Films and Phonemes

Good morning,

I often use the Spanish Developmental Norms chart in my report-writing and evaluations of children who speak Spanish and English or who have Spanish-influenced English. The chart is found here on the ASHA website http://www.asha.org/uploadedFiles/practice/multicultural/SpanishPhonemicInventory.pdf#search=%22spanish%22.

Having a chart is helpful but there are also dialectal differences that you need to hear to get used to. I notice that final consonant sounds are often produced very soft or dropped entirely and the /s/ is produced differently in Spanish than in English. One of my mentors once pointed out to me that when a /d/ is produced in between two vowels it often sounds more like a voiced "th" sound.

My favorite ways to listen for and pick up on how sounds are actually produced by native Spanish speakers is to speak with native Spanish speakers. My second favorite way? Movies! That brings us to. . .

The Movie Review

Today I am going to review two Spanish-language movies both made in Mexico. The first is Sin Nombre, written and directed, by Cary Fukunaga. Please be warned that this movie contains graphic violence. Sin Nombre is a true romantic tragedy in the vein of Romeo and Juliet. This film is gritty, beautifully shot and has a great soundtrack. It follows two stories, that of Casper, a Mexican teen moving up the ranks of the mara  salvatrucha gang (known to us as MS-13 in the USA). And that of Sayra, a Honduran teenager, traveling with her father and uncle on a terrifying train journey to the United States. The dialects in this movie are sometimes difficult to understand. Luckily, the movie is good enough to watch over and over again. 

Find Sin Nombre's IMDB page here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1127715/

Miss Bala was directed by Gerardo Naranjo and written by Mauricio Katz and the director. Viewers should take note that this movie also contains graphic violence and violent sexual content. This may not be a good date-night movie. Miss Bala follows Laura as she enters a beauty pageant and somehow becomes embroiled in terrifying gang violence. I think that this movie is less about a story and more about how people (especially women) are continuously exploited, terrorized, trapped and victimized by the drug war on the Mexican/United States border. This movie was filmed beautifully, and has great acting. However, I wouldn't say that it is fun to watch. I think that great films can be tragic and even difficult to watch at times if they contain some hope. Sin Nombre, The Shawshank Redemption, and Life is Beautiful come to mind. 

Find Miss Bala's IMDB page here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1911600/

My rating scale goes from a 1 (¡Que feo!) to a 10 (¡Buenisimo!) Overall I decided:

Sin Nombre- 10/10  ¡Buenisimo! 

Miss Bala- 7/10 Mas o menos, esta bien 

Please, please, please feel free to leave movie, TV show or music recommendations in the comments or, send them to me at mikahstuible1@gmail.com. Also, comments, opinions, questions, information or examples of Spanish language sound production or any aspect of Spanish language are always invited and appreciated. 

Tengan una buena semana. 

Mikah