Accents are fascinating. As an American, I’ve always been intrigued by accents and my ears perk up whenever I hear someone speaking in a particularly cool one. In metropolitan areas like New York or Paris, though, an accent is a dime a dozen. From regional accents to foreign accents — ranging from perfectly fluent speakers to tourists just able to utter a few key phrases — accents of every shape and size can be found on just about every sidewalk. But where I live in France, my foreign accent stands out and people are often curious about where I’m from…
Read on!
When you have an accent
Accents can be sexy, exotic and often funny depending on who you’re talking to. They’re a sign that you’re from somewhere else and guaranteed conversation starters.
Out here far away from any major metropolitan area, a white woman with a non-native accent is a rarity. From outward appearances, no one would know I’m not French (unless I’m rocking my North Face fleece and flip flops to walk the dog). But when people hear me speak, they know I’m foreign and usually can’t put their finger on exactly where I’m from.
I pronounce most words properly and can say the French “r” without too much trouble, but it’s the intonation that gives me away every time (unless I’m blabbering like a fool about something complicated in tenses I haven’t mastered yet.).
English and French just aren’t the same and I find that the intonation is the hardest part of French to get right for a non-native speaker once you get past the pronunciation and grammar issues. But hey, as long as people understand you — accent and all — that’s already a step in the right direction.
When the French language makes you want to run and hide >>
Lately, I’ve delighted in people’s guesses as to where I’m from. “Where are you from originally?” they ask. “China,” I say, totally straight faced.
Well, I’ve only done that twice but they sure do look confused.
Now instead of answering the question, I ask them to guess where I’m from… my little game of “how good is my accent today” is always a fun time. And I actually like being asked where I’m from, although a New Yorker wouldn’t ask every person with an accent this very question. It would get tiring since accents are everywhere and New Yorkers are too cool to care anyway. I pretended to be when I lived there anyway!
Back to the story. The best scenario would be to pass as a native speaker, but since that’ll never happen since I was too old when I started learning French, I’ll take the next best thing — being mistaken for a nationality other than American.
The good part about having an accent >>
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m plenty proud of being American. I have no problem boasting about my country and how wonderful it is (while still seeing its shortcomings). The majority of French people find an American accent charming. But I don’t. Not for me anyway. I’m a drill sergeant on myself when it comes to this accent thing, so I take an extra gulp of pride when someone thinks I’m anything but American. It means all my pronunciation training in a little game called “Repeat after Tom” has paid off.
I was elated the other day when a woman I met thought I was Belgian. And her husband guessed German. That’s a popular one actually. And another guy thought I was Flemish a few months ago. I was beaming. Apparently my accent is not a dead giveaway that I’m an English speaker and I am proud of that. It’s the little things, guys.
Maybe I wouldn’t care if I was a tourist on vacation, a student just passing through for a year or two, or someone who had no intention of speaking French well, but I moved here to stay (at least for the foreseeable future) and am proud of how far I’ve come. French can be really frustrating!
Anyway, when people find out I’m American, they love to regale me with their stories of when they visited NY or had a friend who did. And it usually leads to a nice conversation. But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t over the moon to be mistaken for a German (Tom thinks it’s hilarious that I’m happy to be mistaken for a German).
Now, let’s discuss another thing about accents — when country folk ask you if you speak French after you’ve just spoken French.
What the heck is up with that question? Has it ever happened to you?
The first couple of times this happened, I was kind of baffled.
Let me break it down. On several occasions, I’ll be out walking Dagny (my main activity when I’ll find someone new to talk to) and we’ll meet another dog. While they’re sniffing, I make some small talk saying “Good girl” or comment on the other dog saying something like, “Oh, he has a nice coat.” Just something to break up the silence so we’re not just standing their staring at each other like fools.
I’ll say a few small phrases in perfectly good French. At this point, the owner usually has something to ask me either about Dagny or something else, but before they get to it, they’ll ask me in French if I speak French. I looked at this guy the other day completely mystified for a good five seconds before I replied, “Yes sir, of course. I just spoke French to your dog.” Do YOU speak French?? Of course. So do I.
I could understand if I hadn’t spoken at all and had a big “I am American” sign on my shirt, or spoke to the dog in English or made a ton of mistakes in French with my simple dog phrases, but come on dude, are you serious? I JUST SPOKE FRENCH.
