There used to be a time when those with thick, regional accents, were thought of as thick. The Brummie, Somerset, Scouse, Geordie and Essex accents were particular targets for attack. It was a regular prejudice in the 70s.
However, since larger numbers of working class people started going to university, you're treading on dangerous ground by accusing someone with a thick accent of actually being thick. Now you're as likely to find a person with a cut glass accent exhibiting the intelligence of a sloth.
I'm reading a book called The French Intifada by Andrew Hussey, who I heard speak on the radio last week. Hussey has the thickest of Scouse accents, but speaks fluent French and is an extremely erudite academic with a PhD.
I wonder if British regional accents come through when those who possess one speak a foreign language? It has been said by teachers of Mandarin that they can tell if the student is from the UK, Australia, America or South Africa by the way they speak Mandarin, so I guess regional British accents must come through in some manner when Brits speak a foreign language.
1 comment:
When we lived in France I was told that people could tell I was a Scot when speaking French.
Now we live in Costa Rica they rell me that I speak spanish with a french accent....
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