non-native accents

Question

Which speech pattern of speakers of English as a foreign language makes your hair stand on end most, you, natives?I have a funny German sample; how about it.

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

That's funny, IK.

Honestly, I have never considered that EFL speakers could 'make my hair stand on end'-- I just don't see language use (or misuse) that way. I have plenty of students who eat lice for breakfast and take a bus before bedtime, but I seldom notice such idiosyncrasies as such.

Cool Breeze · Answer

Mister MicawberThat's funny, IK.

Honestly, I have never considered that EFL speakers could 'make my hair stand on end'-- I just don't see language use (or misuse) that way. I have plenty of students who eat lice for breakfast and take a bus before bedtime, but I seldom notice such idiosyncrasies as such.

Hi MM

That's a nice thing about native speakers of English, particularly Americans. They don't look down on nonnatives as frequently as speakers of some other major languages. Language is for communication. By the way, a Finn might confuse you by talking about tinkers instead of thinkers since the initial sound of thinkers does not exist in Finnish. Formula one driver Mika Häkkinen was a good example of never producing that sound.

On the other hand, unlike the Japanese, rice and lice cause no problems for us.

Cheers
CB

J Lewis · Answer

Considering how little effort the British and the Americans generally make to learn foreign languages, I always appreciate whatever attempts my students make to learn English, however imperfect. My hair doesn't stand on end because of mistakes connected with their own language.
The only thing I object to here in Italy is mistakes coming from preconceptions about English, which have no basis in the Italian language. The main one concerns the letter "a", which many Italians are convinced is pronounced like an "e". Partly this comes from a simplification of the "ei" diphthong, so they pronounce "David" as "Devvid" and "Glade" as "Gled", but mainly form a mis-hearing of the Southern English, and particularly the American, short "a", so they talk about "feshion", "news flesh" and "menegers". In vain I tell them that no one in Britain says anything like "Hugh Grent". In vain I ask them why, if they have to say "Internetional", they don't also say "Emnesty".

Of course, we British do equally bad things with the letter "a" when saying foreign words. Knowing that the short southern "a" is not appropriate, we substitute it with the equally inappropriate "ah" in "lasaahnya", "Iraahn", "Don Geeovaahni" etc.

Nona the brit · Answer

I can't say there is any accent that puts my teeth on edge.

Sometimes the rythmn and tone of speech can sound quite unwittingly aggressive when people bring the intonations over from certain other languages. Some nationalities are 'louder' or more 'fierce' sounding compared to your standard Brit. That can be a bit confusing sometimes. You can think someone is being rude, aggressive or sarcastic at you when they don't intend that at all.

Zerox · Answer

What do you natives think of monotous speech. My current English teacher said that in his last visit to England he talked of this with some Englishmen, and they considered it as a bit boring way of talking. Nothing serious, though.

Nona the brit · Answer

It is boring to listen to someone with a monotonous voice. They can be of any nationality though, you get plenty of boring English people too. It's a shame because the content of their language may be very interesting. I have to be careful because when I'm nervous my speech tends to get rather monotonal - if I'm giving a presentation for example I have to be aware of how I'm talking and make an effort to keep it interesting.

Somnambulist · Answer

Most of  the english learners over here in Turke have got some problems with 'th' sound coz they look really funny when they try to make that sound,and it is really difficult to tell the difference between a voiced 'th' in ,ei; their,they,breathe and voiceless 'th' in ' both,thorn,or thick etc. Sometimes to get over this problem I suggest that they can make the sound 'f' in place of  voiceless 'th' just like the cockney do.I don't know how right it is:)

