Mala educación, La (2004)
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What type of Spanish are they speaking?
by nj_cisneros (Thu Aug 17 2006 07:29:21 ) Ignore this User | Report Abuse
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I truly enjoyed this movie but found it hard to keep up with the dialogue. I am a Mexican-American and speak excellent Spanish. But the Spanish I speak and the Spanish spoken in the movie are completely different. I live in South Texas and everyone I know (friends, family, acquaintances, etc.) speaks the way I do.
Fortunately, the movie had subtitles so I was able to understand. However, I missed out on some parts of the movie due to having to read subtitles...LOL.
I know the Spanish I speak is a form of Latin. What is the Spanish in Spain?
Re: What type of Spanish are they speaking?
by zeerine (Thu Aug 17 2006 08:20:20 ) Ignore this User | Report Abuse
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I am not sure what type of Spanish was spoken in La Mala, but I found it easier to keep up with, as in I watched it with subs, but was also able to associate spaniah words with the english words and understand the pronounciations.I actually find Mexican-Spanish harder to understand/follow.
Re: What type of Spanish are they speaking?
by gmatteucci1429 (Mon Aug 21 2006 07:57:17 ) Ignore this User | Report Abuse
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it's the perfect,proper spanish. You know, like Bristish people speak different english than Americans.I'm fluent in Spanish too, but there were things I had to watch again,it's kinda funny!
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Re: What type of Spanish are they speaking?
by zeerine (Mon Aug 21 2006 19:43:54 ) Ignore this User | Report Abuse
UPDATED Mon Aug 21 2006 19:45:29
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"proper spanish"
Yes that makes sense, because the clarity of word could only be achieved this way, also when we were taught Spanish at school, our teachers almost always spoke like the film, as in their words were pronounced really clear and they tried to not let their regional accents interfere.
Yes Gael did have to learn to, so to speak, to lose his Mexican accent. I prefer his Spansih accent rather than his Mexican accent and I also like his Argentinian accent in MCD, I find his Mexican accent to be a little to soft.
Re: What type of Spanish are they speaking?
by tecbear0 (Mon Aug 21 2006 19:59:21 ) Ignore this User | Report Abuse
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It is actually called Castellano. Spain had at least two lenguages, Castellano and Catalá. Most people refer to Castellano spoken persons as Spanish spoken but it isn't accurate as spanish actually means "from Spain". Castellano lenguage is widely spoken in latinamerica and what you speak must be a local dialect, probably heavy influenced by english lenguage, also knows as "spanglish".
Re: What type of Spanish are they speaking?
by carlossierrac (Tue Aug 22 2006 06:59:14 ) Ignore this User | Report Abuse
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It is Spanish from Spain, like English from Britain which is different from that of the USA. TecbarO is a bit confused, in Spain there are more than two languages, Spanish is spoken across the country and then there is Basque, Catalan and Galician which are spoken in certain regions. Spanish can also be called Castellano in Spain to refer to the variety of "Spain" as opposed to Spanish which is spoken internationally in many countries in South America and also in South America. Spanglish, on the other hand, is a variety of the language which can be found in the US and which is heavily influenced by English. THis variety is hard to understand for native speakers of Spanish.
Spanish is only one!
by aricdb (Fri Sep 1 2006 10:06:46 ) Ignore this User | Report Abuse
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---Spain had at least two lenguages, Castellano and Catalá---
Actually in Spain, 4 official languages are spoken: Eurkera (Vasco, in the Basque country), Catalán (in Catalonia, Valencia, Balearic Islands, Andorra...), Gallego (in Galicia), and Castellano or Español (in te whole country including regions where other languages are cooficial with Spanish).
There a lot of accents or dialects, ways to speak Spanish, in Spain people from Andalucía speaks with a compleatly different accent (Andaluz, Andalusian) than people from most of Castilla (lets say: Standard Spanish or Castillian). And of course, the accent or the way to speak Spanish in América is completly different in every country. It happens the same with english spoken by British, people from the USA, Afroamericans, Australians...
In the movie almost everyone speaks Standard Spanish, very properly. I think is the way how is teached the language. I Also think is very easy to understand for people learning Spanish. I saw the great movie 'Diarios de Motocicleta' (Motorcycle diaries) in UK with people who was learning Spanish and everybody had a lot of difficulties to understand what they said (with subtitles in english but accents from different parts of Latin America).
