Is it cocky/confusing to speak with a British accent?

[Global]

If English is not your native tongue, and yet you've managed to obtain a perfect British accent, would you appear as a fake/unoriginal person? If you had never lived in England of course.

I'm asking this because it appears that there's some kind of a preset "law" that states that non native English speakers are to aim towards an American accent. Your fellow non-native English speaking friends/classmates would inevitably note out your accent, and mention your failure to apply the "preset law" on yourself. I personally do not care about this, and would gladly overlook it, but what I am yet to find out is how native speakers of English would view such a person, how would YOU?

Would you think of him as an "impersonator" ? A wannabe British/Irish/whatever ?
I do expect to be engulfed with questions upon realizing that I'm an Arab who has never stepped foot in an English speaking country, but what about after that "realization" ?

[Ralf]

I'd say you're all right, because I can communicate with you. Whatever accent you have wouldn't bother me as long as I could talk to you.

If you have an "Arab accent", that's okay.
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[Boke]

I would say the opposite , when I see middle eastern people speaking with a british accent I think they sound very educated. See its not the Limey's accent that makes them cun** its their personalities.

Just takin the piss, calm down

[Englishuser]

Hi Global,

I don't think any native speaker would have an issue with a British accent coming out from you because if your accent is perfect, they are just going to assume you are British. A second generation immigrant, perhaps.

EU

[NinaZara]

I have never heard of this preset law. Or assumed that it is expected of me. If anything, it's the other way round. So far I have met more than one person who said British English is the real English. Eeww, puh-lease.

[Yankee]

Hi Global

I found it interesting that your perception is "that there's some kind of a preset "law" that states that non native English speakers are to aim towards an American accent". When I was teaching ESL in Germany, I was often confronted with the "opposite" perception -- i.e. that there's some kind of preset "law" that states that non-native English speakers should aim for a British accent, and that having an American accent is somehow "inferior".

My personal opinion is that very few non-native speakers ever actually achieve a "perfect" British or American accent. One reason is that there are a number of different American and British accents. For example, if I visit Alabama, the people who live there will instantly be able to identify the fact that I am not a native of Alabama. They will know that the minute I utter my first sentence. Another reason is that a majority of non-native speakers of English are never able to completely eliminate the effect that their native language has on their English pronunciation.

It really doesn't matter much which accent you focus on. What matters most is that your pronunciation is clear and understandable.

[Jamie (K)]

Global, I'd sure like to know where there is a "preset law" that says people should aim toward an American accent. Where are you? Certainly in the US, people don't care that much about it.

That said, foreigners who have a perfect, extremely aristocratic sounding British accent can be comical to us, especially if they make a grammar or vocabulary mistake from time to time. (Watch the old movie "My Fair Lady" and notice the comedy scene in which Eliza Doolittle has mastered an upper-class British accent but not the vocabulary yet.) However, even British people with that extremely aristocratic speech are funny to us. But if the person has an ordinary British accent of some kind, people in the US don't really care.

However, keep in mind that a lot of foreigners who claim to have a British or American accent don't really have either one! They have some kind of foreign accent that is influenced by British or American speech, but they could never be mistaken for British or American. A lot of Germans think they have a British accent, but they really have a German accent. A lot of Iraqis think they have an American accent, but they really have an Iraqi accent. It is EXTREMELY rare to find a non-native speaker who has a British or American accent, but it's not uncommon to find a non-native speaker who only THINKS he has one of those accents.

[Englishuser]

Hi,

I direct my post at Amy and Jamie in particular, but I am of course happy to learn what others think, too. Both of you just made the point, and you have done so before, that few non-native speakers of English are able to speak English with a perfectly native-sounding accent. What I would like to know is what there is that makes the German who claims to speak with a British accent sound German and the Iraqi who claims to speak American-accented English sound Iraqi. What kind of "errors" do these people make?

EU

[Jamie (K)]

[Yankee]

Hi EU

Here are a couple of pronunciation difficulties that spring to mind regarding German speakers of English:

- mispronunciation of the "hard G" at the end of a word (too much like a K), especially with a short rather than a long vowel

- mispronunciation of various vowels sounds -- I remember one student particularly well who always sounded like he was talking about "bogs" when referring to "bugs". He managed to get the G pretty close to right, but annihilated the U.

