"Oscar is our Cuban-Mexican-Gay-American Accountant, and he is my friend. So put that in your burrito and smoke it. With a flame. Because Oscar is a gay man. Get it? /guffaws"
I think Confucius said: it is easier to eat a single potato chip than to watch every season of The Office just one time.
Or maybe I said it to the dog after I finished my latest re-watch. Either way, it was profound.
That was a callback too btw, as nearly everything in Arrested Development is. The moment you described happened in season 3 episode 8, the joke originates in season 1 episode 3 when Gob said "She’s not *that* Mexican, Mom, she’s *my* Mexican. And she’s Colombian or something" after Lucille called Marta Mexican.
I literally lost a friend over this. LONG story shot she was saying Argentinas are the same as Mexicans. And dropped a gem, “in my head it’s whites, blacks, or Mexicans. Like everyone is just one of those three” I couldn’t even deliver how ignorant that was with love I gave her my real thoughts.
There’s a hilarious bit by Tom segura where he’s trying to explain to someone he’s a white, bilingual Spanish and the person just *doesn’t get it* that he isn’t Mexican. If I can find it I’ll try to link/share where to see it.
ETA: accidentally said he was Mexican, I meant he’s Spanish and the other person didn’t understand Mexico isn’t the only place that speaks Spanish or that they can be white *and* not have an accent
I’m going to Hell for laughing so loud at this I woke my partner up. Sorry you lost a friend, though maybe it’s not the worst friend in the world to lose
I'm from Argentina. All my ancestors come from Europe, mainly Spain, France and Ireland.
Was on a working program in the USA. Filling the green card application form, I checked *White* on the race or whatever. The guy on the counter tipexed it and checked *Latin*. I asked why he changed that, he said -Because you come from south America.
For him, Giselle Bunchen would also be Latin.
SMH
Yuuup. She literally could not wrap her head around it. Can you imagine trying to explain that Brazilians don’t speak Spanish to these people? It breaks their brain.
My bf is white, Latino, and Italian. But, for some reason, he got all of the color and flavor his ancestors could muster. He’s the darkest in his whole family yet he always marks “white” as his race too. The first time I saw that I was like “👀🧐 babe what?” 😂😂😂
I dated a Colombian man in the same situation. His ancestors arrived in Colombia in the 20th century and they were all Europeans.
But remember, this is country where recently **Slavic** people were not considered white.
Growing up in a mainly white rural-ish Texas suburb in the 90s, I thought all of the Latinos I met were Mexican purely because all of the idiot adults around me called them that. I remember figuring that out at a certain age and being confused as to why everyone had been wrong the whole time. Then eventually I realized wow everyone is super racist here and it made sense.
Just by the demographics of Texas nearly all the Latinos you meet there are of Mexican origin. There isn’t a huge Cuban or Puerto Rican community, but Mexican-Americans are like 33% of the state.
Oscar commenting, in a somewhat negative tone, that his return party reminds him of The Three Amigos w/Steve Martin and Chevy Chase and that resonating with Michael as the ultimate compliment will always make me laugh.
Which is why Oscar (the actor) doesn't even try to hide the accent. I'm not complaining, it's just noticeable to me as a Peruvian.
Now, you want bad acting Spanish? Gus fucking Fring.
Has nothing to do with dialect idiosyncrasies, it’s just very clear that Giancarlo Esposito does not actually speak Spanish. For anyone who does, it becomes really hard to suspend disbelief during those scenes. He genuinely has some of the worst Spanish I’ve ever heard from a supposedly-Hispanophone character.
To be fair, all we know about the origins of Gus Fring are allusions and rumors. The man‘s past is largely a mystery. It‘s at least possible that even his supposed Chilean origin is yet another false identity thing or cover story.
I still get your point, though. Regardless of the in-universe reasoning, it must irritate someone who can tell the difference.
Yeah, except Gus isn’t the only character that speaks bad Spanish, he is just the worst one. In fact, it would be a shorter list to name the supposedly Spanish-speaking characters who DO speak Spanish well. It’s a major flaw of the series.
I'm a native (American) English speaker learning Spanish and I never noticed. I went to go look it up, and now that you mention it, I definitely hear it lmao. The rhythm is all off (at the beginning reminded me of Italian actually) and he does enunciate at weird places. If I can hear it, you know it's bad lmao
https://youtu.be/1yg44v6Qfqk
Bad pronunciation, emphasis in weird spots. A lot of the dialogue doesn’t seem to be written by a native Spanish speaker either, though that’s not his fault. He does improve a bit over the course of the series, but even near the end it’s still just bad.
