Voices en Español

Amy Walker is an American actress with an astonishing talent for imitating accents. She can speak convincingly in a wide range of accents that would fool most people as to her true nationality.

You may remember Amy from her very entertaining 2008 video 21 Accents. Now she’s back with a short instructional video on how anyone can improve their accent in any language. Amy says the key to nailing an accent is to be intensely fascinated by the language and its native speakers.

Pick a Spanish-speaking region or country which has an accent (and culture) you find appealing and use that as your foundation. Flood your brain with audio samples (music, radio, movies, TV, podcasts, etc.) from that region or country and then try to model your speech as much as possible from that input.

Here’s a summary of Amy’s advice on how to polish any accent:

Vowels & Consonants

Learn exactly what the vowel and consonant sounds and rules are and then practice, practice, practice. This is a particularly important piece for native-English speakers learning Spanish since Spanish has only five vowel sounds whereas English has as many as a dozen sounds for the same letters. For many English-speakers, when they initially start learning Spanish, they naturally revert to using the English vowel sounds when they need to stick rigidly to the five Spanish ones.

Melody, Rhythm & Stress

This is the intonation of the language. Where and when are words stressed? What is the natural rise and fall of the spoken language? How does one reproduce the musicality of the language? I think for many people, this is the hardest part to perfect when learning a foreign language.

Grammar & Vocabulary

Know which grammar structures and regionalisms, etc., go with the Spanish accent you are trying to duplicate. For example, you may be able to do a good Argentine accent, but if you use expressions that are used primarily in Mexico while you are visiting Buenos Aires, it may seem odd.

Think about what it would be like to hear a foreigner with an impeccable American accent using British English words such as “lift” or lorry” instead of “elevator” or “truck.”  You might wonder how they were able to nail the accent but missed learning some basic rules about British vs. American English.

Find the “vibe”

By this Amy means that you need to find the inherent character and personality of the language and then fake it until you make it.

PART I

PART II