I speak English with Received Pronunciation but an American accent. Does that make my English sound weird?
Is my English Weird?
That's not even possible...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Received_pronunciation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_american
You should wait for an answer from "a demotivator". He might be able to help you out.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Received_pronunciation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_american
You should wait for an answer from "a demotivator". He might be able to help you out.
***I speak English with Received Pronunciation but an American accent***
Weird? It's hardly possible is it? A contradiction in terms you might say.
I suppose there could be something akin to an American version of a Received Pronunciation (possibly called Gen Am over there or something similar) but whenever we hear RP being mentioned it's always assumed to be the standard universally understood English English accent usually attributed to Southern England where it is more commoin, even though it exists pretty widely among certain sections of the populace right across England....we even have our own version of it in Scotland, but with a distrinct Scottish flavour, naturally.
Weird? It's hardly possible is it? A contradiction in terms you might say.
I suppose there could be something akin to an American version of a Received Pronunciation (possibly called Gen Am over there or something similar) but whenever we hear RP being mentioned it's always assumed to be the standard universally understood English English accent usually attributed to Southern England where it is more commoin, even though it exists pretty widely among certain sections of the populace right across England....we even have our own version of it in Scotland, but with a distrinct Scottish flavour, naturally.
Distinct
Talking of Mid Atlantics.....we have our own MA from MA - Boston to be exact - who is a media personality in Britain, by the name of Loyd Grossman.
He must have been here in the UK for many centuries as he has developed this truly weird accent - a mix of American RP and English English RP, and he is a real fave among our own British impersonators all cruelly trying to emulate his strange "half and half" patter.
My research on the guy shows that he is either presenting on TV cookery programs or programs featuring the homes of well known people and from the evidence given by him a panel of other personalities have to try and identify the mystery home owner.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISOFxEWDe3I
Talking of Mid Atlantics.....we have our own MA from MA - Boston to be exact - who is a media personality in Britain, by the name of Loyd Grossman.
He must have been here in the UK for many centuries as he has developed this truly weird accent - a mix of American RP and English English RP, and he is a real fave among our own British impersonators all cruelly trying to emulate his strange "half and half" patter.
My research on the guy shows that he is either presenting on TV cookery programs or programs featuring the homes of well known people and from the evidence given by him a panel of other personalities have to try and identify the mystery home owner.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISOFxEWDe3I
I found this YT comment on this clip particularly cruel to poor old Loyd...it seems he's been in England for over 30 years...wow! Mind you, poor old Prince Charles comes in for some stick all the time, too! Maybe the both of them should get together down the pub one evening....that should entertain all the regulars down at the Fox and Hounds or the White Hart.
<<<<'Can't quite decide whether he's a yuppie-type American or he's a Briton' is a good description.
Grossman illustrates the pitfall of trying to fake an accent simply based on listening to it. After 30 years in England he still sounds like some silly tourist off the plane from Boston doing a bad imitation of Prince Charles>>>>
<<<<'Can't quite decide whether he's a yuppie-type American or he's a Briton' is a good description.
Grossman illustrates the pitfall of trying to fake an accent simply based on listening to it. After 30 years in England he still sounds like some silly tourist off the plane from Boston doing a bad imitation of Prince Charles>>>>
Loyd Grossman - Who Lives In A Roundhouse Like This?
Loyd Grossman: It is surprising how many TV presenters have very peculiar accents. There is something funny about his name as well, 'Loyd'; what sort of a name is that? It should be Lloyd!
"Grossman had a short-lived career as a singer with punk band Jet Bronx And The Forbidden,"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loyd_Grossman
Someone doing an impression of Loyd Grossman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gpIQBS9pwQ
Loyd Grossman: It is surprising how many TV presenters have very peculiar accents. There is something funny about his name as well, 'Loyd'; what sort of a name is that? It should be Lloyd!
"Grossman had a short-lived career as a singer with punk band Jet Bronx And The Forbidden,"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loyd_Grossman
Someone doing an impression of Loyd Grossman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gpIQBS9pwQ
He definitely sounds weird -- some of his words do sound American, but then his vowels go all wrong. Like Canadian times 10.
