CANARIES VS ESPANA AND ACCENT DIFFERENCES

HOLA MI AMIGAS, IS THERE A RIVALRY OR POLITICAL ISSUES BETWEEN THE CANARIES AND SPAIN,BY THAT I MEAN,DO THE CANARIES WANT TO BE SEEN AS A COUNTRY OR COUNTRIES IN THEIR OWN RIGHT,NOT ATTACHED TO SPAIN,I SUPPOSE,IN MUCH THE SAME WAY AS SCOTLAND{WHERE I AM FROM!} WANT TO BE SEPERATE FROM ENGLAND? ALSO,THE CANARIANS HAVE A DIFFERENT WAY OF SAYING THINGS,I.E,IN SPAIN YOU WOULD PRONOUNCE Z AS TH,WHERE AS IN CANARIES ITS Z OR S AND CE IS PRONOUNCED AS CE NOT THE,AM I RIGHT IN SAYING THIS,ONLY,THE TIMES I HAVE USED MY SPANISH IN THE CANARIES,THEY SAY IT DIFFERENTLY TO ME" THIS IS VERY CONFUSING,I HOPE SOME ONE CAN HELP! GRACIAS GRANDE BESOS XXXXXXXXXXX

Hi Maria, I am also from Scotland and I visit Tenerife which is in The Canaries regulary as I have an apartment there. You will find these slight different pronounciations are just like here. What I mean is a person from Aberdeen say will have a different dialect from a person from Glasgow. You will find the dialect in The Canaries is similar to Andalucia in Southern Spain where the "C" and "S" sounds are different from the rest of Spain. Here in Tenerife they call the local buses the Gua Gua instead of Autobus. Also bear in mind that they have their own language in Galicia and the Basque country in Spain. Hope that helps a little.[/b]

Hi Maria, can you imagine a Spanish person learning English trying to translate something that Rab C. nesbitt has said?? and don't forget little beauties like "och aye the noo" regards Lee

We can't really complain about regional differences, when we're probably the world's worst :wink: Listen to the differences between a Cockney, a Northener (like me), a Scouser, and a Brummie! :shock: I tend to get to the Canaries at least once a year, usually Gran Canaria or Fuerteventura, but also like to travel to mainland Spain (Barcelona, Valencia) and it's true, the main difference is in the pronunciation of sibilants, the soft 'th' of the North ( and all the 'Sale' signs in the shops appear to be bilingual, with 'rebajas' next door to 'rebaixes' ) whereas, in the Canaries, the 'S' is oddly either more pronounced, or missing altogether, so 'Los dos' becomes 'Lo do'. My first experience of this was in a store run by a Chinese lady, so I didn't realise it was actually a LOCAL accent :) This is rather like the South American pronunciation, where 'S' is barley audible, or becomes a nasal sound, as if spoken by someone with a cold and a lisp at the same time :? so 'lo mismo' becomes 'lo mihmo' Thankfully, if you stick to what is known as 'standard' Spanish, they'll all understand you and,so long as you're aware of the differences, you'll probably understand them too. Poor South American joke . . a little boy comes home and asks his Mother 'what's the plural of "El Lobo"?' 'Easy' she says 'it's "Lo Lobo" :|