Language Galore - Part 3 - On the subject of accents and English

Another post heavy on the linguistic side :)

I watched the Oscars this year and one part of the ceremony bit me and got on my nerves. That is when Seth Macfarlane made the comment that now there would be someone presenting that they could not understand, like Penelope Cruz, Javier Bardem or Salma Hayek so they'd just stare at them because they were so beautiful. And who else entered but the wonderful Mexican actress Salma Hayek.

She spoke perfect and delightful English. The only difference was that she spoke it with an accent. And that is no wonder! It does not take a genius to figure out that someone that does not have English as a native language pretty much always ends up speaking with an accent. Some more than others but it is an inevitable consequence. It annoyed me that it was hinted that the actors could not be understood because they spoke with an accent. It is no wonder when they spend most of their time and have grown up with using a language that  is completely different in pronunciation and has a completely different speech pattern. It felt degrading and carried a sense of superiority in my opinion. The American making fun of the Europeans/Hispanics that speak English with an accent. 

I wanted to shout that:

a) Those actors and generally all actors that are not American but work in Hollywood have had and continue to have a very successful career within their home country and within the area they come from (like within Europe). Europe has a vibrant and thriving film industry.

b)Many actors have the clear advantage of being able to speak two (or more) languages and consequently they are able to not only build a career within their own home but also in America. Many European actors are prominent figures in Hollywood despite not having grown up with English as a native language and coming from a country in which English is not the official language. I however do not see many American actors making it or buildin a career in Europe Just sayin'

Currently Mads Mikkelsen, the incredible Danish actor, is working on the series Hannibal. I do hope people realize he is a famous and well respected actor here with some incredible Danish movies behind him. En kongelige affære is amazing for example. He is an example of someone who is straddling the landscape between two different languages, two different worlds.

Lots os people do it everyday

I am European and Scandinavian. I have all my life spoken a language that sounds very different from English and has a very distinct accent and use of speech. I deal with English every day but on a literary basis more than a spoken one. When I speak English I have an accent. I do not have the heavy accent of my native language but instead a hybrid one that has some American characteristics (for some odd reason) with British and Scandinavian thrown in. However, it is very easy for me to slip into the heavy accent of my native languag and I do so naturally, both for fun and if I use occasional English words in my daily speech I pronounce them with a heavy accent. My spoken English will always be accented. I'll never have the same command of it as a native does and it is okay. If a person has spent their entire life dealing with a specific speech pattern and accent it is hard to change. It influences everything else. 

Of course there are exceptions. For example, the NCIS:LA actress Daniela Ruah had me more than 150% percent completely and utterly fooled with her accent for the longest time. I did not have the slightest inkling she wasn't American but Portuguese until like season 3. That is quite a feat if you ask me.to be able to be so incredibly comfortable with English to the point of fooling pretty much everyone. I know my own accent in English gives me away the instant I start speaking. But that does add to the fun of listening to interviews with her in which she uses Portuguese and people are surprised. Sometimes you just gotta love languages and confusing people. Last year when abroad, me and my friends delighted in freaking people when we switched between English and our native dialect (vastly different from English) in a completely natural way :) 

I will always speak English with an accent as well as Spanish and French but it's alright, it's okay. It simply means that while I love those languages (except French that is) I carry my native language with me wherever I go and I would not have it any other way. English as a language will never feel like home, not when I grapple with it still and it continues to challenge me in all sorts of ways. My native one will always be home. Plus, nothing beats having a hybrid accent and being able to switch between accents and being comfortable listening to all sorts of accents. Having a weird accent tends to give an edge.

My point is that accents are normal and natural. There is no possible way in the universe that everyone will be able to speak English perfectly. It'll never happen and it is important to accept that. It is fine to make gentle fun of languages and accents but one should always remember that they are a part of who people are. When someone speaks with an accent, it does not mean they are stupid or cannot grasp the language properly. It means that the person that spend his/her life dealing with another language, a native language that to that person will mean home, heritage, culture. And that is something to be celebrated. Accents are always beautiful to listen to, explore and discover and play around with.

(And please oh please oh please to anyone who reads this - when you talk to someone foreign in your native language and the person speaks the language fluently but with an accent - do NOT revert into using a slow, dumbed down speech. It really is insulting.
I had an experience like that with a native speaker of English this summer who I was talking with. I referred to a specific thing in perfectly clear English but used a different word that the person I was conversing with was used to (like using the word from one type of English when the person spoke another). And the reply I got was:"I don't know what it's like in X country but where I live...", all said in a very slow and maddeningly clear way, as if I couldn't understand and was stupid. Up until that point I had been communicating in perfectly clear and good English and yes, I got really annoyed. And yes, I do happen to have a major ego problem as an EFL speaker).