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Mika's accent and other languages


lollipop_monkey

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As to me,a frenchie I think He has quite a good accent but you can feel he hasn't lived his whole life in France we can feel that he's english,by the expressions he use and he has probably lost some vocab.it's a bit like hugh grant :biggrin2: but better much much better.

 

I'm intrigued to know what you mean by this! :biggrin2:

 

Do you mean his mannerisms and expressions? What exactly? What is it that makes him seem so British to you, as a Frenchie? Just curious..

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I'm intrigued to know what you mean by this! :biggrin2:

 

Do you mean his mannerisms and expressions? What exactly? What is it that makes him seem so British to you, as a Frenchie? Just curious..

 

Maybe she means this:

 

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Oh glottal, that's it. I was trying to say that yesterday and wrote gluttural. Then someone started talking about Paolo Nutini's guttural sound and I thought no, that's not what I mean. I've got something wrong there. :doh:

 

yay, that was me! i found the word guttural a bit odd but i just thought that´s what you meant!.

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At one point, Laurent Ruquier talked about Will Smith, which he pronounced in the most typically and horribly french way... something like Will Smisss And it was really funny because, at first Mika didn't understand who he was talking about, and then, when he finally got it, he showed Ruquier how to pronounce Smith properly :bleh:

I remember they talked about Joe Dassin before and Mika pronounced it as 'Joe Dessin' or so (ow man, it is hard for a Dutchie like me to describe this!) and the host corrected him? Then later in the show Mika strikes back with the Will Smissss thing. :biggrin2:

 

[Edit] Ah, it was the other way round: http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=Cj7_MXY8Srs (can't find the entire video on YouTube though, only this part).

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I'm intrigued to know what you mean by this! :biggrin2:

 

Do you mean his mannerisms and expressions? What exactly? What is it that makes him seem so British to you, as a Frenchie? Just curious..

 

sorry I'm a bit sleepy so I don'tr answer quite fast !

Well,I went to the Music and lyrics premiere in france and I had the chance to hear Hugh Grant speak in french. Well,he has of course a bigger british accent than Mika as he hadn't lived there for a long time but when he speaks french you can see he's doing "litteral translations".Do you see what I mean ?I's kinda hard to say. I mean,as you know,some expressions can't be directly translated in an other language exactly the same way,well the can but it sounds weird.Well,that's quite that.:biggrin2: And there's also the prounonciation of the words (not accent) I mean the rhytm is not the same in french and in english.

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I'm intrigued to know what you mean by this! :biggrin2:

 

Do you mean his mannerisms and expressions? What exactly? What is it that makes him seem so British to you, as a Frenchie? Just curious..

 

I remember they talked about Joe Dassin before and Mika pronounced it as 'Joe Dessin' or so (ow man, it is hard for a Dutchie like me to describe this!) and the host corrected him? Then later in the show Mika strikes back with the Will Smissss thing. :biggrin2:

 

I remember this show !! It's so funny !:roftl:

Yeah,frenchies have trouble saying the "th" :biggrin2:

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sorry I'm a bit sleepy so I don'tr answer quite fast !

Well,I went to the Music and lyrics premiere in france and I had the chance to hear Hugh Grant speak in french. Well,he has of course a bigger british accent than Mika as he hadn't lived there for a long time but when he speaks french you can see he's doing "litteral translations".Do you see what I mean ?I's kinda hard to say. I mean,as you know,some expressions can't be directly translated in an other language exactly the same way,well the can but it sounds weird.Well,that's quite that.:biggrin2: And there's also the prounonciation of the words (not accent) I mean the rhytm is not the same in french and in english.

 

Thanks, I certainly understand what you mean with regards to Hugh's French, and I think I understand what you mean about Mika. It's his intonation which is a bit anglicized. He does seem to speak French with a very Parisian accent though, am I right? e muet and all that?

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Yes it's definitely easier to pick up other romance languages once you know one. I speak three Romance languages but although I've never studied Italian I can read it, and even understand it if spoken slowly, and I can even understand a bit of Romanian.

