After 10 years of living in France, I decided to lean into my bad accent there. When people commented on it, I'd say (in French) "yes but you'll remember me now". As I was selling my wine to them, this was actually a very useful marketing tool.
Still, I can't say it didn't hurt when after 20 years in France, you'd meet someone who exclaimed on how bad my French was after all this time. But they were invariably Parisians (usually Parisiennes - why were the women ruder?) and they're famously dismissive of anyone not from Paris.
After 25 years in France I decided that my French was good enough now that I could turn my language massacring attentions on someone else. We moved to Spain. Initially Sanlucar which I'm sure must rival Utrera's accent for impenetrability. Now, in Galicia which I find easier to understand (no lisp).
And it cracks me up that the Spanish think I'm French because of my "accent".
Love how you leveraged the accent as a marketing tool, that's hacking the system! 😂 I've spent time in Sanlucar (the tortillitas de camarones at Balbino make my mouth water just thinking about them) so I can empathize with the accent struggles there too. Agreed that the accent in Galicia is substantially easier, probably even more appreciated after your experiences in the South!
I laugh when I hear people complain about Spanish bureaucrats. They're absolutely lovely after the French.
Pontevedra's oficina de estrañeros (did I get that right?) were faced by a real problem when we converted our residency to permanent a few years back. My American wife got her temporary residency because she's married to an EU citizen. But in between, Brexit happened. It was a real conundrum for them and it took them 4 months to figure it out. But they did it whereas in France I'm sure all we would have heard was "Ce n'est pas possible".
I can relate. My husband and I have lived in Barcelona over a year now, and are still trying to understand the accent/way of speaking here. People will shorten "Hasta luego" to "Ha le" or "mas vino" to "ma vino".... lots of dropped syllables and shortened words. Definitely makes learning the language trickier (not to mention having to learn to recognize when people are speaking Catalan and not Spanish).
It is funny though when people say I have an American accent. Doesn't really matter to me, so long as people can understand my Spanish, I don't feel any need to come across as not a foreigner.... even if I get the accent perfect enough to fool locals, my idioms and behaviors will give me away anyway.... we have an American friend here who is obsessed with passing as a native and it's totally exhausting to be around him sometimes 😆
Interesting yes it seems the shortening of words happens beyond just Andalucia. I'm even falling victim, the other week I asked the frutero for tomates "más duro" but I said "ma duro" and he paused and was like "Espera, quieres MÁS duro o MADURO??" haha.
And love your perspective on the accent and that you just naturally felt that way, I feel so much lighter now that I've come around to your perspective.
Aiss Fernando que alegría verte por aquí y gracias por tus palabras! Y me encatado que te haya hecho gracia tb lo del huevo kinder, fue una broma andaluza de 10 jajaj. A ver si nos vemos todos pronto!
Yup, I feel ya. An even more depressing experience was when I went up to ask someone something and before I could say anything, they immediately spoke to me in English. How did you know? I asked. You have guiri eyes. 🥴👀🥺😭
This is the grace I need to give myself when it comes to Italian. Honestly, I’m over trying to perfect it. I’ll always be humbled by corrections from my neighbors and by the fact that just traveling to the next region can leave me baffled by dialect words... or that Romans casually chop off the second half of words altogether. Whatever. I’m trying my best, and I’ll take that!
The way different regions speak can really keep us on our toes as we're learning the language! Love that you’re embracing the journey, imperfections and all. Like you said, it’s all about doing our best and enjoying the process, even if the words (or half of them!) don’t always come out perfectly.
I studied abroad in Madrid and more recently lived in Mexico for many years. I used to not speak much because I was soooo embarrassed by how “gringa” I sounded! I majored in Spanish in college and had the HARDEST TIME in a phonetics class…I couldn’t roll my r’s. (Is this because I also cannot roll my tongue? Sometimes I wonder…)
Now in Italy, I def don’t sound Italian but I embrace it whenever I’m asked where I’m from. I find that Italians are impressed I try at all and/or they enjoy practicing their English with me.
I now think that all accents, including mine, are beautiful.
Yes you totally get what I went through, that's exactly how I used to feel. Love that you've come around on embracing it too, ultimately it's a part of what makes us, us!
I hear you! It also used to bother me when I lived in London when people asked me where I was from because of my accent and, ironically, now that I live in Ireland at first people don't trust me because I sound British 🤣🤣🤣 PS: the Kinder Egg joke is top tier!
I aspire to get to the stage where my Spanish is so proficient that I get offended when people ask me where I'm from 😂😅 good for you, you're obviously close to native, and it's great if you can embrace your accent as being a part of you and your story.
Accents are so beautiful! They are a part of your story. I love when English speakers have accents it’s so cute. I’m sure there are people that think my Italian is cute even tho I’ll never be able to say the number 3 😂
After 10 years of living in France, I decided to lean into my bad accent there. When people commented on it, I'd say (in French) "yes but you'll remember me now". As I was selling my wine to them, this was actually a very useful marketing tool.
Still, I can't say it didn't hurt when after 20 years in France, you'd meet someone who exclaimed on how bad my French was after all this time. But they were invariably Parisians (usually Parisiennes - why were the women ruder?) and they're famously dismissive of anyone not from Paris.
After 25 years in France I decided that my French was good enough now that I could turn my language massacring attentions on someone else. We moved to Spain. Initially Sanlucar which I'm sure must rival Utrera's accent for impenetrability. Now, in Galicia which I find easier to understand (no lisp).
