Language 197the south. Today, television and radio help to homogenise
Chilean Spanish. There are, however, noticeable differences
in accents, usually based on socio-economic background.
As in most countries, the upper classes and the educated
speak a more refined language than the lower classes.
Pronunciation Guide:
The ‘d’ is lost in the endings -ado and -ido: hablao (hablado)
The ‘d’ is almost lost in the endings -ad and -ud: verdá (verdad),
salú (salud).
The intervocalic ‘d’ is almost lost: deo (dedo), náa (nada).
The intervocalic ‘r’ is weak: páa (para).
The omission of the intervocalic ‘g’ is considered vulgar: juar
(jugar).
The ‘s’ may be pronounced completely (asno), aspirated (ahno),
assimilated (anno) or completely omitted (fóforo).
The ‘ch’ may be more fricative, or similar to the ‘sh’ sound. For
example: Shile, Pinoshet. However, this is considered to be a sign
of a lack of culture.
Chileans tend to put in a rolled ‘r’ sound before certain words that
they would like to emphasise—Rrrrrr—bueno.A large part of what gives foreigners that foreign sound in
Spanish is the pronunciation of a sentence. The individual
words are often pronounced well, but that is precisely the
error. It is the nature of Spanish to start every syllable with
a consonant, thereby frequently linking one word with the
next. For example, “Los amigos aman a las Ariqueñas” will be
pronounced in everyday speech like this: “Lo sa mi go sa ma
na la sa ri que ñas.” Listen to Chileans in natural conversation
to get a feel for this. Our best advice on picking up a good
accent is to study intently the lips and tongue position and
to imitate it. It takes training to make your mouth take these
shapes. An English accent in Chile has been compared to
talking with a hot potato in one’s mouth. Laura remembers
that her mouth ached when she started to learn Spanish
in earnest. But realistically, anyone who learns a language
after puberty will have some trace of an accent.