englishrose Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 Only to someone who doesn't know about it, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fmbm Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 Only to someone who doesn't know about it, though. which is everyone I know hahaha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
englishrose Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 Well you'll just have to educate them on the magic of 'ouais'!! Hehe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fmbm Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 Well you'll just have to educate them on the magic of 'ouais'!! Hehe Will do haha I'll talk to you later, gotsta go Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
englishrose Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 Okey dokey, bye! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hannah Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 It sounds like an Australian "way." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
englishrose Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 yeah...well I guess it depends on how you say it. Hehe, it's kinda funny how one little word can start a whole conversation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunshine931 Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 (...) In fact, to my ear, he has almost no accent at all. He sounds pretty "parisian" but he also somewhat speaks like a little kid.(...) it came from the fact that he had left France when he was nine, so his french is somewhat "stuck" to this point. In fact, his voice actually sounds a little bit higher pitched when he speaks french So very true... I speak french as well (although not French french but Canadian french) and to me he has a perfect french accent. And I've always wondered why his voice is higher pitched when he speaks french... I think since French is his first language he would pick up other romance languages a lot easier than other English speakers. I've had no exposure to Italian but when I went to Venice I found it easier to understand Italian speech than French speech because it is more phonetic. Through reading I've picked up enough French vocabulary to get by but I have a hard time understanding the speech because of all the dropped consonants. I can recognize a lot of words in Italian and Spanish because they sound like phonetic versions of the written French words - or at least close enough to give you some hints. Yeah french is hard cause you don't always pronounce the word the way they are written... if that makes any sense. My mother tongue is french and I can pretty much read spanish and italian cause it's similar in certain ways This language and pronunciation thread just reminded me on something... It goes back to last year, when Mika played in the Trabendo, in Paris. He was on a french tv show, called "On a tout essayé" with french interviewer Laurent Ruquier. 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 . 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. [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). My God that was SOOO funny !!! I wonder why people from France say sss instead of th... here in Québec (the only french speaking province of Canada) we never say sss like that and honestly we find it quite funny when French people do it ! lol 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 think it's easier to learn/understand spanish or italian when you speak french then it is the other way around i speak french and i can tell you he has the hell of a british accent when he talks... You're the firt person I hear saying that... to me he doesn'T have a british accent AT ALL when he speaks french... yes his vocabulary is sometimes limited and he makes a few mistakes but to me he has a perfect french accent Oh is that what that is? I just thought he had a very bizarre way of saying oui! I love it too. People in France say "oui" like this... it's like saying "'yeah" instead of "yes"... but in Canada we say "ouin", not "ouais" French canadians don't have the same accent and sometimes (often?) don't use the same words. Yes our accent is VERY different from the French accent. We can understand French people perfectly (except for a few expressions and verlan) but French people have a hard time understanding our accent... I don't know why ! They teach Canadian anglophones Parisian French in school just to make sure it's as difficult as possible to understand French Canadians. Yeah this is ridiculous ! I mean in Québec we learn American/Canadian english, not British english ! About Canadian French: I remember I met a Canadian girl in Australia. We were with a group of people in which there was a Scottish guy who always wanted to learn French. So this girl started to teach hima bit of French and it sounded SO different from the French I learned at school. But it sounded quite ehm... cute anyway. don't you like our accent ?! lol But, thinking about it, we have so many ways to say "Oui"... We also use "Vi" or "Voui" who both have a kind of childish and affectionate nuance, I guess... Pamette, what do you think ? I say "vi" sometimes too... and "mi" I hope we're nice with you because everybody says we're arrogant. Many Québécois that have been to France say that generally (not everyone is like this) they feel that people in Paris are arrogant but the rest of the country people are really nice... My french teacher says it all the time... Well if he says "ouais" then it's proof they teach you French french and not Canadian french ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
englishrose Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 She's a she...lol, and she is from Quebec...but she's lived here for ages and the other french teacher in our school is french french so that might have something to do with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrie Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 Mika seems to speak pieces of quite a few languages - French, Italian, and Spanish, at least. To native speakers of these languages - how does he sound to you? As in, how is his pronunciation, sentence structure, and choice of words? Is it obvious that these aren't his native languages? Does he speak them with an English accent? To native English speakers - when he speaks, does he sound more "American" or more "British" to you? To my Canadian ears he sounds distinctly British, although not nearly as thick as, say Lily Allen. I'm a language nerd. Lily Allen sounds like she has a Cockney accent. To my US ear, Mika sounds like he has an English accent. However, I am not very familiar with the various types. I know that Freddie had a colonial accent, from what I read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
