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The importance of a good accent | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5121 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes  Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 1 of 255 09 December 2010 at 6:13pm | IP Logged |
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How important is a good accent for your perception of language skills? I ask because again the Nobel Peace Price seremony is tomorrow, which means that the entire Norwegian poulation cringes in anticipation of the whole world listening to the head of the Nobel Commitee, Thorbjørn Jagland's hideous English accent. His English as such, is actually not bad. He has a very broad vocabulary, but his pronunciation is B A D.
I seem to remember that J. Conrad, who was a master of the English language in its written form, also had problems with the spoken form, so what comes across as most fluent to you? Someone with a great vocabulary but a terrible accent, or someone with a limited vocabulary and a flawless accent. Personally I admit that I tend to be taken in by a good accent. I have difficulties perceiving someone as really good at a language if they have a very bad accent. 6 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5168 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 2 of 255 09 December 2010 at 6:30pm | IP Logged |
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It plays a huge role in people's perception of the speaker's level, at least. If the accent is bad, we assume the knowledge is limited and if the accent is good, we presume the speaker has a great grasp of the language.
Have you ever heard a person speak with a great accent, but with poor grammar? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5121 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 3 of 255 09 December 2010 at 6:36pm | IP Logged |
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No, but I have heard a guy speak with a perfect accent (in Norwegian) because his parents were Norwegian but the family had lived in the US, and the understanding of the language was so low that people actually thought he was retarded.
If you come across as being fluent in a language, yet do not understand a lot of the things that are being said to you, it is not always easy to understand for others, that it is simply because you do not understand the language, and that it has nothing to do with your intelligence. Edited by Solfrid Cristin on 09 December 2010 at 6:43pm 9 persons have voted this message useful | |
| skchi Groupie United States Joined 5532 days ago 57 posts - 86 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 4 of 255 09 December 2010 at 7:05pm | IP Logged |
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A bad accent doesn't bother me at all, as long as I can understand what it being said. I actually like to hear English spoken with a foreign accent. So, I would say that I'm more impressed by a great vocabulary and a terrible accent (again, as long as the person can be understood.)
I did have a couple of math and physics professors in college with accents so bad that I couldn't understand most of what they said. That was awful. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Biscotti Triglot Newbie United Kingdom Joined 4917 days ago 29 posts - 48 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish | Message 5 of 255 09 December 2010 at 8:03pm | IP Logged |
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It depends really. As long as the speak is understandable it is OK. Most accents in Europe are neutral enough that a decent accent is possible. But then there are English native speakers that are quite incomprehensible to others because their regional accent is so different.
Accent is something that one can change with practice. But if bad habits develop then it is difficult to correct them in order to improve the accent. I would say also that a very bad accent often gives the appearance of a bad speaker. So anyone wishing to truly master a language should at least work on a good accent. Most foreign English speakers I have met with a bad accent tend to not speak English well because accents are improved with immersion and exposure which also improves the quality of language at the same time. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Desacrator48 Groupie United States Joined 5095 days ago 93 posts - 127 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, French | Message 6 of 255 09 December 2010 at 8:27pm | IP Logged |
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Two types of accents for people who might actually know English well but are really quite incomprehensible to me tend to be the Jamaicans and Chinese.
The Rastafarian accent is just so thick and laced with idioms that it is quite hard to understand. Also, having much exposure to Chinese here, I've always had a hard time trying to understand what my friends parents say to me and my old college math professors too. I'd have preferred it if they spoke slower (indicating less fluency), but with a better accent. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Doitsujin Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5107 days ago 1256 posts - 2363 votes Speaks: German*, English | Message 7 of 255 09 December 2010 at 8:32pm | IP Logged |
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There are many European politicians who are much worse than Thorbjørn Jagland. One example is the European Union's new German energy commissioner, Günther Oettinger whose English you can hear in the following video.
If you don't speak German, move the time slider to 00:26. If you don't understand his English either, his speech is repeated with partial subs starting at 01:54. Edited by Doitsujin on 09 December 2010 at 8:32pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Aineko Triglot Senior Member New Zealand Joined 5235 days ago 238 posts - 442 votes Speaks: Serbian*, EnglishC2, Spanish Studies: Russian, Arabic (Written), Mandarin | Message 8 of 255 09 December 2010 at 8:39pm | IP Logged |
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Working in the environment with high number of highly educated non-native speakers,
I've noticed that there is a wide spectrum of acceptable accents, ranging from 'understandable without problems but so obviously foreign', to near-native and native. I've seen a lot of people with a distinctive foreign accent, but excellent grasp of English otherwise. I have to admit that accent is the last on my list of criteria for judging language abilities (unless, of course, it is hindering communication). Picking up accent is a funny thing. Immersion is not enough (at least not for me), it also requires a certain emotional response to particular accent for person to start picking it from the immersion environment. For example, after only a week in Buenos Aires I started changing the way I pronounce Spanish, but even after four years in NZ I don't think I have picked up anything of Kiwi accent (although my English has improved greatly in other aspects). The only English accent that I am 'emotional' about (that is to say I have a desire to imitate it) is (slightly attenuated) Scottish accent. I simply love it and I'm guessing that if I was to live in Scotland for some time, I would probably pick up the accent to a certain degree. 6 persons have voted this message useful |
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