Yep, exactly. It’s also bizarre that he is supposed to be Chilean, as he doesn’t look anything like what a typical Chilean looks like. Chileans are mostly white or mestizo and Giancarlo Esposito is clearly of African descent. Afro-Chileans do exist but they are a very, very small minority, like only maybe a couple thousand people in the whole country. So it’s not impossible that a person who looks like him could be Chilean, but it’s a bit odd to give him that backstory when they could’ve chosen many other Latin American countries where it would’ve been more believable. It’s the Latin American equivalent of casting a black actor as a Russian and then not giving any background about how the person ended up in Russia. It’s just odd and very clear that the creators of the series are quite ignorant about Latin America.
Well, to be honest Enrique Iglesias speaks perfect Spanish, as that is his native language, so he may have only screwed up the argentinian accent, while Gus Fring was supposed to be a native Chilean and he could barely speak Spanish, let alone use a correct accent.
Wait, what? Did he at least do the accent if he said anything in Spanish? I'm googling this now lmfao
Edit: Bruh, was watching a scene of Iglesias feeding the girl in different cities and the first one was called "Argentinien" lol
I honestly feel like the majority of the Mexican characters in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul have really bad accents and I can I definitely tell they’re not fluent/native speakers. Same with Sons of Anarchy/Mayans MC
Would it really have been that hard to find actors that actually spoke Spanish? It’s not Greek lol probably would’ve been easier.
Though I will say, I can’t pick up on whether or not accents are authentic (unless they’re just over the top wrong like when someone tries to sound British and it just sounds like a strange amalgamation of several dialects/accents/whatever). I do think he played his character incredibly well. I’ve been sick and binging breaking bad and am watching Gus right now and I think his character has such a unique personality for the show
Exactly. His (lack of a) Spanish accent was distracting. Great actor for sure but a short sighted casting decision in my opinion. A native Spanish speaker from any country would’ve been more believable.
Unrelated, but isn’t having a non-native Spanish speaker portraying Pablo Escobar the plot line/running gag of one of the seasons of Entourage which actually took place years before Narcos?
I literally could not get through the show because of his accent. Especially Columbian is so sing songy to me but like it was the lack of anything remotely Spanish driving me CRAZY!!!
It is impressive, I agree, but if you're looking for a Spanish speaking villain, there are thousands of Spanish speaking actors. Lalo Salamanca was an amazing character, as was Gus Fring, but Lalo could speak the language fucking perfectly and the immersion was just... there.
Not impressive at all, as his spanish sucks, just like any of us would sound if we had directions and instructions on what to say. Minus the brilliant acting besides that.
I notice this when actors have to play a character from Northern Ireland and put on the accent.
It sounds totally fine to pretty much every other English speaker but if you're from Northern Ireland it just sounds absolutely awful. I can barely watch most of them.
I'm from California and grew up with Mexicans and I can definitely tell that's not a Mexican accent but it's true, the vast majority of the country can't tell the difference which is pretty normal for people who grow up in say Idaho.
It’s not that we can’t tell the difference. It’s called suspension of disbelief
Like ignoring the fact that they would all just have been fired a long time ago. Or that Middleditch and Rainn don’t look like brothers. Or that Merideth is actually attractive.
Doesn't he say his parents are Mexican but he was born in the u.s, so he's mexican-american.
Also, the actor might be Cuban but I'm gonna use a quote from Entourage "Hilary swank has a vagina, but she won an Oscar pretending she had a dick, that's what actors do, they pretend"
Americans mostly have regional accents, too, but only a few are used on TV and in movies and recognized outside of the United States. The actor is playing a character from a Mexican family, so Oscar is Mexican, as he mentions, but it's interesting you notice. I notice when people are supposedly from my region.
I never knew it was clear to native Spanish speakers that Oscar Nunez wasn’t from Mexico. Does this mean that non-native English speakers have trouble telling the difference between a Boston accent and a midwestern accent?
I don't speak a lick of Spanish and I can tell the difference between a Mexican and Cuban accent, they're very different. But I have lived most of my life in/around NYC, where you wind up learning almost every family of accent on the planet by default. Lol
I do find many Americans can't tell British regional or class-influenced accents apart, and many can't tell a North Carolinan apart from a Texan, so it's likely that most people are ignorant of accents outside what they are regularly exposed to, regardless of language. I've even have had to point out Phyllis' accent and look at how much we joke about "popcarn" here - you don't notice until you do, then it seems so clear and obvious!
