Mar
16
Chica with 21 different accents…in English
OK, so I know this is a wee bit off topic but it’s kind of oddly related, considering yesterday’s Spanish pronunciation podcast. I find this YouTube video amusing and amazing at the same time. Amy Walker, a 25-year-old actress from Seattle now living in Philadelphia, can speak in 21 different accents. Unfortunately, she doesn’t do a Spanish accent. Maybe in the sequel?
What do you think of her accents? Which ones are your favorites?
What a vocal chameleon!
I like her American accents, they sound really real to me.
I’m also wondering; what would her real accent be like?
She’s from Seattle, Washington, so that “accent” she did for Seattle is her real voice. She’s very talented. Her European accents, especially the London, Irish and Eastern European ones, were spot on. I thought her weakest accent was the Brooklyn, NY one. A little too exaggerated. But over all, an A+.
I found her web site. There’s more video and audio of her doing her thing there: http://www.amywalker.info
Also, a Q&A with her here: http://blogoscoped.com/archive/2008-03-03-n15.html
That’s pretty impressive, but you’re right, it would be nice to hear some different Spanish accents. I would love to hear someone who could do different Latin American Spanish accents, Andalusian Spanish accent, etc. I have personally only heard what Spain-Spanish sounds like, as I have never been to anywhere in South or Central America. Can anybody attest to some of the differences between Spain Spanish and Latin American Spanish (from any countries in particular)?
Jeffrey,
I discovered a promising web site the other day that has some accents of people from Puerto Rico, Cuba and Venezuela.
http://lab.chass.utoronto.ca/rescentre/spanish/
Every Spanish-speaking country has a different accent but it’s kind of hard for me to generalize in writing and say how they are different. The Argentine accent, at least the accent from Buenos Aires, is easy to distinguish because of the way they pronounce the “ll” and the cadence is kind of sing-songy.
BBC Enlace is a great podcast to hear different accents. They usually tell you what country the speaker is from.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/podcasts/enlace/
Wow! These are fantastic websites. Thanks for pointing these out. Before a week or two ago, I didn’t even know about any of these Spanish Podcast websites, but they are so useful to developing good listening comprehension and writing skills in Spanish.
@Jeffrey: I’ve just left a comment on another post here, but in case you don’t see it, you can hear and compare various different Spanish accents in a little audio library that I have been working on.
http://es-xchange.blogspot.com/2008/03/seseo-ceceo-and-ye-or-some-major.html
¡Caramba!
[...] that talented actress who did the 21 accents in English? Well, we knew it was just a matter of time before somebody would follow her lead and do the same [...]