|
 |
Languages/dialects that are ’laughed at’ | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| TEM Newbie United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5658 days ago 8 posts - 10 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Russian, Latin | Message 41 of 54 13 January 2012 at 3:17am | IP Logged | ||
|
How about the great Baltimore accent
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| AlephBey Tetraglot Groupie India Joined 4789 days ago 41 posts - 137 votes  Speaks: English, Hindi*, Urdu, Japanese Studies: German, Spanish | Message 42 of 54 13 January 2012 at 10:00am | IP Logged | ||
I must concur with you on that. Speaking English with anything other than at least a mild Indian accent can invite anything from amused stares to laughter over here. Using a British, or especially American lilt in day-to-day parlance is taken as a dead giveaway of a wannabe-Westerner; an Indian who's insecure with his identity and perhaps with his own self-image and tries to copy the minutest details of western culture just to 'set himself apart'. As an example try taking a look at this video. At 1:15, you'll notice a nerdy-looking guy with a smug expression on his face reciting an entire paragraph with a fake American accent. Now, that character's intended to be a caricature, a socially-awkward, morbid snob who looks down upon everyone else and aspires to be something he is not. His pretend-American accent is supposed to be part of that facade. This entire scene is of course hilarious in itself, but when I actually watched this movie in a cinema hall, I recall quite a few people chuckling at the way he speaks English. I think this has to do with the fact that English is no longer seen as a 'foreign language' by the Indian middle class. The reaction people have on seeing a fellow Indian talking with a native accent is something to the tune of "it's our language and we have our own way of speaking it, why are you trying to sound like a foreigner?" Something analogous to an American from Texas going around the streets of Austin talking with an upper-class British drawl for no apparent reason. Edited by AlephBey on 13 January 2012 at 10:05am 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| WentworthsGal Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4889 days ago 191 posts - 246 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Swedish, Spanish | Message 43 of 54 13 January 2012 at 12:29pm | IP Logged | ||
|
[/QUOTE]
I think this has to do with the fact that English is no longer seen as a 'foreign language' by the Indian middle class. The reaction people have on seeing a fellow Indian talking with a native accent is something to the tune of "it's our language and we have our own way of speaking it, why are you trying to sound like a foreigner?" [/QUOTE] I'd never thought of that before, but it does make perfect sense! I like the idea Indian English and keeping the accent :o) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tennisfan Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5361 days ago 130 posts - 247 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, Spanish Studies: German | Message 44 of 54 13 January 2012 at 3:07pm | IP Logged | ||
Not at all. I'm an American and lived in Europe for a while. At least where I was (eastern Europe) people much preferred an American accent to a British one. It was much more useful, and there was way more American TV and movies on the local television than anything from the UK or Australia or anywhere else. I'm not sure where you came up with the idea that they associate an American accent with being uneducated. Unfortunately, there are stupid people all over the world, and that includes the States, the UK, Australia, China, France, Magadascar, Russia, and every single country in between. If someone thought that the language you speak or your particular accent would make you uneducated, it would say a lot more about their own intelligence than your own. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| nway Senior Member United States youtube.com/user/Vic Joined 5416 days ago 574 posts - 1707 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, Japanese, Korean | Message 45 of 54 13 January 2012 at 4:38pm | IP Logged | ||
Again, I was referring to nationality as indicated by language, rather than any identity intrinsically derived from the language itself.
It's not one's language that "makes" one uneducated, but one's language that gives away one's origins, thus enabling others to draw their own conclusions based on non-language-related beliefs. Also, anecdotal stories being shared here—while appreciated—aren't exactly representative of the general situation. Most people here have probably spoken—if not at high proficiency, then at least at a rudimentary level—the languages of the regions they visited. This alone distinguishes them as being extraordinary (by this, I don't mean "great", but rather exceeding the ordinary) and consequently forces the natives to take them on their own terms, and accept their identity as it is being offered. The ones most likely to judge you with respect to your accent are the folks you encounter but don't get to know well and befriend. Consequently, their perceptions of you from your momentary meeting will never be shared with you, and you'll have only the feedback of your friends (who know you well beyond merely the point of recognizing your accent) from which to draw conclusions about the entire populace. Edited by nway on 13 January 2012 at 4:51pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| LaughingChimp Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4700 days ago 346 posts - 594 votes Speaks: Czech* | Message 46 of 54 13 January 2012 at 7:28pm | IP Logged | ||
Actually the actor is American. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| AlephBey Tetraglot Groupie India Joined 4789 days ago 41 posts - 137 votes Speaks: English, Hindi*, Urdu, Japanese Studies: German, Spanish | Message 47 of 54 13 January 2012 at 8:36pm | IP Logged | ||
Indeed, but his character in the movie is supposed to be an Indian born in Uganda and raised in Pondicherry; other than everything else that I mentioned. He once described in an interview when 3 Idiots first came on television, how he had to 'work hard to tailor the way he speaks' to suit his caricatured image in the movie. From his accent in English to the awkward quirks of his overly pedantic Hindi. Try watching the movie, and you'd see how the way he talks is often ridiculed by the rest of the characters. Anyway, this is diverging way too far from the topic. Edited by AlephBey on 13 January 2012 at 8:48pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| rivere123 Senior Member United States Joined 4831 days ago 129 posts - 182 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 48 of 54 16 January 2012 at 7:59am | IP Logged | ||
|
Our accent (Cajun) doesn't get too much national attention (not well, at least), but I'd say it's worth a listen, especially since this is a caricature, but it doesn't stray from the real thing for some people I know.
1 person has voted this message useful |
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