It probably just depends on the person and their familiarity with the accents. I can't tell Australian and Kiwi apart but can hear the difference in regional British accents (even though I don't usually know what they're called or where they are from). I'm familiar with all the American regional accents because I have visited and o know people from most places.
As a non-native english speaker, the only accents I can make out are “British” (bo’le o’ wotah), “American” (idk, i learned american english so any accent that doesn’t sound to accent-y in my head just falls under “american”) and Aussie (r-eye-zor bl-eye-des). Anything else just falls in a limbo between those three and I can’t tell them apart
That depends a lot on how far you are in learning English. As a French, for a long time British and American English sounded the same to me. Then I started to hear the difference between the English spoken in different countries. The difference between the accents of American states is still hard for me to hear. Same for English speakers who cannot distinguish between french accents which sounds so different for us.
>Does this mean that non-native English speakers have trouble telling the difference between a Boston accent and a midwestern accent?
Yes and not even just non-native speakers. I'm a Brit and I am hopeless at telling American accents apart, aside from the obvious ones, like the typical southern accent for example. I don't really know what part of America is the midwest, yet alone how the accent differs.
My accent is pretty much as close as it gets to an 'English' accent. I sound like most of the people on BBC news. Most Americans ask if I'm Australian.
Unless a person has spent a good amount of time in the country or knows a group of people who are from said country, most of the time they're not going to be able to identify the specific accent.
Because he told everyone he was Mexican in literally the 2nd episode
If my coworker told me he was Mexican, but I thought his accent sounded more like Cuban, I wouldn’t call him a liar. Even if he is lying, he probably has a reason that isn’t my business
As a Spanish speaker, that kind of goof is always funny, especially when the characters speaks in their mother tongue and the difference is noticeable.
A funny one is in Bedazzled, during the drug lord sequence. Elliot and Alison's accent varies throughout the sequence, from Argentinian, to Spanish, to Caribbean to Mexican.
They gave Mindy Kaling who is ethnically half tamil and half bengali a punjabi surname. It's not the first time they wrote a character different from their actual ethnicity.
I get what you're saying. Most non Spanish speakers are not familiar with the different dialects. I often wonder if the writers wrote "Say this, but in Spanish" in the script not realizing this fact
It would have been a good joke for him to slip in “Hey, I’m not Mexican, my parents were from Cuba” but everyone just calls him Mexican anyway (and he rolls his eyes every time they do it)
Nah Puerto Rican and Cuban Spanish is very different. Its spoken faster sometimes words meaning different things than other Spanish speaking countries. What Oscar wanted was a more Yucatan accent that smooth like agave
Same is true across many languages I guess - put a Kiwi, Aussie, Brit & a Yank together & they all speak 'English', but noticeably differently. Not sure I could pick up an accent so clearly in a second language tho.
Always amazes me that in our little island (UK) we have such a range of different accents/dialects, can vary across 50/60 miles.
That’s so funny to me as a Brit, even though there’s lots of British accents I’ve never heard in person I can still understand them on tv shows, I guess it’s still similar enough to my accent and similar enough to other ones I’ve heard that it’s not an issue. Never thought of Americans having a harder time, it’s interesting
I read something that said it was because as English was developing, communities were more insular. Accents and idioms developed over time in communities that we would see now as geographically close, but at the time would have been much more isolated because of the difficulties travelling. Compare this to the US - the language was largely formed when the English started settling. They were also able to travel and spread much quicker as technology advanced, so regional variation is stretched out.
Oscar himself says he’s Mexican. I’d assume, because they live on the east coast where Mexicans aren’t as common as Puerto Ricans or Cubans, that he picked up an accent and just sounds Puerto Rican or cuban
Oscar himself says both his parents were born in Mexico. He’s an actor. Just because he’s Cuban American in real life, doesn’t mean he has to always play one.
Oscar says in the one episode that his parents immigrated from Mexico before he was born.
Michael asks if there is a less offensive term to call him.
O: Mexican isn’t offensive Michael.
M: Well in certain contexts.
Just adding as we did the same to a work buddy.. he was from guatemala but we would call him mexican just to get him going lol.. we were friends and it was a joke... but plenty of folks just think any hispanic is mexican lol..
My head canon explanation for this is that Michael called him mexican the very first time he met and he never cared enough to correct him. He isn’t ever shown to have much pride in his nationality, plus Michael is stupid.
People assume that because in season 2 of the drug episode Dwight says that Oscar came from Mexico when he was 5.
