Sensitive vs. critical periods
Kellie MacSwan
Understanding accents has a lot to do with how you feel about the person
speaking, and about differences in identity. There's a study from the
University of Washington where college students were shown images of different
people as they listened to different accents. They found that when people
heard a recording of a woman speaking with a generic American accent but the
image was of a Chinese woman's face, the accent was rated extremely difficult to
understand.
Also, when people have been drinking a little bit, they understand each other's
accents much better (although drinking too much can create new pronunciation
difficulties! :-) Being relaxed and open to understanding helps.
A good waitress can understand almost anyone, because she already knows that
from among the infinite possibilities of what any person might randomly say to
her, what a person typically wants to say to a waitress is drawn from such a
small list of topics that she can usually guess based just on body language.
Success in learning a foreign language follows a bell curve - about 7% of people
can learn a new language or accent flawlessly, about 7% seem unable to learn one
at all, and everyone else falls somewhere in between, with most in the middle.
But when someone retains an accent for years despite living in a new
environment, it is often because they want, consciously or unconsciously, to
maintain their identity as a person from 'that other place.' By contrast, a
person who adopts a new accent quickly does so because they identify strongly
with the new 'place'. My brother, forty-something, moved from California where
he grew up to Rhode Island for law school. Within 2 weeks, he was saying 'pahk
the cah' which to me screamed, "I love this place and want to be one of these
people!!"
Kellie Rolstad/MacSwan
speaking, and about differences in identity. There's a study from the
University of Washington where college students were shown images of different
people as they listened to different accents. They found that when people
heard a recording of a woman speaking with a generic American accent but the
image was of a Chinese woman's face, the accent was rated extremely difficult to
understand.
Also, when people have been drinking a little bit, they understand each other's
accents much better (although drinking too much can create new pronunciation
difficulties! :-) Being relaxed and open to understanding helps.
A good waitress can understand almost anyone, because she already knows that
from among the infinite possibilities of what any person might randomly say to
her, what a person typically wants to say to a waitress is drawn from such a
small list of topics that she can usually guess based just on body language.
Success in learning a foreign language follows a bell curve - about 7% of people
can learn a new language or accent flawlessly, about 7% seem unable to learn one
at all, and everyone else falls somewhere in between, with most in the middle.
But when someone retains an accent for years despite living in a new
environment, it is often because they want, consciously or unconsciously, to
maintain their identity as a person from 'that other place.' By contrast, a
person who adopts a new accent quickly does so because they identify strongly
with the new 'place'. My brother, forty-something, moved from California where
he grew up to Rhode Island for law school. Within 2 weeks, he was saying 'pahk
the cah' which to me screamed, "I love this place and want to be one of these
people!!"
Kellie Rolstad/MacSwan
Robin Bentley
>My dad moved to Canada from England when he was in short pants
> But when someone retains an accent for years despite living in a new
> environment, it is often because they want, consciously or
> unconsciously, to
> maintain their identity as a person from 'that other place.'
(elementary school) and 80 years later, he still had an English
accent. It was part of who he was, though he didn't specifically
identify with being an Englishman versus being a Canadian (of which he
was very proud).
> By contrast, aI think, sometimes, that one can't help absorbing words or ways of
> person who adopts a new accent quickly does so because they identify
> strongly
> with the new 'place'. My brother, forty-something, moved from
> California where
> he grew up to Rhode Island for law school. Within 2 weeks, he was
> saying 'pahk
> the cah' which to me screamed, "I love this place and want to be one
> of these
> people!!"
>
speaking when you are living in a new country or part of the country.
Part of it might be wanting to fit in better, to "blend." Some of it's
unconscious.
I started saying "*in*surance" after I'd been in WA for a couple of
years. I didn't notice until a Canadian friend pointed it out
(Canadians say "in*sur* ance"). I still say "sem- ee" instead of "sem -
eye." My daughter says "zee" although she spent many more years saying
"zed."
I pick up accents and even ways of speaking my own language when I go
to different places. I'll start talking like a local in Hawai'i (to
the point that I got asked if I'd gotten off work early that day).
I've talked like an Italian speaking English when I was in Italy. To
me, it's a way to feel a part of things and it's usually unconscious,
but I wouldn't say it screams anything other than relaxing into the
place I am at the time.
Robin B.
Sandra Dodd
-=-I pick up accents and even ways of speaking my own language when I go
to different places. I'll start talking like a local in Hawai'i (to
the point that I got asked if I'd gotten off work early that day).
I've talked like an Italian speaking English when I was in Italy. To
me, it's a way to feel a part of things and it's usually unconscious,
but I wouldn't say it screams anything other than relaxing into the
place I am at the time.-=-
A good friend of mine is that way. He doesn't even know he's doing it.
I know two people, one from Texas and one U.K. (mentioned previously)
who are consciously maintaining that accent, hoping they can go back
and not have lost it, in part. Partly to be noticed.
In some cases it can be tacky/rude not to blend a bit. When my Brit
friend says "zed" to people who have never, ever heard it, he's
knowingly being antagonistic. When I used to visit my granny in my
tweens and teens, I said "You guys" ONCE and the blank stares or
objections "we ain't *guys*) reminded me. I would use "ya'll" after
that, if the plural was necessary. They didn't hear "ya'll" at all in
the '60's, though nowadays it's fading some, I hear.
