Should one try to mimic the local accent?<BR><BR>I speak English with an American accent. OK, I don't. I speak Japlish (Japanese + English mix). <BR><BR>Anyway, should I try to mimic variations of British accents? OK, I know there is no such thing as a British accent as there are so many variations ranging from the BBC's English to Hackney to Manchester (at least those are a few that I can distinquish).

I'm referring to speaking the local language with the local accent. I'm not referring to speaking English in a non-English speaking country with a heavy accent.<BR><BR>The funniest thing I've seen is when an American comes to Japan and starts to speak English with a heavy Japanese accent and poor grammar! They say something like &quot;Ah, speak you English, ah so? Ah, where eeez da booos to the airport, ah so?&quot;

<BR>Sounds like a German trying to speak English, I'd say.

Be yourself. Don't try to mimic anyone. Locals will spot what you are doing in a millisecond and find you weird. Mimicing can also be construed as offensive, since they might think you are making fun of them. It might help to speak more slowly than you're used to, but not so deliberately as though you're talking to a young child. That too can be offensive.

Imagine a British tourist strolling into a bar in New York, John Wayne style, doing a hawk and a spit on the floor and saying 'Set em up, pardner'...<BR><BR>I think not, don't you?

I work a lot with vistors to the USA from other countries. It is sometimes amusing when they try to imitate American speech patterns, or use idioms that are 50 years out of date. But they aren't trying to make anyone think they are Americans, they are trying their best to communicate in what they think is the best way. There's always one or two who from the &quot;if I can't say it correctly, maybe I can make up for it by saying it loudly&quot; school. But, hey, we all just do the best we can when were in a country where we don't speak the language.

The only thing it might be worthwhile to &quot;mimic&quot; is some of the place names that are pronounced very differently in the UK and America. If you ask a Brit how to get to &quot;Reeding&quot;, instead of &quot;Redding&quot;, &quot;Sluff&quot; instead of &quot;Sloo&quot; (spelled Slough - and I'm still not sure I've got that one right), they might not understand you. And they'll just laugh if you ask where &quot;ClapHam&quot; (instead of &quot;Klappem&quot is.

Kate W's response is very thoughtful. So I'll continue speaking Japlish with a slight American accent in the UK instead of trying to make up a fake Japlish/Hackney accent. Trying to say place names like the locals is a good idea.

No, it's absolutely pointless. You will want to use appropriate place name pronunciation, and avoid slang that you don't think will be understood, but that's about it. <BR><BR>I do mimic unconsciously (in the form of word choice and speech rhythm), but so far nobody's taken offense. I do get comments on my lack of accent (I'm from the southeastern U.S., so most people assume that I will have a strong accent), but my listeners rarely pick up on the fact that I've taken on some of the local color. When I'm travelling with my husband he of course notices it, and has been known to point it out to the locals, who remain completely clueless. As far as they're concerned my husband is the one who sounds funny.

Rufus' comments about out of date idioms is funny. I'm glad I never talked about &quot;dastardly deeds&quot; which I hear was common 80 years ago, but no longer is used in the U.S. or yell &quot;Hark! Where goesth thou?&quot; (incorrect spelling, I know)

I’m going to assume that the original question is a not very original troll and ignore it. But Kate W’s contribution deserves a response. Slough rhymes with cow, now and plough, as it does in John Betjeman’s famous poem that starts, “Come friendly bombs and fall on Slough”. And I have believed for over 30 years that Reading, as in the Reading Railroad in Monopoly, was pronounced Redding, so I wouldn’t have assumed that Reading in England would be pronounced Reeding. Have I been wrong about this?<BR><BR>And I would be careful about mimicking the way locals pronounce their home towns. I think a visitor with a plummy English accent coming to Toronto would be dismissed to as silly and pretension if he started calling the place Trawnna. Unlike in Clapham, however, we would be too polite to laugh at him.

Good thread! I find myself speaking broken English when communicating in English with the French, Italian, Spanish... Some of it is subconscious, but I also try to speak English in a way that is similar to their speech patters, so they understand better. I will say &quot;the house of my brother&quot; insead of &quot;my brother's house.&quot; Anyone else do this?

I tend to pick up speech patterns/rhythms wherever I am and incorporate them unconsciously. This even applies to speaking to someone from my own area who happens to use a slower pace or something of that sort. (When we were kids, my siblings and I always knew who Mom was talking to on the phone by the way she was speaking, so it's a family thing.)<BR><BR>Anyway, supposedly a person subliminally trusts you more if you follow the same speech pattern: not a full imitation, more just the word arrangement and cadences.<BR><BR>I've never been pegged by the very distinct accent of my city, so I guess all of this travel has confused my accent entirely!

Just so no one thinks I'm an idiot, Websters notes that the noun &quot;slough&quot; (which can mean (1) an inlet on a river or a creek in a marsh; or (2) a state of moral degradation or spiritual dejection) tends to be pronounced &quot;sl&uuml;&quot; in its first sense and &quot;slau&quot; in its second in most places in the US, but &quot;slau&quot; for both senses in England. And the verb &quot;slough&quot; is pronounced &quot;sluff&quot; when it means &quot;to shed or cast off one's skin&quot; (like a snake). So perhaps a North American expecting to find the town where snakes go to shed their skin - or at least a town located a creek in a marsh, rather than the epicentre of moral degradation/spiritual dejection, could be forgiven for asking the way to &quot;sluff&quot; or &quot;slu&quot; rather than &quot;slau&quot;.<BR><BR>PS - I never did get to Slough, and I didn't figure out how to say Clapham until I moved to Marylebone (Mary - le - bone? Mar - le - bun? Mar - le - bon?)

Honestly, sometimes you sort of can't help it.. at least we can't. If I am on the phone with someone from say, the Southern US.. for any length of time, I start to sort of &quot;southernize&quot; my speech inadvertantly.. it's surprisingly easy to do same thing when I travel.. if I spend one evening in a pub talking to a local.. I just sort of join into the rhythm.. can't help it... But for a time I dated a British guy who spent the summer here in L.A.. and his entire family gave him rasberries about his aquired &quot;american&quot; accent, so I guess it works both ways.

It's really only after you've been living in a place for awhile. Otherwise, you sound really affected. When I came back after living in Northern Ireland, my mother said I'd picked up an accent. I really didn't think I did. I think it was more than I was more using phrases and words in the same way that people in NI do. <BR><BR>My husband's cousin moved to England from NI, and adopted a Yorkshire accent about 48 hours after his arrival. It sounded ridiculous, and still does.

Ever since I traveled in Scandinavia I have used a loud Swedish accent. This is really annoying to my wife and my students. Should I consider surgery?

Why would you want too - remember you are the one with the accent, not the locals?

My first thought was that this was a rediculous question but then I realized that when I am trying to speak a foreign language I always try to use the correct accent. In fact, I pretty much get blasted for saying a word without the precise intonations as they do (particularly in France). So, maybe it's not so silly after all.

I do try to use a French accent when I speak French; my teachers spent years emphasizing the importance of speaking with the correct accent. I notice that my children's teachers place much less emphasis on this point. I don't feel as though I am mimicking the local accent, just trying to speak correctly.