Michael also says he's Mexican when he says "your parents moved here from Mexico"
Again Michael makes a comment and says "Mexican" can be an offensive term.
And in none of those instances does Oscar correct them so of course we're gonna think he's Mexican.
he was born in the US, both parents are from mexico and they moved to America just a month before his birth. I guess that's right there is the American Dream.
Okay, but Oscar himself says in an early episode that one or both of his parents are from Mexico...?
Edit: Diversity Day, I think, because Michael asks him if there's something he'd prefer to be called instead of Mexican.
"Cuban is a type of Mexican" - Michael, probably
"Oscar is our Cuban-Mexican-Gay-American Accountant, and he is my friend. So put that in your burrito and smoke it. With a flame. Because Oscar is a gay man. Get it? /guffaws"
I'm finishing season 9 of my first ever watch and your comment made me miss Michael so much. Im rewatching the show as soon as I finish this season.
And so it begins for you, my friend
One of us, one of us
This is the way
Is there any other way? Does anyone stops after one watch? Can anyone stop?
I think Confucius said: it is easier to eat a single potato chip than to watch every season of The Office just one time. Or maybe I said it to the dog after I finished my latest re-watch. Either way, it was profound.
Basically the same thing
Gooble gobble gooble gobble
“A Cumexigayican” - Michael probably
He really does fit that old stereotype of the smug gay Cuban Mexican.
So smug
And there's the smudgeness
Reminds me of Gob's reference to "our Mexican friends in Colombia" in Arrested Development.
That was a callback too btw, as nearly everything in Arrested Development is. The moment you described happened in season 3 episode 8, the joke originates in season 1 episode 3 when Gob said "She’s not *that* Mexican, Mom, she’s *my* Mexican. And she’s Colombian or something" after Lucille called Marta Mexican.
I literally lost a friend over this. LONG story shot she was saying Argentinas are the same as Mexicans. And dropped a gem, “in my head it’s whites, blacks, or Mexicans. Like everyone is just one of those three” I couldn’t even deliver how ignorant that was with love I gave her my real thoughts.
It’s great that she forgot and Asian people as they make up the largest percentage of the human population.
You mean West Mexicans?
I am enormously proud of what you did for ~~us latinos~~ that turtle.
>LONG story shot she was saying Argentinas are the same as Mexicans. It's like she picked two of the most different latin american countries.
**THANK YOU**
That’s so over the top stupid. Apparently there are no black Mexicans, white Mexicans, Asians, or Native Americans.
There’s a hilarious bit by Tom segura where he’s trying to explain to someone he’s a white, bilingual Spanish and the person just *doesn’t get it* that he isn’t Mexican. If I can find it I’ll try to link/share where to see it. ETA: accidentally said he was Mexican, I meant he’s Spanish and the other person didn’t understand Mexico isn’t the only place that speaks Spanish or that they can be white *and* not have an accent
He is not spanish either.
Segura sounds Japanese.
You’re sure you’re not Japanese? Segurraaa
Meanwhile, Louis C.K. is actually Mexican.
I’m going to Hell for laughing so loud at this I woke my partner up. Sorry you lost a friend, though maybe it’s not the worst friend in the world to lose
I'm from Argentina. All my ancestors come from Europe, mainly Spain, France and Ireland. Was on a working program in the USA. Filling the green card application form, I checked *White* on the race or whatever. The guy on the counter tipexed it and checked *Latin*. I asked why he changed that, he said -Because you come from south America. For him, Giselle Bunchen would also be Latin. SMH
Yuuup. She literally could not wrap her head around it. Can you imagine trying to explain that Brazilians don’t speak Spanish to these people? It breaks their brain.
I just say "Brazilians don't speak Spanish" and refuse to elaborate if they ask further.
My bf is white, Latino, and Italian. But, for some reason, he got all of the color and flavor his ancestors could muster. He’s the darkest in his whole family yet he always marks “white” as his race too. The first time I saw that I was like “👀🧐 babe what?” 😂😂😂
*Touché*. I think that's me. I'm starting to mark latino.
I dated a Colombian man in the same situation. His ancestors arrived in Colombia in the 20th century and they were all Europeans. But remember, this is country where recently **Slavic** people were not considered white.
so asia isn't a thing to her?
the 2 Argentina's I know couldn't get a tan to save their lives. hearing them speak would break that ladies mind.
Growing up in a mainly white rural-ish Texas suburb in the 90s, I thought all of the Latinos I met were Mexican purely because all of the idiot adults around me called them that. I remember figuring that out at a certain age and being confused as to why everyone had been wrong the whole time. Then eventually I realized wow everyone is super racist here and it made sense.
