Monday, April 13, 2009

Accents


My teacher looked up and said, "Who can recite the numbers one through ten in [Asian]?"

The students in [Asian] 1010 sat there silently, eyes fixed on anything but the teacher.  I raised my hand (because I was a nerd).

"Yes, [Asian Name]."

I began to recite the numbers.  As soon as I had finished, she began to laugh.

"Who taught you those numbers?"

"My mom."

"She must be from [region] because you speak [Asian] with a very thick [region] accent."

I was shocked.  Mostly because she could hear that accent over my very thick American accent.

..................................................

While visiting my father's family in the south, I asked my cousin a question that I have often wondered.

"Where we are from, we call your accent a 'southern accent.'  What do you guys call our accent?"

He looked around, and then said with a laugh, "Ya'll talk like a buncha Yankees."

I didn't see that one coming.



4 comments:

Brooke said...

The number one question I got in Tennessee with my straight Utah accent was "Where y'all from girl? You talk funny."

Funny, I would think. I was thinking the same thing about you!Here's from one Yankee to another. =)

Little Lady Cakes said...

I'm often teased that I don't have an Asian accent or the ability to mimic one.

I was born in the States!

Anonymous said...

While serving as a missionary in the north of France, I was one day doing some street contacting with another sister missionary who was born and raised in the south of France. While introducing myself and my companion to a contact, I mentioned that I was from the US, but she was native French. The contact replied that her accent was worse than mine.

that raven chick said...

HA!! funny thing. At the bus stop today, a russian girl was teaching me how to say "how are you" (formal) in Russian. Despite my vain attempts, I had failed miserably. When I asked her how I sounded she told me I had a thick Japanese accent. Which is convenient because I am not Japanese! (sarcasm)