The real Loyd Grossman here with an Italian lady just to add extra spice to the already highly spiced meal. I see he's using his own name brand sauces you can buy in any Sainsbury's or Waitrose too.....the saucy wee devil!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dZ7UVaL6F4&NR=1
And the Grossman impersonator as posted by Robin Michael:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gpIQBS9pwQ
There's hardly a penny piece of difference between the two of them is there? On balance I reckon it's Grossman impersonating the English guy who I can tell is English by some of the intonations in his voice. It's definitely not him taking the piss out of our Anglo American friend with a weird accent.
The picture quality in both links are crap.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dZ7UVaL6F4&NR=1
And the Grossman impersonator as posted by Robin Michael:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gpIQBS9pwQ
There's hardly a penny piece of difference between the two of them is there? On balance I reckon it's Grossman impersonating the English guy who I can tell is English by some of the intonations in his voice. It's definitely not him taking the piss out of our Anglo American friend with a weird accent.
The picture quality in both links are crap.
I have brought this topic before in this forum, and my interest is now rekindled, especially after reading Tom's article on British vs American pronunciation.
Many of us ESL speakers (i.e. "foreigners") have trouble sticking to one of the two models, for a number of reasons. In my case, I was taught British English, and I made a conscious effort of acquiring RP with reasonable success. But then I moved to the US. At first I could keep up my RP but then more and more features of GenAm began to creep into my speech. And even though Tom is right that Americans love RP, the reaction when they find that I'm from South America is one of distrust and suspicion, as if I was faking an accent I shouldn't have.
I don't think the choice for most ESL learners is between RP and GenAm, but more generally between intelligibility and lack thereof. For those of us who become proficient enough to be occasionally mistaken for native speakers, it would be nice to aim for a sort of international accent, one that would systematically and logically combine some features of the two major models. Generally speaking, a rhotic version of RP with no TRAP/BATH split might work.
Many of us ESL speakers (i.e. "foreigners") have trouble sticking to one of the two models, for a number of reasons. In my case, I was taught British English, and I made a conscious effort of acquiring RP with reasonable success. But then I moved to the US. At first I could keep up my RP but then more and more features of GenAm began to creep into my speech. And even though Tom is right that Americans love RP, the reaction when they find that I'm from South America is one of distrust and suspicion, as if I was faking an accent I shouldn't have.
I don't think the choice for most ESL learners is between RP and GenAm, but more generally between intelligibility and lack thereof. For those of us who become proficient enough to be occasionally mistaken for native speakers, it would be nice to aim for a sort of international accent, one that would systematically and logically combine some features of the two major models. Generally speaking, a rhotic version of RP with no TRAP/BATH split might work.
It's like saying your younger brother is the eldest child to your parents.
<<And even though Tom is right that Americans love RP, the reaction when they find that I'm from South America is one of distrust and suspicion, as if I was faking an accent I shouldn't have. >>
Really? I know I would be startled if someone with a perfect RP accent mentioned that they were from Bolivia. Distrust might be taking it a little far -- after all, you would have learned a language totally foreign to you, and would have had little control over which variety you were taught. The natural assumption is that you would learn the variety closest to you geographically, but South America is pretty far away from either. A Mexican speaking RP would startle me more! (And given that Mexicans speak even American English with a pretty heavy R, it seems like a more natural fit than RP. Or maybe I'm just biased toward what I'm used to hearing.)
I wonder if it works the same in reverse. What do Spanish speakers expect to hear when an American speaks Spanish to them in a reasonably competent manner? When I took Spanish in high school, there was no attempt to teach us to lisp or make us learn the vosotros form -- in fact, we were told it was mainly an Argentinian thing. But when my assistant went to Spain this past spring, she was kidded for being "Mexican" because she didn't do vosotros -- apparently the Spanish use it as well. I also have another coworker who spent a couple of years in Spain, and he learned to lisp there. The rest of the ladies in his office are bilingual but speak the local variety of Spanish -- no lisping.
Here in the southwestern US Mexican Spanish is probably the most common variety you will hear, but I know that Spanish speakers in Las Cruces will point out quickly that there are local dialectical differences between the Spanish they speak and the Spanish spoken down the road in El Paso, and then even more differences between them and the Spanish spoken right across the border in Juarez. And deep Mexico -- forget it! Even harder to follow. They say it's not just the speed but the vocabulary choices that change.
