Transcript + vocabulary list + exercise:
[00:00:01.200] - Oliver (Host)
Welcome back to English and Beyond. My name is Oliver and I will be your host today. As with every episode, I'm publishing a transcript online so you can read along. The transcript is especially useful for those really difficult words that might come up in the conversation, and because - at the end of the day it is a conversation - sometimes little bits of it can be quite hard to hear. The transcript can really help you out with that section. This transcript is available at www.morethanalanguage.com. and you can also reach me to send me an email at oliver@morethanalanguage.com.
[00:00:36.960] - Oliver (Host)
Would you say that you speak English? Your initial reaction may be to scoff, to ridicule the idea, to laugh dismissively, and to think, of course I do. If I didn't speak English, how could I understand this podcast right now? Alternatively, you might have thought immediately of your qualifications in English learning. Perhaps you have some sort of impressive qualification in the language and you think, well, that's indisputable evidence that I speak this language. That's evidence you can't argue with. But the idea of whether you speak a language or not is a surprisingly personal thing. What one person considers speaking a language quite fluently, another person may regard as just about getting by in their target language; 'to get by' means 'to cope' or 'to manage'.
[00:01:25.500] - Oliver (Host)
Some people think that being able to hold a brief conversation about the weather means you definitely speak that language, while others think that unless you know obscure and very specific vocabulary for virtually any topic that could come up, you can't claim to speak a language properly. Then of course there are many, many other people whose opinions lie somewhere along that spectrum. I speak some languages other than English quite well, and then I've spent a bit of time learning one or two more, but I wouldn't say that I can speak them as much ["such" - mispronounced]. Some languages I used to be able to speak, but now I cannot. For instance, a decade ago I lived pretty happily in Beijing for six months and managed my life there in Mandarin without huge problem. But now I could barely order some noodles in a restaurant. Everyone knows that if you don't practice a skill, you lose it. But I was quite shocked by how quickly I forgot Chinese after spending 18 months formally studying it in a classroom for about 5 hours a day. Now, people always tell me, don't worry, Oliver, if you started learning it again, you'd be amazed by how quickly it comes back to you.
[00:02:35.620] - Oliver (Host)
And that may well be true, but it would be a significant effort to learn Mandarin again. And what happens to the other languages I've picked up in the meantime? That topic, though, is one I've already discussed to some extent with my friend Laura last week. The topic for today's podcast is connect it, and it's another big issue in language learning, but it's significantly different: accents. My personal view on accents is that they don't matter that much. But then I would say that, wouldn't I? I'm not very good at accents. Even if I manage to say something with grammatical perfection in my target language, there's never much room for doubt that I am not a native speaker. No one has ever mistaken me for being a Valencian, born and raised, when I'm in the city with my partner, my accent is decidedly not a Spanish one, even if people in Spain are unsure exactly of where I do come from. In fact, even in English, my mother tongue, I'm sometimes told that my accent is a little unusual, even by other native speakers. I'm sometimes even asked where I come from by people who come from the same region as me.
[00:03:46.320] - Oliver (Host)
Some people are, bizarrely, convinced that they can hear some Scottish inflections in my accent, hangovers from my Glaswegian mum. Others think I sound hopelessly, stereotypically Home Counties, which is the south eastern region that surrounds London but isn't part of the city. And then again, it's actually very hard sometimes to separate what is an accent from the tone and cadence, the inflection, of your voice. Just like with judgments about how well you speak language, accents are subjective, too, not objective; they're personal, not often externally measurable. It's not even as if all native speakers use the same accent. My Scottish uncle's accent has very little in common with mine in terms of most letter sounds, and accents change over time. My brother emigrated to Australia and now speaks with a definite twang to his accent. So if we're setting out to learn a language, which accent would we even be trying to imitate anyway? And in fact, your accent, when speaking a foreign language, is almost never part of any formal exam, as long as you can pronounce words correctly enough that it's clear what you're saying, I don't think any assessment system punishes you for not sounding native.Do let me know if that's not the case where you're from - that would be really interesting for me to know.
