AIBU to ask if you should adopt the accent when speaking in another language?

[WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll]

Every time I hear a British person speaking a foreign language to a native speaker of that language, it makes me irrationally wince when they make no attempt to use a more native-sounding accent. I was always taught at school and college that you should use an authentic-sounding accent and hearing a Brit speaking fluent 'forrin' but in a very British accent sounds to me as though they aren't really trying.

However, this never seems to happen the other way around - and this doesn't seem weird to me at all. Regardless of how flawless and even idiomatic their English is, it's still always very clear from their accent that they ARE actually French, German, Spanish or whatever. And why wouldn't/shouldn't it be?

The only exception that I can think of is when I heard Morten Harket on the radio a little while ago, and I didn't know that it was him at first, as he sounded so very much like a native Brit - but then he might have lived here for a long time.

A Cockney wouldn't adjust their accent when speaking to a Scot or a Geordie. A woman wouldn't feel the need to lower the pitch of her voice in solidarity when talking to a man. And could it be seen as mockery or even cultural appropriation if they did? What about English people learning Welsh - should they try to emulate the accent too?

Any thoughts? Am I just being Anglocentric and/or patronising? Forriners with an alternative perspective on it particularly welcome!

I once worked with a Scottish guy who had a very strong Glasgow accent and claimed the ability to speak fluent Spanish. He had lived in Spain, and thought himself a proper Espanophile (I just made that word up!)

When he spoke Spanish with a broad Scottish accent, it was hilarious. Goodness knows how any Spanish people understood a word of it.

I have a Glaswegian accent. When living in a Spanish speaking country my English DH was sure that his Spanish would be much easier to understand than mine. He was rather put out when told we just both sound foreign so it made no difference. There was no inherent superiority in sounding English over Scottish.

Come now, a Scottish accent is inherently hilarious and renders one incapable of being understood by anyone, whereas an English accent is just what everyone has, what what.

DH says I speak French with a French accent. We go over fairly frequently as my Grandparents live there and the DCs seem to speak French with an accent, too, while DH speaks it with a definite British accent. My Grandparents refuse to speak English (though they understand it almost fluently I'd hazard) so the DCs have only ever spoken and heard 'real' French, which I'm sure makes a difference.

My French and German accents are really good! I've got perfect pitch, think it helps.

beelin That's what DH thought 😉

Isn't it all to do with how immersed in the language you are? Morten Harket lived in the UK for quite a few years from his early 20's, sings in English and talks English in all interviews (apart from with the Norwegian press), so that probably explains it but even he does still have a bit of an accent if you listen carefully.

I detest those people who use the foreign pronunciation , more or less, when they are speaking English, Mathrid, Kerln, Berleen. Apparently my German, which is pretty good, sounds like a Dane!

I speak very good French (near fluent), but I'm under no illusions that I sound 'French' to a native speaker: at best, I will sound like a foreign person with highly-polished vowels and a reasonably sturdy vocabulary.

When you speak a language other than your native language, you are 'mimicking' sounds that you have heard, rather than those which are innate to you (see Pinker with regard to this effect).

After spending most of my adulthood in the UK, my American accent is strange, according to people on both sides of the Atlantic. But when I lived in Paris, apparently I spoke French with a slightly Swedish accent? For a short time at university I had a language partner for my French classes who was Swedish and I can only think it transferred somehow? 🤷🏼‍♀️ Anyway I don’t think locals expect you to get it absolutely right accent-wise & most are thrilled you can speak their language at all.

I think accents are a fluid concept. As a Geordie who has lived abroad for a long time, I haven't managed to master the local accent, but I certainly have picked up local/regional words over the years. When speaking English, my accent has mellowed to a more neutral one, until I get on a plane and everything just switches again (except my friends complain that I now sound like a student).

My kids speak the local language perfectly, and also the Queen's English. They do not understand the Geordie dialect. We recently cancelled Netflix as the younger two had developed a rather American accent, and now that they only have access to Cbeebies, it has already changed a lot. My DD (8) can mimic a lot of her friends accents brilliantly, but she was brought up hearing three different languages in her first four years.

Lots of people learn languages via apps/courses and so it is difficult to pick up an accent. I would never cringe on behalf of anyone trying to learn another language. It's a difficult challenge for most, and to be encouraged, not judged.

beelin

I actually think that a Scottish accent is more beneficial for learning Spanish and the like because the English accents usually supress the r's more, I've noticed a lot of English people who learn Spanish or Portuguese can't roll their r's, but I've heard Scottish who seem to have better r's.

@woodfires, ive had that reaction from english people, an assumption that my irish accent somehow makes my spanish inferior to theirs! My spanish was much better than the man who was laughing at the concept of spanish with an irish accent!

I think you should make an effort if it doesn’t come naturally. It drives me nuts that someone in my department speaks 2 foreign language beautifully in terms of colloquialisms/grammar but has a strong English regional accent. I think when you’re teaching, it’s quite important to try to sound like a native, particularly when the mark scheme mentions pronunciation and intonation.

Linoleum, agree about the superiority of the Scottish rs. Also, the way that 'j' is pronounced is easier for Scots to get right.

Beelin

Haven't read the full thread yet but wh words like which are also pronounced much more clearly in a Scottish accent, imo (I'm not Scottish).

I agree that you should make an effort but I don't think it comes easily, initially there's benefit in just learning a new language.
My daughter's classmate is learning English and he tries, he doesn't care if it's wrong, eventually he'll get it. He told her in Friday that he wants to go Brixton because he likes bitches. It took her a while to figure out he meant Brighton and beaches . But he's 12 he'll get there.
Brigante9 I agree if you're teaching I think you need to have good pronunciation, but it's not going to happen 100% of the time unless the person either uses the language daily with natives or is a native. A non-native teacher in my experience teaches the grammar and language rules better. So both native and non-native teachers have their benefits.

I dare say the German people talking English with a German accent are doing their best to sound English. My French is pretty good but you can’t iron the Brit out completely. This thread reminds me of the Cockney Signora in Room with a View!

This thread reminds me of

@bonnie and how's your Spanish? 🙄

Oh that's funny !!

Ha ha ha that’s awesome! 😂😂 Oh gosh it’s embarrassing sometimes, trust me!

Bonnie your 'hilarious' Scottish friend probably sounds better to Spaniards than you think. It doesn't matter though, attitudes like yours make it more difficult for 2nd and 3rd language learners, fear of embarrassment for getting it 'wrong' or sounding 'hilarious'. It puts them off doing the one thing they need to do in order to improve which is to speak the language as much as possible.

I speak 4 languages and my native language is Dutch. I learned English at age 10 through a year-long immersion and so when I speak English, I do not have any Dutch accent left at all. When I speak French or German I absolutely do try to pronounce things correctly, simply because it makes me easier to understand, but I definitely have a foreign accent - a Dutch one though, not an English one.

Actually like a PP I have a second-language accent in my third language, which I rarely speak these days.