However, in other parts of the US there are other types of Spanish like Puerto Rican and Cuban, and they are said to sound nothing like Mexican -- I've heard Cuban called "twangy". I would assume that Americans learning Spanish in Florida have little Mexican in their accents. And if you are from Minnesota or Idaho I doubt you would have much contact with any variety of Spanish outside a classroom. I don't think you are usually taught any particular accent in class, and you probably retain a certain amount of American in your accent anyway, so it might be hard for a native Spanish speaker to pick out any particular flavor to a school-taught American. (A natively-Spanish-speaking Texan or Floridian might be a different matter.)
Really? I know I would be startled if someone with a perfect RP accent mentioned that they were from Bolivia. Distrust might be taking it a little far -- after all, you would have learned a language totally foreign to you, and would have had little control over which variety you were taught. The natural assumption is that you would learn the variety closest to you geographically, but South America is pretty far away from either. A Mexican speaking RP would startle me more! (And given that Mexicans speak even American English with a pretty heavy R, it seems like a more natural fit than RP. Or maybe I'm just biased toward what I'm used to hearing.)
I wonder if it works the same in reverse. What do Spanish speakers expect to hear when an American speaks Spanish to them in a reasonably competent manner? When I took Spanish in high school, there was no attempt to teach us to lisp or make us learn the vosotros form -- in fact, we were told it was mainly an Argentinian thing. But when my assistant went to Spain this past spring, she was kidded for being "Mexican" because she didn't do vosotros -- apparently the Spanish use it as well. I also have another coworker who spent a couple of years in Spain, and he learned to lisp there. The rest of the ladies in his office are bilingual but speak the local variety of Spanish -- no lisping.
Here in the southwestern US Mexican Spanish is probably the most common variety you will hear, but I know that Spanish speakers in Las Cruces will point out quickly that there are local dialectical differences between the Spanish they speak and the Spanish spoken down the road in El Paso, and then even more differences between them and the Spanish spoken right across the border in Juarez. And deep Mexico -- forget it! Even harder to follow. They say it's not just the speed but the vocabulary choices that change.
However, in other parts of the US there are other types of Spanish like Puerto Rican and Cuban, and they are said to sound nothing like Mexican -- I've heard Cuban called "twangy". I would assume that Americans learning Spanish in Florida have little Mexican in their accents. And if you are from Minnesota or Idaho I doubt you would have much contact with any variety of Spanish outside a classroom. I don't think you are usually taught any particular accent in class, and you probably retain a certain amount of American in your accent anyway, so it might be hard for a native Spanish speaker to pick out any particular flavor to a school-taught American. (A natively-Spanish-speaking Texan or Floridian might be a different matter.)
<Distrust might be taking it a little far -- after all, you would have learned a language totally foreign to you, and would have had little control over which variety you were taught>
Well, I did exercise some measure of control over it, especially when I was advanced enough in English to be able to understand its phonology.
<The natural assumption is that you would learn the variety closest to you geographically, but South America is pretty far away from either>
Since I am from Uruguay, the closest native speakers of English were probably in the Falklands/Malvinas, but those have no influence on us at all.
<I wonder if it works the same in reverse. What do Spanish speakers expect to hear when an American speaks Spanish to them in a reasonably competent manner?>
I've only met one American proficient enough to almost pass for a native speaker of Spanish. She had this very generic Latin American accent, mainly Colombian to my ear, with traces of Mexican. It fitted perfectly in my opinion, but if she had had a peninsular accent, it might have been just as good.
Well, I did exercise some measure of control over it, especially when I was advanced enough in English to be able to understand its phonology.
<The natural assumption is that you would learn the variety closest to you geographically, but South America is pretty far away from either>
Since I am from Uruguay, the closest native speakers of English were probably in the Falklands/Malvinas, but those have no influence on us at all.
<I wonder if it works the same in reverse. What do Spanish speakers expect to hear when an American speaks Spanish to them in a reasonably competent manner?>
I've only met one American proficient enough to almost pass for a native speaker of Spanish. She had this very generic Latin American accent, mainly Colombian to my ear, with traces of Mexican. It fitted perfectly in my opinion, but if she had had a peninsular accent, it might have been just as good.