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Timeline to developing an accent

  Tags: Accent
 Language Learning Forum : General discussion Post Reply
100 messages over 13 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ... 2 ... 12 13 Next >>
tastyonions
Triglot
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 Message 9 of 100
22 March 2014 at 2:53pm | IP Logged 
Barring perhaps extreme measures (going to a voice coach daily for a long time?), some degree of American accent would surely remain in my French and Spanish, so I don't see why I would consciously choose to "leave in" more than whatever is naturally going to be there due to the fact that I learned them as an adult.

And is it really like a dial that one can turn up or down? I mean, I can put on a truly abysmal "American speaking French / Spanish" accent for laughs, but I'm not sure how finely I can tune it between that and "as native-like as I can make it," which is my normal mode.

Edited by tastyonions on 22 March 2014 at 2:54pm
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chokofingrz
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 Message 10 of 100
22 March 2014 at 3:58pm | IP Logged 
I think that your accent gets established in the first 3-6 months of speaking a language. When I learn a language I instinctively attempt to mimic the accents of educated, well-respected natives who speak clearly and intelligibly. Good examples would be newsreaders, TV presenters, teachers, some young professionals. It's just easier!

I don't see why one would move to the linguistic extremes of a country and choose / allow oneself to pick up a thick regional accent one-on-one from an Andaluz, a Provençal, a Bayrischer or a Liverpudlian (no offence intended to any of these groups!) - but evidently, that is precisely what many people do!

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jeff_lindqvist
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 Message 11 of 100
22 March 2014 at 5:36pm | IP Logged 
Lizzern wrote:
[...]I like the idea of being able to play the foreigner card so I'm not expected to understand every little cultural thing.


This is interesting. A good accent would make people think you're (almost) one of them, and that's negative?

I thought that most people wanted a good accent for that very reason - so they won't feel stigmatized. Maybe if your vocabulary consisted of 300 words, but that's higly unlikely.

In other words: if your accent is good/near-native/perfect - make sure you back it up with vocabulary, cultural knowledge, social skills...
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Solfrid Cristin
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 Message 12 of 100
22 March 2014 at 5:39pm | IP Logged 
chokofingrz wrote:


I don't see why one would move to the linguistic extremes of a country and choose / allow oneself to pick up a
thick regional accent one-on-one from an Andaluz, a Provençal, a Bayrischer or a Liverpudlian (no offence
intended to any of these groups!) - but evidently, that is precisely what many people do!


If you had seen the smile of any Spaniard's face when he hears a foreigner speak good Andalusian, you
would not knock it. :-) The only negative reaction I have gotten for my accent is from foreigners. And most
particularly from foreigners who attempt to speak "proper Spanish" but who have the most horrific English
accent themselves.

From my point of view the only disadvantage with Andalusian is that if you teach it (as I used to do sometime
in the early Jurrassic period) you need to be able to tone it down and use a more general Madrid - accent as
well, but apart from that I, have had only benefits from it. Latin-Americans find it easy to understand, you
understand every other dialect yourself as every other accent will be easier, and as I said the Spaniard's
absolutely love it.
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Serpent
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 Message 13 of 100
22 March 2014 at 5:52pm | IP Logged 
I'm not interested in imitating specific native accents, except that if I ever move to Finland, I'll aim to speak with the local accent.
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Lizzern
Diglot
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 Message 14 of 100
22 March 2014 at 6:18pm | IP Logged 
jeff_lindqvist wrote:
Lizzern wrote:
[...]I like the idea of being able to play the foreigner card so I'm not expected to understand every little cultural thing.


This is interesting. A good accent would make people think you're (almost) one of them, and that's negative?

I thought that most people wanted a good accent for that very reason - so they won't feel stigmatized. Maybe if your vocabulary consisted of 300 words, but that's higly unlikely.

In other words: if your accent is good/near-native/perfect - make sure you back it up with vocabulary, cultural knowledge, social skills...


Well I think my perspective is probably a bit different because I actually enjoy being identified as a foreigner :-) I'm totally comfortable with that role. Long boring story - but basically it feels like they acknowledge the reality of how I (don't quite) fit in with their group, but treat me well (hopefully) anyway. I would rather be accepted into the group even though I'm not exactly like them, than try to blend in and hope I can fake it well enough to avoid problems. So I want a good accent, and would be happy with a native accent too, but I don't need to convince anyone I'm culturally like a native speaker.

But yeah, I do feel like there are certain expectations that go along with having a flawless accent and I don't mind avoiding that. Like you say, make sure you back it up...

Liz
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montmorency
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 Message 15 of 100
22 March 2014 at 6:33pm | IP Logged 
maydayayday wrote:
I had an interesting conversation over a bottle of wine the
evening before last in a hotel in Granada, Spain.

An older German man had moved to Cork, Ireland some 6 years ago: as the conversation
was in English to accommodate other people I could detect both German and Irish
influences in his accent: the Irish accent was most obvious in the colloquial language
he used.

My question is whether you actively seek a native accent: or are you content to have
your own accent in the mix? or do you have a special register where you put on a better
accent?

If you do how do you do it and how long does it take to rid yourself of your own accent
without the use of a professional voice coach?



Just to be clear: this man still lived in Cork, and was planning on staying there?

You've introduced one situation - that of a German who moves to another country, and
gradually picks up the speech patterns of the people he lives among, and then put a
question about accent acquisition and reduction to a bunch of learners of (in general)
multiple languages who are not (in general, judging by the average posting here)
planning to make their home in a land where their target language(s) are spoken.

The scenarios are quite different, I would suggest.
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maydayayday
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 Message 16 of 100
22 March 2014 at 7:48pm | IP Logged 
montmorency wrote:
maydayayday wrote:
I had an interesting conversation over a bottle of wine the
evening before last in a hotel in Granada, Spain.

An older German man had moved to Cork, Ireland some 6 years ago: as the conversation
was in English to accommodate other people I could detect both German and Irish
influences in his accent: the Irish accent was most obvious in the colloquial language
he used.

My question is whether you actively seek a native accent: or are you content to have
your own accent in the mix? or do you have a special register where you put on a better
accent?

If you do how do you do it and how long does it take to rid yourself of your own accent
without the use of a professional voice coach?



Just to be clear: this man still lived in Cork, and was planning on staying there?

You've introduced one situation - that of a German who moves to another country, and
gradually picks up the speech patterns of the people he lives among, and then put a
question about accent acquisition and reduction to a bunch of learners of (in general)
multiple languages who are not (in general, judging by the average posting here)
planning to make their home in a land where their target language(s) are spoken.

The scenarios are quite different, I would suggest.
#

I don't think you understood the gist of my original post: His being German and living in Cork is a red herring in this context but nevertheless true: so how/if and at what rate would you acquire an accent?




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