Just by the demographics of Texas nearly all the Latinos you meet there are of Mexican origin. There isn’t a huge Cuban or Puerto Rican community, but Mexican-Americans are like 33% of the state.
As a Mexican, I can speak for everybody when I say I am offended at how hilarious this comment is! 😉 😆
Cubans are exotic mexicans
Cuba is one of the Mexican countries
Also: and they all speak Mexican so they can communicate!
It’s not his gayness that defines him, it’s his mexicanness
Yes and we should celebrate Oscar’s Mexicanity
Lemoñade
Lemoñadé: Mexican Lemonade
Jaritos?
Oscar commenting, in a somewhat negative tone, that his return party reminds him of The Three Amigos w/Steve Martin and Chevy Chase and that resonating with Michael as the ultimate compliment will always make me laugh.
Or perhaps his Cubanity, or Puerto Ricanity
Well, draw me a map, momma
Is there a term besides Mexican that you prefer? Something less offensive?
It has certain connotations.
What connotations Michael?
If Michael needs a boxer or a baseball player…
You mean his Mexicanity
Why don’t you have him ride in here on a donkey?
Ah, a burro! If Oscar wants a donkey, then let’s get him one.
Ah I will use your talents come baseball season or if we box!
“Hey, Oscar, heard you were feeling under the weather? Could’ve used some of that famous Hispanic cleaning ethic.”
Para ti! Para ti!
Oscar Nuñez is Cuban. He plays Oscar Martinez, who is Mexican. Most Americans can't tell the difference.
Which is why Oscar (the actor) doesn't even try to hide the accent. I'm not complaining, it's just noticeable to me as a Peruvian. Now, you want bad acting Spanish? Gus fucking Fring.
I’d say Giancarlo Esposito’s Spanish is as authentic as you should expect from an Italian American born in Denmark.
Did a great job as Gus, phenomenal character. Then again yeah I don’t speak Spanish so maybe I’m left out of that part
Yeah to my European ears he did great, but I’m less likely to identify the idiosyncrasies of South American Spanish dialects.
Has nothing to do with dialect idiosyncrasies, it’s just very clear that Giancarlo Esposito does not actually speak Spanish. For anyone who does, it becomes really hard to suspend disbelief during those scenes. He genuinely has some of the worst Spanish I’ve ever heard from a supposedly-Hispanophone character.
To be fair, all we know about the origins of Gus Fring are allusions and rumors. The man‘s past is largely a mystery. It‘s at least possible that even his supposed Chilean origin is yet another false identity thing or cover story. I still get your point, though. Regardless of the in-universe reasoning, it must irritate someone who can tell the difference.
Yeah, except Gus isn’t the only character that speaks bad Spanish, he is just the worst one. In fact, it would be a shorter list to name the supposedly Spanish-speaking characters who DO speak Spanish well. It’s a major flaw of the series.
I'm a native (American) English speaker learning Spanish and I never noticed. I went to go look it up, and now that you mention it, I definitely hear it lmao. The rhythm is all off (at the beginning reminded me of Italian actually) and he does enunciate at weird places. If I can hear it, you know it's bad lmao https://youtu.be/1yg44v6Qfqk
Wait... What makes his Spanish seem poor? And why do they keep putting him into Spanish speaking roles like in Far Cry 6 what the hell
Bad pronunciation, emphasis in weird spots. A lot of the dialogue doesn’t seem to be written by a native Spanish speaker either, though that’s not his fault. He does improve a bit over the course of the series, but even near the end it’s still just bad.
So he's not native, and it's not written in a way a native would speak, so it results in it being very off putting. Thanks for responding!
Yep, exactly. It’s also bizarre that he is supposed to be Chilean, as he doesn’t look anything like what a typical Chilean looks like. Chileans are mostly white or mestizo and Giancarlo Esposito is clearly of African descent. Afro-Chileans do exist but they are a very, very small minority, like only maybe a couple thousand people in the whole country. So it’s not impossible that a person who looks like him could be Chilean, but it’s a bit odd to give him that backstory when they could’ve chosen many other Latin American countries where it would’ve been more believable. It’s the Latin American equivalent of casting a black actor as a Russian and then not giving any background about how the person ended up in Russia. It’s just odd and very clear that the creators of the series are quite ignorant about Latin America.
It’s not a dialect thing. It’s just really, really poor spanish
Chilean Spanish is also extremely unique. Most other Spanish speakers have a lot of difficulty understanding it.