In that instance, he was happy and proceeded to warn me of a loose pit bull who attacked his dog the other day and his little winter coat saved him. So I appreciated the warning and we went on our way. And it got me thinking about this. I just didn’t get it. In his defense, he didn’t mean anything by the question. I kind of took offense but he was legitimately asking me if I spoke his language. That question in similar circumstances has come up a few times.
So like with most things that confuse me here, I asked Tom what he thought.
Right away, he had the answer. He explained that people in our area aren’t super well-traveled and aren’t accustomed to hearing a non-African/Arab accent in French.
He had it all figured out and didn’t even have to think about it. In the case of the man above, it was a logical assumption for the guy to assume I didn’t speak French. He hasn’t encountered too many people like me. I get it. Makes perfect sense. I hope I changed his perception that a white woman with an accent is perfectly capable of speaking his language in his country. And now when he sees us coming, he says hi and chats awhile… 🙂
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What about you? How’s life with an accent?
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I used to think there would be no way I could ever be mistaken for French, but after ten years, it does happen now and again on a good day. So who knows, one day you may find the same! You can definitely hear my accent more when I am tired or nervous though.
And one of the things I disliked most about living in Bretagne was that especially in the early days, as soon as people would hear my accent, they would stop listening to what I was saying and just stare at me. It was like the fact that I had an accent really threw them off, and like you said, it was inconceivable that I would speak French. They would either say “I have no idea what she’s saying” and walk away or talk to me really slowly and loudly. And it even happens from time to time now when I go back to the region, even though I am completely fluent! It drives me crazy, and to this day, I get somewhat paranoid every time someone says “What did you say?” in French (my poor husband lol). Luckily though we now live in Paris and I don’t have to deal with it on a regular basis anymore!
Oh man, that would drive me insane if people just stopped and stared — as if you’re some kind of carnival spectacle. Funny but not funny if it’s you. I guess if I try to put myself in their shoes, coming from where they’re coming from, I can kind of understand it. Like they just don’t know better and have never had experience with someone like “us.” Although it’s annoying, I just try to be polite and educate people. And yea living in a big city helps. You just blend in more! And I’m looking forward to being mistaken for a French person! Thanks for commenting!
Oh yes – this goes along with my personal favorite which is when I speak to someone in French and they respond immediately with English…like, what? It always makes me feel like they think I’m an idiot but I guess I need to remember that sometimes they like to practice too! All goes into the fun of being an expat, I suppose. 🙂
Have a great Thanksgiving!
Oh man, that would really annoy me. Just continue on in French and say, “Sorry, what? I’m sorry I don’t understand” when they speak English (unless you’re OK with that). Have a wonderful Thanksgiving too! I’m making a Thanksgiving chicken on Saturday. Today is just another workday
On the “Where are you from” – opposite situation.
I’ve been living and working in North California from almost a year now (yay Chico!), and ever since people are confused with my accent. I certainly do not have the usual/stereotypical French accent, and well, maybe 75% people guessing pick German (even a German girl thought so …!). Then sometimes, when I tell them I’m French, they go like “oooh sorry it must be terrible for a French to be mistaken as a German”, and I tell them nope, I’m actually pretty happy about it 🙂
Happy Thanksgiving, I’m totally enjoying this day off.
Hahah, yup, nothing wrong with our typical accents but it’s fun to be a German lol. Enjoy your day off and Thanksgiving dinner!
French rednecks!?! That’s really funny. I grew up in the south, but somehow managed to avoid the typical southern accent (not that I don’t slip up at times). So, all throughout my teenage years, I had to hear people, rednecks, tell me, “you don’t sound like you’re from around here.’ I even convinced a few of them that I was an exchange student. So, I can relate. I was always proud when someone thought I was from somewhere other than the south.
When I visited I was proud to be mistaken for a French until I spoke. At least I looked French, or not like a tourist.
One thing that was funny to me is that most of the people in Paris I spoke with could understand my bad French, but this one server at a crepe place near the Pompidou Center was so puzzled at my drink order that I nearly gave up. I would have said it in English, but there’s no equivalent that I know of for a noisette. It occurred to me later that maybe he was new to the area and not used to interpreting the bad accents. He could understand my husband just fine.
Oh, and by the way, I can’t imagine asking someone who just spoke English to me if they speak English! Wow. That comes across as very insulting.
