| Pages in topic: [1 2 3 4 5] > | "you have an accent" Thread poster: Matthew Trulandzev
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A lot of people here in USA can tell that we (others) have an accent even if you just have a short conversation with them that consists of no more than probably 3 short sentences using short words or general words you probably use everyday. Because for example like me, that has been living here for 10 years (also went to school here), there are still people that tell me that I have an accent!
I pronounce the words just like everyone else does. They understand everything I say, yet they sti... See more A lot of people here in USA can tell that we (others) have an accent even if you just have a short conversation with them that consists of no more than probably 3 short sentences using short words or general words you probably use everyday. Because for example like me, that has been living here for 10 years (also went to school here), there are still people that tell me that I have an accent!
I pronounce the words just like everyone else does. They understand everything I say, yet they still somehow figure out that I have an accent.
Its definition - prominence of a syllable in terms of differential loudness, or of pitch, or length, or of a combination of these.
I think it is usually at least one of the vowels in the word, that makes it so easy for them (people) to tell that we have an accent.
In my opinion, the longer the word is, the harder its pronunciation is (especially if you have never heard how it is pronounced). It is a good thing that the pronunciation does not affect your translation and by the way, for me, pronunciation has been the hardest part of learning and getting improved at, as there is no rules to English reading.
I would love to see everyone else's opinions about this subject. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Mats Wiman 
Sweden
Local time: 18:43
Member (2000)
German to Swedish
+ ...
In memoriam | Record your speech! | Oct 14, 2012 |
Hi,
Interesting subject.
It is indeed difficult get a true picture (;-)) of how you sound to others.
Have your speech recorded and listen to the recording and you might decipher why people say you have an accent.
When I was in New York as a 20-year old in 1960) the baristas thought I was from the south, in the UK in later years they thought I was Dutch, in Germany they thought I was British etc.
Mats (with maybe a Swedish accent).
... See more Hi,
Interesting subject.
It is indeed difficult get a true picture (;-)) of how you sound to others.
Have your speech recorded and listen to the recording and you might decipher why people say you have an accent.
When I was in New York as a 20-year old in 1960) the baristas thought I was from the south, in the UK in later years they thought I was Dutch, in Germany they thought I was British etc.
Mats (with maybe a Swedish accent).
[Edited at 2012-10-14 11:51 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Interesting subject, indeed | Oct 14, 2012 |
I was told that my English sounds German, which is funny since I don't know a single word of German and have no German roots.
I've also heard that Russian and East-European accents are the most difficult to get rid of. Thank God I don't do any interpreting ))
[Edited at 2012-10-14 09:13 GMT]
| | | | | Accents and Origins | Oct 14, 2012 |
Interesting topic indeed. At times, I wonder what is it that makes people think of accents. I'm Indian and both my parents are from Punjab and like many Indians, I grew up speaking three languages at home - in my case, these were English, Hindi and Punjabi... and I've lived in many different places in India and understand (and used to speak) some other languages as well.
Many people are still surprised when I tell them that I'm from Punjab.
And when people start the g... See more Interesting topic indeed. At times, I wonder what is it that makes people think of accents. I'm Indian and both my parents are from Punjab and like many Indians, I grew up speaking three languages at home - in my case, these were English, Hindi and Punjabi... and I've lived in many different places in India and understand (and used to speak) some other languages as well.
Many people are still surprised when I tell them that I'm from Punjab.
And when people start the guessing game, I get many different mother tongues, all except Punjabi. Till date no one has ever guessed it correctly (on hearing me speak English or Hindi).
And I think I'm not the only one. Most probably many of us go through this.
May be it's because of looks? Or the way one is dressed on a particular occassion. So the question is: Do people actually hear you when they speak of your accent or mother tongue? Or do other things such as skin-colour, looks, the way one is dressed up, etc. play a role in it?
And finally, how wrong these prejudcies can be? Isn't this just a way to reject the 'other'? ▲ Collapse
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Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 17:43
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Salithealbo wrote:
......... there are still people that tell me that I have an accent
Yes, and from your use of English it's clear that English is not your mother tongue.
As for myself, after more than 20 years in Italy and Italians asking me "What part of Tuscany are you from?" I find that one never really becomes 100% proficient in one's adopted language. I'm still secretly looking up basic grammatical questions. And when I lose my temper (which in Italy is not difficult to do) my "convincing" pronunciation tends to slip!
[Edited at 2012-10-14 09:55 GMT]
| | | | Kirsten Bodart
United Kingdom
Local time: 18:43
Dutch to English
+ ...
| Yes, record yourself | Oct 14, 2012 |
I thought my English pronunciation was fine until I listened to myself on my mobile... Gosh. How awful. Still, I am improving it.
Certain languages are easier in terms of perfect pronunciation than others. German, to me, is easy, because it just requires you to use your mouth and everything it's got. People often ask me where I am from in Luxembourg. Hearing it on the radio, it sounds a bit 'flat' like a Flemish person with good German would talk. I used to do my best more in uni (a... See more I thought my English pronunciation was fine until I listened to myself on my mobile... Gosh. How awful. Still, I am improving it.
Certain languages are easier in terms of perfect pronunciation than others. German, to me, is easy, because it just requires you to use your mouth and everything it's got. People often ask me where I am from in Luxembourg. Hearing it on the radio, it sounds a bit 'flat' like a Flemish person with good German would talk. I used to do my best more in uni (achieving very good results), but now it takes too much effort.
The French guy from down the road says I speak French like a Corsican... Funny that.
Germans can hear that my husband is foreign, but they can't tell where from. They find his accent cute.
To me, it is all in the listening and being able to perfectly reproduce what you hear. In most cases that doesn't work, hence accents.
As I said, in some languages it is easier than in others. For me, as a Germanic speaker who naturally articulates his sounds quite heavily, English is difficult, because I have the impression I can't move what I've got. Quite annoying. I can do accents in English (alegedly I've got a good Indian, French and German one), but I can't do RP, unless I change my voice and make an effort that takes the stuffing out of me.
Although I am trying, but as French took me several years, I don't have any illusions about English, unless I went to live there. And then still...
Although I don't think it really matters. It is more in the contents than in the outside.
[Edited at 2012-10-14 12:54 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Ty Kendall
United Kingdom
Local time: 17:43
Hebrew to English
| Pronunciation is more complex than most people give it credit for. | Oct 14, 2012 |
It's not just a case of getting the consonants and vowels right (although they themselves can be tricky).
There's rhythm, stress, intonation, pitch.
In addition, it's not only a matter of handling the phonetics (sounds in isolation) but the phonology (sound combinations in different [linguistic] 'environments').
All of which is second nature to a native speaker, but isn't easily acquired or mimicked by non-native speakers - even after years of exposure.
... See more It's not just a case of getting the consonants and vowels right (although they themselves can be tricky).
There's rhythm, stress, intonation, pitch.
In addition, it's not only a matter of handling the phonetics (sounds in isolation) but the phonology (sound combinations in different [linguistic] 'environments').
All of which is second nature to a native speaker, but isn't easily acquired or mimicked by non-native speakers - even after years of exposure.
I've met quite a few extremely proficient non-native speakers who have done quite a good job of pulling the wool over my eyes...for a minute or two. It might be the strange pronunciation of a vowel (sheep/ship) or the odd stressing of a syllable which gives the game away, but the game is *nearly* always given away.
So maybe you do have traces of an Albanian? accent, so what? I wouldn't want to be mistaken for a native speaker of my source language. I'm proud of the fact I spent a very long time studying it and I'm content with people saying my accent is "good". My ego doesn't require me to pass for a native speaker. Would it be a nice ego-boost if I got asked: "What part of Tel-Aviv do you come from?*". Sure. But it isn't necessary either.
It's a fact of life/linguistics that if you learn a language after your formative years, chances are you are *highly unlikely* to be able to master the pronunciation to a degree to be "undetectable" by a native speaker audience....but there's nothing wrong with that. ▲ Collapse
| | | | finnword1
United States
Local time: 12:43
English to Finnish
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| everybody has some kind of accent | Oct 14, 2012 |
In my youth I used to watch "Gunsmoke". I wanted to learn to speak like Festus. Never did.
