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Should I learn "In accent" or not? | ||
Tags: Accent | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Questions About Your Target Languages | ( Topic Closed) |  |
| babble_bum Newbie United Kingdom Joined 5605 days ago 6 posts - 6 votes Studies: Russian | Message 1 of 34 29 July 2009 at 9:22pm | IP Logged |
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Hi there
I am UK English, and have a southern (estuary English, semi-posh) accent. I am learning Russian right now from both Pimsleur and the "Teach Yourself" range. In the past, I have learned a little Spanish, also from Pimsleur. Now, I know some people find the accent on that course a little odd - apparently a latin american one. My question is this - my flatmate spoke Spanish, and he told me that when I spoke the Spanish I had learned, I sounded like I was "mocking" a stereotypical Spanish accent - but I was following the instructions on the tape to reproduce what was being said exactly. He felt Spanish people would be offended by the idea of this, and I suppose if someone from another country came up to me and tried to imitate a "posh" English accent all the time, I would be a bit confused if not irritated. So this made me wonder - is it best to learn a language, but speak it with your own regional accent? Certainly, I enjoy hearing people speak English with accents and can understand them just fine. So, when learning Russian, should I be making great efforts to "sound Russian", or just do my best and keep the English twang intact? Would russian people be offended, or perhaps just laugh at me, if they thought I was trying to ape a "proper" russian accent? Cheers Ross Edited by babble_bum on 29 July 2009 at 9:23pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| snig Groupie United Kingdom Joined 5898 days ago 71 posts - 79 votes  Studies: Italian | Message 2 of 34 29 July 2009 at 9:39pm | IP Logged |
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reading alot of posts on here it seems that the idea not to be passed off as a native person is unthinkable and is the end aim,but as long as I'm understood then that all I'm after,I would not think to much about upsetting anyone as if you are trying your best that will come across.
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| Kyrie Senior Member United States clandestein.deviantaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5737 days ago 207 posts - 231 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Portuguese | Message 3 of 34 29 July 2009 at 10:16pm | IP Logged |
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Just because one person gets offended doesn't mean that they all do. Try your best at getting an accent. (The more you acquire, the better you'll be understood.) Just remember, in every country there will be people who don't take too kindly to foreigners.
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| Bao Diglot Senior Member Germany tinyurl.com/pe4kqe5 Joined 5774 days ago 2256 posts - 4046 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin | Message 4 of 34 29 July 2009 at 11:03pm | IP Logged |
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... just one question, would you be offended by foreigners who sound like they spent a lot of time learning to imitate an RP accent? (Or would you rather ... be amused?)
My teacher and host family both have accents (teacher from Barcelona, family Argentinians.) The ll and y sounds they use in normal speech are native, but not the way a TV anchorperson would pronounce them. Todo bien, but when the sounds I produce slip too much towards the sounds they use, they correct me. :) Edited by Bao on 29 July 2009 at 11:04pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| pfwillard Pro Member United States Joined 5707 days ago 169 posts - 205 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French Personal Language Map | Message 5 of 34 29 July 2009 at 11:48pm | IP Logged |
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Mocking the accent is an excellent idea and you should take your flatmate's comment as a compliment! I know the Colloquial Spanish tapes teach an accent with distinción instead of seseo but if your tapes taught seseo, then you are on the right track and should keep going. Normal (non-neurotic) Spanish people would be relieved that an anglophone is at least trying.
Speaking Russian correctly is incredibly hard for English speakers so you must mock their accent as you are trying a very new arrangement of things in your mouth. Mock their accent when you are speaking English as well. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| babble_bum Newbie United Kingdom Joined 5605 days ago 6 posts - 6 votes Studies: Russian | Message 6 of 34 29 July 2009 at 11:50pm | IP Logged |
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Hi Guys
Thanks for the replies. To be honest, the guy who said it was a bit of an a-hole, but I thought Id check to see if its a universal view, which it seems its not. I will carry on trying to get the accent as is, maybe I can sharpen it up when I finally get to watching movies / tv much further down the line. Last thing I want is to sound like Robbie Coltrane doing his Scottish Russian villain in James Bond movies ... :D Ross(ski) 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 6019 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 7 of 34 30 July 2009 at 1:36am | IP Logged |
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There's many things that happen in languages because of accents. (For example poder->puedo in Spanish is because of the accent.)
Besides, there's more consonants in Russian than English, so you can't speak in your own accent. Just try your best -- that always impresses. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| anamsc Triglot Senior Member Andorra Joined 6211 days ago 296 posts - 382 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Catalan Studies: Arabic (Levantine), Arabic (Written), French | Message 8 of 34 30 July 2009 at 2:19am | IP Logged |
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I think in the beginning, it's better to "overshoot" the mark and go for a more Russian-y accent. But once you
become accustomed to the language, it is something to keep in mind, especially if you have a track record of speaking with caricature accents. I know I love most foreign accents, but it can become annoying if they speak with a "perfect American accent" that's really just an exaggerated version of whatever they find most salient--it takes away the charm and sounds like they're making fun of me (especially people who try to talk like "Californians"!) So I think in that case, it's better to have their foreign accent, and people respond much better (people love accents!). But that sort of awareness comes later, and eventually you'll be able to speak normally and not exaggeratedly. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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