This is Patrick from LSLC
Many of you have read my email where I mentioned the following:
“The teleclass that we had on Tuesday was awesome! I recorded the class. Here´s the link to download the mp3 recording of the class:
http://www.verbarrator.com/tele/021610ITS.html
One caller asked Alvaro (our instructor) a very interesting question. The caller asked (and I am paraphrasing):
“I am watching the novelas to improve my listening comprehension. I am still having trouble understanding everything. Why is that?”
Alvaro said that many times the pronunciation in the novelas is not like the pronunciation of a news caster but more like how people speak in normal everyday conversations. Very fast and without every syllable clearly enunciated.
And then he gave an example to explain what he meant.
He said that when he first moved to New York City he said that he would hear people on the street greet people with certain utterances. He said that the greeting-utterance sounded like “wassup” or “wadup.”
He said that at first he didn´t understand the “sound” and wondered what did “wassup” or “wadup” mean. And then he eventually figured out what this utterancemeant.
“Wassup” or “Wadup” was how people in New York were pronouncing “What is up?”
He never mentioned if he started greeting people in the streets of Nueva York with “Wassup” or “Wadup” or not. (I imagine he did.)
But he did give an example of how some native Spanish speakers pronounce “buenos días.” Which sounded like anything but “buenos días” to the ears of a native English speaker.
He also said that you have to just learn that “sound” means “buenos días,” and learn that certain utterances mean certain words or phrases in normal everyday conversational Spanish. And the only way to do that is by exposing yourself to the language more and more. So keep wathcing those novelas!”
Well in response to that email one customer emailed me the following:
“Patrick, in the membership site that you are planning to offer us, I think it would be a good idea to have some audio recordings from regular native Spanish speakers in the membership site.
Instead of having voice over professionals or actors, I´d like to hear unrehearsed conversations from regular folks. I am talking about native Spanish speakers who have recently arrived in the States and who may be manual laborers, restaurant workers, etc. Not because I want to mimic their pronunciation.
But so that I can become accustomed to hearing how regular Spanish-speaking folks sound instead of listening to actors and voiceover professionals who intentionally pronounce every word and phrase clearly. That is what I find in every Spanish course. Give us something different.”
After reading that email, I mentioned the idea to a couple of LSLC instructors. They said “para nada!” (no way!) When I asked why not they said that they are concerned that if our students listen to speakers who are not trained professionals, they may learn improper pronunciation, and possibly improper vocabulary and grammar.”
But you know what . . .
We are here to serve you. So tell me what do you think of the idea of having a section in our upcoming membership site with audio recordings of native Spanish speakers who are just normal folks instead of trained voice over professionals and actors. The recordings will NOT be “lessons.” Just recordings of unrehearsed conversations along with the transcripts to the conversations.
Please post your opinion by clicking on the link next to “What do you think?”