accent is the spanish accent.

Rainypete said...

I'd be happy to be able to speak another language poorly rather than the not at all I'm with right now.

Blanca said...

When a go to the US no one believes i am Dominicana, because i speak with all my S's... and don't cut short frases or words.

Anonymous said...

Argentinian spanish??!! Please thats not even spanish the worst is that when you watch Latin American channels that broadcast Argentinian shows they include subtitles... for the same language! Argentina speaks what could be in my opionin the WORST spanish in Latin America. They have horrible pronounciation of the language mainly because most of them are not even "Latinos". Its really hard to say whats a good accent because the coasts of Latin America have this more upbeat slangy spanish whereas the mountains have fucked up Amerindian accents where sometimes the R changes to an almost Russian "Zhre" sound (Ex. Perro = Pezhro). In South America lots of the coastly cities speak with this singing accent like the Venecos, Colombianos, and Ecuatorianos. Whereas the Peruvians its just really really bad accent with their horrible slang. Chile I guess speaks alright but they also sing and Central America is really hard to say. Panama is really ghetto in some areas its just some big mix up of Spanish and English. Costa Rica is not even Spanish anymore thats just something else. Nicaragua and up is pretty bad and the worst is that its all in the vosotros mode which is horrible with the caribbean accent yikes. And as for DR or PR or Cuba... well its all the same to me but I guess DR is better at least they reconize the R in the spanish language. the puertoricans pronouce their R like the chinese speaking spanish. Puelto Lico??? horribleeeeeeeeeee.

Anonymous said...

oh yeah and the Spanish accent as in Spain... SUCKS

annush said...

hahaha...my beautiful angie!
that was a wonderful analysis :) at least i knwo that i am not alone in this!

androidette said...

Dominicans sing as well but if you are used to it you will never notice it.

Kiki A.Ortiz said...

en unibe sufren de eso, a mi me dicen a cada rato ay yo creia q tu era boricua..o sea mi hermano como asi ,yo no hablo cantaito ,ni na