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Do you pick up accents? | ||
Tags: Accent | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| rivere123 Senior Member United States Joined 4630 days ago 129 posts - 182 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 1 of 24 30 November 2011 at 5:08am | IP Logged | ||
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I'm an amateur actor, so I would have no gripes learning an accent. I've thought about this a little bit, and chances are when I was thinking about it language learning came to mind. Putting those two things together, I got this question:
When you learn a language, can you mimic the accents of those people in English (for example, an Indian accent after learning Hindi or a Norwegian accent after learning Norwegian)? I'm pretty curious about this. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Chris Heptaglot Senior Member Japan Joined 6921 days ago 287 posts - 452 votes Speaks: English*, Russian, Indonesian, French, Malay, Japanese, Spanish Studies: Dutch, Korean, Mongolian | Message 2 of 24 30 November 2011 at 7:08am | IP Logged | ||
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I think you would have to hear the Indian or Norwegian speaking English to mimic either of them properly. For an adult learner of a foreign language, the native language is an impediment. How the native language 'reacts' with the foreign language can only really be heard in the foreign language. If you learn, say, Norwegian as an English learner you are already separating English and Norwegian. Then there's the ability of the learner to make into account. Does he or she have a good ear? If so, the effect will not be as pronounced as with someone who doesn't.
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| Kwai-Chang Tetraglot Newbie Switzerland Joined 4545 days ago 8 posts - 27 votes Speaks: English*, French, German, Spanish Studies: Mandarin | Message 3 of 24 30 November 2011 at 9:09am | IP Logged | ||
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Listening to people whose language I speak speak English often gives me interesting insights into their languages, especially if their accent is strong. I'm learning Mandarin at the moment, and have realised that relative to English speakers, Mandarin speakers keep their tongues very relaxed and passive and make much more use of their lips and teeth. This has helped me with both my tones and the various 'ch', 'q', 'zh' etc. sounds.
Cheers Jim Btw. can anyone tell me how to list my languages spoken on my profile? 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| HMS Senior Member England Joined 4907 days ago 143 posts - 256 votes Speaks: English* | Message 4 of 24 30 November 2011 at 5:47pm | IP Logged | ||
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I hail from the North of England, to my ear I have a very "broad" accent. Due to my work
though and living and working around people from all over the country since I left school in 1992 my accent (i'm told) has changed. Southern accents in the UK are regarded by Northerners as sounding "posh". I'm told I sound posh nowadays when I speak with people from my hometown. Little nuances such as not using glottal stops, saying dinner instead of tea and all host of other tiny things all add up to me sounding different. I think I sound exactly as I did 20 years ago. Obviously I'm not the best judge of that. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5181 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 5 of 24 30 November 2011 at 6:35pm | IP Logged | ||
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I agree with Chris that you'd need to hear the accents in English before mimicking them. I think there is a difference between predicting how English sounds may come out based on the language's sounds and hearing how they actually come because of genuine difficulties native speakers have in producing L2 sounds. Just like you can't guess where a person is from just by listening to their accent... unless you've heard the accent before and it was identified as hailing from a given place.
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| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5062 days ago 2237 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 6 of 24 30 November 2011 at 7:26pm | IP Logged | ||
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I think what the OP is asking is if he can act in, say, an Italian accent in English could he transfer that over to learning Italian?
Here's what Barry Farber wrote in "How To Learn Any Language" about this subject: " 'I’m never going to pose as a native speaker of their language, and I’d never be able to pull it off even if I tried, so why bother to develop the right accent?'... ...Nobody is arrested for indecent exposure just because he dresses poorly. On the other hand, a person unconcerned about dress will never impress us with his appearance. It’s the same with the proper accent. As long as you’re going to go to the trouble of learning a language, why not try – at very little extra cost – to mimic the genuine accent." If you can put on a foreign accent to tell ethnic jokes, you can put one on when you speak another language. If you think you can’t, try! A lot of Americans believe they’re unable to capture a foreign accent when subconsciously they’re merely reluctant to try. We’re all taught that it’s rude to make fun of foreigners. That childhood etiquette is hereby countermanded. 'Make fun' of the foreigner’s accent as effectively as you can as you learn his language." Edited by iguanamon on 02 December 2011 at 9:44am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| HMS Senior Member England Joined 4907 days ago 143 posts - 256 votes Speaks: English* | Message 7 of 24 30 November 2011 at 7:27pm | IP Logged | ||
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What about mimicking accents in order to sound 'local'?
I may speak for myself here but if I hear people affecting an accent it creases me up in laughter and I think they are self-aggrendisings idiots. If I went to Glasgow and tried to sound Scottish or Glaswegian I think my life expectancy would be reduced to a matter of minutes! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5062 days ago 2237 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 8 of 24 30 November 2011 at 8:58pm | IP Logged | ||
Yep, I would have to say more like mere seconds! Same for me in Liverpool or Leeds. What Barry Farber is talking about is using the foreign accent in English, as an English-speaker (his book is intended for English-speakers), as an advantage in developing a better accent in the target language, in the early stages. Obviously, being native speakers of English, and living in countries with a great deal of immigration, we are very familiar with foreign accents in English. Could it be easier to come to a better accent in the target language, in the early stages, by mimicking the TL speaker's accent in English? It is an interesting idea. Edited by iguanamon on 30 November 2011 at 9:36pm 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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