Re:Use YouTube to improve your English pronunciation
by bafe on Monday October 30, 2023 @06:01PM
(#38076541)
There's something slightly irritating about German or Dutch people trying very hard to have that perfect British accent. I can't really tell why, but it always seems affected and pretentious. I much prefer the "wooden" (Holzern in German) accent of the Swiss
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Re:Use YouTube to improve your English pronunciation
by ehnto on Monday October 30, 2023 @08:21PM
(#38077992)
Your opinion is common in language learning it seems, as most people praise a perfect accent but some get very offended by it.
I couldn't tell you why, maybe it's a feeling of lack of authenticity?
I find it impressive when someone has acquired a good accent personally since it's quite difficult to do.
Re:Use YouTube to improve your English pronunciation
by tarkin2 on Tuesday October 31, 2023 @07:28PM
(#38092733)
I'm impressed but it's weird to compliment a non Brit on their perfect British accent when they don't sound like you, a British person...
Re:Use YouTube to improve your English pronunciation
by bafe on Wednesday November 01, 2023 @12:20PM
(#38100507)
It sounds too studied, almost a mockery of real native speakers, there's always too much of perfection in the way these learners speak that makes it sound uncanny
Re:Use YouTube to improve your English pronunciation
by ehnto on Friday November 03, 2023 @02:31AM
(#38125230)
Interesting, yeah I can see that. A lot of modern language learning tries to get you to sound natural, but the question becomes, natural where? You start to delve into dialects, when I meet people who learned English naturally from TV and media, they often have a weird blend of dialects that constantly switches, it's kinda fun actually. One minute they have American inflections, next they're Australian etc.
When learning Japanese I was encouraged to pick a person with a dialect I prefer and listen to them a lot, as I'll likely pick up their accent and mannerisms.