 

The thing is, Mika's comfortable having a go, he isn't inhibited about making mistakes, that's so important with foreign language learning. As I said before, he's an excellent role model for British kids, and the British in general as we are not famed for our language skills! Generally speaking as a nation we are lazy linguists.

 

i believe not being afraid of making mistakes is 90% of language learning!

but i don´t know if it´s really easier to learn spanish/italian just because your mother tongue is also a romance language. I can understand written italian but not spoken italian. And when it comes to french... well... I´ve been in paris and i'm a complete disaster. I could understand some words after having spent some time there, but I COULD NOT EVEN SPEAK ONE WORD ( you should just hear me trying to say bonjour). And ALL THAT CONSERING THAT my mother tongue is spanish!

 

I speak english a lot better than I speak french. But that's also because I've spent almost every summer of my life speaking english.(sometimes in London,and others in the USA or Israel). All the books are in english because i´ve got used to it and now I find it easier than reading in spanish!

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Thanks, I certainly understand what you mean with regards to Hugh's French, and I think I understand what you mean about Mika. It's his intonation which is a bit anglicized. He does seem to speak French with a very Parisian accent though, am I right? e muet and all that?

 

Well,as I'm Parisian,I don't really notice the parisian accent,but I think so,I mean it doesn't sound like a southern french accent with overpronounced o's

For me it sounds hilarious !! :roftl:

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:roftl: 'Meeker' sounds like some sort of dirty word. You meeker.

 

In "Love Today," does he sing, "Wait till your mamm-er and your pappa's gone...?" :biggrin2:

 

He almost definitly gets called Meeker. My almost-father-in-law and my boss, both from London, call me "Amander".

 

Actually, that host chicky from T4 - Miquita is it? - calls him "Meeker."

 

And it's particularly noticeable on the CD version, but he does indeed toss an "r" into Love Today - "wait till your mamm-er and your pappa's gone!"

 

Love, love his accent. :wub2:

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i never heard him speaking spanish! :blink:

 

http://it.youtube.com/watch?v=X6VxqP6v7co

 

Mika speaking spanish!

 

 

"Hace unos años, escribía canciones y las probaba delante de 5 personas en mi habitación. Hoy... enfrente de 6.000"

 

(some years ago I used to write songs and sang them in front of 5 people. Today....in front of six thousand)>> Mika before singing How much do You Love Me

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http://it.youtube.com/watch?v=X6VxqP6v7co

 

Mika speaking spanish!

 

 

"Hace unos años, escribía canciones y las probaba delante de 5 personas en mi habitación. Hoy... enfrente de 6.000"

 

(some years ago I used to write songs and sang them in front of 5 people. Today....in front of six thousand)>> Mika before singing How much do You Love Me

 

So cool !!!

It sounds so ...............wow !!:roftl:

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He almost definitly gets called Meeker. My almost-father-in-law and my boss, both from London, call me "Amander".

 

Actually, that host chicky from T4 - Miquita is it? - calls him "Meeker."

 

And it's particularly noticeable on the CD version, but he does indeed toss an "r" into Love Today - "wait till your mamm-er and your pappa's gone!"

 

Love, love his accent. :wub2:

 

How are you supposed to say Mika and Amanda? :blink:

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I remember they talked about Joe Dassin before and Mika pronounced it as 'Joe Dessin' or so (ow man, it is hard for a Dutchie like me to describe this!) and the host corrected him? Then later in the show Mika strikes back with the Will Smissss thing. :biggrin2:

 

[Edit] Ah, it was the other way round: http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=Cj7_MXY8Srs (can't find the entire video on YouTube though, only this part).

 

 

oh yes, I remember...how witty :wink2:

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How are you supposed to say Mika and Amanda? :blink:

 

Try this:

 

Say "Mika likes to sing."

 

Then say "Mika is talented."

