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This episode is about accents. What are they? Where do they come from? Does it matter if you have a foreign accent when speaking a foreign language? Can you acquire a native-like accent in another language as an adult? If so, how do you do so?
Some definitions of the word acccent:
- “a distinctive way of pronouncing a language, especially one associated with a particular country, area, or social class” [source]
- “a way of speaking typical of a particular group of people and especially of the natives or residents of a region” [source]
- “the characteristic mode of pronunciation of a person or group, especially one that betrays social or geographical origin” [source]
- “a manner of pronunciation peculiar to a particular individual, location, or nation” [source]
Information about accents
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accent_(sociolinguistics)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regional_accents_of_English
Information about Multicultural London English
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multicultural_London_English
http://dialectblog.com/2011/11/03/multicultural-london-oo/
Here are some examples of people who speak languages with native-like accents, and some advice on how to acquire such an accent.
The song I play and sing at the end of the podcast is called La Plume de ma Tante, and can also be heard here: