Re: CHAT: Being taken for a furriner ...
| From: | Christophe Grandsire <christophe.grandsire@...> |
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| Date: | Wednesday, September 1, 2004, 8:59 |
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En réponse à Philippe Caquant :
> >
>Ha ha ! I liked that.
Hehe, I've now officially become a foreigner in every country (in the
Netherlands my accent is still strong enough to give away my
non-netherlandity, and in France they can't believe I'm French ;) ). Not
that I mind ;) .
>I also noted that French people decide that you speak
>well a foreign language as soon as they hear that you
>put the stress on syllables not the same way as in
>French. This is the absolute criterion. For ex, if you
>say Lorenzaccio with the stress on "za", they will
>immediately conclude that you speak great Italian,
>even if it's the only Italian word you know. Because
>they would, of course, put it on "ccio".
Yep, I've noticed that. At the same time, I've noticed that it's the common
treshhold for French learners of foreign languages. As soon as they get the
"stress thing", their level in the foreign language increases dramatically,
and not only in pronunciation: grammar and syntax improve immediately too.
It looks as if the learner has suddenly broken into the foreign structure
and finally *got it*.
Christophe Grandsire.
http://rainbow.conlang.free.fr
You need a straight mind to invent a twisted conlang.