Current Events > Is it racist (offensive?) to speak a different language in its usual accent

(+) Yeah! (+)

So if you speak french you speak with a french accent and so on
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I dunno if I wanna follow a possible serial killer though
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I don't see why it would be racist. In fact, it makes it sound more authentic.
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If you can talk to natives in a way that sounds most natural to them, why wouldn't you?
If it's your same language, and you have different regional accents, it will sound worse (off/weird) if you try to imitate them than stick to your own accent.
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I always speak other languages in the same sort of accent that brad Pitt used when speaking Italian in inglorious bastards.
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Not if you're being authentic/genuine.

It's extremely racist to imitate another language like Chinese and just going "ching chong ching etc"
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no

but you probably won't be able to if you didn't grow up speaking it
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of course. that's language appropriation
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Asherlee10 posted...

ImTheMacheteGuy posted...

I always speak other languages in the same sort of accent that brad Pitt used when speaking Italian in inglorious bastards.

I sometimes speak spanish with a southern accent. I do it as a joke, but I also do it to cover up words that are for me to pronounce accurately in Spanish.

Some Spanish dialects weird me out. One involves pronouncing soft c as th. I know this a Spain Spanish thing, not sure if it's common in other regions.
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why did Admiral delete his post?
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my British, French and Australian accents all sound like a guy whose first language was Spanish, but trying to join in on the "let's make fun of these foreign guys" bandwagon.
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Diminishing your accent has been a focus in every foreign language class I've ever taken. Even outside of a classroom setting its encouraged for people learning alternate languages to adopt the accents of the people they're communicating with.
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It makes you easier to understand if you can do it right. Otherwise you're speaking French with a heavy American accent, which is just as hard to understand as English with a heavy accent.
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ImTheMacheteGuy posted...

Asherlee10 posted...

ImTheMacheteGuy posted...

I always speak other languages in the same sort of accent that brad Pitt used when speaking Italian in inglorious bastards.

I sometimes speak spanish with a southern accent. I do it as a joke, but I also do it to cover up words that are for me to pronounce accurately in Spanish.

Some Spanish dialects weird me out. One involves pronouncing soft c as th. I know this a Spain Spanish thing, not sure if it's common in other regions.

Yeah that's "proper" Spanish, they do it with z, too. Apparently in some southern region of Spain they do it with s as well.
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So if I wanted beer I should say thervertha?
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Depends if you're genuinely speaking it and trying to be phonetically accurate or mocking it.
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you're supposed to try and use an accent. it'll be hard to understand if you insist on using your own accent for a language very different from your own
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MelzezDoor posted...

So if I wanted beer I should say thervertha?

if you're trying to speak it with a spanish accent, sure
in america you're usually taught mexican spanish though, but you're welcome to pick any accent and go with it

my fiancée is venezuelan and sometimes it's hard for me to understand her family because their accent is so different from what I learned in spanish
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I'm really confused by this topic.
Speaking a language is more than just making rough sounds that sound like words, it also encompasses the pronunciation and inflection of those words and subsequently phrases and sentences.

So I don't know how you're supposed to speak a language if you're not trying to sound like a native.
Also not speaking it properly can obviously lead to miscommunications.

I think it would be more insulting to intentionally speak a foreign language in your native accent.
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scar the 1 posted...

ImTheMacheteGuy posted...

Asherlee10 posted...

ImTheMacheteGuy posted...

I always speak other languages in the same sort of accent that brad Pitt used when speaking Italian in inglorious bastards.

I sometimes speak spanish with a southern accent. I do it as a joke, but I also do it to cover up words that are for me to pronounce accurately in Spanish.

Some Spanish dialects weird me out. One involves pronouncing soft c as th. I know this a Spain Spanish thing, not sure if it's common in other regions.

Yeah that's "proper" Spanish, they do it with z, too. Apparently in some southern region of Spain they do it with s as well.

That's not "proper" Spanish lol, it's just Castilian Spanish.
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Been trying to learn Spanish and yeah the different accents and dialects is so confusing. Even more vaired than English imo.

I will say I HIGHLY agree you should try speaking like a native no matter how weird it feels.
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i had a mexican kid always get mad at me for speaking spanish in a mexican accent
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Yomi posted...

That's not "proper" Spanish lol, it's just Castilian Spanish.

Yeah, which is why I put quotation marks. It's the Spanish spoken in the region where it came from. But yes I very much meant to say Castilian, ty.
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averagejoel posted...

no

but you probably won't be able to if you didn't grow up speaking it

Only if you are incredibly stupid
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Not at all. But it might sound weird to most people if it's stuff that's widely Americanized, like how karaoke or kamikaze are incorrectly pronounced "carry-oh-key" and "ka-muh-ka-zee", respectively.
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istmirechtegal posted...

averagejoel posted...

no

but you probably won't be able to if you didn't grow up speaking it

Only if you are incredibly stupid

What an arrogant thing to say
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averagejoel posted...

no

but you probably won't be able to if you didn't grow up speaking it

That depends entirely on your discipline, dedication and being able to immerse yourself in the language. Look up Dashan, he's a comedian in mainland China (born and raised in Canada), he began studying Mandarin while in university (at age 19) and his domain of the language is excellent in every aspect, heck a bunch of people think he has a better mastery of Mandarin than most Chinese people do.

Of course, it's hard to do, but it's not by any means impossible or even improbable if you have the means and are willing to do it.
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