Well, I just read the following, and it gave me the funniest thoughts.
Now, that I heard it, I hunger for more details, and/or other posters tales of people speaking one language, while retaining the accent of their home country.
Texans speaking understandable Japanese that nonetheless has a twang? German tourists speaking Taiwanese? What examples do people have? Oh, and while I am looking for real life examples. I would also take any examples of this as it relates to entertainment mediums.
Extremely common. 1 example - I went to Germany with a girl from Deep South Texas… and she spoke grammatically perfect German with a HORRIBLE Texas twang. It was hilarious when not embarrassing. Happens all the time, is, in fact, natural in a way (although not desireable).
I was accused by my college French professor of being the only student he ever had who spoke French with a Southern accent.
Living in Hawaii, I had a friend who was the daughter of Japanese immigrants. She was born and raised in Texas. People would do a double take the first time they heard her speak - she looked so typically Japanese, and it is much more common to hear a Japanese accent in Hawaii than a Texas accent.
My in-laws were from eastern Europe, learned English as adults and had/have a strong accent. People in the southern U.S. had a terrible time understanding them and vice versa. What was funnier was their attempt to immitate a southern accent. Indescribable.
One semester I was in a German class with kid from Geogia. (the state, not the country).
The twang was funny enough, but what was REALLY funny was watching the contortions the other students (me included) would go through trying not to laugh out loud. About every week or two somebody would get a fit of the uncontrollable giggles.
I have a japanese friend whom we sometimes try to get to talk like a cowboy. Just imagine a cute little japanese woman saying “boy howdy,” it’s pretty amusing.
I used to work with a woman who was born in China and learned to speak English in the deep south. I love the earthiness of the Canton acent; I also love the smoothness of the Southern-belle voice, but I couldn’t understand half of what this woman said.
Then again, I shouldn’t talk, since it is impossible for my Texas tounge to pronounce the Spanish rr. I’ve tried ever since I was corrected when saying my state senator’s name (“Senator Bad-d-d-d-d-dientos’ office is at…”), but at my best I speak Spanish about as well as Peggy Hill.
I have an acquaintance who was raised by his Chinese parents in New York and speaks Chinese w/ a Lawn Guyland accent. Sounds musical to me, but then I don’t understand Chinese.
My Indian languages are actually the first languages I learned, then French, then English. But after I started going to public school they took on first a French accent, later a Canadian accent, and finally some sort of generic American accent (we moved around). Most people can’t really place my accent…they just say it sounds foreign but I don’t speak Marathi or Konkani with a proper Indian accent anymore.
The school I teach at is remarkably multilingual: we have over 60 nations represented and many more languages than that. MUCH hilarity results from swapping accents. For example, one of my students (who has no accent, normally) enjoys speaking school-room Spanish with his Grandfather’s Gudjrati accent. I have another student who exagerates her Hispanic accent when rattleing out the Bosnian cursewords she has learned from her friends. And I have another student who happens to be Nigerian but speaks unaccented English unless he is stressed, at which point he develops the oddest American/Nigerian/British kluge of an accent. That’s less funny beucase it isn’t intentional, but it is odd, and it makes it impossible for him to conceal his nerves from people who know him!
I speak with a Texas accent, but have studied phonetics quite a bit, and tried mightly not to let it influence my pronunciation of foreign languages. Nevertheless, I’ve been told that I speak Russian with a definitely Novgorodian accent. Whether this is due to my Texas background or not I cannot say.
No. Every person with complete, functional oral anatomy is physically capable of producing them. It took me years, but I can say them perfectly now.
At my old English school there was an accountant who spoke pretty good English with little more than the standard Japanese accent, until we went out to a karaoke bar together. For some reason, once he started singing he developed an unbelievably thick Australian accent that just came out of nowhere.
One of my Brazilian wife’s cousins married a fellow from Scotland who works in the shipyards around Rio. He has a very strong Scottish accent when speaking Portuguese.
Of course, it didn’t really help much if we switched to English: his accent in our fine language was still a challenge to my ears. I felt bad for his wife, who will from now on be incorporating an opaque accent (to many) in the English she learns.
