Friday Language Rant

Why do the languages of the world have to have such complicated sounds? In English we have the famous "th" sound that children and ESL-ers alike have difficulty pronouncing. In Spanish I struggle daily with the "rr" sound. Oh, it's easy, everyone tells me. Just pretend you are riding a motorcycle and make the sound with your tongue "rrRRrrRRrrRRrr". No, not that easy. Really. I also have problems with the "l". I think sometimes I wasn't to roll my l's. I don't know why. It's something that my tongue does with my brain telling it. In German, I also work hard to say the r's because they are tapped, not rolled, or barely pronounced like English. And the ö? Wtf is that? It sounds like someone hit you in the stomach "öh!"

Maybe, what I'm getting at is the basis for the accents we carry in a particular language. Our pronunciation affects everything. It affects how people understand us, and how well we understand others.

Would it be easier if there was a language that consisted of, say the easiest sounds ever? We could do away with the rr's, the ö's and the th's of the world and exist in more pronounceable world. Obviously, I'm dreaming, and venting a little.

What do you think? What are the hardest sounds for you to say in a given language?

Storytime!

No comic this week - I wrote one, but I decided to save it for next week since I'll be in Finland, and probably not too keen on writing one! So instead, you get a recent story that I just couldn't figure out how to turn into a comic, and a look into my other nerdy side...

Yesterday the new Star Trek movie came out in cinemas here in France. I love having bragging rights (haha, I got to see it two days before you all!) so of course I went to the first showing of the day. This is France, however, so that means the movie was dubbed into French.
Now my French is good enough by now that I have no trouble following a movie in French. I don't mind it too much, especially if I haven't yet seen the movie in English (that way I don't get nitpicky about the voice actors). Still, there are certain things I find horribly amusing, and this particular instance has to do with a certain character in the movie - this isn't really a spoiler in case you worry about those things. Now as you may or may not be aware, there is a character named Chekov, a Russian ensign that in the original series was known for his crediting all inventions to Russia, and of course his odd pronounciation of certain words.
And I was both amused and pleased to hear this preserved in French!
Yes, that's right, a stereotypical Russian accent perfectly preserved in French. I always wonder how different accents come through in certain languages, because often I can't hear it myself excepting in English. I've been told that I speak Italian with a French accent and Korean with a Japanese one, but honestly I can't hear that, and just attribute it to having studied the similar language first. But to hear this! It was all I could do to keep from bursting out laughing in the theatre.

I'm just disappointed they didn't seem to do the same for Scotty. But then I'm told French people can't really distinguish between anglophone accents anyway - it's why they all assume I'm English!

A quick anecdote!

First of all, I apologize for not posting a comic last week - I had a nasty cold. That and homework means no comic this week, and two weeks of spring break wandering through Europe means I'm putting my weekly post on hiatus until late April - I know, I just started this thing! What am I thinking? I hope to come back with plenty of fresh ideas to amuse you with.

Now it's story time...
I know I've mentioned in my comic how often my accent is misconstrued - I blame it on living so many places that I'm not sure how I'm supposed to sound anymore. Even talking with other Americans I'm told I sound Canadian. I don't mind, I'm even considering going there for grad school. So I've gotten to the point where I go somewhere with English speakers and expect it.

So what do I most definitely not expect? Well, that would be the things that a cold apparently does to my voice. I was slightly sick two weekends ago when I went to Edinburgh - wasn't about to cancel the tickets! So whilst wandering about the city, I stopped in a coffee shop to kill time and warm up, ordering my black coffee and chatting with the barista as he pours it.
"So, what brings you here from Australia?"


By the by, I may still be updating my travel blog so feel free to check it out.

My Spanish Sucks Now

I go back to Chile in about 13 days. Yes, I started counting down weeks ago. There's just one little thing that worries me. My Spanish has been sucking something fierce. I was thinking yesterday, that I probably haven't spoken so little Spanish in a two month period since I started learning it, or at least since I've become more fluent. The only time I've been speaking-speaking is when I talk on Skype with L. He doesn't correct me much when I speak, but I notice the little errors as soon as they're out of my mouth. Then, in emails he sends me back the corrections.

It's not such a big deal, except that I am going to get SCREWED OVER by the taxi drivers. Especially because a typical response to "Take me to X place" is "Como? No te entiendo." (What? I don't understand you. To which I most always reply "Of course you understand me. I'm speaking to you in Spanish. Let me out!"

I just know that when I get to the airport I might have to haggle for a ride. I've had then down to 9,000 pesos before, which I think is good, but with this gringa accent thing I have going on now it's going to be 15,000.

Do I have an accent?

I went to the baby shower of my friend's brother's girlfriend. I don't know her family very well and there seem to be hundreds of them, so I stuck to my friend's side. Now, M. is a very good friend I've known for years. Yet, she is a little status conscious and kept introducing me as " This is Sara, my friend who live in South America."

At one point, a lady who was sitting next to me (a cousin I think) said "Oh! It makes sense now. I thought I detected a slight accent." What!?!?! I have an accent? Here my whole life I thought I had a cutsie sort of Minnesota twang, but apparently not. Maybe it's because I try soooo hard to not let my accent slip out. Seriously, it only comes out when I'm under pressure like "Durnitt, I'm lost dontcha know?"

Anyways, I think that I should take advantage of this. It's not the first time I've been told I have an accent. Or maybe, I should just stop worrying and revel in my accent ambiguity.