[00:05:09.070] - Oliver (Host)
Since it's therefore so unclear which accent we should aim for, and I don't think it generally counts for very much credit in examinations anyway, why is it such a big deal for so many language learners that they don't speak with a native-sounding accent and tone. Even as I say that I don't think they're important, I do still wish my accents were better, more native sounding. But why does it matter so much? My guest today is someone who is very well placed, at least on a personal level, to answer that question. She's a very special part of my life. When I first found out that I was moving to Germany with my job in banking law, I decided that I needed to learn some German right away. I began to memorise all the language rules, and vocabulary that I could, but obviously, that's only half the battle. You have to actually practise interacting with real life speakers. I went online, and I found a local language partner from a dedicated website, and we arranged a time to meet in central London to practice German and English together.
[00:06:13.290] - Oliver (Host)
Franziska met me at King's Cross station in central London, and she immediately stood out from the crowd. She's pretty statuesque, which means she's very tall, and she has incredibly blonde hair and very blue eyes. My first thought back in 2015, if I'm honest, was that she looked exactly like Taylor Swift. But a more defining characteristic of Franziska back in 2015 is that she was very low in confidence, which was very surprising for me to learn. I'm aware, of course, that self esteem isn't always linked to accomplishments, but she's a very intelligent, articulate person, and it seemed odd to me that she was so negative, so openly about herself. One thing that she's highlighted as a particular insecurity, perhaps the biggest, time and time again over the years, was, of course, her accent. And that's why she is the perfect guest for me on this episode of the podcast. So, Franziska, before we even get into the conversation of our accents, how are you feeling?
[00:07:15.670] - Franziska (Guest)
I'm so stressed. My palms are sweating. This is not gonna go well. I'm so stressed.
[00:07:23.960] - Oliver (Host)
I know that you're going to listen to this back afterwards, and you're gonna send me a long list of, like, with time stamps, the time in the podcast saying this was when my accent sounded worse. Can you edit this bit out or something like that?
[00:07:39.580] - Franziska (Guest)
I would say, like, does it actually sound so bad in real life? I didn't know it was that bad or something like that.
[00:07:45.820] - Oliver (Host)
Have you listened- have you recorded yourself before?
[00:07:48.470] - Franziska (Guest)
No, but I've heard myself in videos, and I was like. I think, like every person, I was like, that's not my voice. My voice isn't that high. My accent isn't that strong.
[00:07:56.900] - Oliver (Host)
Yeah, yeah. I mean, even. Even when we're not thinking about our accent in a foreign language, I think, as you say, everybody hates listening to themselves. And as you know, I do the Spanish language podcast with César and I - oh, God, it's so much worse in a foreign language than in your own language.
[00:08:16.630] - Franziska (Guest)
Yeah, it is. Yeah.
[00:08:17.660] - Oliver (Host)
Yeah. So prepare yourself. So, coming back, what do you think about my suggestion that accents don't really matter?
[00:08:26.620] - Franziska (Guest)
I do want to agree, and I would tell everyone else the same, but to myself, they do matter. And I'm quite upset that my accent is so strong after nine years in the UK.
[00:08:37.950] - Oliver (Host)
Nine years. Do you think it's different? Do you think it's changed at all?
[00:08:41.310] - Franziska (Guest)
No, I don't. It probably has. I should have recorded me in the beginning. I should have recorded myself. But I don't think it has changed. No. I feel like my language has changed. I know a lot more idiomatic words that I didn't know before, and I remember that sometimes I wouldn't understand text, and I was really confused when people used very idiomatic expressions. And that has changed a lot. But my accent hasn't changed that much. I don't think.
[00:09:05.710] - Oliver (Host)
I mean, I think that that is a very you comment already because, you know, when we first met, I think your English was already incredible. And you, from the beginning of our friendship, and we know each other quite well now, right? We've lived together, in fact. You've always got, we can say in English, your nose buried in a book. Right?
[00:09:24.520] - Franziska (Guest)
Yeah.
[00:09:25.210] - Oliver (Host)
You're always reading, and you read very high level English literature. So, you know, you've done a degree now in English.
[00:09:31.580] - Franziska (Guest)
Yeah.
[00:09:32.310] - Oliver (Host)
In translation, in fact, right?
[00:09:34.870] - Franziska (Guest)
Yeah. Translation studies.
[00:09:36.350] - Oliver (Host)
And, you know, you've, you've read books that most native English speakers would struggle with, kind of classics of English literature. But it's been like that since I met you, that you've always read this kind of thing. So even when you say that, you know, you've picked up more idiomatic expressions, that's probably now kind of higher than native. But I know that for you, that, in a way, has sometimes made it worse that you think your accent is so strong.
