by Warren » Dec 12, 2004 @ 10:32pm
Accents are a strange thing, I've found that many people when they move to a new country and learn a new language (even with some prior knowledge), they can still pick up that country's accent for that language, but still retain their original accent for their native language. Yet other people will have the same accent regardless of where they live or language they speak. A Russian teacher at my high school moved to the US without no English knowledge while he was in college, yet today still has a full Russian accent. On the other hand, a Russian girl (ach, see the first few pages in Library Girl thread to learn about her...) in my grade moved here and developed a fully American accent. Every Wednesday, German students and TAs go to a coffee shop (we call it Kaffeestunde) and chat. There's a girl there from Germany, but I had no idea for a long time because of how perfect her American accent is (she's here on study abroad). There's a guy from Switzerland who has an American accent when speaking English, and a really old guy from Germany who is visiting here and he has developed a totally American accent with English, yet his wife still speaks with a German accent. There's a TA from Germany who speaks with a German accent, yet another TA from Germany who speaks with a mixed accent. My teacher says I have a very good accent when I try, she says it sounds Austrian (which I don't mind, half my family is from Austria). I believe accents entirely depend on the person and not their language developemental stage.
When I moved from Israel to the US, I could not pronounce w, th, r, or sh (my sh was pronounced the Hebrew way, which is basically the German way). I had to go through years of speech theropy to be able to say those sounds (a conspiracy I tell you!). And yes, I had plenty of trouble trying to pronounce my own name, and still have some trouble today.
[EDIT] Oh yeah, but at work, at the Spanish speakers, regardless of the DECADES they've lived in the country, can't speak a lick of English. One little woman from Laos can't speak at English at all...
Last edited by
Warren on Dec 12, 2004 @ 10:42pm, edited 1 time in total.