- mispronunciation of 'th' (pronounced as S, F, D or T instead)

- mispronunciation of V (mispronounced like F)

- difficulty with R (doesn't sound British or American, but rather German)

Of course, it's not only pronunciation that comes into play. For example, Germans tend to simply say "or" instead of using a normal English tag question. That comes directly from German:

She's really beautiful, or?

I'm sure Jamie can probably add some other things about German speakers of English. I have no idea which pronunciation difficulties tend to be typical for Iraqi speakers of English.
.

[Englishuser]

Hi,

People who pronounce the language accurately may still sound foreign to some people. In order to sound like a native speaker you will have to learn about intonation and rhythm. This is why even fairly advanced students of phonetics have a hard time speaking other languages without a noticeable foreign accent.

Jamie, as a trained phonetician, do you think the training you have received has aided you in acquiring the pronunciation of Mexican Spanish, German, and Czech?

EU

[Alan]

Hi Global,

I too have not heard of this idea of a 'preset law' concerning accents. I agree with others that clear communication is the name of the game and the accent is in a sense irrelevant. In the area in the UK where I live there is such a hotch potch of accents that whether there is a tinge of English or American in the accent doesn't bother most people. We all have an unpleasant characteristic within us that pops up occasionally when we have a quiet laugh at hearing 'our' language whatever it is, spoken by someone who isn't a native speaker of 'our' language. I suppose those who struggle to ape an English accent in order to 'fool' people that they are English seem a little sad to me if that really is their actual intention. This is in a way rather like when, as Jamie has already mentioned, in Shaw's play Pygmalion, a certain Professor Higgins sets out to take a relatively poor flower girl (this would be a girl selling flowers in the streets of fashionable London in the early 20th century) and betting that he could launch her into high society by teaching her to speak (to adopt EU's favourite comparison) like a duchess. But if that is your game and quite honestly I don't see the point of it, it isn't the accent that gives you away but the use of language and in particular of idiom. These very often strike the wrong note. I have worked with and met for example, Germans who have brilliantly convincing accents but sometimes misfire, as it were, with the use of words and expressions. I hasten to add none of these guys has had the intention to 'fool'. They were just very good practitioners of English. I was reminded of this 'misuse' when I heard a programme on BBC radio last week when I heard someone being interviewed. This man was born Claus Leopold Octavio Ascher who had left Germany during the Nazi period shortly after his father had been sent to a concentration camp because he had regularly shown his contempt for Hitler. Claus eventually joined the British army and ended up fighting his fellow countrymen in the second world war. He changed his name to Colin Anson and has subsequently resided in the UK. Now well over 80 years old with his wife (who is described by him as his 'child bride' as she is some three years younger) he speaks English perfectly with an accent that sits well with an educated man of his age. Although he has clearly no intention to fool anyone that English isn't his first language, there are traces that point towards this in his use of certain expressions that fall a tad uneasily on the ear of the native speaker. It is very difficult to pinpoint this occasionally uneasy usage.

I trust EU will not be offended if I pick on some examples that you have used in postings while at the same time applauding your accomplished use of the written language. As for your accent of course I can't comment. So here goes:

Two examples only - have a difficult time to me 'hard' seems the appropriate adjective. There are two expressions: 'have a difficult time' indicates having all sorts of problems to cope with in life. 'Have a hard time' refers mostly to one particular problem/struggling with that problem.

has aided you to me the word needed is 'helped' . 'Aid' is much more giving moral support when used as a verb.

Again there is no criticism implied here. These are just two small examples indicating to me, at least, that the writer isn't a native.

Alan
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[Englishuser]

Hi Alan,

I still think the most obvious giveaway is the foreign accent. As for the two examples you have quoted, I am sorry to say that I will have to disagree after having used my expressions as search strings in English-language corpora as it is not the case that I don't get any relevant concordances. Your average native listener is unlikely to notice very occasional slips of the kind you describe.

EU

[Jamie (K)]

[Alan]

If you disagree, why call them 'slips'? I can't see how you can possibly distinguish between word groups quoted and your use of them in your sentences.

Alan
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