According to a front page article in today’s Washington Post, Telemundo, the Spanish-language television network,
teaches its actors — whether they hail from Cuba, Argentina, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru or Chile — to speak like Mexicans.
….
For the past year, Telemundo has been employing on-set dialogue coaches to “neutralize” the many national and regional Spanish accents of the network’s actors….
Mexican Spanish, Telemundo says, hits a middle ground between Colombian Spanish, which the network considers too fast and terse, and some Caribbean accents that are too slow and imprecise. Telemundo executives say Mexican Spanish is the broadest-appeal, easiest-to-understand Spanish — if Telemundo’s coaches can iron out its typical sing-song cadence. In other words, it becomes the Nebraskan of Spanish.
The strategy has brought criticism from some quarters, such as Colombian television and cultural critics, who fault Telemundo for “Mexicanizing” the accents of its Colombian actors. Many Colombians believe their Spanish to be the purest spoken.
[Telemundo president James M.] McNamara disagrees, offering a different analogy. “It’s more the Americanization” of telenovelas. Which may be even worse for guardians of Hispanic culture, who fear that the United States-fueled homogeneity in media will eradicate national and cultural identities.
Imagine that! National differences among “Hispanics”! Next time you read about “Hispanics” being “underrepresented” here or there, ask yourself whether that means Colombians, Cubans, Costa Ricans, etc., and whether those trying to correct this “underrepresentation” with preferences care.
If they’re looking for a standard, why not Spanish Spanish?
Maybe because the Spanish are part of the educated, elitist European snobs.
Maybe we Americanized them more than we thought.
They’re going for the lowest common denominator. Mass marketing.
Colombian Spanish is “too fast and terse?” Give me a break! I’ve found Colombian Spanish to be among the easiest accents to handle, and it’s one of the most articulate (as one who has Spanish as his 2nd language). It, along w/Costa Rican, Chilean and Venezuelan Spanish, has been the easiest for me.
OTOH, Puerto Rican, Panamanian and Argentinian Spanish is difficult to grasp if you’re not used to it.
ARE difficult to grasp….
“If they’re looking for a standard, why not Spanish Spanish?”
Because thats not what their audience understands? Why don’t our newscasters speak like the queen?
Actus tiene razón.
Here is Southern California, Mexicans are the mass audience and the political power (among Latinos). They have strong opinions about the rest of Spanish speaking America–Cubans are snobs, people from Argentian and Chile are European, Guatamalans are bumpkins, Coasta Ricans are white, etc, etc. My husband, a chef, is fluent, but when we were in Europe, all the Spaniards we met were politely horrified by his camposino accent. Mexicans here assume he’s an Anglo who grew up in Mexico. Old World Spanish is like us speaking Elizabethean Enlgihs.
To compare, it’s more like airline pilots sounding like “good ol boys” than the rest of us sounding like we’re from Omaha.
Here is Southern California, Mexicans are the mass audience and the political power (among Latinos). They have strong opinions about the rest of Spanish speaking America–Cubans are snobs, people from Argentian and Chile are European, Guatamalans are bumpkins, Coasta Ricans are white, etc, etc. My husband, a chef, is fluent, but when we were in Europe, all the Spaniards we met were politely horrified by his camposino accent. Mexicans here assume he’s an Anglo who grew up in Mexico. Old World Spanish is like us speaking Elizabethean Enlgihs.
To compare, it’s more like airline pilots sounding like “good ol boys” than the rest of us sounding like we’re from Omaha.
What you are seeing is the standardization of accent in media to a national norm in the US. The same thing happened with English. After all, how many national broadcasters do you hear with strong regional accents? And unless an actor specializes in regional roles, it is rare to hear anything but the Midwestern standard accent that is right out of central Indiana/Illinois/Iowa. Good grief, they go to voice coaches to train the accent out of their voice.
DIFFERENT KINDS OF SPANISH
John Rosenberg notes how the Spanish language network Telemundo “…teaches its actors — whether they hail from Cuba, Argentina, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru or Chile — to speak like Mexicans.” Now, you may be wondering “What’s the difference?” This is …
Telemundo ‘Mexicanizing’ Spanish
In an effort to appeal to a broad range of Hispanics Telemundo teaches it’s actors to speak ‘Mexican Spanish.’ (Telemundo)…
I think that Telemundo producers are just jelous of the Colombian accent, because they dont have it themselves. That is why they are trying to make the Colombian actors, sound boring and dull like the Mexicans. Colombia is the best spoken spanish! why dont they just try to make Mexican actors sound more Colombian?
If you go to Mexico or you see Mexicans, they’re almost impossible to understand because their dialect and accent is more of ‘Indian Spanish’, and if you go to Spain or see Spaniards, you can understand them better because of their white dialect and accent.