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Does your voice change with the language? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5146 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes  Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 1 of 53 16 October 2011 at 8:52am | IP Logged | ||
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Many years ago, a Spanish friend overheard me speaking on the phone in Norwegian, and her first question when I had finished the conversation was: "Why do you change your tone of voice when you speak Norwegian"? At that time I had no idea I did, but after that I started noticing, and came to realize that when I speak Norwegian I sound like a little girl, when I speak Spanish I sound like I have been drinking and smoking for a month straight, and the rest of my languages are somewhere in between.
Is there anyone else there who have experienced the same thing? Edited by Solfrid Cristin on 16 October 2011 at 9:54am 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| fortheo Senior Member United States Joined 4848 days ago 187 posts - 222 votes Studies: French | Message 2 of 53 16 October 2011 at 9:18am | IP Logged | ||
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I think my voice sounds deeper when I speak japanese! I cant be sure though, I will need to ask a family member tomorrow haha.
I have no idea why we would change our tone when we speak a different language. Unless we are so use to imitating native speakers that we even imitate the most common tone that we hear. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Mauritz Octoglot Senior Member Sweden Joined 4880 days ago 223 posts - 325 votes Speaks: Swedish*, EnglishC2, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Turkish, Esperanto, French Studies: Old English, Yiddish, Arabic (Written), Mandarin, Korean, Portuguese, Welsh, Icelandic, Afrikaans | Message 3 of 53 16 October 2011 at 9:29am | IP Logged | ||
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This is an interesting phenomenon for which I have absolutely no data, but I too have noticed a change in tone for
different languages. I think that Russian is a prime example for this: everyone I've ever heard who's learned Russian speaks it with a lower tone than their tone in English. This applies for me as well. By contrast, when I speak Italian I use a much higher tone. I suppose that a change of tone could be an indicator that you have grasped the pronunciation of the language even further than mere phonemes. Maybe it's just as important as intonation with every language having it's own "default" tone. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| pfn123 Senior Member Australia Joined 4895 days ago 171 posts - 291 votes Speaks: English* | Message 4 of 53 16 October 2011 at 9:47am | IP Logged | ||
I find the same thing. Whereas when I speak Chinese, I think my voice is a higher pitch, relatively speaking. Partly, I think it's from the mechanics of it (tones, speech organs used, etc.)... But mostly, I think it's just because I try to imitate native speakers. Japanese men tend to speak more from the chest, and use grumbling sounds. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Splog Diglot Senior Member Czech Republic anthonylauder.c Joined 5481 days ago 1062 posts - 3263 votes Speaks: English*, Czech Studies: Mandarin | Message 5 of 53 16 October 2011 at 9:50am | IP Logged | ||
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I have been told that when I speak Czech my voice is higher pitched than when I speak
English. One professor said this is quite common, since most Czech teachers are women, and male students tend to pick up the higher pitch when mimicking their teachers' speech. I have no idea whether or not this is true, but thinking back, he is right that almost every teacher I have had for Czech has been female. When I had lessons later on with that one male professor I would often end up with a sore throat - perhaps due to speaking more deeply than usual in Czech. In fact, one of my Russian friends heard me speaking English for the first time after about a year of near daily contact, and stared at me with wide eyes saying my deeper English voice didn't sound like me. Now, I don't have a particularly voice when speaking English, so my Czech voice must sound like a soprano. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| cathrynm Senior Member United States junglevision.co Joined 5937 days ago 910 posts - 1232 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Finnish | Message 6 of 53 16 October 2011 at 10:01am | IP Logged | ||
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I intentionally go a little more nasal, and a little more slurred in Japanese, and I change how much I move my mouth -- though this is the result of intentional study of how Japanese sounds. That is unless I get nervous or tired, and then I fall back and sound a lot more English-influenced. I do, kind of become another person, a little bit. Though I do still over-pronounce sounds and syllables a bit, and I can go a little monotone, because I don't really know a pitch accent since I learn more from reading than listening.
I don't do all the mannerism though. I think there's a point where it starts to feel kind of like I'm a fraud. i'm not sure exactly where the line is. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Chris Heptaglot Senior Member Japan Joined 6933 days ago 287 posts - 452 votes Speaks: English*, Russian, Indonesian, French, Malay, Japanese, Spanish Studies: Dutch, Korean, Mongolian | Message 7 of 53 16 October 2011 at 12:10pm | IP Logged | ||
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Yes! The pitch of my voice drops slightly when I speak Russian. It's not really that odd if you think about it. Your voice is bound to change when you speak other languages, especially if you have a good ear and can reproduce the native sounds well. Edited by Chris on 16 October 2011 at 12:11pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| July Diglot Senior Member Spain Joined 5085 days ago 113 posts - 208 votes Speaks: English*, SpanishB2 Studies: French | Message 8 of 53 16 October 2011 at 1:55pm | IP Logged | ||
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It reminds me of when actors are using a different accent for a role - often their 'new
voice' ends up out noticeably deeper than their normal voice. I wonder if it's because it's a choice - I believe that there have been studies which show that people enjoy to listen to deeper voices in both men and women more than higher voices. So perhaps since we are subconsciously aiming for an ideal accent, we also give ourselves a more pleasing tone of voice as well. 3 persons have voted this message useful |
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