[00:10:02.170] - Franziska (Guest)
Yeah. Because I sometimes I think I'm one of those people who, like, I have a very good passive knowledge, but I can't express myself very well, and it probably links to insecurity and stuff. I remember our first meeting in King's Cross, and we both talked about our first foreign language we learned. And we both learned Latin as a foreign language.
[00:10:19.940] - Oliver (Host)
Yeah.
[00:10:20.460] - Franziska (Guest)
And I think for both of us, the reason was insecurity, and for me, it was the pronunciation already, as a child. I went to, erm, how is that called in English? Open evening? When you go to a school, the school is open and, yeah, students can have a look.
[00:10:35.660] - Oliver (Host)
Exactly. So an open evening is where they open a school and prospective parents or children sometimes as well, can come and look around the school and see what it would be like and decide whether to go to that school or not.
[00:10:47.900] - Franziska (Guest)
And then I went to a French class and I went to an English class and I was like, I'm never going to be able to pronounce that. I'm never going to be able to say that. So I learned Latin.
[00:10:56.020] - Oliver (Host)
So it's ironic that you ended up doing a degree in French and living in the UK.
[00:10:59.860] - Franziska (Guest)
It is, actually. Yeah.
[00:11:02.500] - Oliver (Host)
Well, a bit like me, right? I actually talked about this in the first episode, that I used to stand in the French class and cry when I had to speak French. And as you said, that's why I ended up kind of retreating into Latin. I ended up going to Latin and hiding away there because I never had to speak it. And actually, now that I'm a teacher, when I'm trying to get the students that I teach to choose Latin, one of the things I say is if you don't like speaking a foreign language, it's a really good foundation how languages work, but it gives you some time to kind of think about what you're saying, and you don't need to kind of speak on your feet. So when I mentioned you in last week's episode, I said to Laura that you would be very upset every time someone spoke to you and would immediately know not only that you weren't English or British, but in fact, most of the time that you were German.
[00:11:58.920] - Franziska (Guest)
Yeah, right. And it happens like, 90% of time, people don't ask me where you're from. They say, like, where in Germany are you from, and I find that really upsetting.
[00:12:07.560] - Oliver (Host)
But it's kind of, you said something earlier which I think is really true, which is, you said that accents don't matter for other people, as in you, you don't judge other people. If you meet someone and you think, "Oh, this, this girl is obviously French or this boy is clearly Spanish", it's not like you think, what an idiot.
[00:12:27.180] - Franziska (Guest)
No, never. I like it. I like hearing an accent and I would never, ever think, I don't know, they can't express themselves or anything. But I think that about me, that people think because I have an accent, I can't really understand them, I can't really express myself and so on.
[00:12:41.290] - Oliver (Host)
Why do you think that people think that? Do, do you know that people think it? Or what is your basis for believing that?
[00:12:48.660] - Franziska (Guest)
Probably insecurity, but no one has ever actually said anything like that to me. But I do sometimes think that people who haven't learned a different language -
[00:12:58.180] - Oliver (Host)
- which is often the case in the UK.
[00:13:00.160] - Franziska (Guest)
And then sometimes I think they're sometimes a little bit confused because they don't really know if someone has an accent, when someone has an accent if they understand everything.
[00:13:09.100] - Oliver (Host)
Yeah.
[00:13:09.630] - Franziska (Guest)
Sometimes I think when people first meet me, when I have an appointment somewhere, the doctor or so, they're sometimes not quite sure if I understand everything just because I have a strong accent.
[00:13:18.980] - Oliver (Host)
I suppose that, in a way, it kind of makes sense, doesn't it? Because when someone first starts learning a language, their accent is worse. Your accent does tend to improve over time. I'm not sure it's true for me for French, and you obviously don't think it's true for you for English, but generally, when someone first comes to a country and they've just moved there and they're learning the language, their accent is very thick. Right?
[00:13:42.890] - Franziska (Guest)
Yeah.
[00:13:43.880] - Oliver (Host)
Unless you are some sort of, like, language - sorry, accent - prodigy. Yeah. Because there are people.
[00:13:49.540] - Franziska (Guest)
There are people. It's incredible, isn't it? Yeah.
[00:13:51.680] - Oliver (Host)
Yeah. You know, I remember when I met César in Valencia. We met an American girl, and her Spanish was pretty good, but it wasn't amazing, but her accent was just incredible. But in a way, I don't think you'd like that either. Right? Imagine a situation in which your accent was perfectly British, but your vocabulary and your grammar was quite limited.