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wonita (X)
China
Local time: 12:43
| There's nothing wrong with that | Oct 14, 2012 |
Ty Kendall wrote:
It's a fact of life/linguistics that if you learn a language after your formative years, chances are you are *highly unlikely* to be able to master the pronunciation to a degree to be "undetectable" by a native speaker audience....but there's nothing wrong with that.
No, there's nothing wrong with that, if you have another mother tongue...
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Apparently I speak Welsh with an Italian accent!
| | | | | don't we all have an accent | Oct 14, 2012 |
i would say nearly everyone of us speaks with an accent even in our mother tongue, and then when speaking the foreign language we also speak in an accent, this may be the accent of the people that taught us that language or we may speak with an accent that is non native.
I was recently on holiday in Egypt and was told several times that i speak Arabic with an Egyptian accent, but also that i speak it with a gulf accent or a Levantine accent, in fact it is probably a mix of several d... See more i would say nearly everyone of us speaks with an accent even in our mother tongue, and then when speaking the foreign language we also speak in an accent, this may be the accent of the people that taught us that language or we may speak with an accent that is non native.
I was recently on holiday in Egypt and was told several times that i speak Arabic with an Egyptian accent, but also that i speak it with a gulf accent or a Levantine accent, in fact it is probably a mix of several dialects and accents.
On a similar note I once bumped into a bunch of school kids in Saudi Arabia who all spoke very good English but in a very strong and unmistakeable Liverpool accent (Scouse). ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Yes, I believe everyone has some kind of an accent -- characteristic for that particular individual | Oct 14, 2012 |
It is becoming more and more noticeable in multilingual, democratic societies, where although there are some standards, a more relaxed approach towards any language standards, including accents, is preferred.
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Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 17:43
Member (2008)
Italian to English
| Care required! | Oct 14, 2012 |
Steve Booth wrote:
.......... I once bumped into a bunch of school kids in Saudi Arabia who all spoke very good English but in a very strong and unmistakeable Liverpool accent (Scouse).
Indeed - care is required when studying a foreign language abroad. Examples:
1.
I used to have a German friend who had studied English in Birmingham, with the result that she had a very broad Birmingham accent. A Birmingham accent is fine, if you're a native of Birmingham; but **not if you're German**.
2.
I used to have an English friend who had studied Italian in Rome, with the result that she had a very broad Rome accent. A Rome accent is fine, if you're a native of Rome; but **not if you're English**.
| | | | Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 18:43
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
| A counterargument | Oct 14, 2012 |
Charlize Theron's mother tongue is Afrikaans. She was first introduced to the English language aged 19 (which is not really childhood).
I can't find a trace of foreign accent in her English which sounds Standard US English, but it should also be taken into account she's an actress and they work a great deal on their voice and have plenty of voice/speech practice as a part of their career.
Here is an example of her speaki... See more Charlize Theron's mother tongue is Afrikaans. She was first introduced to the English language aged 19 (which is not really childhood).
I can't find a trace of foreign accent in her English which sounds Standard US English, but it should also be taken into account she's an actress and they work a great deal on their voice and have plenty of voice/speech practice as a part of their career.
Here is an example of her speaking: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v70pNFdsBSg (starting at 2:00) ▲ Collapse
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Tom in London wrote: Steve Booth wrote:
.......... I once bumped into a bunch of school kids in Saudi Arabia who all spoke very good English but in a very strong and unmistakeable Liverpool accent (Scouse). Indeed - care is required when studying a foreign language abroad. Examples: 1. I used to have a German friend who had studied English in Birmingham, with the result that she had a very broad Birmingham accent. A Birmingham accent is fine, if you're a native of Birmingham; but **not if you're German**. 2. I used to have an English friend who had studied Italian in Rome, with the result that she had a very broad Rome accent. A Rome accent is fine, if you're a native of Rome; but **not if you're English**.
Why wouldn't it be good for a Russian person, let's say, to have an Edinburgh accent, if they loved it?
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