Wannabe?....me? (Cultural Experiences in Foreign Languages) Language Learning Forum

Wannabe?....me?
Tags: Cultural Identity \| Accent
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Language Learning Forum : Cultural Experiences in Foreign Languages

34 messages over 5 pages: 1 2 3 4 5

GauchoBoaCepa
Triglot
Senior Member
Brazil
Joined 5419 days ago
172 posts - 199 votes

Speaks: Portuguese*, English, Spanish

Message 33 of 34

24 August 2010 at 6:32pm | IP Logged

The problem here in Brazil is that many people haven't realised what Globalization means yet. Aiming at other countries's culture is not an offense at all. No one will have their nationality suspended because of that. There's still an intense quest for a "Brazilian identity" in wrong way based on a few cultural elements and many people are being forced to swallow it by force. Plus, there are some foreigners who set their roots here and think that it's an absurd that many middle-class Brazilians prefer to look to what's on outside the country...the same fools who say the USA is responsible for the poverty and corruption around the world, smoke joint every day, live off their mammas but wear All-Star and drink Coke at any Mc Donald's branch.

By studying a language, inevitably you step into another world and then that broadens your mind. Whereas there are some who are against Globalization, the same who should be living either in North Korea or Cuba. Ohhhh....I'm so naive, they wouldn't set aside their comfortable life to get real.

As music is one of the main alternatives to learn any language properly, obviously I'm focusing on only foreign music. Furthermore, Brazilian music quality has decayed abruptly. Even Bossa Nova that is the only enjoyable rhythm has been underrated lately by many Brazilians...many of them who belong to the same group against Globalization.

Edited by GauchoBoaCepa on 24 August 2010 at 7:33pm
1 person has voted this message useful

Deji
Diglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5440 days ago
116 posts - 182 votes

Speaks: English*, French
Studies: Hindi, Bengali

Message 34 of 34

26 January 2011 at 11:46pm | IP Logged

horshod wrote:

I get this all the time. I am in the USA right now and I love to speak with an American accent
(and I have had people tell me that I sound perfectly American). But my Indian friends always accuse me of trying
to fake the accent and trying to be just fancy. It is apparently also very irritating for them to hear an American
accent coming from an Indian. I guess it's because English is one of the official languages in India and so we are
just used to associating an Indian face with an Indian accent. I have asked my American friends so many times if
it bothers THEM and they say it doesn't, and that in fact they feel more comfortable talking to a person who
speaks with an American accent.

Yeah...but I always have to be very sure that there are no Indians around when I speak with an American
accent...

Hey--Zakir Hussain can speak both American English flawlessly and Indian English. He uses one or the other on
stage depending on the concert he's playing in: jazz/mixed/ world music =American. Indian classical=Indian. But
many Indians go the the mixed concerts too!

1 person has voted this message useful

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