A listener in Romania learned English in the Southern U.S., but after going back home to where a British English is taught, people are having a hard time understanding his accent. Where we learn a language plays a big role in how we speak it. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Mixed English Accents”
We got a great email from Edward in Romania, and the problem that he had to share with us is that he learned how to speak English well in the American state of Georgia.
Back home in Romania, he studied British English for eight years, then he landed in Georgia, and the language was very different.
And now that he spent some time in Georgia, his own language is still different and now he’s going back.
And the problem that he has is all the work that he did to be understood in the state of Georgia now has to be undone to be understood back in Romania.
Oh boy.
He’s taken the American, the Southern American English accent back with him and it sounds interestingly odd, right?
I’ll bet.
I met this lovely French woman once who spoke English with an Irish accent because that’s where she learned it.
What a mix that was.
So, Edward, we just want to tell you, keep with it, guy. You’re going to do fine.
We understand your predicament.
And, hey, there are a lot of laughs in it.
Just tell everyone that that’s how Americans speak and you’re doing it right and they’re doing it wrong.
That’s right.
And he probably doesn’t have any R’s at the ends of words anyway, right?
That works.
What’s the predicament that you find yourself in when it comes to language?
Or send us email to words@waywordradio.org.
