Eccentric English

[GeneD]

There is one question I occasionally think about and find extremely curious. Do you native speakers of English often hear not AmE, BrE, Canadian, etc. but rather a mixture of two or more varieties? For instance, when someone habitually mixes AmE and BrE pronunciations in each sentence they say. Does it sound awkward? Or are there a lot more awkward things you hear from non-native speakers that such thing as mixed pronunciation doesn't seem a problem at all?

The reason why I ask you is that with the coming of the internet we learners are exposed to more than one variety of English. We listen audiobooks being read by AmE, BrE and who knows which other variety speakers; we watch Youtube videos of various not as easily identified English speakers on a daily basis and so on. And when for a native speaker there is always a safe harbour, their native language they hear every day, that serves as an axis and prevents a person from falling into chaotically organised speech; for us learners there aren't such a harbour. I have to confess that I, at least, most certainly speak such a mixed language which I call Eccentric (i.e. 'lacking a centre') English. What I would like to be sure of is whether or not I should stick to only one variety of English. (Whether it's possible or not and how exactly such a goal can be achieved is another question. )

Since I usually use BrE spelling and grammar, I thought that it might be a good idea to stick to the British variety. (I'm not sure that's the only right choice though because ironically, I'm more used to the AmE sound of speech.) Anyhow, trying to find a suitable video on Youtube on BrE pronunciation, I've come across this one. And although the name of the channel is Oxford Online English, one of the presenters (the girl) clearly speaks with the AmE accent. That's what puzzled me a little and, having formed this question in my head, caused to ask it now.

 

[emsr2d2]

There's nothing in the title or the description that suggests it's about BrE.

 

[GeneD]

Do you mean that Youtube channel? Yes, you are right, of course. But Oxford is in England, and there is the British flag logo there, so I mistakenly assumed that it would be BrE. Anyway, my point was that since they use not only one variety of English in their lessons, maybe they think that one shouldn't necessarily be exposed to only one variety.

And what do you esteemed forumites think of this?

 

[GeneD]

I gave not the link I intended to. Here is that link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWm_E0a5_qk There are two presenters. The man is British, and the girl is an AmE speaker, aren't they?

 

[tzfujimino]

It's "awkward", GeneD.

 

[GeneD]

It's awkward from any perspective.

It's already a habit. In the sentence above I had to correct the word again. Thanks for spotting it, Tzfujimino.

 

[GeneD]

Thanks for the guidance, Piscean. Very helpful.

It looks like I'll have to clean up those Augeas's stables eventually. It's time to stop being too excentric (that is 'ridiculous') and stick to RP, which would be a sober decision.

(sighing) What a mess. That's going to be quite a challenge to refine my English.

 

[jutfrank]

GeneD

Without hearing you speak, I can't say whether your speech sounds "awkward" but I doubt it does. As a teacher, I hear dozens of non-native-speakers every day and I can't say I've ever thought anyone was obviously mixing two different accents. I find it hard to even imagine that.

When you ask whether you should stick to one variety, I'm not sure what you mean. Are you saying that you are consciously switching the way you pronounce? And do you mean only certain words or more generally?

You should probably just forget about this and just speak in the way that comes most naturally to you.

 

[GeneD]

When you ask whether you should stick to one variety, I'm not sure what you mean. Are you saying that you are consciously switching the way you pronounce? And do you mean only certain words or more generally?

Here's the video that can be used as a kind of base for my examples. The letter r in the middle position, for instance, they are talking about at 1:36 I can pronounce both in British and AmE manners in one sentence without thinking of this (that is, subconsciously). The same could be said about the letter t (2:35, 3:05, 3:34) and the different pronunciation of certain words.

What caused this mixture? I'll explain. In my country, the variety of English that is taught in schools and universities is British (RP, to be precise). The pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar are British hence. But this learner (GeneD) doesn't seek for easy ways. Instead of sticking to this variety while learning the language I began to use both Br and Am learning sources. And there were a lot more of the latter variety. So idioms, preposition usage, vocabulary and so on are mixed together so I don't really know which is which. Well, sometimes I do know which is which and having realised it and trying to figure out to which variety the sentence is closer, I (also sometimes) begin to ask myself the questions I have asked in post 1: "Is it awkward, funny, ridiculous to mix the varieties this way?"

So you can see it's a complex problem. I can't (I've pronounced 'can't' in my head in the BrE manner; automatically, of course) fully switch from one variety to the other because they are mixed together (I've pronounced 'together' in my head, too, but in the AmE manner). I've realised my mistake. I should have learnt to understand other varieties of English, as Piscean pointed out, rather than immerse too deep into them and learn to speak them.

There is a suitable saying in Russian: If you chase two hares, you aren't going to catch either of them. (That's my own translation, so it can be innacurate. But I hope you've got the point.) I think the time has come to stop being pseudo-ambidextrous English speaker.

The good news is, after listening to several BrE speakers, this variety doesn't sound as strange to my ear as it was before I did it. Now it sounds almost natural for me (if it can be said so by a learner). So the first step has been made. It doesn't seem impossible for me now. Difficult? Yes, but not impossible.

 

[GeneD]

There is another question I've had for a long time that's related to the thread's topic: Have you native speakers ever heard an ESL learner speak without a foreign accent?

 

[GeneD]

That's inspiring. Thanks. I hope that wasn't only one student who spoke without a foreign accent, were they?

 

[Tdol]

There is something called code switching where people use different versions of English in different situations- they make, for instance, speak a regional English with their family and a more standard form at work. Also, people who have moved around often pick up some bits and pieces from other variants, but this is usually on a small scale.