What's on your mind today?

[Magdalena]

What's that I hear? Mag's birthday was yesterday?



Happy Belated Birthday, Mags! I hope you had a great one! 

Thank you, Fernandita.
We're both January girls. 

January girls are the best. 

Yes, yes we are.

 

I just realized Sandra Craft is also a January girl!

[Sandra Craft]

I just realized Sandra Craft is also a January girl!

Yep, two more days and I'll be 66.  Just 600 more years to go.

[xSilverPhinx]

I just realized Sandra Craft is also a January girl!

Yep, two more days and I'll be 66.  Just 600 more years to go.

Yay Sandy! 

[xSilverPhinx]

Yesterday while I was melting on my bed with a fan pushing 40°C air onto my face I was reminiscing about good ol' times in High School. Good ol' times.

Memories of my first sophomore English class

The new teacher walked in the classroom on the first day. He was a man in his forties. His smooth clothes had been ironed out and not a strand of hair was out of place, which contrasted with the conspicuous white chalk marks on the pockets of his blue jeans. Maybe an oddball, I thought. I like oddballs.

It would have been a redeeming quality if he had been a bit on the silly side because generally I abhor English classes and having a silly teacher would make the year a little more bearable.

Without trying to say anything louder than the deafening chatter in the room he wrote his name on the blackboard, turned around and stared at the class until everybody settled in their seats. When the noise died down he scanned the room until his eyes rested on me. I was sitting somewhere in the second or third row, looking back at him.

"YOU!", he yelled, pointing a chalk stained finger at me. 

I was taken aback.

"I can see you're afraid! But no need to be scared, English is easier than you think!"

Without pause for thought, I replied, "Don't worry, I'm not afraid." 

He ignored me and went into the hardcore English stuff: how to formulate questions in English using irregular verbs. The moment he mispronounced 'read' in, "Have you read ("reed" and not "red") the book?" I just put my head on my desk and fell asleep. It was a long year. 

To this day, I wonder why he thought I was afraid of very basic English class. Maybe my wide googly eyes gave him that impression?

[Davin]

A lot of people think they can red other people by their body language and behaviors. I think that even assuming that the people they are reding are typical people they tend to either be vague, saying the obvious, or more commonly just wrong. Like the dude will never be able to red you very well, we'll never know what leed him to thinking you were afraid.

[xSilverPhinx]

A lot of people think they can red other people by their body language and behaviors. I think that even assuming that the people they are reding are typical people they tend to either be vague, saying the obvious, or more commonly just wrong. Like the dude will never be able to red you very well, we'll never know what leed him to thinking you were afraid.

Heh, yeah. 

Maybe he just confused boredom with fear, we will never know.

(As a side note, I wasn't offended or anything that he thought I was afraid. I thought it was sorta funny because mispronunciation issues aside, his English wasn't all that great.

Ever had a teacher who didn't know their own subject very well? What do you do in that situation?

[xSilverPhinx]

I was also thinking about foreign accents. When I was an undergrad there where whispers of this professor who had "a perfect British accent". Some students were amazed at how she could pull it off, being a non-native speaker of English. I never interacted directly with her, but I knew who she was and overheard her teaching her class once when I was walking down the hall. 

She did not have anything near a British (I think she was trying to sound English?) accent. Instead, what came out of her mouth was a forced, almost cartoony impersonation. I don't get it. Why even do that? Why not just own your foreign accent without trying to sound like a native speaker?

Anyway, I was thinking a lot about these these yesterday. I think it's because my brain is fried. 

[Davin]

When talking to people with accents (different from mine), I do a dumb thing where I start to mimic their accents... but not that well. It's difficult for me to prevent myself from doing it.

[Tank]

When talking to people with accents (different from mine), I do a dumb thing where I start to mimic their accents... but not that well. It's difficult for me to prevent myself from doing it.

Do you have a posh phone voice? I have known a few people that go all 'royal' when they phone somebody

[xSilverPhinx]

When talking to people with accents (different from mine), I do a dumb thing where I start to mimic their accents... but not that well. It's difficult for me to prevent myself from doing it.

That's interesting! I'm the opposite, when I moved south I took forever to start speaking a bit like the locals, and even so I still retain a lot of my original accent. 

[Sandra Craft]

Why even do that? Why not just own your foreign accent without trying to sound like a native speaker?

I don't know, I think most people find others accents charming.  Maybe it's being able to feel you've mastered a language to that degree?

At my step-mother's father's memorial service there were two priests, one of whom was originally from Spain.  During his part of the service, he kept pronouncing "sheep" as "ship" -- it was wonderful.

[xSilverPhinx]

Why even do that? Why not just own your foreign accent without trying to sound like a native speaker?

I don't know, I think most people find others accents charming.  Maybe it's being able to feel you've mastered a language to that degree?

At my step-mother's father's memorial service there were two priests, one of whom was originally from Spain.  During his part of the service, he kept pronouncing "sheep" as "ship" -- it was wonderful.

Probably is, but I think without an accent coach or phonologist and a lot of effort non-native speakers of languages don't ever lose their foreign accents, especially if the phonetics of their mother tongue are different. There is going to be a residual accent, and that's ok...not something to be ashamed of. 

[billy rubin]

At my step-mother's father's memorial service there were two priests, one of whom was originally from Spain.  During his part of the service, he kept pronouncing "sheep" as "ship" -- it was wonderful.

3:28

[Davin]

When talking to people with accents (different from mine), I do a dumb thing where I start to mimic their accents... but not that well. It's difficult for me to prevent myself from doing it.

Do you have a posh phone voice? I have known a few people that go all 'royal' when they phone somebody

I don't think I do. Every time I notice I'm doing it, I feel like they think I'm making fun of them because it's so bad.

When talking to people with accents (different from mine), I do a dumb thing where I start to mimic their accents... but not that well. It's difficult for me to prevent myself from doing it.

That's interesting! I'm the opposite, when I moved south I took forever to start speaking a bit like the locals, and even so I still retain a lot of my original accent. 

I wish I were like that. Instead I have to try real hard to not sound like I'm mocking people.

[xSilverPhinx]

Today, just to see how easily I could get away with it, I made funny faces under my mask. No one seemed to notice the alternating crooked smile, poked out tongue, puckered lips and bared teeth. Win.