perfidy

Here's an interesting article in the WaPo about efforts by the Telemundo network to train all its in-house actors and personalities to speak Mexican Spanish, which the network considers to be the equivalent of American Newscaster English.

There's some interesting stuff in there, particularly about Colombia's sensitivity to the changes ( it turns out that Colombia thinks they speak standard Spanish and resent their native actors going Mexican) and about the need for Telemundo to take any advantage they can in competing with Univision, a network more than three times Telemundo's size.

In all, it's both gratifying to see that Spanish language entertainment is becoming truly internationalized on a large scale, and a little bittersweet that I might no longer have the pleasure of wrinkling my brow in consternation as I try to follow the harsh fricatives and clipped speech of an Argentinian soap actor speaking his native accent. Accent standardization is a sign that the Spanish entertainment industry is mature and expecting great future growth.

(Thanks to Casper at blogcritics.)

[wik] As for Colombian being standard Spanish, that's simply crazy talk. My brother in law is Colombian, and I have more trouble understanding his family's clipped, fast conversation than I do understanding my Madrid-born boss, the Mexicans and Dominicans at the local bodega, or the excited ranting of Mexican soccer announcers (of course, "GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL!!! is universal).