Well, I've had quite an amazing tour so far of Italy, Spain, and France. The number of sights I've seen, people I've met, and stories I'll be bringing back is staggering in retrospect. I've been so busy trying to see as much as possible of what each city has to offer that I really haven't had time to write good, comprehensive posts about each visit. But, as my trip draws to a close, I'll soon have more time to relate my experiences in each city with the help of photos. I'll start with Venice next Friday.
Also, I've got plenty of material for posts about European rail transport, language, and other miscellaneous topics, so expect some of those to appear in the coming weeks.
Showing posts with label language. Show all posts
Showing posts with label language. Show all posts
08 April 2012
28 November 2011
Accents
Since the first two posts here were kind of long, I'll try a short anecdote for a change.
In a conversation with two German students today, the topic of regional accents came up. Like many German students, they spoke enough English to hold a conversation. However, they don't notice much of a difference between an American English and a British English accent, even though, as an American, I can tell the difference between the two in a second.
I found this strange at first, but then realized I'm not really that good at telling some regional German accents (with the exception of Bavarian and Swabian, which are more like dialects than accents) apart which are distinct to most German speakers. I have even more trouble with French, a language of which I know a small amount. I've been told that French spoken in the Provence has a strong accent compared to, say, French spoken in Paris, but I can't hear a difference. My hypothesis is that a person has to learn to tell accents apart by hearing people speak in other accents than their own; this ability doesn't come naturally. However, this still doesn't exactly explain why I'm readily able to tell a native speaker apart from someone who learned the language another way, in both English and German.
In a conversation with two German students today, the topic of regional accents came up. Like many German students, they spoke enough English to hold a conversation. However, they don't notice much of a difference between an American English and a British English accent, even though, as an American, I can tell the difference between the two in a second.
I found this strange at first, but then realized I'm not really that good at telling some regional German accents (with the exception of Bavarian and Swabian, which are more like dialects than accents) apart which are distinct to most German speakers. I have even more trouble with French, a language of which I know a small amount. I've been told that French spoken in the Provence has a strong accent compared to, say, French spoken in Paris, but I can't hear a difference. My hypothesis is that a person has to learn to tell accents apart by hearing people speak in other accents than their own; this ability doesn't come naturally. However, this still doesn't exactly explain why I'm readily able to tell a native speaker apart from someone who learned the language another way, in both English and German.
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