[00:14:15.470] - Franziska (Guest)
Yeah, I wouldn't like that either. No, because people would probably think that, "Is she a bit dim?".
[00:14:21.670] - Oliver (Host)
Exactly. They'd have a very different opinion of you and you'd hate that as well, because I suppose at least you can stun people this way, where they meet you and they might think, "Oh, she's just literally stepped off the plane for the first time in Britain..." And then you can, like, astound them by your kind of, the impressiveness of the way you articulate yourself.
[00:14:45.650] - Franziska (Guest)
Yeah, that's true, actually. Yeah. Because people probably think, I just arrived half a year ago or something like that.
[00:14:52.100] - Oliver (Host)
So maybe that's kind of for those of us who don't have great accents, we just have to comfort ourselves by thinking that.
[00:14:59.040] - Franziska (Guest)
Yep.
[00:15:00.790] - Oliver (Host)
And, in fact, I've actually, I've referenced the fact that I think that my accent in French is really not good. My accent in Spanish, I think, is a bit better than it used to be. It's getting better. As I said in the podcast episode or in my little speech, Spanish people are generally not uncomplimentary about my accent. They absolutely, 100% know I'm not Spanish. But it's not like, you know, you said that you hate it when they know that you're German. Specifically, they don't necessarily know that. I have two questions about that, actually. Do you think the fact that you are so unhappy about your accent is actually linked to the fact that you are German? Because to me, it seems, having now met a lot of Germans, Germany is a country a bit like the UK, where I think people are almost embarrassed to be German. You know, there's - you never see the German flag or the English flag (sometimes the British, but never the English flag) just kind of, like, on the street or outside people's houses. And it's viewed as quite a nationalist thing by lots of people, which I think is unfair.
[00:16:08.760] - Oliver (Host)
But, for example, in Spain, you can go to loads of places, loads of cities and balconies all over blocks of flats have got the Spanish flag hanging from them. So do you think that if you were French, you wouldn't feel so kind of upset if people knew you were French straight away? What do you think about that?
[00:16:23.980] - Franziska (Guest)
I think for me, personally, maybe not necessarily, because for me, it's the most important thing for me, is the languages, and I love languages, and I put so much time and effort into languages in my life. In general, I think it's something very German, yes. We don't have this national pride because of our history. That makes sense. So, yeah. And we Germans and I, as a German, we have heard things related to our accent and relating to history about it sounding military and robotic and, like, giving orders. So it is a bit connected to that, yeah.
[00:17:01.620] - Oliver (Host)
That's interesting, yeah. Because, I mean, I don't think, I just don't think that you get the same kind of, like, "accent shame" for French people. Like, I think French people don't worry about the fact that their accent...is (different).
[00:17:12.390] - Franziska (Guest)
And it is true that in German, because we make you have tiny little break between each word, which might make the accent sound a bit robotic to some people.
[00:17:21.950] - Oliver (Host)
Like staccato, almost.
[00:17:22.930] - Franziska (Guest)
Yeah, exactly. But, yeah, they - yeah, they're connected somehow with military.
[00:17:28.570] - Oliver (Host)
Yeah. Interesting. So the other thing I was going to talk about with regard to German is that obviously, I used to speak Ger-. Well, yeah, I used to speak.
[00:17:38.560] - Franziska (Guest)
You could still, you just don't do it!
[00:17:40.970] - Oliver (Host)
Honestly. Now, I think it's one of those languages that I - as I said in my little speech - I used to be able to speak it, and now I can't. You used to find it very funny, though, when I spoke German, because of my accent.
[00:17:52.510] - Franziska (Guest)
Yeah, but you have an 'Oliver' accent, and it's like, it's very cute, but it's not necessarily British. It's not english. You know, there might be a few words where you can definitely hear, yeah, he's British. It's an English or not British, but it's like an English accent, an English speaker. But in general, you don't have a very english accent.
[00:18:13.500] - Oliver (Host)
But you used to sometimes, with certain, with certain phra-(ses). Do you know, it's ironic because if I did the same to you, you would absolutely hate it. But sometimes I would say things in German and you would just laugh.
