Colloquial Linguistics

I find myself struggling between various linguistic forms,

between the internet: mostly americanism's and 4chan-ism's

Local people: only understand with additions of "innit bruv", "bro", "manz", "safe cuz" and things like "rah fuckery". Speaking any other way leaves one very open to misunderstandings, agression, ridicule & perhaps even mugging. This includes referring to pakistani people as "paki's" (not in an offensive way) which I always feel iffy about.

Older Asian people or "freshies": Talk loudly in comedy pretend pakistani accent and they understand just fine.

Middle Class White People: Try to minimise Brummie-asian accent which I mostly despise (because it makes you sound stupid) for some sort of faux posh twat accent but which I mostly fail at because I spend so much time with the former two.

Writing: Trying to be all scientific and analytical.

Is anyone else sort of in a uncomfortable elocutionary limbo? The lack of confidence in any specific one, kills the ability to be quick witted & humorous. Which makes public speaking (or even meeting new people) always turn out boring or shit.

Just be yourself and try not to offend scousers. Plastic ones don't really matter - they're plastic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMgIJuzvH24&feature=related

You think you have problems... I constantly forget words in Portuguese and I've only been here for 5 years,

I talk on the phone with my family and half the words come out in english, don't mind the accent.

My girlfriend, with whom I've been living for 3.5 years, still can't avoid replying every 2nd time either in polish

or in french, rarely in english (which she speaks with a french accent). My flatmate (portuguese), speaks english

with the most annoying american accent, i.e. he doesn't say 'black', he says 'bleck', he can't say 'can't...

instead he says 'can' and 'kent'. Worst of all, he can't really understand where's the problem with that.

Besides all of this I 'have' to speak 3 different languages daily, english, portuguese and spanish,

but still I don't quite know in which one I think... weird.

I'm Scottish, but when I first visit Portugal again after living there, I have 2 or 3 nights of dreaming in Portuguese - my brain reacting to the overload. Sometimes in the dreams I can speak dazzlingly poetic Portuguese.... sometimes I can't remember how to say yes and no....

Im ok in other languages, it's all the variations in english colloqialism that kind of screw me up. If your foreign, your foreign. People wont judge you on your local accents, you'll just sound portugese to them.

My parents are from Bangladesh. The only people I get to speak Bengali with is my elderly parents and elderly relatives. They all speak a very old fashioned, very strong regional rural dialect. If I try to speak this bengali in bangladesh no one really understands, its like 1800's strong redneck type accent. Most of the words are totally unknown to anyone under 60 year old there, and thats in the specific area which they came from. It is just very very funny to everyone.

Mrs b&d is from the Basque region and speaks both Basque and Spanish. Hearing her on the telephone is a hoot. Conversations with her mother (an English teacher at an American school) provides a combination of mostly Basque, Spanish and English. When I speak to her Grandmother (who was evacuated to France during the war), I speak French (which of course, my gf doesn't) and she speaks to her Grandmother in Spanish. I, of course, have been with Mrs b&d for four years and speak no Spanish whatsoever.

It makes for a very noisy but jovial mealtime!

DFP: fascinating stuff. As you say it's not about being a foreigner in a foreign country where linguistic complications are expected and common place but about negotiating the spaghetti junction of ethnicity, class and culture that you encounter. I'd love to hear a lot more about your experiences.

.... If you're foreigner, you're foreigner.....

The foreigner has fixed that for you ; P

Mrs b&d is from the Basque region and speaks both Basque and Spanish. Hearing her on the telephone is a hoot. Conversations with her mother (an English teacher at an American school) provides a combination of mostly Basque, Spanish and English. When I speak to her Grandmother (who was evacuated to France during the war), I speak French (which of course, my gf doesn't) and she speaks to her Grandmother in Spanish. I, of course, have been with Mrs b&d for four years and speak no Spanish whatsoever.

It makes for a very noisy but jovial mealtime!

Welcome to my life.

I fear DFP's point is going to be missed. He's not talking about living in a foreign country or interacting with other foreigners.

I fear DFP's point is going to be missed. He's not talking about living in a foreign country or interacting with other foreigners.

I totally get DFP's point, in some way I feel the same only for different reasons, I'm not british, english is not my native language, and as much as I feel that my thoughts (in Portuguese), make absolute sense when to express myself in English I know I lack of '....' (something). My linguistic limbo is due to other reasons, I pointed out some of them.

Welcome to my life.

I love it!

We're going to have Spanish day every week in an attempt for me to learn the language.

If we start having the Polish day in my house I fear for my liver...

If we have the french, I fear for my integrity as a human being.

SHlT IZ NANG!

At least I'll get to eat myself to death with basque region food and wine!

I totally get DFP's point, in some way I feel the same only for different reasons, I'm not british, english is not my native language, and as much as I feel that my thoughts (in Portuguese), make absolute sense when to express myself in English I know I lack of '....' (something). My linguistic limbo is due to other reasons, I pointed out some of them.

Nuno, I think you express yourself brilliantly in English. Even more so now that I'm aware of how many languages you speak daily!

Your so sweet max, I haz you inzide me.

I think you express yourself brilliantly in English.

I haz you inzide me.

OK, maybe not so much... ;-)

Is anyone else sort of in a uncomfortable elocutionary limbo? The lack of confidence in any specific one, kills the ability to be quick witted & humorous. Which makes public speaking (or even meeting new people) always turn out boring or shit.

Ultimately, this situation is advantageous to you as an individual. Your jack-of-all-trades situation with language makes you more adept as a metalinguist - compared to the average monolingual/monocultural person, you have a greater insight into how language works in a broad social context, and also a window on how thought is affected by linguistic structures for various groups.

You've already shown that you're aware of pitfalls and limitations, so anyone who judges you based on their idea of how you should 'measure up' in one particular dialect or communicative mode should shut the fuck up and start listening properly.

Be confident, be yourself (as someone mentioned upthread), and enjoy a lifelong journey of linguistic discovery.

I'm still amazed by how often I don't realize something is different in English, even after living here for nearly 7 years.
I'll find myself asking something or asking for something and being met with a blank expression.
My current favorite is that I got onto a post-grad level drawing course, which I'm very excited about. When I try and tell my English friends, they haven't got a clue what I'm talking about, as evidently drawing has a hidden "r" sound in the first syllable that I wasn't aware of.
That and when I say I'm excited for school to start everyone assumes I mean primary school and that I'm a teacher (especially puzzeling for those that know how I feel about children).