Re: Spanish is only one!
by ferran75 (Wed Oct 25 2006 12:17:05 ) Ignore this User | Report Abuse
UPDATED Wed Oct 25 2006 14:29:54
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I believe your explanation is the most accurate in order to understand, or even, end up this discussion about accents and languages in Spain. I'm a catalan who lives in Spain that speak catalan (indeed, a specific dialect of catalan) and spanish - castilian with a very strong catalan accent. As in almost every language in the world, spanish has lots of peculiar accents , even dialects, depending on the region of the speaker. Same happens catalan (català), basque (euskara), galician (galego)... and in italian, french, english, portuguese,... and so on. In the movie, the actors speak standard castilian (the one spoken in Madrid and surrounders - Meseta -), even though the actors are from Catalonia, Mexico, Madrid, etc... or that's what I remember... It's been a long time since I saw the movie...
By the way, good movie, some excellent photography (specially, the moment when the camera rises the scales from the street to the flat), but, in my opinion not as good as All about my mother and Volver.
To whom who haven't seen earlier movies from Almodóvar, I strongly recommend "Qué he hecho yo para merecer esto?", one of his first movies. Brilliant acting of Carmen Maura! (who also plays the role of the mother in Volver). Technically isn't perfect, but has excellent screenplay and some memorable actings. Pure Almodóvar.
(I believe Almodóvar really learned how to shoot in Live Flesh, which, on the other hand is probably the weakest of the late Almodóvar movies, mainly because the "bad acting" of the main roles)
Regards
Re: Spanish is only one!
by demonflower_honeythorn (Sat Oct 28 2006 23:27:19 ) Ignore this User | Report Abuse
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I am not a fluent speaker of Spanish/Castellano, but I personally find both Castillian and Andalusian Spanish relatively easy to understand, although I certainly find the Andalusian variety much closer to what I am most familiar with-- Mexican varieties of Spanish, as well as Central American and Caribbean varieties. I do not believe peninsular Spanish to be any more "proper" than many other dialects of Spanish- yes, these are dialects of the same language- but I do believe it to be very mutually intelligible between various dialects of Spanish, hence a good "standard" to be used in the acquisition of Spanish-language skills. However, I don't recall any Spanish teachers I ever had trying to disguise their native accents when teaching lessons. People seem to forget that whether it comes from Central or Southern Spain, Northern or Southern Mexico, Cuba, Argentina, Peru, El Salvador, e.t.c., that it is the same language that is being spoken.
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UPDATED Mon Dec 11 2006 15:14:26
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Re: What type of Spanish are they speaking?
by manicsaint (Thu Nov 23 2006 09:52:09 ) Ignore this User | Report Abuse
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dumbass....its called castilian
Re: What type of Spanish are they speaking?
by rutovsky (Thu Aug 24 2006 18:38:39 ) Ignore this User | Report Abuse
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It's Castellano, particularly with a Madrid accent. I lived in Madrid for a year so it was pretty easy for me to understand but it's also clear why most spanish speakers don't: the accent is totally diferent. It's a good movie though
Re: What type of Spanish are they speaking?
by realcarcaman (Sun Aug 27 2006 10:26:49 ) Ignore this User | Report Abuse
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I am mexican from Mexico, and was in Madrid for a couple days.It surprised me how hard it was to understand them.
Later, in Rome, i met an andalusian couple and they spoke very much like us in Mexico.They explained that they indeed had a different accent in Madrid.
I wonder if the spanish spoken in Latin America has more to see with Andalusian than with other regions of Spain.After all, the first wave of inmigrants were mainly from southern Spain.
Re: What type of Spanish are they speaking?
by amylee_rockz (Wed Aug 30 2006 13:51:11 ) Ignore this User | Report Abuse
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Really? I find exactly the contrary: the type of Spanish spoken in Andalucia is the hardest to follow. I have never been to Madrid, though, nor ever met people from there, so I can't have an opinion about that.
"A lady does not kiss and tell... well, guess I ain't a lady, then." Liam
Re: What type of Spanish are they speaking?
by zeerine (Wed Aug 30 2006 20:01:01 ) Ignore this User | Report Abuse
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Almost all of my Spanish teachers were from Madrid, I really found their accent to be the clearest.
And from what I've heard from a few people they find the Andalucian accent a nightmare to undertsnad sometimes.
Andalusia and LatinAmerica
by aricdb (Fri Sep 1 2006 10:13:20 ) Ignore this User | Report Abuse
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That's true, the accent, words...used here in Andalusia is more similar to the way you speak in LatinAmerica (in general). So, for me sounds more 'familiar' (speaking) someone from Chile or México than people from Madrid or Asturias.
