[desg90]

I love learning new languages.
I fluently speak English, Spanish and French (currently studying German).
I've noticed that, when speaking in Spanish (first language), I tend to use a flat accent instead of that marked snobbish accent I had a few years ago.

I have two theories. Either I'm adopting the accent used in my every-day environment (Franco-Mexican school where a mix of French and Spanish is unofficially spoken), or my brain is constantly being teased by all those phonetic rules and resorts to a neutral or mixed accent.


I think it might be both.
When I hear people that have grown up in bilingual environments, they seem to have a mixed or flat accent.

And there are those people with a "foreign accent syndrome" caused by physical trauma on certain encephalitic areas.


What I find most preoccupying is that it's mostly affecting my mother's tongue and, instead of over-articulating, as some people do, I tend to clutter and stutter the words (though it might be another kind of problem, for I have a terrible diction in all other languages).


What do you think?
Is it a problem related to polyglocy and/or the environment?
Or is it more of a personal language problem?

[Homini Lupus]

The only problem I had since now with multiple languages is thinking words in foreign language and having problems to continue a statement in my first language because I don't remember the right word to translate it (so sometimes i use a foreign word even if it looks quite snob). But since now my experiences with foreign language have been much more oriented towards written language than spoken language.

[desg90]

Originally Posted by Homini Lupus To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

The only problem I had since now with multiple languages is thinking words in foreign language and having problems to continue a statement in my first language because I don't remember the right word to translate it (so sometimes i use a foreign word even if it looks quite snob). But since now my experiences with foreign language have been much more oriented towards written language than spoken language.

I have the very same problem.
Words come up with the same sense but people around me don't know them because they might not have the same linguistic roots or just because of the pronunciation.

But, that is quite common, actually.
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[Antares]

I speak fluently: Cantonese, Mandarin, English and French almost fluently (I'm still learning, but I can read newspaper, speak very coherently and understand 99% of the French I hear). I'm teaching myself Latin, but not speaking it.

Mandarin was my first language and I first spoke it with a heavy Beijing accent; it surprises some people because most Cantonese speak broken or awkwardly accented mandarin. I still have a bit of it, but for a period of time, had adopted a 'Taiwanese' accent due to my interactions with them. Now I reverted back to the most 'correct' accent, the Beijing accent
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It's supposedly how Mandarin should be spoken (and it's still spoken like that in formal speeches, debates, television etc), but now almost every province seem to have their special trademark accent. I don't think one could become a television reporter without a good grip on the 'correct' accent.

As for English, I first adopted an accent that most Chinese speakers would; very awkward and unnatural. Then it became more 'Americanized' and now my accent is unrecognizable as a foreign speaker's. I like the British accent and want to adopt it, but it's very hard. I've never 'lost' my American'ish accent. Still have it today.

[Ironmind]

Yeah, I love it to, just join here because I have to speak English then..
But I am very bad at Languages.., so is that an personal issue, or is that typical something for an INTJ?

But answering your question: When people come back to Holland, and have staying more then 5years in England/America, they always have a weird accent imo.
I think you just adopt the new accent on the new local area where you are at on that moment.
When back home again, you have to learn the accent again.

So you switch from accent to accent, that's the temporary mix, but the mix will not stay very long, I think.

[Noehelia]

I would say that you adopt the accent of your everyday environment. It is a mimic function . In my city we have a different accent of 2 letters (we pronounce them as being double) than the rest of the country and the official way they are pronounced in tv. When I was 13 I went to a camp for 3 weeks where most of the kids came from the capital city. These kids did not only have the official accent for the 2 letters but they had a slightly lighter accent in general. Their accent was to me so funny and I didn't like it at all. After 1 week I started to adopt it gradually and by the 2nd week I was calling my parents and ask them to speak to me for a long time in order to perceive again my previous accent. It's not only that I didn't like my new acquired accent, my mouth hurt because of the activation of a new way to move the muscles surround it. I do not know if my staying in the camp was the cause that changed the way I pronounced these 2 letters but after that when I met people from other cities they were always saying to me "Oh, you do not have the accent of your city, it is a surprise".
Other people however it doesn't matter how long they stay in another city they still have their old accent.
I understood that I unconsciously mimic other people's accent. Actually I was always afraid that if I moved to a different country I would forget how to speak in my language. Have you met people that do that? I have. There are people that live for 30 years in another country and when they speak their native language they do it properly. There are others however that stay in another country for 5 years and when they go back they speak like they are foreigners.

