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REAL multi-languages fluency | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5333 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes  Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 65 of 102 22 September 2014 at 2:12pm | IP Logged | ||
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Apparently, a good accent is not even enough. I was at a party on Saturday, where one of
the participants asked me how many years I had lived in Norway, because she was so impressed at my idiomatic Norwegian and my flawless accent.. After telling her that I was Norwegian, I asked her why she thought I was a foreigner, and she answered that it was because she had heard me speak Spanish to one of the other guests, and assumed I was Spanish. So after having given my Norwegian name (not Cristina, Solfrid) and spoken in both Spanish and perfect Norwegian she assumes I am a foreigner. It must be my Spanish looks... 6 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| beano Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4621 days ago 1049 posts - 2152 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Serbian, Hungarian | Message 66 of 102 22 September 2014 at 4:58pm | IP Logged | ||
Agreed. I have a French colleague who has been in the UK for over 20 years and she speaks flawless English peppered with idiomatic phrases. Scottish vernacular doesn't trouble her in the slightest and she has as good a knowledge of popular culture as any other native Brit. In short, she fits in seamlessly. However, she speaks with a French accent and while this is not thick enough to impede anyone's comprehension, it instantly identifies the lady as a foreigner. But she speaks amazing English which allows her to function like a native. There is no need for her to put on a fake Scots accent; she's neither an actress nor a spy. If I moved to London I wouldn't start trying to imitate a Cockney. If you speak clearly and enunicate the words properly, accents are rarely a problem. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4706 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 67 of 102 22 September 2014 at 5:10pm | IP Logged | ||
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I agree. It's funnier to chuck in slang than to have the correct accent (although I am a
fetishist for getting an accent right). 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| beano Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4621 days ago 1049 posts - 2152 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Serbian, Hungarian | Message 68 of 102 22 September 2014 at 5:13pm | IP Logged | ||
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If people consciously want to work on their accent then that's fine by me. But I think you reach a point where you have obvious traces of your native intonation yet everyone easily understands what you say. I guess for most people, the law of diminishing returns kicks at this stage.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4706 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 69 of 102 22 September 2014 at 5:26pm | IP Logged | ||
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Here I agree :) Some obvious traces of native intonation usually remain :) They don't
really hurt. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| albysky Triglot Senior Member Italy lang-8.com/1108796Registered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4387 days ago 287 posts - 393 votes Speaks: Italian*, English, German | Message 70 of 102 22 September 2014 at 7:36pm | IP Logged | ||
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As far as the accent is concerned , I try to sound as american as possible , yet knowing that I still sound
foreign , but I like trying my best in this regard as well (I only try to imitate and never done accent and diction training ). I could simply roll the R and right away I would sound clearly Italian , I just don 't feel at ease speaking with an on purpose Italian accent . I agree , you can function natively yet having an accent . The most important thing anyhow is not to cause natives trouble understanding you . Edited by albysky on 22 September 2014 at 8:52pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| garyb Triglot Senior Member ScotlandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5206 days ago 1468 posts - 2413 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, French Studies: Spanish | Message 71 of 102 23 September 2014 at 11:25am | IP Logged | ||
My experience says that the standards are higher for other languages, at least the ones I've studied, than for English. So I'd be wary of taking an example about someone's accent in English and using it to make a generalisation about all languages. Us English speakers are by and large very used to and accepting of foreign accents, while I've found that in other languages you will often be judged negatively for your accent, or people will struggle to understand because they're not used to it, even if your language usage is good. For that reason, working on accent is an important part of my studies. Of course, I'm absolutely not saying that perfection is necessary! Just that the bar is a little higher. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6596 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 72 of 102 23 September 2014 at 8:27pm | IP Logged | ||
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I actually think the bar is higher in English? I mean, learning it to a high level is so desirable that it's the default explanation for someone's good skills. To pass for a native, you need to sound like someone from a specific region.
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