Talking about my own experience, some people told me that was easier to understand me than Northern Spanish people, some others told me that was harder...I don't know...I think its depends on the way you learned Spanish.
Re: What type of Spanish are they speaking?
by pinche_nargas (Tue Sep 12 2006 01:15:13 ) Ignore this User | Report Abuse
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Spanish differs from country to country. In Spanish from spain they have a lisp so their 'Gracias' would sound like 'Grathias'. There are a few differences in words from mexican spanish but apart from that it's pretty similar.
Re: What type of Spanish are they speaking?
by suppachok_buawat (Tue Sep 12 2006 20:32:11 ) Ignore this User | Report Abuse
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They are speaking the highly annoying iberian spanish (castellano), as opposed to the mexican spanish(castellano), mother tongue of Gael.
I read someone said spanish from Spain is proper spanish, and I have to strongly disagree since there are many ways spanish can be spoken properly, and it is not related to the place. Mexico is the country with most spanish speaking people in the world, and it exercises an important influence on spoken spanish in Latinamerica. It also keeps the original sounds Z and C as "s" not the "TH" sound which is newer, thus only pronounced in Spain.
When the conquering of America took place, the spanish brought with them a language which had no "th" sound.
So, tecnically, saying GRASIAS* is purer than saying GRATHIAS*
However, the question you made is dumb.
Have a nice day.
Re: What type of Spanish are they speaking?
by zeerine (Wed Sep 13 2006 04:54:00 ) Ignore this User | Report Abuse
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There's no need to get so defensive. The question is valid, if someone dosen't know they have the right to ask, you should never say someone's question is dumb.
Re: What type of Spanish are they speaking?
by cruzeno87 (Sat Sep 16 2006 15:53:25 ) Ignore this User | Report Abuse
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I guess your spanish isnt good at all then, i'm a fluent spanish speaker and i understood everything they said, so i dont understand the problem your having, but its spanish the way the spaniards speak to answer your question.
Re: What type of Spanish are they speaking?
by david_de_jesus (Fri Sep 29 2006 12:34:19 ) Ignore this User | Report Abuse
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All versions of the spanish language are latin languages in the sense that they all derive from Castillan spanish and this "spanish" derives from the Latin language spoken troughout the Roman Empire, the same is true for Catalan, Portuguese, French, Italian, Romanian - representatives of the Latin languages family as opposed, for example, to English, German, Swedish, etc - the germanic languages.
Therefore, while it is correct to say that a form of spanish is a Latin language it is not correct to say that it is a form of Latin, Spanish evolved from Latin but it is currently a separate language, it has been so for centuries now, since standard Latin hasn´t been spoken as a current language for more than a 1000 years now.
Re: What type of Spanish are they speaking?
by amlcortez (Sun Oct 8 2006 03:16:55 ) Ignore this User | Report Abuse
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It's just as simple as Spanish in Spain is different from that in Latin America. The geographical distance brought changes in the accent and ways some words are used in south america.

Although I see you've already gotten alot of good historically-based replies (with the Catalan and Castellano thing). But whoever said it has something to do with your fluency, it doesn't, they must've learned the Spain variety of Spanish.
Re: What type of Spanish are they speaking?
by maritsa120 (Thu Oct 12 2006 05:16:19 ) Ignore this User | Report Abuse
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Spanish spoken in Latin America and the Carribean is not Spanglish. Spanglish is when you mix English and Spanish, for example, "Mira, are you going to the mercado?" Spanish in Latin America and the Carribean is actually infused with the original languages spoken in those countries and that is why it sounds a little different.
You'll have nothing and like it!
Double Farts!!!
Re: What type of Spanish are they speaking?
by thekarmapolice (Sat Oct 14 2006 00:15:34 ) Ignore this User | Report Abuse
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i have a native-spanish speaking friend and we watched this film together. her parents are mexican and we live in southern california, although i don't think her parents originated from tijuana ( i know her dad didn't)
anyway, she seemed to understand the film fine, making the occassional offhand comment on the english subtitles (well, i need them) - "what? that's not what they said!"
shhh its okay, i dont think she knew the way subtitled films work. heh.
Re: What type of Spanish are they speaking?
by firecrackergirl75 (Mon Oct 23 2006 08:35:41 ) Ignore this User | Report Abuse
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It's not dumb she speaks. It's ignorance.
