Re: USAGE: rhotics (was: Advanced English + Babel text)

Sally Caves wrote:

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "J. 'Mach' Wust" <j_mach_wust@...>
>
>> On Wed, 3 Nov 2004 19:29:30 -0500, Sally Caves <scaves@...>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Actually, I didn't really believe my friend.  He said my "r"
>>> pronunciation
>>> in German wasn't "robust" enough, but sounded French.
>>
>>
>> I fear we'll never know what he meant...
>
>
> His most common schtick with me is teasing criticism.  That's fine.
>
>>>  Actually, I think my
>>> best linguistic gifts lie in phonic mimicry.  (Which is why I
>>> thought of
>>> becoming an actress in my late teens).  I have a very good ear for
>>> pronunciations and can usually reproduce them pretty well, which has
>>> gotten
>>> me in trouble a few times when my rapid comprehension was not up to my
>>> speaking.
>>
>>
>> A most remarkable and seldom gift! I've known A Swiss German who told me
>> that native speaker of Spanish had taken him for mentally challenged
>> because
>> of his lack of vocabulary.
>
>
> Ha!  Yeah, that's the problem.  You have some basic vocabulary and some
> useful phrases, but you speak them well.  Then no defenses to muster
> against
> charges of idiocy.  But I usually have some trace of an accent.  I prided
> myself, though, in Geneva in being able to hide my American heritage.
> People usually asked me if I was from Britain or Germany.  Had to
> practice,
> then, on my plosives.
>
> Is mimicry of pronunciation that remarkable?  I'm fairly good at accents,
> too, but not flawless.  A lot of Americans like to make fun of a southern
> accent, assuming that it is monolithic and not multifarious and
> regional.  I
> realize that this is the same of England and its variations, and if
> one is
> going to "adopt" an English accent, she should listen closely to one
> region,
> or even just one person, and copy that, not just copy the copies of
> British
> accents.  I'm not sure Renee Zellweger was entirely convincing in
> _Bridget
> Jones Diary_. she sounded just a little too "plummy."  ??  But it's
> easier
> for me to gauge British mimicry of American accents.

RP ([A: pi:]) is a fairly good thing to mimic, if you're heading to the
south.  If you're going to the north, you'll sound like a southerner.
And people may make fun of you.

If you're looking for a bad fake British accent, try Brad Pitt in 'Troy'.