Should you worry about your English accent when speaking Spanish?

Peggy Hill speaking Spanish

Over at Latinish.com, Tracy López recently posted her contribution to the latest meme sweeping YouTube and Facebook: S#!+ Salvadorans Say. The video is a cute montage of the things Salvadorans say. Now, I’ll point out, in case you didn’t notice, that Tracy is gringa. But I think she has great Spanish pronunciation. However, she has received a lot of negative comments about her accent on YouTube (which of course happens on YouTube). This prompted her most recent post, Erase or Embrace the Accent?

As I said previously, I think Tracy has great pronunciation. And pronunciation is different than an accent, in my opinion. I think it is possible to be well understood, but still not have the sounds of a native.

A little background about me: I’ve said before that I’m not a native Spanish speaker. Even though I am of half Mexican heritage, I grew up in an English only environment. I’ve learned Spanish as an adult, mostly teaching myself.

I know that I will never sound like a native. It doesn’t seem to matter how much I practice or how much I listen, I know I will always retain a little bit of an English accent when I speak Spanish.

I used to feel self-conscious about this. I used to think people would not like the way I sound. Both English and Spanish speakers have always complemented me on my Spanish. And like Tracy, I’ve wondered if it was because I could muster more Spanish than the customary greetings.

I personally have made peace with my accent. I know I’m not perfect. I know I will make mistakes when speaking Spanish, and some of them will be funny or strange. (And I know that I don’t sound bad like Peggy Hill.)

I will keep on learning and practicing my Spanish, hopefully getting a little bit better each day. I hope you will, too.