Amazingly, my entire family is from Uruguay and Argentina. My grandfather from Leon, Espana. I understood everything perfectly. It is clear, and almost intoxicating to listen to properly spoken Spanish. This would not be the Spanish spoken in Mexico, with the exception of the educated folks, not the Mexican-Americans that line the borders. I live in Tejas now and have extreme difficulty understanding their version of Spanish. It is their dialect, that's fine, however it is a butchering of a fine language that is related to so many others, that frankly if you are fluent in Spanish, you can learn Italian, French and even some German quite easily.
Re: What type of Spanish are they speaking?
by fetter_fake (Tue Oct 24 2006 05:30:41 ) Ignore this User | Report Abuse
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german is very different from spanish. spanish originates from (spoken-) latin but german definitely does not.
however, the german language got influenced by the roman occupation. this is why we share some "loanwords". maybe this is what you meant?
i am from Austria btw ;-)
Re: What type of Spanish are they speaking?
by panzonito (Tue Oct 31 2006 21:49:16 ) Ignore this User | Report Abuse
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It's not surprise that out of everyone in the movie, the easiest for me to understand was Gael, and the most difficult was Javier Cámara. Other than that, the only differences between the Spanish spoken by my family and that of which was spoken by Fele Martinez was the pronunciation of certain "c" and "z" sounds which are pronounced as "th" by some people in Spain.
Re: What type of Spanish are they speaking?
by akleinenberg (Sat Dec 2 2006 23:13:18 ) Ignore this User | Report Abuse
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This is ridiculous. My grandparents are from what is now Austria (they speak German) and had had a hard time learning Spanish when they moved to Spain during the II Republic. I am from Burgos (Castilla y León) and a philologist, and people in México have a hard time understanding me. Castilian Spanish was born here in Castilla but it doesn't make our variation the "proper" or "correct" one. I find Mexican Spanish softer and better-sounding than ours (personal opinion). A lot of people think we are upset or something when we talk. I myself speak Castilian Spanish from Spain, and HAVE A HARD TIME LEARNING FRENCH!
The Spanish in the movie is the "standard" one specific to Madrid. As in Latin America, we in the peninsula have many dialects and other languages (such as Euskara, Catala, Galego,etc.). It is written the same, we just talk with different accents, which makes our language richer.
Re: What type of Spanish are they speaking?
by a_pareja (Mon Nov 20 2006 05:55:12 ) Ignore this User | Report Abuse
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The Spanish spoken in Spain is the original Spanish. That, incidentally, is why the language happened to be called Spanish (not, say, "Mexican"). Same applies to English and England, French and France... I'm sure you speak "perfect Spanish" just like a Texan speaks "perfect English" and a chap from the Seychelles speaks "perfect French" but then the stuff that's spoken in England or France or Spain must be "more perfect than perfect", as it wouldn't be logical to call it "worse".
Incidentally, I'm from Madrid, Spain, Europe, and I learnt (a form of) English in London.
Re: What type of Spanish are they speaking?
by Benji_The_MovieDog (Fri Nov 24 2006 12:01:14 ) Ignore this User | Report Abuse
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My guess is that since it is a movie from Spain that the type of Spanish spoken is what is referred to as "Castillian." This type of Spanish is not the norm in Mexico, or most of Latin America, which have their own dialects (...having been separated from the motherland for a very long time).
Hey....I get where you are coming from. I am an American and the Scottish are an English speaking people. I practically need subtitles to watch a Scottish movie, though. It may be the 'same' language, but my ears just cannot make it out (....except when they speak slowly).
Re: What type of Spanish are they speaking?
by trendspotter77 (Sat Dec 2 2006 19:19:32 ) Ignore this User | Report Abuse
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It's Castillian Spanish, the Spanish spoken in Spain, where the language truly started from. it's the "proper" correct Spanish, as in British English being the "proper" correct English (as opposed to American English).
Re: What type of Spanish are they speaking?
by polyprufrock 3 days ago (Sat Dec 9 2006 14:45:54 ) Ignore this User | Report Abuse
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I've heard that the Castilian lisp is in deference to a lisping monarch back in the days of the Armada. Imitation being the sincerest form of flattery (and also knowing what side your bread is buttered on), the courtiers took on the sound as an affectation, and the desire to be part of the "in" crowd spread the custom.
True or not, my ears appreciate Cuban Spanish, which has all the crisp enunciation of the mother tongue in central-government Spain with none of the thilly-thounding thoftneth. And since the first Spanish settlements in the 16th century were in the Caribbean, I'm betting that Cuban Spanish is actually the purest (pre-lisp) historical dialect.
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