If something is a conversation stopper, then using it isn't
conversational.
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
to different places. I'll start talking like a local in Hawai'i (to
the point that I got asked if I'd gotten off work early that day).
I've talked like an Italian speaking English when I was in Italy. To
me, it's a way to feel a part of things and it's usually unconscious,
but I wouldn't say it screams anything other than relaxing into the
place I am at the time.-=-
A good friend of mine is that way. He doesn't even know he's doing it.
I know two people, one from Texas and one U.K. (mentioned previously)
who are consciously maintaining that accent, hoping they can go back
and not have lost it, in part. Partly to be noticed.
In some cases it can be tacky/rude not to blend a bit. When my Brit
friend says "zed" to people who have never, ever heard it, he's
knowingly being antagonistic. When I used to visit my granny in my
tweens and teens, I said "You guys" ONCE and the blank stares or
objections "we ain't *guys*) reminded me. I would use "ya'll" after
that, if the plural was necessary. They didn't hear "ya'll" at all in
the '60's, though nowadays it's fading some, I hear.
If something is a conversation stopper, then using it isn't
conversational.
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Josh Moll
My daughter Alma (8) is the same, whenever she stays with Belgium friends for
more than a day she comes back speaking Flemish instead of Dutch. It really
takes her a day again to revert back to Dutch. To me it sounds very endearing,
it has much softer consonants and longer vowels.
Josh
http://thuisschool.wordpress.com/
________________________________
I pick up accents and even ways of speaking my own language when I go
to different places. I'll start talking like a local in Hawai'i (to
the point that I got asked if I'd gotten off work early that day).
I've talked like an Italian speaking English when I was in Italy. To
me, it's a way to feel a part of things and it's usually unconscious,
but I wouldn't say it screams anything other than relaxing into the
place I am at the time.
Robin B.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
more than a day she comes back speaking Flemish instead of Dutch. It really
takes her a day again to revert back to Dutch. To me it sounds very endearing,
it has much softer consonants and longer vowels.
Josh
http://thuisschool.wordpress.com/
________________________________
I pick up accents and even ways of speaking my own language when I go
to different places. I'll start talking like a local in Hawai'i (to
the point that I got asked if I'd gotten off work early that day).
I've talked like an Italian speaking English when I was in Italy. To
me, it's a way to feel a part of things and it's usually unconscious,
but I wouldn't say it screams anything other than relaxing into the
place I am at the time.
Robin B.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
dezignarob
==== A good waitress can understand almost anyone, because she already knows that from among the infinite possibilities of what any person might randomly say to her, what a person typically wants to say to a waitress is drawn from such a small list of topics that she can usually guess based just on body language.====
OMG I've been having a tough time with regional American accents at work. I'm not a waitress - I work in a Michaels crafts store, with a lot of choices. It's OK when people are asking about something simple and generic like "glue" - but for some reason I've been getting people asking for "balls" or is it "bowls" and a few other similar sounding nouns and it's been tough.
Luckily I have an obvious foreign accent - even though most mix it up as English rather than Australian - so I think the customers assume it affects my ability to hear them and people don't seem to mind repeating their requests to me.
Funnily enough when I get another foreigner, it seems easier to get what they are talking about most of the time.
Robyn L. Coburn
www.robyncoburn.blogspot.com
www.iggyjingles.blogspot.com
www.allthingsdoll.blogspot.com
OMG I've been having a tough time with regional American accents at work. I'm not a waitress - I work in a Michaels crafts store, with a lot of choices. It's OK when people are asking about something simple and generic like "glue" - but for some reason I've been getting people asking for "balls" or is it "bowls" and a few other similar sounding nouns and it's been tough.
Luckily I have an obvious foreign accent - even though most mix it up as English rather than Australian - so I think the customers assume it affects my ability to hear them and people don't seem to mind repeating their requests to me.
Funnily enough when I get another foreigner, it seems easier to get what they are talking about most of the time.
Robyn L. Coburn
www.robyncoburn.blogspot.com
www.iggyjingles.blogspot.com
www.allthingsdoll.blogspot.com
Robin Bentley
>Maybe asking "and what will you be using them for?" would help in
> OMG I've been having a tough time with regional American accents at
> work. I'm not a waitress - I work in a Michaels crafts store, with a
> lot of choices. It's OK when people are asking about something
> simple and generic like "glue" - but for some reason I've been
> getting people asking for "balls" or is it "bowls" and a few other
> similar sounding nouns and it's been tough.
figuring out what they're saying! Or maybe not <g>.
Robin B.
>
dezignarob
> Maybe asking "and what will you be using them for?" would help inWell that is the first question (or "what is your project?") in any of my sales situations regardless of accent. It's the only way to be able to direct the customer to the right product for their needs.
> figuring out what they're saying! Or maybe not <g>.====
Robyn L. Coburn
www.robyncoburn.blogspot.com
www.iggyjingles.blogspot.com
www.allthingsdoll.blogspot.com