Ask Chaka: i think this question has been answered before

Monday, April 24, 2006

Can Peru people distinguish differnt (southern) American accents?

Special K said...: I'd bet they could once their English got good enough. By the end of my stay, I could tell the difference between two of the 5-6 distinct regional dialects in Venezuela, but that was it. So maybe Peruvians would need a year or so to really pick up on the Boston/NewYork/Midwest/Canadian varieties while only a few months for the West Coast and southern styles. Just a guess.; 10:15 PM
Chaka said...: I endorse Special K's assessment, although I think it would be more difficult for a Spanish speaker to hear differences in English pronunciation than the other way around. English has a lot more vowel sounds than Spanish, so a Spanish speaker would have to train their ear a lot to hear the difference between southern /me:ri/ (Mary), /m@ri/ (marry), and /meri/ (merry). (Can't seem to use IPA symbols in this field, so you'll have to make do with ASCII equivalents).; 12:26 PM

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