englishrose Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 Lily is rather cockney...not to the extent that I've heard it, but still. Mika's accent sounds to me like a mix of British, American and French. In the nicest way possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunshine931 Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 She's a she...lol, and she is from Quebec...but she's lived here for ages and the other french teacher in our school is french french so that might have something to do with it. oh sorry ! that's the thing with english, sometimes you don't know if the person you're talking about is a she or a he ! but yeah that might have to do with it cause in Québec we never say "ouais"... we say "ouin" or like "ouaé"... but we tend to pick up the French accent very easily when we talk to French people... when I talk french to Mika I tend to talk with a slight French accent... cause I'm worried he won't understand me ! he said he had a little trouble understanding our accent sometimes... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
englishrose Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 Wow, you mean you speak to Mika on a regluar basis? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunshine931 Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 Wow, you mean you speak to Mika on a regluar basis? lol I WISH !!!! no I only had two small conversations with him Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
englishrose Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 Oh, OK. Still, you are amazingly lucky. Lol, my class went to Quebec for a week on an exchange, and all of us had a really hard time understanding because you guys all talk so quickly! For a couple of days I think that all I said was 'Pardon?' hehe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunshine931 Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 Oh, OK. Still, you are amazingly lucky. Lol, my class went to Quebec for a week on an exchange, and all of us had a really hard time understanding because you guys all talk so quickly! For a couple of days I think that all I said was 'Pardon?' hehe I think when you're not familiar with a language you always feel like people are talking quickly... that's what I thought about english at first... French people talk faster then us usually... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
englishrose Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 Yeah, I'm nearly fluent in French but I still find it hard to understand if I've never spoken to the person before...I'd like to go back to Quebec though, to see if I can get more of what people are saying cause we went nearly two years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kavi Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 Oh is that what that is? I just thought he had a very bizarre way of saying oui! I love it too. me too...haha i love this thread! Ouais now i caught myself saying Meeker Mika Meeker Mika Mika Mika Mika Meeker Mika Meeker Mika Mika Mika Mika Mika Meeker...yes i read all 21 pages! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunshine931 Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 languages and accents is a fascinating topic, me thinks ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 Lily Allen sounds like she has a Cockney accent. To my US ear, Mika sounds like he has an English accent. However, I am not very familiar with the various types. I know that Freddie had a colonial accent, from what I read. Speaking of Lily Allen - the spoken intro in the LDN video always makes me shiver. The thing with Lily is that she doesn't finish her words properly, she seems to swallow them. There are certain areas in my country where people do the same to the Dutch language, it always makes me feel a bit funny. But I am a language freak anyway. LDN: http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=ORosVxIg8Tg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 languages and accents is a fascinating topic, me thinks ! Hehe, I fully agree! About my English: in Australia I was often taken for an American. Even by Americans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnnaMariaPetra Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 Speaking of Lily Allen - the spoken intro in the LDN video always makes me shiver. The thing with Lily is that she doesn't finish her words properly, she seems to swallow them. There are certain areas in my country where people do the same to the Dutch language, it always makes me feel a bit funny. But I am a language freak anyway. LDN: http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=ORosVxIg8Tg Here in Drenthe (eastern province) people tend to speak as if they have a permanent (nose-)cold. Really annoying... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 I know... My in-laws are from Drenthe (and so is my bf, but he doesn't have 'the nose cold accent'). It's even worse in Groningen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnnaMariaPetra Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 I know... My in-laws are from Drenthe (and so is my bf, but he doesn't have 'the nose cold accent'). It's even worse in Groningen. Do they still live in Drenthe? I am not originally from here, I come from Brabant. Complete other accent, soft G strange R.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 Yup, in Emmen. Born and bred. Brabant has funny accents too. The accent from the western part of Brabant is so different from the accent from the eastern part. My friend from the Efteling area has a lovely accent but I can't stand Hans Teeuwen's accent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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