[Maquisard]

Originally Posted by Jazhara7

German, definitely. If it wasn't for the fact that you can't really have a German accent when speaking German.

It's just such a sharp language, and can sound very hard to foreign ears. It easily takes on an aggressive sound, as its pronounciation is naturally more stressed and there are many hiss-like sounds (usually incomplete hissing, though. Cut off, you know.).



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Spell check!

[Jazhara7]

Originally Posted by Mares

Spell check!

You have been waiting for the day I would not capitalise the names of languages for once, have you?

It truly is a bad day for Grammar Foo'! Shui, if I even forget to remember that one can only write "it's" if it is "it is", and in no other instance.


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[Jelena]

One thing with German that I find annoying: all the verbs come last in the sentences so you really don't know what it's about until the very last word.

Ah, I know that was stupid!

[MoriartyL]

I'll go with Binary. What do you mean, there's no Binary accent? Have you ever heard a computer speaking casually (in the real world) without clearly sounding like a computer? There you have it, then. Picture a guy wandering around with a gun clearly pronouncing his ones and zeros (and not pronouncing anything else), and there you have terror.

[stepurhan]

Alan Rickman and Jeremy Irons both make good villains so I'd have to go with us Brits.

Of course, in the Die Hard movies they were both technically Germans but yoiu needed British aplomb to carry it off properly.

If you prefer your English as cads (gentleman but acting in an ungentlemanly way) may I recommend the British garrison (especially the Captain) in Lagaan. Bounders to a man, what ho.

EDIT Probably should have said. Bring lots of popcorn. Lagaan is 224 minutes long.

[Jazhara7]

Originally Posted by LenaJ

One thing with German that I find annoying: all the verbs come last in the sentences so you really don't know what it's about until the very last word.

Umm...it's mostly the same with English, you know.


And that sentence just disproved its message. But in German it would be: "Im Englischen ist es das Gleiche.", where the verb is not last. Or did I misunderstand something?

(Grammar is something I do automatically. I do not think about it. I was never good at remembering the different names of the word types, or sentence types, even if I was able to use them correctly without problem. But I am unable to produce a specific type of sentence on request without at least having to think a little what that sentence is.)



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[Kingzjester]

Originally Posted by Thrift Store Scott

but I wouldn't call him "meaty".

The cinematographer never fails to fill the screen with his abdominals, even if that means they have to cut off his forehead.

[Huz]

Originally Posted by LenaJ

My problem when speaking english is I tend to act like a parrot. Speaking to a British person makes me imitate that accent and the same when I speak to an American.
My five weeks in the US when I was in my late teens inspired me to use the US accent as 'my english accent'.

I believe everybody does this to an extent, even when speaking their mother tongue. It's part of the same socialising mechanism that causes us to imitate our conversation partners' body language. You must be even more susceptible to it when you're speaking a foreign language, as you're probably not as confident about your pronunciation as you could be.

And Jaz, I've heard from someone who occasionally does simultaneous translation of German that yes, you do leave - erm, some important part of speech - to the end of sentences. Very annoying for the translator, because they have to stop, memorise the rest of the sentence, then translate the key word and reel the rest of the sentence off while listening to the next!

I was told this while trying to learn German, and the fact I can't remember what "important part of speech" I'm talking about probably tells you how well that went.

[Jelena]

Originally Posted by Huz

I believe everybody does this to an extent

I believe so too. But imagine how I'll act if I was to be in a person to person discussion with you and Scott at the same time.

[Starflux]

I'll agree with Jazhara that German is a naturally 'evil' sounding language. Many sharp sounds and an instinctive harsh way of speaking. Of course, I've been in Germany for a few months last summer so I know it can also sound normal and smooth in everyday life, but the fact remains it can so easily be transferred to EVILLLL.

Dutch, on the other hand, sounds genuinely pathetic in English. It's only good for playing the loser or someone who really doesn't have a clue in the world. Ug.

[MoriartyL]

Originally Posted by Huz

I believe everybody does this to an extent, even when speaking their mother tongue.

I don't.

It's part of the same socialising mechanism that causes us to imitate our conversation partners' body language.

Ah. Well, that explains that, then. (I don't imitate my conversation partner's body language.) I've been in Israel for ten years, hearing Israelis speak Hebrew like Israelis, and yet I'm told that when I speak Hebrew I sound British. (Which is strange, considering I'm from America.)

[Gordon Bennett]

I don't think that any specific accent sounds necessarily "good" or "bad." Intonation has more of an effect, though in certain respects an accent may be related to the character.

As far as the sub-topic goes, I can definitely relate to that. It isn't just accent that I pick up. I've also noticed that I will shift my dialect, vocabulary, and sentence structure depending on my environment and the person I am speaking to. It isn't a process that I am aware of initially, but there have been a few times when I honestly had no idea what was going to come out of my mouth, whether it would be one accent or another, or even a mixture of accents. There have even been times when I've shifted unconsciously from one to another within the course of a single day.

It made me very self-conscious to think of that, and on those occasions I avoided speaking for a while.

[Jelena]

Originally Posted by Gordon Bennett

It made me very self-conscious to think of that, and on those occasions I avoided speaking for a while.

I also get self-conscious when I find myself parroting (is that a real expression Scott?). I feel embarrased as well and fear people will find me odd.
I wonder to what extent the person I'm parroting discoveres what's going on.

[pinkgothic]

German is evil. Just look at me.
Okay, bad example. c.c

But I need my badguys to be British.
And my goodguys.
And everyone else with any wit whatsoever.

No, I'm not biased in the least! ;,

[Wormsie]

Originally Posted by LenaJ

That's so funny! You probably have to be acquainted with the letter ö to fully appreciate that sentence.

Anyway, I noticed that I've been stupid: the example I gave was not of a Finn pronouncing phonetically, but of a Finn pronouncing... with a Finnish accent. Some people here really speak English as it is written, though...

To me it's an angry sounding language. I have a bunch of relatives living way up north in Sweden. They speak Finnish as well as Swedish, but since the Finnish language border goes through that part (Tornedalen) of Sweden I'd say they use Finnish more.
Anyway, I think they sound so angry even though I know they're not.

Hmm, Finnish can sound very monotonous at least. I think "speaking like the book" Finnish sounds actually beautiful, even to many foreigners. But many dialects are harsh - spoken Finnish is quite different from written Finnish.

[Jelena]

Originally Posted by Wormsie

But many dialects are harsh - spoken Finnish is quite different from written Finnish.

Perhaps it's the Tornio-Haaparanta dialect that sounds angry (to me anyway).