[ElstonGunn]

It also depends on who's telling you what kind of accent you have. Californians and Southerners tell me that I sound like a Canadian. Canadians tell me I sound like a Yankee or an American. I tell them all that I have no accent, partly because most of the audible talking I do and hear is local, but mostly because the way I talk is the right way.
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[Aronnax]

I think your changing accent is enviromental. My Spanish teacher insisted on using the Spaniard accent but because of where I live my own accent (and grammar) is Mexican. Part of it is conscious (the Spaniard lisp irritates the hell out of me) but most of it is just osmosis.

I see it in single language speakers as well, the longer they live somewhere the more their accent conforms to the new region.

[IFearAManOf1Book]

Anyone have any suggestions for learning french? I am attempting to learn, but am having some trouble not sounding like a complete (idiotic) American.

[wolf]

I am a Southern Californian that doesn't have an accent like about 98% of the white people in this portion of the state. In fact, most people in the US say I don't have one.

When I go to places with an accent, I automatically acquire it very quickly due to my lack of an accent. I usually have a fairly good local accent within a few days. For instance, British Columbians can't tell I'm a foreigner after about three to four days, so if they don't know, they usually think I'm full of crap until I prove I'm a yank...


To the OP: You're probably acquiring an average from your peers.

[denaria]

	Originally Posted by IFearAManOf1Book To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	Anyone have any suggestions for learning french? I am attempting to learn, but am having some trouble not sounding like a complete (idiotic) American.

English people always seem to be frightened of pronouncing foreign languages properly. I hear them saying "Bong Jaw" for bonjour (roughly bonzhur) and I don't understand why they don't at least try to sound things the French way, which is not really that difficult. French has fewer vowel sounds than English, and As, Es and Os tend to be sounded further back in the mouth and partially through the nose. Rs are rolled in the middle of the mouth. The ends of words that end in consonants are swallowed (English does this too, the French do it a bit more) unless the next word starts in a vowel. Es at the ends of words are not sounded separately unless accented. Hs are always silent. That's most of it - just pretend you're Alain Delon with a Gaulloise attached permanently to the corner of your mouth. The problem is that foreign languages are taught in a written form from the start, and it's difficult for most people to unlearn the sounds associated with the letters in their mother tongue. Russian was a bit easier in that respect; a completely new alphabet with new sounds.

Dunno how old you are, but the younger the better; I'm learning Spanish at the age of 51, not a difficult language but I cannot stop myself sounding Hs!

[f3nr1l]

I am only fluent in English, but I have a decent amount of experience compared to the average American in Japanese, French, and Spanish. This has made me pronounce English exactly as it should be; exactly as in pronunciation keys. Probably because of my recent intensity in Japanese study, I've started using an even amount of stress on most words. I think it kind of makes for a unique, personal accent of mine own. I like it, that I do.

Oh, and I agree with the English (from England) accent sentiment. I can make a few regional accents decently enough, but as a whole, I'm very poor at English accents. It's quite hard figuring out how to say words incorrectly.. :P

[thod]

There is no British English accent. The place is all regional accents. They are all easy for me to understand though (with the exception of the Glasgow accent)

[denaria]

Well, British English does have Received Pronounciation (variously known as the Queen's English, BBC English, Oxford English...) It used to be the hallmark of an educated person, and indeed some schools tried to vigorously eradicate regional accents; many other students consciously adopted RP at university. Today that's regarded as quite snobbish, and most English people hang onto their own regional variations. True upper-class english (think Joyce Grenfell, Jessica Mitford) has almost completely disappeared.

[wolf]

I can, apparently, emulate a near-perfect BBC British accent, or so say my friends from England. The problem was that I finally tripped over a word that has a different pronunciation here than it does there. They were picking on stupid yanks that fake dumb pseudo-British accents when they go to England, so I had to defend the sensible people from my country (even though I think those yanks that do a stupid one are dumb, too).

Interestingly, they can't do a single yank accent, so they'll change to different random regional accents constantly...

[Danisty]

	Originally Posted by denaria To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	Russian was a bit easier in that respect; a completely new alphabet with new sounds.

Well, it's a new alphabet but a lot of the sounds are the same just with different letters. I think that's what confuses a lot of people learning Russian. P is R, B is V, H is N. They look like English letters, but don't make the same sounds. However, they do make sounds we have in English. I didn't have much trouble with it, but I know a lot of people do. I'm really enjoying learning Russian, but I'd like to get some feedback from a native speaker on my accent though and I can't find any Russians in Savannah.