|
 |
Passing as a Native | ||
Tags: Native Fluency | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| schoenewaelder Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5565 days ago 759 posts - 1197 votes  Speaks: English*, French Studies: German, Spanish, Dutch | Message 9 of 35 15 February 2011 at 12:22pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
When I visited Bilbao, I was surprised by the variety of the locals. There seemed to be quite a few blonds and reds. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| s_allard Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5435 days ago 2704 posts - 5425 votes Speaks: French*, English, Spanish Studies: Polish | Message 10 of 35 15 February 2011 at 2:40pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
|
On a little side note, I wonder how long people can pass for native. A very good accent will throw people off initially, but as a few posters have mentioned, after a few minutes of conversation, natives soon realize that one is a foreigner. The problem is usually in the area of vocabulary and idiomatic speaking. I see this quite often in French where I've met people who are good at imitating the accent but soon give themselves away with egregious grammar mistakes and poor vocabulary.
3 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| hrhenry Octoglot Senior Member United States languagehopper.blogs Joined 5135 days ago 1871 posts - 3642 votes Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe | Message 11 of 35 15 February 2011 at 3:02pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
I wonder why people are so obsessed with "passing" for native. Frankly, I'm MUCH more impressed with someone that has good command of the language over native accent (which is debatable in any case). R. == 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| s_allard Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5435 days ago 2704 posts - 5425 votes Speaks: French*, English, Spanish Studies: Polish | Message 12 of 35 15 February 2011 at 10:58pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
I totally agree with this. Those who have been around HTLAL for a while know that there is a school of thought here that claims that sounding like a native should be the aim of every language learner. Needless to say I think this is not necessary, although I have nothing against this as a personal goal. I even take the position that a little accent with impeccable grammar and vocabulary can actually be more attractive than blending in totally like a native. But don't get me started! Edited by s_allard on 15 February 2011 at 10:59pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| magictom123 Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5598 days ago 272 posts - 365 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Italian, French | Message 13 of 35 15 February 2011 at 11:50pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
I too agree with this. I know it interesting to debate such things but I have no desire to hide where I am from. I am not saying that is the aim of others here and of course, I give some attention to my accent like almost everyone else but being perfectly understood is much more appealing to me than what I think others see as some ultimate 'end goal' of passing as a native speaker. If it happened naturally over time and with an extended stay in the country of the language then great, but it's not something I would ever really give much consideration to. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 6016 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 14 of 35 16 February 2011 at 12:02am | IP Logged | ||||||||
If someone has a view you disagree with, is it always an "obsession", or is it just this? I've given my reasons for wanting to be able to pass for a native speaker many times, and I thought I was being reasoned and intelligent about it. But now the good doctor hrhenry tells me it is an irrational obsession. Now, doc, what therapy will assist me in getting over this "obsession" and stop me putting all this irrational effort into trying to learn a language well? 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| hrhenry Octoglot Senior Member United States languagehopper.blogs Joined 5135 days ago 1871 posts - 3642 votes Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe | Message 15 of 35 16 February 2011 at 1:19am | IP Logged | ||||||||
Am I not allowed to disagree? Seems to me I'm not the one with an issue. I simply stated that I don't understand why it seems to be such an ultimate goal, when it's really a very difficult thing to achieve as an adult. There are several people here claiming to have a native accent, yet when I listen to them on youtube, I clearly hear a non-native accent. I don't hold that against them at all - for the ones I'm referencing, their command of the language is impeccable. But I find it a bit, well, delusional. R. == Edited by hrhenry on 16 February 2011 at 1:20am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6708 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 16 of 35 16 February 2011 at 1:49am | IP Logged | ||||||||
|
I tend to agree with HrHenry - if I lived in another country among people who spoke one of my target languages, I might adopt their way of speaking. But it won't happen here in Denmark, where I mostly access my languages through writing OR in a purely passive way through TV and the internet.
I prefer setting myself a realistic goal, like for instance learning twenty languages at least to basic fluency. If I did want to pass for a native speaker of just a few of them I would first have to decide which dialects I wanted to emulate, and then I would have to focus all my energy on just those few variants, leaving out everything else - it would be an unbearable thought! It is the variation I find most interesting, not becoming just another copy of somebody. Edited by Iversen on 16 February 2011 at 1:50am 4 persons have 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. |
