The Spanish Inclination
A poem by Ian James McKenzie about Spanish... and how the pronunciation of her consonants, while a thing of beauty from the lips of a native speaker, can sound rather like a speech impediment to the beginner...Â
The Spanish Inclination
‘Volver!’ Say it with a softened ‘b’…
Tricky, if like me, you are
Not inclined to speaking
In foreign tongues; though
I love the sound of it,
The words do not slip from
My mouth so glibly…
And the thinly disguised soft
Consonantal ‘C’ in English hands
Is like a speech impediment,
Ungraciously mocked by
Undiscerning, insensitive
Anglo-Saxon monoglottal oiks!
And round it comes again;
‘Volver!’ With its soft and
Bulbous V’s, evolvingÂ
And revolving as you speak.
It trips off the Spanish tongue
So easily, with such hotÂ
And breathy elan! But sadly
It only stumbles clumsily
As it trips gauchely over mine…
IM-10th October 2020
Ian wrote this after joining in with a Thursday QUILT* last week, in which we discussed the Almodóvar classic film, "Volver"
*Quite Interesting Little Talks, provided free of charge by Same-Sky Languages. Join us!Â