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Peter

Aug 24, 2009, 10:29 AM

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Como El Beso

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A Spanish-speaking friend in the US one day asked me to watch as he held a thin strip of paper in front of his mouth as he spoke English. The paper danced around from the air passing through his lips as he spoke. He again placed the paper strip to his mouth and spoke in Spanish, it didn't move. That was the first practical demonstration I witnessed that gave me a clue to the changes I would need to make to begin more proper pronunciation of Spanish.

I commented to a co-worker about that demonstration. He said there is an old saying that you SING Italian, SPIT English, GARGLE French, and VOMIT German. There was no mention of Spanish, however, and it was up to me to find my own description. It seemed to me speaking Spanish was something done primarily with the lips and tongue. My Mexican friends were delighted with my analogy that speaking Spanish was como el BESO.

(This post was edited by Peter on Aug 24, 2009, 10:40 AM)

Carron

Sep 18, 2009, 9:26 AM

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Re: [Peter] Como El Beso

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A young waiter in Chiapas who was studying relatively advanced English said the best thing his teacher ever did was to explain that English is spoken from the throat, while Spanish is spoken with the tip of the tongue against the back of the front teeth.

You should have heard my teenage daughters make fun of the way I first tried to pronounce feria! It came out something like FAY-ree-yah. But when I flipped my tongue against my teeth it was much easier to say Feh-dee-ah, which was much closer to the correct Mexican pronunciation.

Vichil

Oct 5, 2009, 11:22 AM

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Re: [Carron] Como El Beso

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To a French ear, Spanish sounds more like a machine gun than a beso but then to each ear its own impression. English is spoken without opening your mouth, Italian is sung and German is guttural. French sounds just about perfect.

gpkisner

Oct 6, 2009, 12:42 PM

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Re: [Vichil] Como El Beso

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French sounds like verbal diarrhea--Mexican Spanish sounds like singing.

sergiogomez / Moderator

Oct 15, 2009, 10:17 PM

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Re: [gpkisner] Como El Beso

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Maybe I should be ashamed to admit this, but my favorite use for French is making fun of it!