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Mimicking a foreign accent | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| tommus Senior Member CanadaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5675 days ago 979 posts - 1688 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Dutch, French, Esperanto, German, Spanish | Message 1 of 8 10 December 2010 at 4:22pm | IP Logged | ||
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Here is a link to an interesting article with a video that suggests a person can communicate better with a non-native speaker who has a strong accent if the "native speaker" mimics the foreign accent. The audio in the video is very interesting. It is a native-British Dutch football coach speaking with a slight Dutch accent.
If such a technique does work a bit, there is obviously a fine line between just enough mimicking and too much, which would sound like you were mocking the non-native speaker a bit. I think the other related thing that comes across in the audio is that the coach is using simpler English. I find than many people seem to have no ability to adjust the complexity, speed and clarity of their conversation when speaking to a second-language speaker who is struggling a bit. It may well be that the coach is not consciously speaking like this but rather has actually changed his way of speaking after spending a lot of time with Dutch football players. It would be interesting to know if he continues to speak like this in a conversation with a native-British speaker. Anyone have any experience speaking like this, or having someone help you by speaking with your accent? It would also be interesting to know if non-native-English speakers (both Dutch and others) can notice the subtle accent of the coach. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/8186961/Mimi cking-a-foreign-accent-helps-you-communicate.html 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| justberta Diglot Senior Member Norway Joined 5394 days ago 140 posts - 170 votes Speaks: English, Norwegian* Studies: Indonesian, German, Spanish, Russian | Message 2 of 8 10 December 2010 at 4:40pm | IP Logged | ||
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Indeed there is a fine line between mimicking and mocking. However speaking English
with both a target language accent and errors helps tremendously. Well it doesn't help their English as much though... Dumbing it down, rolling the Rs and speaking in the present tense will help make you understood if you arrive in a country and don't speak a word of the language. No one will understand a heavy American accent, which is what I use when I meet Americans, Brits and Aussies. However to a local in my target country/language I speak a very simplified English language. Back to the accent question. After having lived a year in Indonesia I ended up with an Indonesian accent, of course I am able to go back to my American accent, but while talking to Indonesian people, my dog, in my head etc. the English always has this accent. It's quite strong too, with rolled Rs and incorrect grammar. I would speak in this manner with most of my local friends, not mocking them, simply adjusting to their pace and style of speech. This also helped my Indonesian language learning. I never heard anyone say that I mocked them so I believe it's all good. We would also speak Indonesian with a German, British or French accent. I did this on purpose, but I didn't even notice I was speaking English with an Indonesian accent until several months had gone by. I think this is part of the target language process, playing with accents to get it just right. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Lucky Charms Diglot Senior Member Japan lapacifica.net Joined 6758 days ago 752 posts - 1711 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: German, Spanish | Message 3 of 8 11 December 2010 at 3:56am | IP Logged | ||
The same thing has happened to me, as a native speaker! I've noticed that I'm really sensitive to the accents and quirks in other people's speech, and am quick to adapt and start mirroring them without realizing it. When I was in high school, I studied for a year in New Zealand. I was in a girls' boarding school in a small town. I lived in the international dorm, which besides me consisted entirely of East and Southeast Asian girls. By the end of the year, I had definitely acquired a slight accent and was using ungrammatical English in a predictable way. I was able to switch to American/NZ hybrid English when talking to Kiwis, but the default inside my head was this Asian English. I think the cause of this was a combination of me consciously simplifying my English and unconsciously being influenced by theirs. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tommus Senior Member CanadaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5675 days ago 979 posts - 1688 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Dutch, French, Esperanto, German, Spanish | Message 4 of 8 24 December 2010 at 5:44pm | IP Logged | ||
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My daughter is an elementary school teacher who is visiting for the holidays. We were discussing the topic of this thread, and she watched the video of the English football coach. She definitely notices this switch in accent in her class where there are a few students who speak perfect English but whose parents have an accent. She notices that when these students speak with their parents in English, they immediately take on their parents' accent.
When she was in university, she had some friends who spoke flawless, native-like English. But she noticed that when they spoke to their parents, they too switched to accented English. In the first post of this thread, I asked if non-native-English speakers here on HTLAL (especially Dutch speakers) could recognize the subtle "Dutch accent" that the football coach was using. But nobody made a comment. Any comments? Edited by tommus on 24 December 2010 at 5:45pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5190 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 5 of 8 24 December 2010 at 6:01pm | IP Logged | ||
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I too find myself adapting to my Japanese friends' English speech. Not so much in terms of accent, but certainly in terms of intonation and choice of expressions. Because their goal is to learn English, I actually have to catch myself and fight against it.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| hrhenry Octoglot Senior Member United States languagehopper.blogs Joined 4939 days ago 1871 posts - 3642 votes Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe | Message 6 of 8 24 December 2010 at 6:34pm | IP Logged | ||
Speaking in terms of expressions, I have a friend who grew up in east Los Angeles, first generation (originally from Mexico). His English is native. But I can pretty easily set him off rambling in east LA Spanglish, simply by injecting "more better" into a conversation. It's actually pretty hilarious. He knows it happens, too. R. == 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Iolanthe Diglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 5450 days ago 410 posts - 482 votes Speaks: English*, DutchC1 Studies: Turkish, French | Message 7 of 8 24 December 2010 at 8:07pm | IP Logged | ||
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Once I stayed over with my cousins, the youngest of whom had a French exchange student staying with him. Every time he spoke to the French boy he used a mock French accent as if that would make it easier for the boy to understand. He would chat normally to us and then switch to slightly broken English with a French twist, 'Arrre you....enjoying...yur...fud?' I found it very bizarre and hilarious although I never actually heard him practising French which is a shame. Edited by Iolanthe on 24 December 2010 at 8:10pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| ReneeMona Diglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 5144 days ago 864 posts - 1274 votes Speaks: Dutch*, EnglishC2 Studies: French | Message 8 of 8 26 December 2010 at 8:01pm | IP Logged | ||
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Being a football fan, I’ve seen this guy on TV before and it always puzzled me to hear him speak. I knew he was English from his name and his northern accent and yet his English sounded so unnatural and even Dutch-influenced at times. I didn’t know what to make of him.
I found the article very interesting. Especially because adopting the accent or the register of the person I’m talking to is something I do as well. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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