What about going to Malta?

I wonder what they would do if they imitated Spaniards' accent!
Check the official video, and also a version that goes a bit slower, and has subtitles.
Yes, not so politically correct for a university course...but that's life!
Enjoy it!
Here the official video:





And here a more "pedagogical" version

Comentarios

  1. Very funny video :), and yes, when you go there think about the life there with humour.

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  2. Nice video! it remembered me when I was in London and I asked a beard in a pub. Very good the images of Luigi and Mario, de goldfather with the horse and the waiter.

    David

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  3. The video “what about going to Malta” reminds me of an amusing anecdote about the first time I visited London. I was 20 years old and my English pronunciation left a lot to be desired. One night I went to a typical English pub with my friends and I was very eager to practice my English. So, I plucked up the courage to order the beverages: a beer, a glass of white wine and a “light cock” for me. The waiter roared with laughter and asked me: “A light cock? “Are you sure?” I hesitated and then said: “of course, I am”. “You mean a diet coke” – he said. After talking with my friends I understood that I had ordered a not heavy penis. From then on I learnt how to order a coke in English.

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    Respuestas
    1. Very funny! I am sure many waiters in London pubs have experience with Spaniards' accents :)))

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  4. That is a very funny anecdote Fran :)

    One has to be very careful because for some reason, if you mispronounce a word, very often you are pronouncing a swear or sex-related word. That was very funny anyway and I am sure you laugh every time you remember it.

    I also went to London when I was 24 and I also remember a pronunciation mistake I made. It is not as fun as yours, but I remember one day I had soup for dinner and one of my flatmates asked what I had had for dinner. I wrongly pronounced it like the word "soap". My flatmate said that it was disgusting and I got very confused until I realised what was happening. Pronunciation is always very important!

    Bye!

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  5. Hi David,

    Pronunciation is vital. I suppose a soap is not very tasty.

    Hugs,

    Fran

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  6. LOL. It is sooooo funny I love this stereotypes, I find them funny and just right in some cases. I leave you a link here about Italy vs. Europe. I must admit that Spain has a lot in common with Italy in this video, and after living in different parts of Europe, I have to admit that in this case stereotypes are kinda true.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxqwXNfYmOQ

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  7. First of all, the video is absolutely hilarious. It shows a very important aspect of learning a foreign language - that is pronunciation. The ideal way of studying a language would be to learn how to pronounce first and then how to write. If we do it the other way round we may end up mispronouncing words and failing the communication process. It may leave us embarrassed and confused.
    I think it´s a great video and extremely convincing for the students, because nobody wants to be misunderstood and laughed at while travelling abroad.

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  8. About the video, I would like to comment some aspects that I have found interesting concerning pronunciation too.

    It is interesting how Italians make similar mistakes when compared to Spanish speakers. It is clear that both Italian and Spanish are Romance languages and consistently we share very similar sounds.

    For instance, a very common mistakes that we Spanish and Italians share (as it is shown in the video) is the lack of distinction between long /i:/ and short /i/when pronouncing English. That fact leads us to confuse words both when we hear and pronounce them. That is the case of the words “piece” versus “piss” and “sheet” versus “shit” in the video. Confusing those vowel sounds usually leads you to pronounce a swear word, provoking funny situations or just making you or others confused. The same happens with other vowels which do not have equivalent sounds in Spanish or Italian.

    It is also interesting that even if Italian and Spanish have very similar sounds, they are not exactly the same. Thus Italians have problems to pronounce letter “h” in words such as “happen” or “hotel” (as it is heard in the video), because in Italian that letter is always silent and they do not have any similar sound in their own language (letter “J” is not pronounced like in Spanish either, and the sound does not exist). That is why they fail pronouncing it.

    All these facts show how our mother tongue influences our pronunciation of a foreign language and how speakers of similar languages tend to make similar mistakes.

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  9. What an extraordinary video is this. It is, in fact, real life. When you are learning a language you can have problems if you mispronounce words, as it is the case. Sense of homour is very important at this phase of learning a new language, otherwise it can be a very frustrating experience! Anyway, I like the video, much more than the “pedagogical” version.

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  10. Hi, everybody!
    It´s a really funny video. It reminds me a personal experience when I was in Italy two years ago. I don´t know how to speak Italian, so I spoke all in English. Once in a restaurant, when the waiter brought me the bill I said "Grazis milis" instead of "Grazie mile", and suddenly the waiter started to laugh and I was surprised.
    After that, I knew the waiter was from Spain and he said me: "I realised you are from Spain too, because of your accent when you have tried to speak in other language".
    So, the accent is really important, because a word can sound in a different way if you add or quit a letter, lol.

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  11. This video reminds me a very funny situation that happened to me in UK. I was in a B&B asking for some sheet to the owner. I got confused and I was asking for a sheep instead. She burst into laughter and I suddenly realized about the mistake and I started to laugh too.

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