Castlevania Dungeon Forums
Off Topic => Off Topic => Topic started by: Lumi Kløvstad on February 12, 2017, 07:55:37 PM
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One of the characters in a game script my sister is writing comes across as very Irish, so I've started to read his lines out loud in a bit of an Irish accent. Unfortunately, it seems to have stuck and I'm now talking normally with what was supposed to be just a short term put on accent. This is very much not the first time that this has happened to me. Scottish and Russian accents, when I use them for any reason whatsoever, also have a propensity to stick around for couple of hours before finally fading off. Also French accents.
I'm sure I'm not the only person this happens to.
This does carry a bonus effect of making conversations livelier as few of my social pals ever know which voice to expect anymore, especially since my accents can swap between each other with dime-like suddenness. I might talk in an Irish accent, leave the room for a while, and come back Russian, without ever meaning to.
The only accent that doesn't return easily is my own.
Share stories if you've been through something like this, but otherwise I just thought this makes a cool point of irrelevant interest.
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I once got stuck doing some weird half-French-half-German accent an entire day at work a few years back.
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I've put on many an accent, but never for personal gain, novelty/ comedy purposes only.
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Eh, in a weird way, this reminds me of when I read comics. When I'm reading someone's dialogue, I have a voice for them in my mind that I think they should sound like. So reading something like X-Men is kind of crazy for me, when you have all kinds of mutants from different parts of the world, trying to read their dialogue and imagining their accents gets pretty distracting. Irish and Scottish are the toughest for me, for some reason. So Moira MacTaggart and Banshee dialogue really distract me from what I'm actually reading, since I'm focusing too much on what they "should" sound like to me, and less on what they're actually saying. And forget about Carol Danvers...I just imagine a plain Midwestern accent for her, since I can't even begin to put a Boston accent in my head. Haha, I'm pretty sure this all sounds really stupid.
I once got stuck doing some weird half-French-half-German accent an entire day at work a few years back.
Heh, any time I try to joke around and say something with a French accent, it usually ends up sounding German.
Also, going a bit off-topic again (sorry), have you ever joked around in an effeminate voice and had someone say, "Wow, you do that a little too well"? I always thought that was a dumb thing to say. If I was doing, say, a Russian accent instead, would they suspect I was actually Russian? Pfft.
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If I was doing, say, a Russian accent instead, would they suspect I was actually Russian? Pfft.
This has happened to me a couple of times when I put on a Scottish accent in public around people who don't know me. Apparently I'm a dead ringer for someone from Glasgow.
[EDIT] The red hair and beard probably helped in that respect. *shrugs*
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I remember I had to put on a Manchester dialect anytime a specific customer came in, due to me being stuck on the dialect one time he came in and made up an entire UK backstory for myself (for shits and giggles) for him on the spot.
Hard work, that. But fun.
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I remember I had to put on a Manchester dialect anytime a specific customer came in, due to me being stuck on the dialect one time he came in and made up an entire UK backstory for myself (for shits and giggles) for him on the spot.
Hard work, that. But fun.
I've never gone that far with an accent, but I have done it on forums and social media. Not this forum, but definitely on the Anti-Chapel, way back when I'd first joined.
Hell, there's a topic for me to write tomorrow right there!
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Liverpudlian, Dave Lister.
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I'm from North Carolina, I live in Alabama, and I have a Wisconsin/Minnesota accent. I see and talk to my relatives who live there quite a bit, and the accent just rubs off on me. At least I don't have a southern accent. Ew.
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Fuck you too, yellabelly.
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Staying in London must have at least some effect on my accent. I suppose I'm slightly starting to talk in an odd mixture of American and British English. :rollseyes:
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When I stayed in Japan, my English died.
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When I stayed in Japan, my English died.
Did you find you were also thinking and/ or dreaming in Japanese?
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Did you find you were also thinking and/ or dreaming in Japanese?
I can still do that until now. :)
I guess if a language sticks with you, it really gets stuck.
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I can still do that until now. :)
I guess if a language sticks with you, it really gets stuck.
That's really cool. The reason I ask is that is that I had a friend who went to live in Japan, became fluent and echoed the same response as you.
When I first came to Australia I could barely speak a word of English. I was turning 4 years old at the time, my default language was French. After reaching 6-7 years old I did dream in French on occasion, but 95% of the time it was in English. I think I stopped thinking in French the majority of the time after around 8-10 years old. It's interesting, the French thoughts and dreams only arise when attached to certain people in my life.
Maybe if you learn a language when you're out of childhood, you're also learning to actively think in that language because you hadn't had to previously do it. I think when you're a child under the age of 7 your brain development is rampant and you just pick up things like there's no tomorrow without having to think too much about it.
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It's interesting, the French thoughts and dreams only arise when attached to certain people in my life.
That's common, yep.
For instance, you've all heard me speak and it's largely rather clear and enunciated for someone from Kentucky (or at least what someone not from the region would expect from someone from Kentucky)--but the further south I go (to visit family or whatever), the more the twang comes out.
Etc., etc.
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That's really cool. The reason I ask is that is that I had a friend who went to live in Japan, became fluent and echoed the same response as you.
When I first came to Australia I could barely speak a word of English. I was turning 4 years old at the time, my default language was French. After reaching 6-7 years old I did dream in French on occasion, but 95% of the time it was in English. I think I stopped thinking in French the majority of the time after around 8-10 years old. It's interesting, the French thoughts and dreams only arise when attached to certain people in my life.