 

Likely, your pronunciation of "Mika" had an "r" added in the second example, but not in the first. This is because many English dialects add an "intrusive R" when words that end in "a" are followed by words beginning with another vowel.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linking_R#Intrusive_R

 

I love it because it's so totally British, something you'd never, ever hear in someone natively from North America :)

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Try this:

 

Say "Mika likes to sing."

 

Then say "Mika is talented."

 

Likely, your pronunciation of "Mika" had an "r" added in the second example, but not in the first. This is because many English dialects add an "intrusive R" when words that end in "a" are followed by words beginning with another vowel.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linking_R#Intrusive_R

 

I love it because it's so totally British, something you'd never, ever hear in someone natively from North America :)

 

ohh god ive just realised i do that too. maybe my british side is growing stronger than my american one lol. (the same thing that happens to mika happens to me,my accent changes depending on who i'm talking to)

 

like, I say hee they are

but heRE i am

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Try this:

 

Say "Mika likes to sing."

 

Then say "Mika is talented."

 

Likely, your pronunciation of "Mika" had an "r" added in the second example, but not in the first. This is because many English dialects add an "intrusive R" when words that end in "a" are followed by words beginning with another vowel.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linking_R#Intrusive_R

 

I love it because it's so totally British, something you'd never, ever hear in someone natively from North America :)

 

mmm, still not getting it. I guess I need to HEAR the difference.

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I love it because it's so totally British, something you'd never, ever hear in someone natively from North America :)

 

I don't think South Africans do it but Australians and New Zealanders...? We need some more native speaker input here. It's hard to remember when you don't hear it every day.

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mmm, still not getting it. I guess I need to HEAR the difference.

 

have you heard the beatles' a day in the life? well, john clearly says I saw® a film today oh boy

 

That example was given in the article but i heard the song to see if it was really like that and BELIEVE ME, IT IS!

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mmm, still not getting it. I guess I need to HEAR the difference.

 

Are you saying you pronounce it Meeker in all circumstances? Even if you were calling out his name? Or that you would never use an R sound to pronounce Mika?

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have you heard the beatles' a day in the life? well, john clearly says I saw® a film today oh boy

 

That example was given in the article but i heard the song to see if it was really like that and BELIEVE ME, IT IS!

 

That was the first time I noticed it because I started listening to the Beatles when I was 7. (That's still my favourite Beatles song!)

 

Before Austin Powers, Mike Myers used to do an English character on Saturday Night Live and made a point of saying drawr-rings (drawings) every single time. In fact I think the only reason the character had anything to do with drawings is so he could say it to drive home the point he was supposed to be English.

 

http://youtube.com/watch?v=-0rmzf9Xtxg

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That was the first time I noticed it because I started listening to the Beatles when I was 7. (That's still my favourite Beatles song!)

 

Before Austin Powers, Mike Myers used to do an English character on Saturday Night Live and made a point of saying drawr-rings (drawings) every single time. In fact I think the only reason the character had anything to do with drawings is so he could say it to drive home the point he was supposed to be English.

 

http://youtube.com/watch?v=-0rmzf9Xtxg

 

 

ohh i LOVE the beatles... and that song is SO WEIRD but i absolutely LOVE IT!

 

BTW. DO YOU SAY "BEEDLES" OR "BEETTLES"(I SAY IT LIKE OPTION 2., BUT MOST PEOPLE I KNOW SAY "BEEDLES")

 

ohh mike myers is really funny. but his british accent in austin powers is SOOOO OVER THE TOP( OF COURSE, THAT´S WHAT MAKES IT EVEN FUNNIER). I DON´T KNOW HOW BRITISH PEOPLE FEEL ABOUT IT THOUGH. LOL.

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Are you saying you pronounce it Meeker in all circumstances? Even if you were calling out his name? Or that you would never use an R sound to pronounce Mika?

 

You devil! You have now got me sitting on my own, chanting Mika to myself, over and over.

You can tell me what I do when I see you . :boxed:

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