Wherever I have lived in the world, people there think they have no accent.When I moved to New England and started junior high, Bryan quickly became a new friend. His mom was born in Quebec and grew up speaking that brand of French. My dad was born in Waco, Texas and grew up speaking that brand of English.
I always thought his mom had a thick accent. He always thought my dad did. Both of us thought our parents had no accent whatsoever. It's all about perception - and exposure. We get so used to hearing or seeing something that we no longer hear or see it. (Or if we grew up hearing or seeing it, we may never know it's different than others' experiences.)
So just remember that if you think it looks like that, it may not look like that to others.
3 comments:
My Colorado born daughter has liven in Louisiana for the last 7 years. Even I can tell that she has picked up some of the accent. One of the hardest accents for me to understand is the Caribbean accent of my friends from Belize. I have a hard time understanding them on the phone.
An Arkie's Musings
being at the interational school i'm at there are so many accents. i've got a kiwi, russian, american, candadian, british malaysian, irish teachers, quite a mix not including all the students! its fun to hear.
See, what all these Arkies don't understand is that it really IS me without the accent! Aren't they listening to themselves?!!
:-D
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