So...here are some questions:

1. What accent do you speak in when you speak your native language? Don't tell me you don't have one, because everyone has an accent, even if it's the "standard" accent for the language in question.
It's actually a Dialect. Trust me. I took a class on this specifically. ANd yes, I have a South-Eastern Pennsylvania dialect, influenced slightly by New York.

2. Do you mispronounce words because of your accent? I'm not talking about simple variant pronunciation. I'm talking about the way people in Boston say the word "career" like "Korea" and "Korea" like "career" (or, for example, the way Billy Joel sings about "Brender & Eddie" in "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant" ).
It's not mispronouncing, it's just saying them with my dialect. And yes, I do. I say the word "tour" like "tore," which is a PA thing. I used to say "water" with the a sounding like oo in "book." THat is also very PA. I still say "forward" like "foward," which is very NY... there is a lot. I wrote a whole paper on my dialect, if you're ever interested.


3. Do you speak any other languages fluently enough to have a distinctive local accent in that language? For example, my Moscow accent, my friend's Parisian accent when he speaks French, etc.
Well, did I tell you that these Russians came up to me the other day and asked where I was born in Russia? They didn't believe that I was American. Then my Russian teacher told me that there IS a slight accent in my speech (of course), but she wouldn't place it as American, but rather she'd say it was some borderland Russian accent!

4. Are any of your accents "looked down" upon? (For example, Cockney or similar accents in England, Algerian accents in French, Caucasus accents in Russian, Long Island accents in American English, etc., etc., etc. )
no. none should be looked down upon because it doesn't mean you are stupid or anything for having an accent or dialect.

5. As long as we're speaking about accents, are there any foreign accents which, when you hear your native language spoken in, turn you on/sound pretty ?
australian. british. irish. scottish. italian. russian often.

6. Are there any foreign accents which make your language sound awful?
french.

Okay, that's it. 'Twas a short survey.


Gena Sedai