Marvin A. · Answer

1blockquote

01cite10J Lewis12cite10Considering how little effort the British and the Americans generally make to learn foreign languages, I always appreciate whatever attempts my students make to learn English, however imperfect. My hair doesn't stand on end because of mistakes connected with their own language.12br
10The only thing I object to here in Italy is mistakes coming from preconceptions about English, which have no basis in the Italian language. The main one concerns the letter "a", which many Italians are convinced is pronounced like an "e". Partly this comes from a simplification of the "ei" diphthong, so they pronounce "David" as "Devvid" and "Glade" as "Gled", but mainly form a mis-hearing of the Southern English, and particularly the American, short "a", so they talk about "feshion", "news flesh" and "menegers". In vain I tell them that no one in Britain says anything like "Hugh Grent". In vain I ask them why, if they have to say "Internetional", they don't also say "Emnesty".12br
12blockquote

10In some dialects of North American English, /æ/ is indeed pronounced as [ E ] . This is particularily true in Northern Midwestern dialects that have only a partial NCVS. Dialects with the NCVS pronounce it as [ e@ ] . Many other dialects also realize /æ/ as [ e@ ] when it is followed by /n/ or /m/, including California English.0-

J Lewis · Answer

0 Yes, this aspect of American pronunciation is well-known and actually originates from an old south-east English pronunciation which is less marked nowadays in England itself as it has been influenced by the Northern "a", which is similar to the continental European pronunciation. However, I'd make two points:02br
001) I think that even Americans don't consider "flash" and "flesh", or "ranch" and "wrench", to have exactly the same pronunciation. I have heard natives of Miami, on hearing the Italians say "Miemi", pull back and say, "No, Miami", with a much more "a"-like pronunciation than they would normally use.02br
002) Even in American pronunciation there is a case where the "a" doesn't even remotely resemble an "e": in words containing an "r", such as "barn" and "farm". Here's an amusing point: the English town of Derby has an irregular pronunciation: Darby. The Italians can't be expected to know this and so, pronouncing the "e" and the "r" separately, they say something like "Dairy" with a "b" added. In some names the Americans have adapted the spelling to correspond with the pronunciation. In particular there is a U.S. military base in Italy called Camp Darby. But the Italians know better, so it's Kemp Dairby/Dareby! In the same way they change "in charge" to "in chairge" (rhyming with "chair").02br
02br
00It's an obsession. In the name Harrison it's important for the Italians to learn two things: that the "h" is pronounced and the "s" is sibilant. This is ignored and the only pronunciation we hear is "Errizon". Also "Erry Potter".02br
00In the Italian word 01i00automatico 02i00the "au" is a diphthong, rhyming with "house". They need to know that this is not so in English. This again is ignored and we get "owtometic".02br
02br
00As I said before, we English-speakers do equally bad things, and worse, in our pronunciation of foreign words. The tendency is to pick on a particular transformation and apply it everywhere, just to show that we know "things are not as they seem" at first sight, without taking the trouble to find out the real pronunciation.0-

Cool Breeze · Answer

0 01blockquote

01cite10J Lewis12cite10As I said before, we English-speakers do equally bad things, and worse, in our pronunciation of foreign words. The tendency is to pick on a particular transformation and apply it everywhere, just to show that we know "things are not as they seem" at first sight, without taking the trouble to find out the real pronunciation.12br
12blockquote

10Hello J Lewis02br
02br
00This is really badly off topic but I couldn't resist the temptation to comment on your correct observation. I understand very well that native speakers of English mispronounce foreign words because foreign languages are not studied much in English-speaking countries. What I find almost amusing is the tendency to pronounce even foreign proper nouns, say, people's names, as if they were English. An Englishman has actually asked me how I would pronounce my name in English!02br
02br
00It took me a few seconds in the 1980s to realise an Englishman and I were talking about the same Swedish tennis player, Björn Borg. I have got used to most of these pronunciations, but some of them are quite peculiar. Before the formula driver Michael Schumacher, whose name is always mispronounced, there was another German Schumacher, a football goalkeeper, and a Eurosports commentator pronounced his name 01i00shoemaker!02i02br
02br
00Cheers02br
00CB0-

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