AliasLafemme
Cadet
Actually,parisMalias said:Hi La femme:!!AliasLafemme said:Okay here's a question for the francophiles in you guys,
Can someone define or at least give their definition of what is a French accent? What makes a French accent? The reason I ask is that first I teach French and well I find Michael Vartan's French to be quite good.
i'm french, and i wanna say that from my point of view, MV speaks french very well.
like Nan said he's lived in France for 18 years (which BTW is more than half of his life so far ...) and his father is french. but as his mother is american, i guess he's been speaking english since he's a child. maybe now he doesn't get many occasions to speak french since he lives in the USA surrounded by american who speak... well... american!! as a result his english is perfect (i mean without a hint of french accent) but his french isn't maybe just as "french" as it used to be.
you know how we, french people, pronounce the "A", the "R", the "U", the "E" ... lots of letters that have no phonetic equivalent in english, so maybe when he speaks french, there's a little, very little hint of english behind the way he still can pronounce those letters "à la française".
i don't know if i'm making myself clear here, but well... i've tried!!
as for the vocabulary, he himself said that he's lost lots of his words in french, but that's only a matter of practice. and i'm sure he'll speak just like a french guy if only he'd stay in our country a little !!!
and i'll be more than willing to accomodate him if he's got no place to stay !! :lol:
i must be daydreaming again ... ^_^
I like your description better. The reason I say that is that I've heard people say things about others when it comes to speaking another language like
"Oh he speaks with an American accent"
or
"Her American accent is so charming"
Now while I would say that most don't mean anything by it, for those of learning the language it can sometimes be (not always) like a putdown or like someone is looking down on me. It's happen to me before and it makes me what to crawl in a hole and pull the dirt in on top.
This summer I am going to Montreal for the first time (first time I've had to $$$) for a dance competition and to sightsee a little bit. I'm sure the French in Quebec is different than what I've learned but I'll adapt.
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What last reason I get so jumpy when people question other's languages abilities is that there was an article in a French magazine called "SERIES" mag and if memory serves me correct, it stated that MV does not like to speak French around reporters since they are more apt to criticize his pronunciation, etc. All I can say is well DUH! Being bilingual is hard and for me
I speak French, German, Spanish AND English! Try keeping those accents in your heard. It can get crazy
If you guys want I can find the article. It's short. Given the fact that magazines sometimes fabricate stuff (GEE NO! LOL) I can't verify things.
Okay, now getting off the language soapbox
LaFemme :redhair: