English with an accent

[Aree Wongwanlee]

That's interesting, Alumno. So does Spanish have some kind of standard? Like, for example, is the Spanish spoken in Spain considered to be yardstick by which to measure the other dialects?

Actually, I see no problem in having English being spoken in different ways in different parts of the world. The problem only arises when teaching English as a second language and there are English teachers in the same school who come from different parts of the world, each speaking their own national dialect of English.

I remember teaching where there were four of us teaching English. One was from The Phillipines, another from China, the third from India and myself. The differences in our way of speaking English was highlighted to me when one of my students asked me why I pronounced a certain word differently from another teacher. I told him both pronunciations were correct. Then he asked me which one was better. That's where I was stumped.

Have you ever been confronted with such a question?

 

[Denis Hard]

I don't think speaking English with an accent should be considered a huge problem. The purpose of learning a language is to use it for communication and that should be the primary focus when teaching English as a foreign language. As there are numerous English accents, there's no telling which one of them is the best.

So if your students do speak English with accent it shouldn't concern you that much. Just see to it that their enunciation is clear.

 

[Aree Wongwanlee]

It depends on what kind of accent is being used. If you have ever heard a Thai speaking English with a Thai accent, then you might consider teaching them to change their accent. It's really odd to my ears to hear English being spoken with a sing-song lilt. It simply doesn't sound like English.

 

[Alumno]

That's interesting, Alumno. So does Spanish have some kind of standard? Like, for example, is the Spanish spoken in Spain considered to be yardstick by which to measure the other dialects?

Actually, I see no problem in having English being spoken in different ways in different parts of the world. The problem only arises when teaching English as a second language and there are English teachers in the same school who come from different parts of the world, each speaking their own national dialect of English.

I remember teaching where there were four of us teaching English. One was from The Phillipines, another from China, the third from India and myself. The differences in our way of speaking English was highlighted to me when one of my students asked me why I pronounced a certain word differently from another teacher. I told him both pronunciations were correct. Then he asked me which one was better. That's where I was stumped.

Have you ever been confronted with such a question?

Spanish has different accents just as English does, the Spanish that is spoken in Spain is different to the one we speak in Venezuela, it really sounds diferently and also the slang is different too.

 

[Guy]

I believe the English words will be better spoken from foreigners who actually come here and learn the words from the native English speakers. While they think they are saying words correctly, they hear how to say it from a native, and it's better understood. I don't have an accent because I was born in America, and have great English speaking skills, and when I started learning Spanish, I didn't have a Mexican accent, but it was easy for me to use one, maybe that's what foreigners should do also.

It's pretty obvious if I said my Spanish words using my native tongue, they would come out sounding so improper, but it's not hard to use an accent to help with pronunciation.

 

[Aree Wongwanlee]

For me, it's not really hard to pick up the various accents used by English-speaking people. I need only about fifteen minutes of talking with them to get into the swing of things, so to speak. So, for example, when I speak to English-speaking Indians, after a while, I would be rolling my 'r' like them and even using my hands and head to gesticulate like they do.

 

[Alumno]

For me, it's not really hard to pick up the various accents used by English-speaking people. I need only about fifteen minutes of talking with them to get into the swing of things, so to speak. So, for example, when I speak to English-speaking Indians, after a while, I would be rolling my 'r' like them and even using my hands and head to gesticulate like they do.

Seems like you've adapted your brain to catch all kind of acents, I actually know how to do it as well and yes, it definitely is that easy when you have the skills for it. I would only take me a couple of videos to develop an accent, of course, not to its fullest, but I'd definitely sound alike.

 

[Aree Wongwanlee]

Seems like you've adapted your brain to catch all kind of acents, I actually know how to do it as well and yes, it definitely is that easy when you have the skills for it. I would only take me a couple of videos to develop an accent, of course, not to its fullest, but I'd definitely sound alike.

Good to know that I am not the odd man out. Sometimes, I wonder if I am too adaptive to my surroundings. Sometimes, I really have to make an effort to stick to my own way of speaking which is without an accent. This is what I have to do when I am teaching English as a second language. I have to make sure that I don't end up speaking English like the way my students do.

 

[pwarbi]

If a person is going to be in a certain environment then I think that eventually they are always going to pick up certain accents that other people have. I'm born, bred and still live in Manchester in England and I talk with a very Mancunian accent, but I'm sure that if I moved down to another part of the country then even though I wouldn't totally lose the accent I've got, I would soon start to pick up other accents.

 

[Alumno]

Good to know that I am not the odd man out. Sometimes, I wonder if I am too adaptive to my surroundings. Sometimes, I really have to make an effort to stick to my own way of speaking which is without an accent. This is what I have to do when I am teaching English as a second language. I have to make sure that I don't end up speaking English like the way my students do.

I personally think it's because we have interests in common and our interests are bigger than anything else that we take full advantage of it. Tehre are many people that don't really care about learning and they'd rather sound the way they do instead of developing a better accent.