Maybe if you learn a language when you're out of childhood, you're also learning to actively think in that language because you hadn't had to previously do it. I think when you're a child under the age of 7 your brain development is rampant and you just pick up things like there's no tomorrow without having to think too much about it.
Yup, agreeing with you on the linguistics learnt at a young age thing. Even if fluency isn't reached, those roots, and the ear for other languages, stay firmly wired in your brain. I grew up in a tri-lingual family (not even counting different dialects), and while I annoyingly never became fluent in more than English after starting school, I have the ear for languages. It's why I find it really easy to watch and listen to stuff in say, Japanese, and pick a few bits up here and there. My problem now is though I get bored when trying to go back and learn properly the other languages, as I find the basics boring and too easy. The bits though I do speak I think in that language. I've seen similar with friends in academia who've got kids and have lived in different countries. The kids, like I did, mix languages, and will even jump between langauges in a single sentence, with some words one langauge, and the rest in another.
As for picking up accents not my own, for a vampire larp I used to play in, I put on a really cheesy 'Transylvanian' accent - yeah, I was playing a character who thought she was one of the Draculesti, and sometimes she'd put on a 'posh' English accent to try and fit in. The really anoying thing was, after the game once, I couldn't shake this awful, really hammy, fake Transylvanian accent! I had to really force myself to speak with my normal, very neutral accent. It was funny mind you. XD
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Dreaming in French... It's odd, I never remember which language I dream in. But then again, I hardly EVER remember dreams to begin with. It is very rare that I can recall my dreams clearly.
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Yup, agreeing with you on the linguistics learnt at a young age thing. Even if fluency isn't reached, those roots, and the ear for other languages, stay firmly wired in your brain. I grew up in a tri-lingual family (not even counting different dialects), and while I annoyingly never became fluent in more than English after starting school, I have the ear for languages. It's why I find it really easy to watch and listen to stuff in say, Japanese, and pick a few bits up here and there. My problem now is though I get bored when trying to go back and learn properly the other languages, as I find the basics boring and too easy. The bits though I do speak I think in that language. I've seen similar with friends in academia who've got kids and have lived in different countries. The kids, like I did, mix languages, and will even jump between langauges in a single sentence, with some words one langauge, and the rest in another.
I also grew up in a tri-lingual family and learned Japanese as an adult.
Language mixing in one sentence is very common in my country since most people are bilingual. Hmmm... so that explains why a lot of my countrymen can adapt to learn other languages easily.
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Dreaming in French... It's odd, I never remember which language I dream in. But then again, I hardly EVER remember dreams to begin with. It is very rare that I can recall my dreams clearly.
Some dreams don't really involve anything more than a feeling or having strong visuals. Remembering specific sounds other than voices are more difficult than visuals or feelings in my experience.
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But then again, I hardly EVER remember dreams to begin with. It is very rare that I can recall my dreams clearly.
Same here, but most of mine are really weird and vaguely irritating anyway.
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I also grew up in a tri-lingual family and learned Japanese as an adult.
Language mixing in one sentence is very common in my country since most people are bilingual. Hmmm... so that explains why a lot of my countrymen can adapt to learn other languages easily.
I find it a really fascinating thing to observe, and fall very firmly into the camp that I think that children should be taught other languages from a young age, something left all too often too late in my country. Teachers shouldn't wait until chilren are 11 before starting to teach other languages. I found learning Latin for a few years really useful as well, it helped my English interestingly as well.
Same here, but most of mine are really weird and vaguely irritating anyway.
I dream very vividly, in full colour visuals and sound. It's like I'm there, going through the dream, but I never seem to notice not sensing touch or smell. I remember my dreams a lot as well, and boy are they often rather weird and surreal.
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When I stayed in Japan, my English died.
I think one of my uncles (who came from Korea, lives in Canada) was able to speak decent English, but once he switched businesses (from a convenience store to a carpentry business) and dealt mostly with Korean customers, his English got worse.
I also grew up in a tri-lingual family and learned Japanese as an adult.
Language mixing in one sentence is very common in my country since most people are bilingual. Hmmm... so that explains why a lot of my countrymen can adapt to learn other languages easily.
My mom and dad also tend to mix in English words with Korean sometimes. Thanks to me learning Korean recently (yeah, I did not know my parent's native language until just recently), I'm starting to mix in more Korean words with my English.
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This has been interesting to read the last couple of posts.
Does anyone else mix in not languages, but phrases from other places? e.g. having a lot of friends from the UK has resulted in me using a lot of various UK phrases (cock it up, take the piss, etc.) in everyday speech.
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This has been interesting to read the last couple of posts.
Does anyone else mix in not languages, but phrases from other places? e.g. having a lot of friends from the UK has resulted in me using a lot of various UK phrases (cock it up, take the piss, etc.) in everyday speech.
I say "wanker" and "cunt" quite a bit in normal speech. I also spell stuff like flavour or colour with a "u", but that's typing, not talking.
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I also spell stuff like flavour or colour with a "u", but that's typing, not talking.
Why would you do that? That's just using too many letters. :P
Since I've never been required to write a lot in English, and I write pretty damn slowly in English, I developed quite a useful system of shorthand. It includes abbreviations for most commonly used words like org., gov., ppl., buro., diff. (different), impl. (implement), and of course, the horrible word that the English for some reason failed to come up with a better translation for, entrep. (entrepreneur).