Mexico, the southernmost country in North America, is known for its breathtaking natural beauty. Visitors from all over the world travel to Mexico to see the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, the Arch of Cabo San Lucas and the Copper Canyon. Home to approximately 130 million inhabitants, Mexico hosts the remnants of a number of ancient civilizations. These include the Aztecs, Mayans, and Olmecs. With so many cultural influences, Mexicans speak some 69 recognized languages, the vast majority of them indigenous to the country.
Among those dialects, Spanish is the country’s de facto language and is spoken by the vast majority of its citizens. In fact, Mexico is the world’s largest Spanish-speaking country. As you might imagine, Mexican Spanish incorporates a number of different accents, which can make accent softening a useful tool for call centers and similar industries. Here’s a look at the top accents in Mexico.
What is an Accent?
Let’s begin here. In a nutshell, an accent is how a person pronounces a language. It can reveal the speaker’s socioeconomic, geographical, and ethnic background.We all have an accent, by the way, even if you never thought so. But if you’re from the U.S. East, for example, imagine how you must sound to someone living in the American South.
What is Mexico’s Linguistic History?
The country’s linguistic history has deep indigenous roots dating back around 5,000 years. By 2,000 BC, three major language families were already established, including Mayan, Mixe-Zoquean, and Oto-Manguean. Major civilizations such as the Aztecs and Toltecs each spoke distinct languages, with Uto-Aztecan emerging as the Aztec Empire language.
Spanish accompanied the arrival of Hernan Cortes in 1519, and it soon became the language of governance, education, and religion. Early in the Spanish colonization period, missionaries learned and used indigenous languages for evangelizing.
Over time, however, Spanish supplanted indigenous languages. Following Mexico’s 1821 independence, Spanish remained the dominant language, and the proportion of indigenous language speakers fell markedly. While Spanish is the mother tongue for most Mexicans, indigenous languages continue to be vital in a number of communities, particularly in rural and southern areas.
Due to the United States’ cultural influence, American English is widely understood, particularly in tourist regions and border areas, with a hybridization called “Spanglish” spoken.
Framework call center leaders can use to prioritize which AI solutions to implement first
Prioritizing Call Center AI Solutions
Top Mexico Accents
The country has a bountiful variety of Spanish accents, reflecting its diverse cultural and geographical influences. These accents are generally recognized as the top eight:
Chilango (Mexico City)
This accent is known for its musical intonation and sing-song quality, with the final word of sentences commonly elongated. As the “standard” Mexican accent, Chilango is widely understood across the country. Consonants are pronounced with crispness and clarity, owing largely to prominent “s” sounds. In some words, vowels are downplayed or dropped altogether.
Tapatio (Guadalajara)
Known for a sing-song rhythm with highs and lows, Tapatio elongates and emphasizes the last words in sentences, which end on a down note. Associated with the cultural capital of Jalisco, the accent has a distinct musicality. The accent is largely spoken in Guadalajara as well as similarly outside the city, on the edge of Lago Chapala in the town of Ajijic.
Northern Mexican (Sonora, Chihuahua, and surrounding states)
This accent is straightforward, assertive, and direct, with crisp articulation of consonants such as “s” and “r.” Typically, vowels are shorter and the speaking pace is moderate. This makes the accent easier for those learning the language to understand. The Northern Mexican accent has a chopped or “tough” feel and is frequently compared to a Texas accent in English.
Coastal (Tobasco, Veracruz, Guerrero, Baja California Sur)
This accent is spoken quickly and softly, producing a low hissing sound (especially in “h” sounds) and frequently muddying vowels. It’s more fluid and less harsh than the Northern accent. A distinctive feature is the aspiration of, or loss of, the final “s.” For example, “los amigos” can sound like “loh amigo,” as influenced by Canarian and Andalusian accents.
Yucatán (Yucatán Peninsula)
This accent is influenced by Mayan language intonation and sounds like a combination of Portuguese and Mexican Spanish. Yucatecan often shortens or “eats” syllables and consonants, rendering the accent somewhat explosive. Its expressions and vocabulary are unique and can sometimes be challenging for other Mexicans to understand.
Central Mexican (Puebla, Zacatecas, Jalisco, and surrounding areas)
This accent is similar to Mexico City but is characterized by more pitch and stress variations. Consonants are fully articulated and vowels usually lose strength relative to other varieties. The accent is frequently described as “cantadito” (which means “like singing.” Within this group, Puebla, especially, has a more pronounced accent.
Western Mexican (including parts of Colima and Michoacán)
Features here are shared with the Guadalajara accent, except that the Western Mexican accent has its own distinct rhythm and pronunciation, frequently influenced by local indigenous languages. Vowels are pronounced clearly and are usually more open than in other Spanish dialects.
Southern Mexican (Chiapas, Oaxaca)
This accent tends to have a unique vocabulary and intonations, differing a great deal from northern and central accents. Influenced by indigenous languages, the Southern Mexican accent is known for its comparably slower pace. Speakers commonly drop or soften consonants, particularly at the end of words or syllables. Vowels tend to be more drawn out.
Accent Reduction, Call Centers, and Tomato.ai
Mexico’s rich mosaic of languages notwithstanding, people are often judged by how they speak. It is a fact. It’s also common for those who have speaking patterns that are perceived as unfavorable to find their accent an impediment to employment.
That is especially true for positions, such as call center agents, that call for a lot of verbal communication. For many offshore representatives, English is a second, third, or even fourth language. Callers often deem such accents “foreign” or undesirable, even if subconsciously. Consequently, such agents are frequently treated rudely and impatiently by customers, who sometimes even question their competence. That’s where accent reduction can come into play.
With its accent softening tool, Tomato.ai has the answer. Its AI linguistic filter clarifies offshore agents’ voices in real time, changing words into those that sound to callers like a language’s native speaker. The result of accent neutralization is better customer experiences, perceived intelligibility, and call center performance.