|
 |
Are we all a bunch of wusses? | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Envinyatar Diglot Senior Member Guatemala Joined 5544 days ago 147 posts - 240 votes  Speaks: Spanish*, English Studies: Modern Hebrew | Message 113 of 151 09 December 2009 at 6:21pm | IP Logged | |||||
Could you show us some proof or is this just your opinion? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Sennin Senior Member Bulgaria Joined 6042 days ago 1457 posts - 1759 votes 5 sounds | Message 114 of 151 09 December 2009 at 6:22pm | IP Logged | |||||
Many are self-identifying as Japanese, although the apparent lack of Japanese features makes the illusion rather fragile. It's much easier to pretend you're Scottish or Irish. The corresponding languages are not more popular than Japanese, only because you can get by in English and still keep the pretence. But of course there are also serious language learners, it's not all hype and delusional dreams of being Japanese. Once you master a language to a high level, it becomes a part of you - making you a native not of one language but of many. Why replace one language with anothe, one culture with another? It's best to keep them all, nothing rejected. Edited by Sennin on 09 December 2009 at 6:33pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| JW Hexaglot Senior Member United States youtube.com/user/egw Joined 6130 days ago 1802 posts - 2011 votes 22 sounds Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Ancient Greek, French, Biblical Hebrew Studies: Luxembourgish, Dutch, Greek, Italian | Message 115 of 151 09 December 2009 at 9:10pm | IP Logged | |||||
It certainly is possible, although very rare, but why would you want to sound native? In the U.S., a slight foreign accent connotes a cosmopolitan sophistication. Just go to any luxury car dealership and you'll rarely find anyone in sales that doesn't have some type of slight foreign accent... 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| cordelia0507 Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5846 days ago 1473 posts - 2176 votes Speaks: Swedish* Studies: German, Russian | Message 116 of 151 09 December 2009 at 9:31pm | IP Logged | |||||
|
Ok, well let's have an example then, of a famous person who speaks a language as a second language and started learning in his late teens.. and can now be mistaken for a native speaker. Alternatively if somebody reading this think that they pass the bill by sounding native in two languages, one of which they learnt as adults.
Then a native speaker of that language can confirm if they really sound native or not. I agree that there is nothing wrong with having a slight accent. However there may be times when the speaker gets bored with constantly being pidgeon-holed based on his nationality, or asked about it all the time. I live in England and I am Swedish. I prefer NOT to have an accent but after speaking with me for a few minutes, most British people can tell that I have a foreign accent. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Oleg Triglot Groupie Russian FederationRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5837 days ago 57 posts - 95 votes Speaks: Russian*, Polish, English Studies: Spanish, French, Italian | Message 117 of 151 09 December 2009 at 9:32pm | IP Logged | |||||
What kind of proof? Sure, since I'm Russian, I can judge only those trying to speak Russian. All I know is that I've heard quite many foreigners speak Russian, and although some of them did it almost perfectly well, they didn't sound native Russian due to 2 factors: slightly different pronunciation and (most important) wrong usage of some words. There are many things in any language that only native speakers can feel. And those things can only be felt, never learned. And once again: I'm not saying that if you're learning a language, you're supposed to be trying to sound native. Edited by Oleg on 09 December 2009 at 9:32pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| JW Hexaglot Senior Member United States youtube.com/user/egw Joined 6130 days ago 1802 posts - 2011 votes 22 sounds Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Ancient Greek, French, Biblical Hebrew Studies: Luxembourgish, Dutch, Greek, Italian | Message 118 of 151 09 December 2009 at 9:35pm | IP Logged | |||||
Ah, a challenge! O.K., but let's see your video first. I find many British accents to sound quite foreign, i.e., non-native English, so I wonder if I could tell you were not a native Brit. I certainly cannot tell from your writing. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Gusutafu Senior Member Sweden Joined 5529 days ago 655 posts - 1039 votes Speaks: Swedish* | Message 119 of 151 09 December 2009 at 9:41pm | IP Logged | |||||
I second that! Let's hear a clip of Cordelia's famous but hated English! If Cordelia doesn't cut it, I propose V. S. Naipaul! ---- Moderator's comment: Gusutafu, please don't distort people's views like this ! Iversen Edited by Iversen on 09 December 2009 at 11:06pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| cordelia0507 Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5846 days ago 1473 posts - 2176 votes Speaks: Swedish* Studies: German, Russian | Message 120 of 151 09 December 2009 at 9:47pm | IP Logged | |||||
|
JW --- I don't have a video right now - But I'll let you know when I do :-)
Will be needing it for Russian soon and there's no reason why I can't slip in some English. As for my accent - to Americans it sounds like a British accent. But Brits are more fine-tuned to this accent and realise that I don't fit into any regional accent. Some think my accent is just "posh" but then when I make a minor grammar mistake (which I inevitably do..) there is only one category left... Foreigner! :-( During my first year in the UK I worked side-by-side with an American guy for several months. But all that time he assumed I was British and he almost didn't believe me when I said I wasn't! This was incredibly surprising to me and back then I made more mistakes and I must have had a more notieable accent. During the same period I got asked by Brits a lot if I was South African... LOL!!! 2 persons have voted this message useful |
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
