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The importance of a good accent | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| carlonove Senior Member United States Joined 5987 days ago 145 posts - 253 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Italian | Message 161 of 255 18 December 2010 at 9:18pm | IP Logged | ||
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Would dear Michel have had "better fluency" in English if he didn't sound like he was born in Lodz?
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| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5382 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 162 of 255 31 March 2013 at 6:47pm | IP Logged | ||
There are certainly very endearing accents out there, particularly when we are used to it or when we otherwise like the person and come to associate it with their personality. However, a strong case could be made that the accent you find so endearing might very well be detrimental to this person's ability to find a job, for instance, particularly one where speaking in public, teaching or representing a company is of importance. In other words, improving her accent should provide an overall advantage regardless of how endearing it currently is. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| beano Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4623 days ago 1049 posts - 2152 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Serbian, Hungarian | Message 163 of 255 31 March 2013 at 8:13pm | IP Logged | ||
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I actually revel in being a foreigner speaking the local language when abroad. I have no desire whatsover to
try and pass myself off as a native. I've never consciously tried to mimic a foreign accent, I don't try to pretend to be someone I'm not. I do of course try to pronounce words in the correct way but I don't really want to shake off my own particular lilt. To me it seems bizarre that Norwegians and Swedes will criticise one another for having a "poor" accent when speaking English, yet I've never had any comprehension issues when listening to people from these countries. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| casamata Senior Member Joined 4263 days ago 237 posts - 377 votes Studies: Portuguese | Message 164 of 255 31 March 2013 at 9:35pm | IP Logged | ||
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I totally agree with him. [/QUOTE]
Fine, but when does that happen? Have you ever met anyone with perfect or near-perfect accent and pronunciation but poor vocabulary and grammar? I haven't. And I used to teach French so I've met hundreds of students. The reason is that a good accent is usually either an indication of a higher level or a boost to reach a higher level of fluency.[/QUOTE] Thread necromacy! Actually, I have met quite a few people with great/native like accents that suck at speaking. They are mostly heritage speakers that are second-generation speakers that have native pronunciation but relatively limited vocabulary. Yes, I really mean limited as in they don't remember words that any native speaker would know. And I know an American with an amazing accent in Spanish that he picked up working in a restaurant for a few months but he doesn't know as nearly as many words as you would expect since he has great intonation. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Random review Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5784 days ago 781 posts - 1310 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Portuguese, Mandarin, Yiddish, German | Message 165 of 255 01 April 2013 at 5:08am | IP Logged | ||
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It's too late for my Spanish, but I try very hard to develop a good accent in Portuguese
as I find it very important in keeping the two languages apart in my mind. Same for German as I plan to learn Yiddish and maybe Dutch. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5382 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 166 of 255 02 April 2013 at 4:05pm | IP Logged | ||
Sorry, but I don't really understand the logic of your argument. Do you not try to mimic their grammar and word order? Do you not try to use their words and mimic their usage? Do you not try to mimic their customs and act like them when travelling? Why would mimicking the sounds imply that you are faking a new personality? 9 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| tastyonions Triglot Senior Member United States goo.gl/UIdChYRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4666 days ago 1044 posts - 1823 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish Studies: Italian | Message 167 of 255 02 April 2013 at 7:59pm | IP Logged | ||
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French simply sounds most pleasant to me when spoken by natives, so of course I work hard to imitate that.
And from the negative direction, big anglophone accents in Romance languages sound so dorky and gross to me, much more so than accents transferred between the Romance languages (e.g. a French person speaking Spanish or vice versa), so I try to get rid of mine as much as possible. :-) As far as accents and assessments of ability, I think accents do often give a strong impression that can be hard to shake (for example, one conversation partner has had people tell her that she speaks bad English, which she really doesn't on the level of grammar and word choice, but she does have quite a pronounced French accent). Edited by tastyonions on 02 April 2013 at 8:01pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5382 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 168 of 255 03 April 2013 at 6:49pm | IP Logged | ||
Sometimes, people dismiss this by saying that it's the other person's loss -- we are all at the mercy of others' prejudice and we can't change others. The only difference is that it IS possible to improve an accent, it's just that it's easier to discredit others than to do something about it. Of course, this changes nothing to the fact that it's not necessarily an easy thing to improve. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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