[Noisebridge-discuss] Accent Workshop Class for Non-native Speakers

Wed Jan 15 19:25:52 UTC 2014

I think this depends on the person.  My sister has been correcting &
helping my parents correct their "chin-glish" for the past 20 years or so
and they've never lost their ability to speak Chinese, but outsiders can
now actually understand their english much better.  They still have an
accent, but at least americans can understand what my parents are trying to
say.  Sometimes you get into the habit of pronouncing words in a certain
way and it's hard to break out of the habit until you get someone to
correct you.

On Wed, Jan 15, 2014 at 8:55 AM, hep <dis at gruntle.org> wrote:

> Actually you can lose abilities with your native language, especially if
> language retraining takes place at a young age.  I grew up a native spanish
> speaker, and was forced into "speech classes" for more than 5 years to lose
> my native accent. To this day I can no longer speak spanish with as much
> physical fluidity as before I lost my accent, and because of the fact that
> letters are pronounced different from english to spanish, i often now have
> to think about how to speak spanish so i don't end up mispronouncing words.
> Particularly in hispanic communities, accent erasure is considered to be
> colonial and yet another form of white dominance in america to do with the
> racialization of language (despite the fact that many hispanic and latino
> people have been here since this WAS mexico).  I cannot speak for other
> cultures, but I know that in many latino and hispanic cultures accent
> erasure is now frowned upon as disconnecting more of the threads to one's
> native culture in favor of the white american dominant culture
> (particularly those hispanics like myself who are many generations
> american, going back to the 1700s.) and there is a movement to stop the
> practice of having latino native spanish speakers work on reducing or
> losing their accent.
>
> This is something to keep in mind especially with the current situation
> re: gentrifying natives out of the mission, and the current hostility to
> hispanic immigrants in this country. This is also part of the current
> identity and racism in tech issue that is going on in the Valley,
> particularly relating to Paul Graham's xenophobic comments about CEOs with
> accents:
>
>
>
> http://valleywag.gawker.com/dear-paul-graham-your-priorities-are-so-far-out-of-wha-1228175284
>
>
> http://latinaish.com/2012/01/23/erase-or-embrace-the-accent/
>
> http://chicanvern.blogspot.com/p/assimilation-denial-of-cultural.html
>
>
> http://www.uccnrs.ucsb.edu/sites/www.uccnrs.ucsb.edu/files/publications/WhatLanguageAreYou_Final.pdf
>
>
> http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/lifestyle/2012/05/21/born-in-us-but-speaking-with-accent/
>
> http://www.lib.muohio.edu/multifacet/record/mu3ugb2625587
>
> This is something we all need to think about, especially in this day of
> interconnected internet gossip and communities organizing online against
> things they feel threatens their culture. It would suck to show up on
> Valleywag as "NOISEBRIDGE TELLS FOREIGN SPEAKERS TO LEARN ENGLISH" and
> considering the climate of the valley and the mission at this time that is
> certainly something that could happen.
>
>
>
> -hep
>
>
> On Wed, Jan 15, 2014 at 7:57 AM, C. Honnet <cedric at honnet.eu> wrote:
>
>> Haha, we can't lose it most of the time so no problem for that (at least
>> I know I'm stuck with mine) but it's sometimes really tiring to not even be
>> understood because of our pronunciation...
>> ...and it's good to be able to hide it in hostile environments, this
>> workshop can save lives!
>> lol ;p
>>  On Jan 15, 2014 9:51 AM, "Gregory Dillon" <gregorydillon at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Understanding has to be important, but I just want to chime in that I
>>> like hearing foreign speaker's accents.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Wed, Jan 15, 2014 at 7:22 AM, C. Honnet <cedric at honnet.eu> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Artur,
>>>> You rock.
>>>> This is a really excellent idea!!!
>>>> Thanks a lot ;)
>>>> Cedric.
>>>>
>>>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>>>> From: Artur Moczulski <artur.moczulski at gmail.com>
>>>> To: NoiseBridge Discuss <noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net>
>>>> Cc:
>>>> Date: Tue, 14 Jan 2014 19:07:47 -0800
>>>> Subject: [Noisebridge-discuss] Accent Workshop Class for Non-native
>>>> Speakers
>>>>
>>>> Hey Noisbridge Members,
>>>>
>>>> I would like to organize an accent and pronunciation workshop for
>>>> non-native speakers at Noisebridge. I am aiming for a 2 hour slot on
>>>> Saturday at noon. I would like to use one of the classrooms for this.
>>>>
>>>> I would like to promote the workshop by various "social" websites
>>>> including meetup.com and any other way that will help me build the
>>>> core group.
>>>>
>>>> Is there anything I should know about organizing events at Noisebridge,
>>>> outside of what is included here:
>>>> https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Hosting_an_Event ? Do you have any
>>>> tips on how to book the classroom for this?
>>>>
>>>> Best regards,
>>>> Artur Moczulski
>>>>
>>>> "Always do your best. What you plant now, you will harvest later."
>>>> +1 (563) 321 - 3382
>>>> about.me/amoczulski
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> Noisebridge-discuss mailing list
>>>> Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
>>>> https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Let's stay in touch.  Greg
>>>
>>
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>>
>>
>
>
> --
> hep
> hepic photography || www.hepic.net
>     dis at gruntle.org || 415 867 9472
>
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>

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