And it cracks me up that the Spanish think I'm French because of my "accent".
Love how you leveraged the accent as a marketing tool, that's hacking the system! 😂 I've spent time in Sanlucar (the tortillitas de camarones at Balbino make my mouth water just thinking about them) so I can empathize with the accent struggles there too. Agreed that the accent in Galicia is substantially easier, probably even more appreciated after your experiences in the South!
Galician accent to my Venezuelan ears sounds like Portuguese compared to Andalusian😄
🤣 I would imagine that the Spanish are much more generous to anyone trying to speak their language - accent or not - than the French.
Oh god, yes.
I laugh when I hear people complain about Spanish bureaucrats. They're absolutely lovely after the French.
Pontevedra's oficina de estrañeros (did I get that right?) were faced by a real problem when we converted our residency to permanent a few years back. My American wife got her temporary residency because she's married to an EU citizen. But in between, Brexit happened. It was a real conundrum for them and it took them 4 months to figure it out. But they did it whereas in France I'm sure all we would have heard was "Ce n'est pas possible".
🤣🤣
Hi! I'm potentially moving to Spain next year with a low-intermediate level of Spanish. I am finding your posts very informative and reassuring :)
Audrey thanks so much for sharing, don't hesitate to reach out throughout the process if there's any help I can provide, hope you make it out here! :)
Thank you!! :))
I can relate. My husband and I have lived in Barcelona over a year now, and are still trying to understand the accent/way of speaking here. People will shorten "Hasta luego" to "Ha le" or "mas vino" to "ma vino".... lots of dropped syllables and shortened words. Definitely makes learning the language trickier (not to mention having to learn to recognize when people are speaking Catalan and not Spanish).
It is funny though when people say I have an American accent. Doesn't really matter to me, so long as people can understand my Spanish, I don't feel any need to come across as not a foreigner.... even if I get the accent perfect enough to fool locals, my idioms and behaviors will give me away anyway.... we have an American friend here who is obsessed with passing as a native and it's totally exhausting to be around him sometimes 😆
Interesting yes it seems the shortening of words happens beyond just Andalucia. I'm even falling victim, the other week I asked the frutero for tomates "más duro" but I said "ma duro" and he paused and was like "Espera, quieres MÁS duro o MADURO??" haha.
And love your perspective on the accent and that you just naturally felt that way, I feel so much lighter now that I've come around to your perspective.
Me encanta la historia Sam. Tiene mucho merito lo que has hecho y cómo lo has hecho. Es super divertida y real como la vida misma.
Pd: me ha costado "pillar" lo del huevo Kinder pero he acabado imaginándome a un andalú pronunciando esas palabras. Buenísimo 🤣🤣
Aiss Fernando que alegría verte por aquí y gracias por tus palabras! Y me encatado que te haya hecho gracia tb lo del huevo kinder, fue una broma andaluza de 10 jajaj. A ver si nos vemos todos pronto!
Yup, I feel ya. An even more depressing experience was when I went up to ask someone something and before I could say anything, they immediately spoke to me in English. How did you know? I asked. You have guiri eyes. 🥴👀🥺😭
Guiri eyes 🤣🤣
Meaning “foreigner eyes”?
Yes, usually reserved for the Anglo-Saxon or northern European look. 👩🏻🦰👱🏻
This is the grace I need to give myself when it comes to Italian. Honestly, I’m over trying to perfect it. I’ll always be humbled by corrections from my neighbors and by the fact that just traveling to the next region can leave me baffled by dialect words... or that Romans casually chop off the second half of words altogether. Whatever. I’m trying my best, and I’ll take that!
The way different regions speak can really keep us on our toes as we're learning the language! Love that you’re embracing the journey, imperfections and all. Like you said, it’s all about doing our best and enjoying the process, even if the words (or half of them!) don’t always come out perfectly.
I studied abroad in Madrid and more recently lived in Mexico for many years. I used to not speak much because I was soooo embarrassed by how “gringa” I sounded! I majored in Spanish in college and had the HARDEST TIME in a phonetics class…I couldn’t roll my r’s. (Is this because I also cannot roll my tongue? Sometimes I wonder…)
Now in Italy, I def don’t sound Italian but I embrace it whenever I’m asked where I’m from. I find that Italians are impressed I try at all and/or they enjoy practicing their English with me.
I now think that all accents, including mine, are beautiful.
Yes you totally get what I went through, that's exactly how I used to feel. Love that you've come around on embracing it too, ultimately it's a part of what makes us, us!
I hear you! It also used to bother me when I lived in London when people asked me where I was from because of my accent and, ironically, now that I live in Ireland at first people don't trust me because I sound British 🤣🤣🤣 PS: the Kinder Egg joke is top tier!
Just as bad in Murcia. It was explained to me as being the equivalent of Essex!
Ok I have one friend from Murcia and have to agree! It's not just Andalucía which the challenging accents, desde luego!
I aspire to get to the stage where my Spanish is so proficient that I get offended when people ask me where I'm from 😂😅 good for you, you're obviously close to native, and it's great if you can embrace your accent as being a part of you and your story.
Haha you'll get there Kaila, once you're living here I'm sure you'll see huge progress!
I love "andalúj" I'm Venezuelan and we also cut syllables and words. Like in people in Las Canarias.
Accents are so beautiful! They are a part of your story. I love when English speakers have accents it’s so cute. I’m sure there are people that think my Italian is cute even tho I’ll never be able to say the number 3 😂