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Hi, my name is Irina... | ||
Tags: Language Banditry | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5336 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes  Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 1 of 31 01 January 2015 at 11:43am | IP Logged | |||||
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Do you have any experiences faking another nationality? I have pretended to be French once, when I wanted
to avoid some Norwegians, but I am considering pretending to be Russian for an evening. In a few weeks I am going out dancing with friends from Singapore, Russia, Romania, Chile and Peru , and I will feel very boring just being Norwegian next to those exotic ladies. So linguistically I should probably fake being Spanish, but no one will believe me if I say I am Spanish, but everyone says I have a Russian face, so that could work, and I could speak enough Russian with my Russian friend to convince an average Norwegian. On the plus side a bit of role playing can always be fun, and it would be interesting to observe my countrymen as they present themselves to a foreign woman, on the down side I am really bad at lying, and struggled in the 20 minutes I faked being French. I have no idea how I would do through a whole evening, also I do not know if I would be able to fake a Russian accent in English for a whole evening - or whether I should just use my regular one, and hope they won't know the difference. Experiences, advice? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Luso Hexaglot Senior Member Portugal Joined 6063 days ago 819 posts - 1812 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, French, EnglishC2, GermanB1, Italian, Spanish Studies: Sanskrit, Arabic (classical) | Message 2 of 31 01 January 2015 at 12:36pm | IP Logged | |||||
Unless the circumstances are very particular, I'd advise against it. In some cultures, and to a lot of people from every culture, that's tantamount to lying and being false, and it would automatically disqualify you in their eyes, should they ever find out. I know this is strong wording, but in my experience some people are very susceptible to this kind of attitude. If you plan on using that as a means of shielding yourself from unwanted attention, then it's ok. 8 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| rdearman Senior Member United Kingdom rdearman.orgRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5238 days ago 881 posts - 1812 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Italian, French, Mandarin | Message 3 of 31 01 January 2015 at 12:58pm | IP Logged | |||||
To me Norwegian is just as exotic. Don't forget these "exotic" ladies are just boring natives in their own country. I suspect they'd be quite happy to meet an exotic Norwegian! 6 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5336 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 4 of 31 01 January 2015 at 1:03pm | IP Logged | |||||
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It is quite obviously lying and being false - which is why I am not too sure about the idea. If I could be certain
that I would never see whoever I talked to again, it would be one thing, but Norway is such a small country that the chances of me bumping into someone I know are fairly big, plus I'd risk meeting them again in some semi official setting. It could be incredibly awkward explaining to a new business acquaintance how Irina from Moscow is really Solfrid from Stabekk. Plus if I went for English with a Russian accent I would probably not be able to keep it up for a whole evening. Anyone who have tried and have any positive or negative experiences? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5336 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 5 of 31 01 January 2015 at 1:06pm | IP Logged | |||||
But this would be in Norway, and I am afraid that to a Norwegian another Norwegian is just incredibly un exotic :-) 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5264 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 6 of 31 01 January 2015 at 1:24pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I'd spend the evening speaking as much Spanish and Russian and even English as possible (keeping Norwegian to a minimum) to my friends. Let those outside your circle wonder who or what you may be. If someone asks what nationality you are, proudly tell them in Norwegian that you are Norwegian. The next question will be about how did you, an "average" Norwegian woman, learn to speak those languages.
You don't need to pretend to be someone from another culture. How many Norwegians are there who can speak Russian and Spanish? That alone makes you interesting and "exotic". You have a fascinating true story to tell. Edited by iguanamon on 01 January 2015 at 2:33pm 16 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| tastyonions Triglot Senior Member United States goo.gl/UIdChYRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4667 days ago 1044 posts - 1823 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish Studies: Italian | Message 7 of 31 01 January 2015 at 4:42pm | IP Logged | |||||
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In video chats I turn up the red really high on my camera's color settings and tell people I am from Mars. Unfortunately my Martian accent isn't very well-honed yet, so it's not too convincing.
9 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Leurre Bilingual Pentaglot Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5427 days ago 219 posts - 372 votes Speaks: French*, English*, Korean, Haitian Creole, SpanishC2 Studies: Japanese | Message 8 of 31 01 January 2015 at 5:16pm | IP Logged | |||||
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All the time.
Usually because I want to avoid speaking a certain language with someone, I'll pretend I'm from somewhere else. I've been French, Canadian, Spanish, Belgian, Indonesian (thankfully didn't require me to speak the language in that particular setting), even Korean. The rules are I usually stick to a country whose language I can fake being a native speaker in/am a native speaker in. Then, I have to get my parents' story straight. Sometimes they are both from Algeria, sometimes he is from Spain and she from Canada, She from Korea and he from Lebanon,etc. This is the most fun part, because you get to create a backstory as you go. The usual boring caveats about deception mentioned above, etc. etc. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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