Yes, they’re called paysans and are country folk that don’t get out much beyond the surrounding area. And out of curiosity, how did you mispronounce noisette? Noise-ette? instead of nuh-woz-ette?
And yes, it is insulting. I mean imagine asking someone with a heavy acccent (but perfectly fluent) if they speak English or just looking at them. It’s totally insulting but people don’t get it!
Diane,
I think I said nawh-sette. Not sure, but I went all around Paris ordering a deca noisette! He was the only one who couldn’t understand me, so maybe he’s paysan, not used to tourists… ; )
Hi Diane,
I’ve travelled in France for many years and was taught in the early days not to worry about the actual words because you can look them up, or just point.
The more important things are to develop the accent, obviously, to know where to put the emphasis which is often different from English and to know that the French don’t pronounce the H at the beginning of a word or the S at the end. But I guess you know that.
Thanks for retweeting the link to my blog post about French women peeing in the street.
BTW I’m English so I don’t have to worry about an American accent. 🙂
Hi Cliff, thanks for stopping by. Yes, I think I’m extra hard on myself because like I said, I’m not just passing through. But pointing helps too!
Hello 🙂
Your blog is so interesting! I am a French girl and i have been living in China for 7 years now… It is nice to learn more about France through your eyes :p
Also I can relate to you… For instance, “do you speak french/chinese, question just after you spoke french/chinese.
Once I said in chinese: “no i don’t speak chinese, I don’t even know how to say a word”. It took the person a few minutes to understand the joke :p
And I agree accents are cute.
Hahhaah, love that you told them you don’t even speak a word in Chinese. People just don’t get it sometimes, do they? So happy you enjoy the blog!
Hi, I’m French and I have to say it’s happened to me to ask someone with a strong accent if he did speak French.
Actually, I didn’t want to be rude nor insulting, but to make sure that he would be fluent enough to understand what I was going to reply as I know that French may be very hard to learn. To me “speaking” a language means having a certain level of language that allows you to communicate easily, and the fact of having said something French right before doesn’t show that.
Plus in some areas English-speakers are not common at all and it can be a great opportunity to speak english.
Great blog by the way, very accurate 🙂
I understand your point of view, but as someone who has grown up near New York City and lived there during college and after, a place where accents are everywhere, I think it would be extremely weird if every person with an accent was asked if they speak English, not to mention it being insulting, in my opinion. I guess I understand the question in a small, homogenous town, but in a big city? People come from everywhere so the norm is assume people speak the local language unless proven otherwise — especially if they just said a perfectly coherent sentence in that said language. 😉 And if the person doesn’t have a strong accent, it’s even stranger to ask if they speak the language, again in my opinion. But I do understand the thought process behind it for sure. Thanks so much for checking out the blog!!
Hmm, I get asked where I’m from all the time. We currently live in Costa Rica and we are hispanics, my mom is Cuban and my dad Mexican. I am bilingual {English, Spanish}. Still I get asked on a daily basis where I am from, mostly because I roll my “r” to perfection {according to the locals} so I too decided to let them guess, because I was born in the US but I was raised in both Mexico and US and have dual nationality… I usually get: Venezuelan, Colombian and greek? WHAT!? Yes, I have been asked twice if I am from Greece because of my looks. I’m fine with the assumptions because their expression when I say I’m from the US completely confuses them. It’s all about having fun! right? 😉
Oh wow, cool! Interesting they think you’re from Greece! Very nice 😉 I think the issue for me is not being 100% bilingual, and I’ll never be. So I am sensitive about comments that pertain to my accent (want to desperately fit in!) because I try SO HARD and it’s like a “HEY YOU’RE DIFFERENT” and depending on how my day is, I mess with people, sometimes am truthful and sometimes feel defeated. But I know that’s on me because no one is intentionally trying to make me feel bad. I just internalize things when it comes to this. But yea, having fun is absolutely necessary!
I am Franco American but I’m tone deaf and have a decent American accent though I’m fluent and talk fast. Often, when I speak French to a stranger I get a response in English, which drives me nuts. I know it’s politeness but I often find it rude.
Are you speaking French to people in France or in the US? If people are replying to your fluent French in English, that’s REALLY weird! I’d perceive it as rude too. I’d just keep answering back in French until they got the hint!