Do I have an accent in Swedish? (Skandinavisk & Nordisk) Language Learning Forum

Do I have an accent in Swedish?
Tags: Voice Recordings \| Swedish \| Accent
Language Learning Forum : Skandinavisk & Nordisk

symphony Triglot Newbie United States Joined 5611 days ago 3 posts - 3 votes Speaks: Swedish, English*, French Studies: Japanese	Message 1 of 7 18 December 2011 at 8:41am \| IP Logged
	Hello, everyone. I've always been kind of curious about this--I've spoken Swedish from birth because my mother is from Sweden (Västergötland to be exact), but I have never really lived in Sweden; I've only visited for, at most, two month-long periods. My Swedish friends and relatives tell me that when I speak Swedish I don't have any particular "dialekt," or an accent that makes me sound like I'm from a particular area in Sweden, but they also say that I don't really have an American accent either. So, I'm interested to hear what the native Swedish-speakers here think of my Swedish accent! Here's a link to where you can hear me reading a passage in Swedish: http://vocaroo.com/? media=vQ9AgOY7PP9lNpMiZ (It takes a few seconds before the audio starts--sorry about that!) And here's the passage I'm reading (from "Efter maskeraden" by Marie-Louise Nilsson): Du kommer ut och kvällen är mörk. Torget ligger öde. Några snöflingor dalar i skenet från en lykta. Musiken finns inom dig. Du ser mot bron som leder bort till slottet. Flak av is glider förbi i strömmarna under brovalven. Du tänker att hon åkte över denna bro. Nej, det var en annan bro, en äldre, en av trä, illa tilltygad av hästspann och foror. Himlen är svart som sammet och staden ligger inbäddad i mjuka drivor. Du kan höra ett avlägset ljud. Det låter som galopperande hovar och en knirkande vagn. Annars hörs ing- enting. Så plötsligt, tystnaden bryts av ett skott, två skott. Efter det tredje segnar han ner. Det oerhörda har hänt. Man har dödat en kung. En man i vit mask och svart domino flyr. Hans skugga löses upp i grändens mörker. Nu är du där. Operahusets massiva portar sluts bakom dig. Kristallkronorna i foajén har slocknat. Scenen är tom och publiken har gått hem. Du står ensam kvar utanför. Ser upp mot himlen. Flingor smälter på din kind. Thanks a lot! Edited by symphony on 18 December 2011 at 8:43am 1 person has voted this message useful
jeff_lindqvist Diglot Moderator SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6908 days ago 4250 posts - 5711 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French Personal Language Map	Message 2 of 7 18 December 2011 at 10:45am \| IP Logged
	You don't sound American, that's for sure! If I had heard the clip without knowing your background I might have assumed you were originally Norwegian. Whereabouts in Västergötland? I was thinking a little bit more about Dalsland than Västergötland. Unexpected pitch accent in "hovar" (nothing wrong, it just didn't match your prosody), short vowel in "portar", hesitation in "foajén". Edited by jeff_lindqvist on 18 December 2011 at 10:45am 1 person has voted this message useful
tractor Tetraglot Senior Member Norway Joined 5452 days ago 1349 posts - 2292 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, Catalan Studies: French, German, Latin	Message 3 of 7 18 December 2011 at 10:51am \| IP Logged
	First of all: I'm not a native speaker of Swedish; I'm a native speaker of Norwegian. To my Norwegian ears, you sound like a Swede. I wouldn't be able to locate your "dialect", although I'd rule out both Skåne and Norrbotten/Lappland. I didn't notice anything American in your accent. The only "strange" thing I noticed, was the way you pronounced the word "foajén", but I'm a Norwegian, and for all I know, you may have said it just like it is supposed to be done in Swedish. 2 persons have voted this message useful
laiwai Diglot Groupie SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6841 days ago 66 posts - 71 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: Portuguese, Mandarin	Message 4 of 7 18 December 2011 at 11:17am \| IP Logged
	It sure sounds like "Västgötska" to me, exept for the instances Jeff pointed out before. 1 person has voted this message useful
Hampie Diglot Senior Member Sweden Joined 6658 days ago 625 posts - 1009 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: Latin, German, Mandarin	Message 5 of 7 18 December 2011 at 11:59am \| IP Logged
	Dear lord… Your pronunciation is amazing! The only thing I would have to say is that your stress is to soft, you get the tones correct (they can vary depending on the dialect, but they sound rikssvenska to me), but you don’t put enough stress on the words. Maybe it’s just me, but you sound very lågmäld, so to say. Especially when reading poetry the stress is important for the rhythm of the poem. There’s absolutely nothing american at all in your pronunciation. 1 person has voted this message useful
Ari Heptaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 6581 days ago 2314 posts - 5695 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese Studies: Czech, Latin, German	Message 6 of 7 18 December 2011 at 5:02pm \| IP Logged
	Yeah, no American accent but it still sounds just a bit … off, to my ears. I can't put my finger on it, but something in your accent is non-standard. But had I heard it in person I'd just have assumed you were from a rural area whose dialect I wasn't familiar with. 1 person has voted this message useful
symphony Triglot Newbie United States Joined 5611 days ago 3 posts - 3 votes Speaks: Swedish, English*, French Studies: Japanese	Message 7 of 7 18 December 2011 at 6:37pm \| IP Logged
	Thanks for all the replies, everyone! Ari, that's usually the response I get from most people. It's usually something like "Jag vet inte vad det är, men något låter konstigt..." If I remember correctly, one of my cousins told me once that I don't really make my words all "flow" together like a Swede would, which seems pretty close to what Hampie said. Something is a bit off with the "rhythm" of my speech. Jeff, my mother is from Mariestad, and most of my family lives around there. Since I've grown up mostly in the United States, though, for the most part all I've ever heard is my mother's Swedish. And that makes it pretty difficult for me to understand anyone with a different accent than "Västgötska." I think it's so odd how most people don't hear too much Västgötska in my speech, since that's what I grew up hearing. Apparently my mother's accent somehow managed to not get transferred to my speech. Laiwai, what makes me sound like I speak Västgötska? I personally have almost no idea how distinguish different "dialekter," except I know that they use a guttural R in the south as opposed to the R I use. And quite frankly, I had never seen the word "foajén" before and had no idea how to pronounce it, so I just gave it my best guess. Also, I've never really spoken with anyone about "hovar" or "portar," so it's not very surprising to me that my pronunciation of those words was a bit off. Thanks again, all! Edited by symphony on 18 December 2011 at 6:39pm 1 person has voted this message useful

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