[00:18:23.930] - Franziska (Guest)
You know, that is actually true. Yeah, I remember I used to laugh at "Ich denke dass", which is in English "I think that", but you wouldn't, like, the pronunciation is correct, it's just like the way you said that sentence was very -Â
[00:18:40.320] - Oliver (Host)
-unGerman, the rhythm of it is wrong, but, yeah, you used to say that you thought I sounded a little bit like a little boy.
[00:18:47.420] - Franziska (Guest)
Yeah. Oh, yeah. If you had said to me, "You sound like a little girl", I would have hated that!
[00:18:53.080] - Oliver (Host)
Yeah. I think particularly, you'd be like, "I'm a woman. I'm not a little girl!"
[00:18:59.980] - Franziska (Guest)
Actually, what I found really interesting, what you mentioned in the introduction was when you said, which accent do we, as English learners, actually want to learn and imitate? Because it is a really big question. It is really difficult. So at school, for example, I had a German woman teaching me English, but I think she travelled a lot to the States, if I remember right? So she had a tiny bit of an American accent, and I learned really strange pronunciation sometimes. I remember we learned apple for apple, which is neither American nor German pronunciation. It's just very strange. And then I came to the UK.
[00:19:42.210] - Oliver (Host)
Are you blaming this woman for your accent? She was like, I just ended up with this really weird British-American-German mix.
[00:19:49.480] - Franziska (Guest)
Yeah, "Hallo Frau Schröder!" No, I just meant, so many of us, we learn English with a certain accent, which we actually, in school don't realise. And I think that was one of my main problems coming to the UK, that it sounds, that the British English sounds much less English to my ears than the American English. So I started to pronounce everything a bit more German again and then...
[00:20:16.730] - Oliver (Host)
But, I mean, did you know, it's funny, though. It's true what I said in the speech. And it's true what you just picked out now that there are so many different accents in the Anglophone world. But then, even when you come to Britain, because you've actually lived, you've, you live currently in Oxford, you've lived in London, you've lived in Glasgow.
[00:20:31.780] - Franziska (Guest)
Yeah.
[00:20:32.180] - Oliver (Host)
So, I mean, even. Even within just this one country, what is a British accent? So, you know, it's very unusual that you meet someone who has decided, I'm gonna, I'm gonna aim for a Scottish accent, you know, when they, when they're learning English as a foreign language. But, you know, it's an equally valid choice. And there are obviously, I suppose, that, you know, the people that immigrate to Scotland will end up with that kind of twist on their accent.
[00:21:04.510] - Franziska (Guest)
But, yeah, there was one thing I keep thinking, which I haven't done for my accent yet, is like, going to pronunciation class, because I honestly don't know if it would help or not. Have you ever gone to a pronunciation class in Germany or in Spain? I know you've been loads to Spain and taken language classes in Spain. So have you ever done that?
[00:21:25.250] - Oliver (Host)
That is a very good question. No, I haven't. And I suppose that speaks to, to the fact that in my core - well, I was going to say that it probably doesn't matter that much to me. And it does. I think that people don't prioritise it, do they? I think that we prefer just to kind of sit and complain.
[00:21:44.710] - Franziska (Guest)
Exactly. That is what I was just feeling like the whole episode, me complaining about my accent and then in the end, "But she hasn't even got to any pronunciation class", but I did work on my pronunciation, just not like that.
[00:21:55.740] - Oliver (Host)
Yeah, well, when I started learning Spanish, and I, as I have mentioned before, I started learning Spanish when I was in China, I remember lying in bed trying to make myself pronounce the Spanish R, which is a sound that is a problem for me in every language.
[00:22:15.430] - Franziska (Guest)
Yeah, for me, too. It's really difficult for me in English.
[00:22:18.720] - Oliver (Host)
But it's weird, I mean, because, like, it's not, it's not even the same sound in every language.
[00:22:23.320] - Franziska (Guest)
Yeah, yeah, that's true.
[00:22:24.280] - Oliver (Host)
Like, in Spanish, it's different from in French and German and English. In Chinese, it's a really unusual sound, but it's a totally different sound. But for some reason, in every single language, I can't pronounce that sound very well. The only language, in fact, where I have had accent lessons is English, where I went to what we call elocution lessons when I was little. You know, theoretically, it's to help you with public speaking and things like that. But actually, for me, it was to help me pronounce all the letters because I had a speech impediment with the letter R. So I would, you know, some people mispronounce it by pronouncing it like a W. So instead of saying rabbit, they say wabit. There's a very famous tv presenter in the UK who pronounces the r like that. But for me, it was more like a vabit is somewhere between the two. So I had to have elocution lessons for a few years to correct that. But, so to go back to what I was saying about Spanish, I remember lying in bed and trying to pronounce the Spanish R. And there are a two versions of the R in Spanish, and one of them, just by lying in bed for hours at night in Beijing, I was able to get more or less.
