Favorite Accents

[derspiess]

It's like the Dutch. If you're Dutch and have a clear Dutch accent when speaking English it's sort of looked down on (especially if you do the 'sch' thing).

Looked down on by whom?  Other Dutch?

Lots of Scandis and Dutch have almost negligible accents when speaking English; you hear a slight foreign-ness but it's not identifiably Scandi or Dutch. Which is a shame because the Scandi and Dutch accents are awesome.

I'm usually pretty good about placing accents, but a Danish dude I met a few years ago sounded vaguely Australian to me. 

[Admiral Yi]

It's like the Dutch. If you're Dutch and have a clear Dutch accent when speaking English it's sort of looked down on (especially if you do the 'sch' thing). Lots of Scandis and Dutch have almost negligible accents when speaking English; you hear a slight foreign-ness but it's not identifiably Scandi or Dutch. Which is a shame because the Scandi and Dutch accents are awesome.

That lisp is the best part. 

[Sheilbh]

Looked down on by whom?  Other Dutch?

Yep. I've a friend living in the Netherlands and have known a couple of Scandis. They've all said that too strong a Dutch or Scandi accent when speaking English is seen as a bit ill-educated. I think everyone has it to some extent, that you don't want to sound too ridiculously English or whatever when speaking a foreign language. But because the Dutch and Scandis are so good at English it's taken to a ridiculous level.

Whereas, to use Ta-Nehisi Coates's line, I view anyone who can speak another language as some variety of mutant or super-hero.

Oddly a lot of foreign people have told me they find it annoying how few people in England correct them. If we can understand them then that's enough for us and correcting them would be somehow rude. They've all said they actually want to be corrected because they're here to improve their English, but English people just let them make mistakes all the time

Despite that I still don't correct anyone 

[Sheilbh]

I'm usually pretty good about placing accents, but a Danish dude I met a few years ago sounded vaguely Australian to me.

My greatest achievement in accent placement was a Finnish girl

On the other hand I often think Russians - or certainly Russians who've lived in the US - sound Brazilian. I never get it.

[mongers]

Looked down on by whom?  Other Dutch?

Yep. I've a friend living in the Netherlands and have known a couple of Scandis. They've all said that too strong a Dutch or Scandi accent when speaking English is seen as a bit ill-educated. I think everyone has it to some extent, that you don't want to sound too ridiculously English or whatever when speaking a foreign language. But because the Dutch and Scandis are so good at English it's taken to a ridiculous level.

Whereas, to use Ta-Nehisi Coates's line, I view anyone who can speak another language as some variety of mutant or super-hero.

Oddly a lot of foreign people have told me they find it annoying how few people in England correct them. If we can understand them then that's enough for us and correcting them would be somehow rude. They've all said they actually want to be corrected because they're here to improve their English, but English people just let them make mistakes all the time

Despite that I still don't correct anyone 

Well I'm in the same boat as you, Shelf.  And I would never correct their use of English, so rude.

Indeed, I have an very annoying habit of shifting to idiomatic English, when chatting with some one who doesn't have English as their first language.   

[Razgovory]

I took Latin so I wouldn't be expected to speak to anyone in another language.  It does seem odd that nearly everyone in Scandinavia and the Netherlands speaks English.

[derspiess]

Yep. I've a friend living in the Netherlands and have known a couple of Scandis. They've all said that too strong a Dutch or Scandi accent when speaking English is seen as a bit ill-educated. I think everyone has it to some extent, that you don't want to sound too ridiculously English or whatever when speaking a foreign language. But because the Dutch and Scandis are so good at English it's taken to a ridiculous level.

The general proficiency they have is pretty impressive.  In the Netherlands I didn't really feel like I was in a foreign country a lot of the time, which was comforting in some ways but a bummer in others.

Whereas, to use Ta-Nehisi Coates's line, I view anyone who can speak another language as some variety of mutant or super-hero.

Yep-- I almost regret the universality of English.  I love foreign languages & would've welcomed more "sink or swim"-type situations.

Oddly a lot of foreign people have told me they find it annoying how few people in England correct them. If we can understand them then that's enough for us and correcting them would be somehow rude. They've all said they actually want to be corrected because they're here to improve their English, but English people just let them make mistakes all the time

Despite that I still don't correct anyone 

You're all just too polite.  In the US we don't usually correct non-English speakers-- we usually mock them in some manner.  I've coached my wife on her English for 13 years and I kinda miss the cute mistakes she used to make. 

In Argentina I'm relentlessly corrected by my wife's family (though only the women).  It gets frustrating for me if they can't tell me why something I say is wrong, and a lot of the time it's simply differences in the dialect I learned vs. their own.

[derspiess]

I just sort of realized that I learned 'proper' Spanish as spoken in parts of Spain, and my wife learned the Queen's English in her school run by British nuns.  So we both learned each other's languages the way they're spoken in the mother countries and have had to adjust accordingly.

[Sheilbh]

I've the opposite experience. I learned Spanish (as much as I have) in Argentina. I can understand Argentines (and other South Americans) very well. Put me in a room with two Andalucians and it's like someone scratched the disc and is fast-forwarding

[derspiess]

I've the opposite experience. I learned Spanish (as much as I have) in Argentina. I can understand Argentines (and other South Americans) very well. Put me in a room with two Andalucians and it's like someone scratched the disc and is fast-forwarding

Don't feel bad.  Sometimes my wife gets lost speaking with people other Spanish-speaking parts of the world that they both have to move the conversation to English.