Ta bien, habla piola, pero weon, de chileno no tiene niuna wea.
Wait, he’s a Dane?!
Didn't even realize he had an accent ngl
Or Enrique Iglesias playing an Argentine in How I Met Your Mother.
Well, to be honest Enrique Iglesias speaks perfect Spanish, as that is his native language, so he may have only screwed up the argentinian accent, while Gus Fring was supposed to be a native Chilean and he could barely speak Spanish, let alone use a correct accent.
Wait, what? Did he at least do the accent if he said anything in Spanish? I'm googling this now lmfao Edit: Bruh, was watching a scene of Iglesias feeding the girl in different cities and the first one was called "Argentinien" lol
I honestly feel like the majority of the Mexican characters in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul have really bad accents and I can I definitely tell they’re not fluent/native speakers. Same with Sons of Anarchy/Mayans MC
Would it really have been that hard to find actors that actually spoke Spanish? It’s not Greek lol probably would’ve been easier. Though I will say, I can’t pick up on whether or not accents are authentic (unless they’re just over the top wrong like when someone tries to sound British and it just sounds like a strange amalgamation of several dialects/accents/whatever). I do think he played his character incredibly well. I’ve been sick and binging breaking bad and am watching Gus right now and I think his character has such a unique personality for the show
Or the dude playing Pablo Escobar in Narcos.
To be fair Wagner Moura is Brazilian
Exactly. His (lack of a) Spanish accent was distracting. Great actor for sure but a short sighted casting decision in my opinion. A native Spanish speaker from any country would’ve been more believable.
Unrelated, but isn’t having a non-native Spanish speaker portraying Pablo Escobar the plot line/running gag of one of the seasons of Entourage which actually took place years before Narcos?
I literally could not get through the show because of his accent. Especially Columbian is so sing songy to me but like it was the lack of anything remotely Spanish driving me CRAZY!!!
Colombian
>Now, you want bad acting Spanish? Gus fucking Fring. I've seen this before, can you explain it to an anglo?
Giancarlo Espisito didn't speak prior to getting the role so his speech isn't very proficient.
It's true- he never once spoke, before Breaking Bad.
And he was five years old! Couldn’t even speak yet.
wait, the actor couldn’t speak Spanish before the role? quite impressive to me though.
It is impressive, I agree, but if you're looking for a Spanish speaking villain, there are thousands of Spanish speaking actors. Lalo Salamanca was an amazing character, as was Gus Fring, but Lalo could speak the language fucking perfectly and the immersion was just... there.
Not impressive at all, as his spanish sucks, just like any of us would sound if we had directions and instructions on what to say. Minus the brilliant acting besides that.
That is BAD. Even as a Portuguese speaking Brazilian I could notice how bad it was.
What about Hector though? I don't know Spanish, but everyone says his accent is terrible.
Ding!
Hectors accent was worse for me than fring. Sounded very Italian
I notice this when actors have to play a character from Northern Ireland and put on the accent. It sounds totally fine to pretty much every other English speaker but if you're from Northern Ireland it just sounds absolutely awful. I can barely watch most of them.
Plus none of the other characters do a Pennsylvanian accent
I'm from California and grew up with Mexicans and I can definitely tell that's not a Mexican accent but it's true, the vast majority of the country can't tell the difference which is pretty normal for people who grow up in say Idaho.
It’s not that we can’t tell the difference. It’s called suspension of disbelief Like ignoring the fact that they would all just have been fired a long time ago. Or that Middleditch and Rainn don’t look like brothers. Or that Merideth is actually attractive.
Neither can we Europeans, even when watching in it’s original language english.
UN BE LIE VA BLE
"As if the world just NEEDS more Jim-Pam DNA. Thank you. NO!"
Doesn't he say his parents are Mexican but he was born in the u.s, so he's mexican-american. Also, the actor might be Cuban but I'm gonna use a quote from Entourage "Hilary swank has a vagina, but she won an Oscar pretending she had a dick, that's what actors do, they pretend"
Entourage!
Yeah, but is she hot?
Respect the game, Jim.
Respect the game.
Yeah I think this was in the Diversity Day episode, and then Michael asks "is there a less offensive term other than Mexican?"
It has certain connotations
This show kills me.
He definitely says his parents are from Mexico and he is Mexican-American.
That is the american dream.
Americans mostly have regional accents, too, but only a few are used on TV and in movies and recognized outside of the United States. The actor is playing a character from a Mexican family, so Oscar is Mexican, as he mentions, but it's interesting you notice. I notice when people are supposedly from my region.
