Northern accents
One of Myles' Changping friends started a new school this fall. Until recently he was homeschooled so he could focus on his English-language learning in preparation for eventual study abroad. A few afternoons a week he would be at our house, studying with Myles. His new school is run by foreigners and teaches in both English and Chinese. So far, he likes it more than he had originally thought he would.
Over the weekend we saw their family. The father was very keen to ask me about their son's English instruction. The friend has been having difficulty understanding his English teacher, whose speech, according to the friend, "is not at all like Auntie Jen's."
More after them jump
At this point I suspected that his English teacher, like several others I've met in Changping from the local public middle and high schools, was actually of a non-native English speaking country. There seems to be more than a few Hungarian and Polish teachers around town. Their English is usually fine, and without heavy accents, but still distinct enough that I can tell.
However, when I asked where the new English teacher was from, they said "明尼苏达州."
Oh, Minnesota. Or should I say, "Minne-sOda."
I offered them the simplest explanation, that Minnesota had been settled mostly by Norwegians over a hundred years ago. While they no longer speak Norwegian in Minnesota, I told them, the English spoken there is marked by this past. I then proceeded to imitate a Minnesotan accent (though not nearly as accurate as this). It was a good thing I was the only American there, because I probably sounded comically or insultingly overwrought, depending how sensitive the listener was. That wasn't my intent, obviously. After a only few sentences, the parents could hear how their son might have difficulty with it compared to the way I talked. I assured them that it was only a matter of time before he would be much more used to it like he is to my accent.
As much as I insist I speak a fairly neutral American English, I know I have some elements of Western Pennsylvania pronunciations in my speech, like the lazy L in the middle of words ("vah-ee-bah" in place of volleyball), as well as other skipped articulations ("dahn 'ere" for down there). But it's not like I'm Pittsburgh Dad.
Over the weekend we saw their family. The father was very keen to ask me about their son's English instruction. The friend has been having difficulty understanding his English teacher, whose speech, according to the friend, "is not at all like Auntie Jen's."
More after them jump
At this point I suspected that his English teacher, like several others I've met in Changping from the local public middle and high schools, was actually of a non-native English speaking country. There seems to be more than a few Hungarian and Polish teachers around town. Their English is usually fine, and without heavy accents, but still distinct enough that I can tell.
However, when I asked where the new English teacher was from, they said "明尼苏达州."
Oh, Minnesota. Or should I say, "Minne-sOda."
I offered them the simplest explanation, that Minnesota had been settled mostly by Norwegians over a hundred years ago. While they no longer speak Norwegian in Minnesota, I told them, the English spoken there is marked by this past. I then proceeded to imitate a Minnesotan accent (though not nearly as accurate as this). It was a good thing I was the only American there, because I probably sounded comically or insultingly overwrought, depending how sensitive the listener was. That wasn't my intent, obviously. After a only few sentences, the parents could hear how their son might have difficulty with it compared to the way I talked. I assured them that it was only a matter of time before he would be much more used to it like he is to my accent.
As much as I insist I speak a fairly neutral American English, I know I have some elements of Western Pennsylvania pronunciations in my speech, like the lazy L in the middle of words ("vah-ee-bah" in place of volleyball), as well as other skipped articulations ("dahn 'ere" for down there). But it's not like I'm Pittsburgh Dad.
Comments
I have the accent common to mid-Michigan and parts of Ontario, so I use the guttural stop on words ending in -ing. When I taught ESL, one of my students told me that because of where she spent her first few years in the US (Texas), she didn't realized that "gonna" wasn't a real word. It was funny that her accent was very American but her Mexican husband had a better ear for the language; e.g. she couldn't tell the difference between "pin," "pen", and "pan" whereas he heard the distinction. ;)