vendredi 4 mai 2007
... For an American.
Today at work I called a company in the US to get some information. I didn't identify where I was calling from right away, and when he asked me for my contact info. I said "Well, we are in France."
And he said "Wow, you have almost no accent!"
How about that? What a surprise!
I have gotten that response before. People have complimented me on how well I speak English too.
Thanks, I try my best.
The thing that gets me is the "almost". I spent the past ten years in Virginia, and the company was in Virginia. If anything, I should have a slight Virginia accent. Perhaps some people who know me might disagree, I don't know.
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8 commentaires:
Congratulations on your ability to speak English. That's funny! I guess they just assume you're French if you call from France.
"Almost no accent"?
When I returned from living in Germany, I didn't have a German accent, but I often used the German rules of pronunciation for many English sounds: e.g. "-ie" vs. "-ei". The pronunciation for both of those sounds in English is the exact reverse in German.
Because German and English are related (and so close), it was very easy for me to make those mistakes and it took a bit of time for me to relearn the American pronounciation.
Still, I clearly sounded like an American...why does this guy think you only qualify for an "almost"? I'm curious! Hehe!
I get that all the time from Brits - "Oh, you speak English very well my dear, you must have studied in the US".
LOL, you got a french accent after a few years in France? I hope you will keep some american accent speaking french also. I like to hear this singing way, all the time I met and english speaker.
Back to brush up my english now.
And keep the good work sharing your thoughts about France and learning french.
Yeah, I've heard this one before too... Always makes me laugh! "You speak English really well..." Yeah, it's my native language, so I hope so!
Then again, after maybe 40 years in a country, I imagine that one might start losing his/her native language. But we're hardly near that point yet! (Although I do find myself sometimes forgetting words in English, believe it or not! And using the French word instead, lazy me, thereby adding to the bungling of the language and making "franglais" a true habit...)
I never considered that you had a 'ginian accent :-)
I've had that happen, too :)
This is so funny. I had the someone tell me that I also spoke good English when I rang up to book my Life in the UK test.
That's good to know considering I don't really speak any other languages.