Tamos sala'o

This is why we say "estamos salado," we're jinxed, except with a local accent it sounds more like "tamos sala'o."

I preface my comment by acknowledging that no doubt there are some skilled language instructors in Zihuatanejo.

Decades ago I asked an ex-pat American how I could get Spanish instruction in Zihuatanejo. He paused and said, “I guess you could come to Zihuatanejo to learn Spanish, but it would be like going to Alabama to learn English. Everyone would know where you learned Spanish.”

He went on to describe that he had moved to Zihuatanejo in the early 70’s and learned by living. Several years later when he thought his Spanish was good he started driving around Mexico. People would struggle to understand the Spanish that he spoke with no problems in Zihuatanejo.

I have had two employees for years. I converse with one of them in Spanish. I am unable to understand the Spanish of the other, older employee. The younger (early 60s) employee has to “translate Spanish to Spanish” for me to understand.

If you can understand costeño then it helps a bit to understand accents such as Cuban and Puerto Rican and most of the Caribbean Spanish accents that are a bit similar since they all tend to "eat the s" as we say. But it doesn't help with Argentinian Spanish which sounds a lot like Italians speaking Spanish, and Chilean is a bit similar but yet distinct. Some use the "vosotros" form instead of "ustedes", and then there's Spain where many people from Madrid speak such a rapid-fire Spanish that it sounds like they're wired on speed or coke, oh and they pronounce the "c" and the "z" like "ethe". Inland Colombia is the country whose accent sounds the most like Mexico's, and it takes a good ear to distinguish the difference between someone from Bogotá and Mexico.

Television can help a lot with dominating Spanish. The national news tends to use simple language. International sports tends to have commentators from Argentina and Spain. Novelas are fun but they seem repetitive after a while, but they help teach you contemporary Spanish including different accents in Mexico, from the modismo-rich barrios of Mexico City to the lyrical accent of Mérida. Older movies are the best for learning since they still projected their voice in those days instead of all the damn whispering they do now. Once you get to where you understand Cantinflas, the master of the double and triple entendre, you can feel confident with your Spanish.

https://youtu.be/bKjn26agAEs