Interview with an au-pair in Spanish, along Amsterdam canals

[markforda1]

I am sorry but im Argentine and my opinion is that you dont speak very well but at the same time I dont know where you learned or how long you have been learning also I am led to belive that this was scripted

[irishpolyglot]

@markforda1 How could this 17 minute video have been scripted?? Or more to the point, what makes you think it is?

Let me guess - you are coming here from Steve Kaufmann's video? Honestly, the point of your message is quite silly. I'm both speaking badly AND reading a script? People's need to insult my level is getting quite desperate. You try performing an interview while controlling a boat and avoiding ducks, and I'm sure you'll be distracted too.

[frosty321]

@markforda1 The question is, Who cares about your opinion? LOL

[Ifan8430]

@markforda1 I speak Spanish, I think he speaks fine........

[markforda1]

@Ifan8430 Ummm ... you speak Spanish or you are a native speaker of Spanish ???

[Ifan8430]

@markforda1 I am not a native speaker, but I speak Spanish. BTW, sorry it bothers you so much that he says his Spanish is C2.

[markforda1]

@Ifan8430 I am not saying he can't speak Spanish but in his Mandarin video he claims to speak both Spanish and French at a C2 level. I went to school in Spain (and studied teaching English at a European standard) I taught English in Spain and Argentina for 8 years and Spanish in the US for 7. YOU DO NOT SPEAK AT A C2 LEVEL !!! From the second he opens his mouth a native speaker would know he is not not a native and he stumbles with words and pronunciation. Making him not a C2 level speaker.

[MrLinguaphile]

@markforda1 Ah, but the C2 level does not require that you speak at a level where natives think that you are, yourself, a native. It requires that you speak the language with a great deal of fluency. And he does. The girl, who is a native Spanish speaker, stumbles over her words almost as much as he does. Does that mean she is not C2 level? I speak English natively, and even I stumble over words sometimes. It is often difficult to know the right word to use.

[irishpolyglot]

@markforda1 The caps lock assertion of some random Youtube commenter means nothing when I tell you this: the Instituto Cervantes awarded me with a C2 diploma. This simply cannot be debated. I have a C2 level in Spanish, end of discussion.

Please do some research to find out what C2 means. I've sat 2 C2 examinations and can tell you all about it. It doesn't mean no accent. As @MrLinguaphile pointed out, the native I was interviewing also stumbled and hesitated to find certain words

[2294luis]

Hablas muy bien el Español te felicito, a por cierto la chica estaba muy bonita

[markius94]

about what web page she talked (she find her "family" on this web where she lives now)?

[sbkpilot11]

accent is typical of what you would hear in Spain...the s is so soft you can't even hear it so Inglés becomes Inglé... LOL! takes a bit of getting used to the sound...

[Shadowsilas]

@sbkpilot11 lol i havent studied the european spanish accents but I really like the way they sound.  So far ive been focasing on central american and south american. The "s" seems pretty universal, I like how in some south american countries "ll" and "y" becomes "ch" though idk if they do that in spain. I know they turn y and ll into sh sometimes. What i really like is the j sound has a hacking to it :)

[rclvb]

hey a question where is the man from? and how much languages does he know?

[IWantSoundKnowledge]

no! yo quiero ir a espana pero esta chica dice que no hay trabajo! y tambien una pregunta para ti, como puedo cambiar mi acento Mexicano a Espanol?

[OleLaZeta]

@IWantSoundKnowledge

comienza de hablar con la "zeta"

[leilarulos]

Que bueno! Estoy evaluando irme como Au pair pero no manejo el ingles y esto me alento

[zy0potdark]

Where is she from? her accent is funny.

[irishpolyglot]

@zy0potdark Read the description or listen to the introduction! Gran Canaria is said various times.

Her accent is only funny if you are not used to European Spanish accents in general, but the Canary islands variation is has interesting differences.

[pinkfox2691]

her spanish is annoying -.- i prefer other accents

Su espanol se escucha bien raro, osea prefiero escuchar otros tipos del espanol. Se oye como una nina chiquita, vavosa e mongola!!! jaja

[kyubisharingan]

I'm sorry but I think she is gorgeous omg. Braces or not there is just something her that attracts me.....I never knew of Gran Canaria till I saw this video. Definitely a place to visit in the future

[greekgoddesstv]

hola, este invierno me quiero ir de au pair pero tengo muchas dudas me podrias poner en contacto con tu amiga para que me informe sobre la agencia que se ha ido ella? que e visto otras pero dicen que es la au pair la que tiene que pagar el vuelo y la academia, me harias un gran favor muchas gracias :) un beso

[HolyEric]

Her accent was very interesting to me. My friends all have accents from PR, Mexico or DR so it's nice to hear a more Spanish Spanish.

[croemy]

@HolyEric lol she is from Islas Canarias, they have an accent similar to southamerican spanish, that's why she does not pronounce the "theta" sound.

[heladinyk]

@HolyEric she spaeks with a different accent from the Peninsulan Spanish. In fact,when Canarians come to Madrid for expample, we often think they are from South-America. In the Canary lslands they speak very similar to people from Venezuela. This accent she speaks was a huge influence in many American countries. Venezuela would be the first but it is also an influence on Caribbean accents...if l ever meet this girls without knowing she is from Spain, l´d say she's Cuban.

[Tafur444]

guapisima tu amiga.... manda el Facebook!...habla como cubanita!...

[irishpolyglot]

@Tafur444 Si, es super guapa!

[samuraialfredo]

your pronunciation is almost perfect! Can you reach this level in a language without moving to the country??

btw, the girl in the interview is gorgeous. Lucky man :-D

[irishpolyglot]

@samuraialfredo You could theoretically do it. I've met people with perfect British accents in English without ever leaving their home country. It's about constant use and spending time with natives whenever you can.

[irishpolyglot]

@MoonlightHorses Yes, she's very charming!!

[frosty321]

That girl was gorgeous

[irishpolyglot]

@frosty321 ;)

[frosty321]

@irishpolyglot Does Elizabeth have a facebook page or website I could visit?

[TheDukeOfEden]

At first I could not place her accent. I thought she could be Colombian or Venezuelan, so it was interesting to find out she was from Gran Canaria. The accent is very different from mainland Spain. Anyway, this was very informative! Thanks for sharing your experience with us Elizabeth.

[neohotch]

@TheDukeOfEden

I'm from Venezuela, and here we have a lot of immigrants from the canary islands, some of my classmates and friends have Canarian ancestors, especially in Caracas, so our Spanish accent is heavily influenced by Canarians, this linguistic resemblance is very common in the Caribbean, especially Cuba and Puerto Rico.

[TheDukeOfEden]

@neohotch that's interesting. Thanks for sharing that with me. 

[daylightmontes]

Hola Benny, te mando saludos desde Guadalajara, México.

Te felicito por ser una influencia muy buena para los que aprendemos idiomas,

hace un tiempo lei tu libro y me parece que es muy interesante,

tome algunos ideas de ahí, pero también a la par estoy desarrollando mi propio método.

Por el momento estoy aprendiendo ingles, después seguiré con Portugués.

Cuídate mucho hermano, y mucha suerte en esta travesía.

[Dacud]

Thanks for the subtitels, i learn a lot when i listen to the spanish language, and read the subs at the same time.

Btw, Wat doe je in Amsterdam?

Groet, Jan

[irishpolyglot]

@Dacud Dank je wel Jan! Ik woon niet meer in Amsterdam!