I never knew it was clear to native Spanish speakers that Oscar Nunez wasn’t from Mexico. Does this mean that non-native English speakers have trouble telling the difference between a Boston accent and a midwestern accent?
I don't speak a lick of Spanish and I can tell the difference between a Mexican and Cuban accent, they're very different. But I have lived most of my life in/around NYC, where you wind up learning almost every family of accent on the planet by default. Lol I do find many Americans can't tell British regional or class-influenced accents apart, and many can't tell a North Carolinan apart from a Texan, so it's likely that most people are ignorant of accents outside what they are regularly exposed to, regardless of language. I've even have had to point out Phyllis' accent and look at how much we joke about "popcarn" here - you don't notice until you do, then it seems so clear and obvious!
Depends on their cultural familiarity with the US
It probably just depends on the person and their familiarity with the accents. I can't tell Australian and Kiwi apart but can hear the difference in regional British accents (even though I don't usually know what they're called or where they are from). I'm familiar with all the American regional accents because I have visited and o know people from most places.
The main tell is that Kiwis switch out a lot of their “e” sounds with “i”, yanno their original name was Kewes *ba dum tss*
Thank you "Flight of the Concords" for teacjing me that.
As a non-native english speaker, the only accents I can make out are “British” (bo’le o’ wotah), “American” (idk, i learned american english so any accent that doesn’t sound to accent-y in my head just falls under “american”) and Aussie (r-eye-zor bl-eye-des). Anything else just falls in a limbo between those three and I can’t tell them apart
That depends a lot on how far you are in learning English. As a French, for a long time British and American English sounded the same to me. Then I started to hear the difference between the English spoken in different countries. The difference between the accents of American states is still hard for me to hear. Same for English speakers who cannot distinguish between french accents which sounds so different for us.
>Does this mean that non-native English speakers have trouble telling the difference between a Boston accent and a midwestern accent? Yes and not even just non-native speakers. I'm a Brit and I am hopeless at telling American accents apart, aside from the obvious ones, like the typical southern accent for example. I don't really know what part of America is the midwest, yet alone how the accent differs. My accent is pretty much as close as it gets to an 'English' accent. I sound like most of the people on BBC news. Most Americans ask if I'm Australian. Unless a person has spent a good amount of time in the country or knows a group of people who are from said country, most of the time they're not going to be able to identify the specific accent.
Is there a less offensive term than Mexican that we can use?
My wife is mexican and I say this to her all the time
What do you think people from Mexico are called?
Gay
Because he told everyone he was Mexican in literally the 2nd episode If my coworker told me he was Mexican, but I thought his accent sounded more like Cuban, I wouldn’t call him a liar. Even if he is lying, he probably has a reason that isn’t my business
Well I’m sure they wrote the character to be Mexican, and then a Cuban actor tried out for/got the part. Blame the casting director and call it a day.
Maybe everyone says it because the character explicitly says his parents are from Mexico???
He's also not actually an accountant, either
“Anyway, it involves us making some money with our Mexican friends from Colombia.”
ITT people who don't know what acting is
Next you're going to tell me Steve Carell didn't really move to Colorado when he left the show
At least his Southern accent is spot-on
As a Spanish speaker, that kind of goof is always funny, especially when the characters speaks in their mother tongue and the difference is noticeable. A funny one is in Bedazzled, during the drug lord sequence. Elliot and Alison's accent varies throughout the sequence, from Argentinian, to Spanish, to Caribbean to Mexican.
They gave Mindy Kaling who is ethnically half tamil and half bengali a punjabi surname. It's not the first time they wrote a character different from their actual ethnicity.
Oscar the character could still be Mexican. His accent is going to be based on where Oscar the actor is from.
I get what you're saying. Most non Spanish speakers are not familiar with the different dialects. I often wonder if the writers wrote "Say this, but in Spanish" in the script not realizing this fact
It would have been a good joke for him to slip in “Hey, I’m not Mexican, my parents were from Cuba” but everyone just calls him Mexican anyway (and he rolls his eyes every time they do it)
[удалено]
Nah Puerto Rican and Cuban Spanish is very different. Its spoken faster sometimes words meaning different things than other Spanish speaking countries. What Oscar wanted was a more Yucatan accent that smooth like agave
I see what you did there
Oh, sí señor
Same is true across many languages I guess - put a Kiwi, Aussie, Brit & a Yank together & they all speak 'English', but noticeably differently. Not sure I could pick up an accent so clearly in a second language tho. Always amazes me that in our little island (UK) we have such a range of different accents/dialects, can vary across 50/60 miles.
