As someone who has been studying Spanish for a while, I occasionally get frustrated with my language learning journey. As one of my instructors said to me, “you will always speak Spanish with a Gringo accent, but if your pronunciation and grammar are correct, don’t worry about it. The idea is to communicate.” That I can do as long as we are not chatting about the theory of relativity, the philosophy of Descartes or other such esoteric subjects.
In my case that Gringo accent has a strong southern component to it…picture Gomer Pyle speaking Spanish, instead of “Golly, Sargent”, it is, “¡Caramba! Sargento.” I came across this quote that I can really relate to.
“Do you know what a foreign accent is? It’s a sign of bravery.” — Amy Chua