words, words, words

[cris]

I was, maybe, twelve years old when I first noticed the way my mom would order food in a Chinese restaurant. Her voice got clipped, and she'd put on this weird imitation of Cantonese accented English, like "we want wan' ohdah frie' rice, and wan' ohdah soy sauce chikkin." When she'd finish, I'd ask her why she was making fun of our waiter, and

Comments

accents

[jasonlizard]

I had an Indian coworker who grew up in Texas. Most American-sounding guy you'd have ever met. But when he spoke with his family, he'd immediately drop into a thick accent. And it was for the same reasons your mother outlined, it was easier for his parents to understand him.

But you knew the conversation was tense when he actually switched to his mothertongue.

Whenever we've traveled to central America, it takes a couple days until my Spanish kicks in. But after a week, I'm almost too exhausted to communicate in either language. I can't recall having the same problem in French, but my fluency isn't above restaurants, markets, and directions. So maybe it's not as taxing. Brains are funny.

[ayun]

It's probably not the case, but I like the idea that your Indian-American coworker from Texas now living on the East Coast calls his folks and slips into a George W. Bush-on-the-Campaign-Trail redneck accent.

[jasonlizard]

Well, it wasn't a Texas accent, but an Indian accent.

I have seen another friend in high school, who's family was from southern Missouri, slip into a fine patrician southern accent the moment he stepped into the door of his grandparents' house. "Why howdy gramma, how's y'all doing."

Added local color, Gramma, Gramps, and some friends had been sipping high balls for the better part of the afternoon and were positively lit and on several occasions made mention of the "colored folk" who lived across town.

[sirendipity]

An ex-coworker of mine is Lithuanian but speaks English fluently as she spent a number of years in America. She has a slight accent and tends to shift the order of words around like most people do when speaking a foreign tongue. One trip out to Amsterdam I caught myself, not mimicking her accent but her word order and intonation. I was on the phone with another coworker when I noticed it. I stopped myself in mid-sentence and needed to "readjust" before I started speaking again. It was like I had a turn something off in my head to speak like me.

Imitation is such a huge component of animal behavior it doesn't surprise me that we do it, especially with communication. I imagine it's not only about trying to fit in or be similar to others around you but also about learning.

I never thought that other people would do it on purpose, but it makes sense.

[shnells]

i often find my accent becoming more indian when i am in india with my relatives. when i am around other brits, i find my accent slipping back more into brit cadences although they all thing i sound american! and when i am around my patients, god help me, i get more of a bostonian townie accent.