Post by @DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world

2026-04-21 15:11 UTC

Isn't it the same with any language? In English, if you get the word order wrong, or you say "how", when it should be "what", or you speak a bit too clearly, like, you say "Good morning", instead of "g'morning". I expect there are plenty of nuances in every language that can tip off a native speaker, that they don't think about until it happens. And, does the French person respond with perfect English, or do they have a bit of an accent? The French are very cool people, who know how to throw a revolution, and that is what matters at the moment. Respect.

Replies (2)

@drcobaltjedi@programming.dev 2026-04-21 17:02

Ehhhhh... Given how dominant English has been on the world stage for decades, there's been a few times in my life where I'm listening to someone speak English and I didn't realize that they weren't American/AngloCanadian. (Dear Canadians, I am sorry, but like, dude our accents right on each others borders are near indistinguishable)

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@Tonava@sopuli.xyz 2026-04-22 13:19

It depends a lot on how close the pronunciation of the languages in general are - like every native english speaker will be instantly recognizable even if they speak perfect finnish, no matter how well they learn it, but take an estonian and they might be able to learn so well you don't spot them. If the phonemes, intonation etc. are completely different, it's almost impossible to get it right unless you learn the language as a child or speak a cousin language as a native

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