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A comment on English as a second language: Test results on the most fluent countries . Parent comment

Re:English as a second language: Test results on the most fl... by RuadhanMc on Friday April 08, 2011 @06:54AM (#2423200)
Being an English speaker who has moved to Sweden and has completed the SFI course -- Swedish For Immigrants -- I can tell you it was a lot easier for the English, French, German, etc, speakers to learn Swedish than it was for the Arabic, Chinese, etc, speakers. It is a bit of a no-brainer I guess.

The best thing about the Scandinavians is that they not only speak fantastic English, but they also adopt the accent of the English speaking country that they've spent the most time in or watched the most TV from.

Compare that to the French, Italian, etc, who can learn English very well but who never seem able (or willing) to shake the accent.

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Re:English as a second language: Test results on the most fl... by pbhjpbhj on Friday April 08, 2011 @08:32AM (#2423466)
>they also adopt the accent of the English speaking country that they've spent the most time in or watched the most TV from

If it's Britain, which accent ...

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3ldyx_comedy-tour-of-briti...

I think his North Yorkshire and Blackburn are a bit off, others are a bit caricatured but generally he has them pretty well.

"Alright my booties?"

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Re:English as a second language: Test results on the most fl... by RuadhanMc on Friday April 08, 2011 @08:51AM (#2423504)
A Swedish friend of my was an au pair for 2 years with a posh family, so it is quite amusing to hear her speak.
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Re:English as a second language: Test results on the most fl... by JCB_K on Friday April 08, 2011 @08:54AM (#2423522)
His Geordie accent is quite weird as well. Talking high doesn't make you a Geordie.
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Re:English as a second language: Test results on the most fl... by pbhjpbhj on Friday April 08, 2011 @09:51AM (#2423749)
It's no that far aff - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zwx0-oewjsM
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Re:English as a second language: Test results on the most fl... by maukdaddy on Friday April 08, 2011 @12:05PM (#2424371)
Sorry to pollute the thread, but I can't find your email address. Can you email me at the address in my profile?
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Re:English as a second language: Test results on the most fl... by RuadhanMc on Monday April 11, 2011 @06:27AM (#2432101)
No problem, I added my email to my profile and emailed you.
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Re:English as a second language: Test results on the most fl... by berntb on Friday April 08, 2011 @08:18AM (#2423430)
This is probably a question of phonemes; Swedish has most of other language's strange sounds. :-)

(A phoneme Swedish lacks is the "th" of "think", that was a problem to learn.)

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Re:English as a second language: Test results on the most fl... by RuadhanMc on Friday April 08, 2011 @08:54AM (#2423521)
Yes, fair point. The hardest part of learning Swedish for me was learning how to pronounce å ä ö and associated words. Took about 6 months of frustration, but after that it got quite a bit easier.
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