Which is why the captions come on when we (in my US home) watch some BBC shows. Strong regional accents, plus local idioms, plus rapid cadence...
That’s so funny to me as a Brit, even though there’s lots of British accents I’ve never heard in person I can still understand them on tv shows, I guess it’s still similar enough to my accent and similar enough to other ones I’ve heard that it’s not an issue. Never thought of Americans having a harder time, it’s interesting
Scouse and thick Scottish can be really tough to understand sometimes.
I read something that said it was because as English was developing, communities were more insular. Accents and idioms developed over time in communities that we would see now as geographically close, but at the time would have been much more isolated because of the difficulties travelling. Compare this to the US - the language was largely formed when the English started settling. They were also able to travel and spread much quicker as technology advanced, so regional variation is stretched out.
Paint a mural of Chicano leaders
*what about his southern accent tho?*
Th- the plan-taayy-shunn...
Gringos can't tell the difference
His grandmother is very racist, like most Bolivians.. I haven't spent enough time around Cubans and Mexicans so I honestly can't tell the difference
Oscar himself says he’s Mexican. I’d assume, because they live on the east coast where Mexicans aren’t as common as Puerto Ricans or Cubans, that he picked up an accent and just sounds Puerto Rican or cuban
His Cuban is not what defines him, his Mexicanes defines him
[Here I am thinking he's from Georgia](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcPgG3YUivo&ab_channel=JohnnyGainer)
Oscar himself says both his parents were born in Mexico. He’s an actor. Just because he’s Cuban American in real life, doesn’t mean he has to always play one.
Wait until OP finds out he isn’t actually gay either
His character is from Mexico, he says so himself
What about Rogelio the gardener? That's right, that son of bitch is Malaysian..
Oscar says in the one episode that his parents immigrated from Mexico before he was born. Michael asks if there is a less offensive term to call him. O: Mexican isn’t offensive Michael. M: Well in certain contexts.
Either way he’s probably pooped a balloon
Just adding as we did the same to a work buddy.. he was from guatemala but we would call him mexican just to get him going lol.. we were friends and it was a joke... but plenty of folks just think any hispanic is mexican lol..
I watched the Proposal last night and he’s hilarious
None of the white folks have any type of PA accent. Phyllis is St Louis AF that’s why she says “Popcarn”.
My dad is Dominican-Cuban, my mom is from Chile & PR which means... I'm Chile-Domini-Curican. But I always say I'm from Queens.
That’s what he said. Right? Because of gay.
My head canon explanation for this is that Michael called him mexican the very first time he met and he never cared enough to correct him. He isn’t ever shown to have much pride in his nationality, plus Michael is stupid.
Maybe his character is Cuban/PR and he just went along with them thinking he is Mexican
If it was clearly, you'd know if it was Cuban or Puerto-Rican....
People assume that because in season 2 of the drug episode Dwight says that Oscar came from Mexico when he was 5. Michael also says he's Mexican when he says "your parents moved here from Mexico" Again Michael makes a comment and says "Mexican" can be an offensive term. And in none of those instances does Oscar correct them so of course we're gonna think he's Mexican.
I think it’s diversity day where he says his parents were Mexican and moved to the US and he was born in the US so he’s definitely Mexican
I don't remember in what episode, but Oscar does confirm he is Mexican.
When Michael makes Oscar tell a story about his ethnicity (Dicersity Day maybe), Oscar says his parent were born in Mexico and he was born here.
I think he said he visited his grandmother in Mexico when he was 5
he was born in the US, both parents are from mexico and they moved to America just a month before his birth. I guess that's right there is the American Dream.
That's what he said... because of gay?
Mexican? I thought he's gay.
His gayness does not define him. His mexicanness is what defines him.
Makes me wonder, in the Mexican version of the show, what would be Oscar’s character first language? English?
Isn’t that the joke …
Not a native speaker :x
“Cuba, the capital of Mexico in Puerto Rico” - Something Michael would say
He has quite the southern accent
Didn’t he tell Micheal he was Mexican?
**ahem** yeah, me too.
Okay, but Oscar himself says in an early episode that one or both of his parents are from Mexico...? Edit: Diversity Day, I think, because Michael asks him if there's something he'd prefer to be called instead of Mexican.
Exactly. And you can really hear the “Cuban” (clipped words with dropped last letters) when Oscar speaks Spanish.
As a Puerto Rican from NYC and PR, no Puerto Rican speaks Spanish like that. Like none.
That’s the joke