Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Mon Accent

The American accent is a pretty controversial topic among anyone who cares about it.  I've heard so much about it- that it's a great accent to have, that Germans would kill for an Ami accent, and that it sounds cool, but also that it's terrible, an assault on the language, and is the worst kind of accent.

About two months ago my German was good enough that I could start to think about my accent.  I've made little corrections here and there, but by and large it's still pretty strong.  Many, many people have told me that it's not as strong as many other Americans they've met, but what does that mean? 

Sunday was a first, though- I was riding the train home, looking for anybody who had a group ticket that wanted to share (it's much cheaper to ride in a group).  I ended up joining up with a thirty-five-ish year old pair of sisters and their mother.  We established pretty quickly that I was an American:

Mother:  I take it from you're accent that you're foreign.  English?
Me:   Nope, American.  Out of Boston.
Sister #1:  For an American, your accent is hardly noticeable.
Mother:  Well, it's definitely there, there's no mistaking that.  But it's nice.
Sister #2:  Nice?  His accent is downright erotic!

That was a first.

2 comments:

  1. That's hilarious! I guess I understand, though, since I love when people speak English with certain accents. But how amusing that she would say it that way, especially with you standing right there. xD

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  2. That's hilarious! I always get asked if I'm actually German...I find it at times annoying. But they can't believe I'm an American who can speak German :P

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