[00:23:34.930] - Oliver (Host)
But the other one, where you really trill it, you roll the Spanish R, I can't do. So, to answer your question, no. I've put effort into trying to improve my Spanish accent to some degree. Like, I've read about where the tongue should be for the different letters, but I just, I guess, it's easy to relax into, "Well, this is just my accent" as an attitude when people can understand you. I think it's a really good idea to do a pronunciation course, and César has done it in English, and I think it has helped.
[00:24:09.950] - Franziska (Guest)
Yeah, I do think I will do it at some point, because I think I always thought it will, just with the years, it will come naturally and it - to be fair, it probably has improved, even if, obviously, I don't hear it myself.
[00:24:21.160] - Oliver (Host)
Yeah.
[00:24:21.850] - Franziska (Guest)
Yeah. I always thought it would come naturally at some point, and I never really looked into pronunciation class or something like that.
[00:24:31.300] - Oliver (Host)
Yeah, I think, I think it is a good idea, but I don't know that many people who have done it.
[00:24:36.640] - Franziska (Guest)
I don't know anyone, actually. I don't know anyone who has done it.
[00:24:39.230] - Oliver (Host)
Yeah. So maybe, I mean, it's one of those things, I suppose, that if I found someone or met someone who said, "Yeah, I did it, it changed my life!", then I would probably do it. I considered doing it in Spain, but César told me I was crazy, so. Yeah.
[00:24:58.450] - Franziska (Guest)
Well, to me, your Spanish sounds perfect, but I don't speak Spanish, so...
[00:25:03.450] - Oliver (Host)
Well, thank you. That's quite a caveat. I have no idea what you're saying, but it sounds fine to me.
[00:25:11.510] - Franziska (Guest)
Yeah, it sounds really Spanish to me.
[00:25:13.060] - Oliver (Host)
Yeah. Okay. Well, I suppose the last thing that I would probably add on this as well, before we sign off, is the fact that going back to what you said earlier, in fact, I think that sometimes having an accent is a good thing. You made a reference to this about other people's accents. Obviously, in 2024, you can't go around saying to people, "Where are you from?" You know, in the street or something like that. But it is interesting when someone has an accent and you ask them, "Oh, where are you from?" And you say, "Oh, I'm from, you know, Germany. I'm from Spain." I like it when people ask me where I'm from. When I'm in Spain. "Where are you from? I'm from the UK." And then they're like, "Oh, I lived in London for six months", or something like that. It's quite nice to kind of have that immediate conversation starter.
[00:26:01.200] - Franziska (Guest)
Yeah. That's something I really love about the UK and about London in particular, that there's so many people from different backgrounds, and they all have reached such an amazing level in English. And then you can still sometimes hear a little bit of accent, but they're all, erm, they live their life, their everyday life, in English and work in English and are perfect in English. And it's just a nice thing that they still keep their accent a little bit.
[00:26:24.170] - Oliver (Host)
Well, it's, at the end of the day, I suppose it's an accent is evidence of the hard work you've put into learning another language.
[00:26:31.730] - Franziska (Guest)
And I wouldn't want all people to lose their accents because we don't want to all sound like British or American people, Australian people.
[00:26:39.520] - Oliver (Host)
Yeah. No, exactly. It is nice to have that trace left. Okay. Well, Franziska, I know that this will have been very hard for you.
[00:26:48.950] - Franziska (Guest)
Yes, it was.
[00:26:49.260] - Oliver (Host)
It's taken me many, many weeks and months to persuade you to do this, but, so thank you very much.
[00:26:58.020] - Franziska (Guest)
Thank you for having me here.
[00:26:59.660] - Oliver (Host)
To the listener, thank you very much for listening. I hope you've enjoyed today's episode, and I hope it's provided some reassurance there. If your accent is very strong, you're definitely not alone. You have two companions here.
[00:27:12.520] - Franziska (Guest)
No, let's be honest. One companion, not you.
[00:27:15.240] - Oliver (Host)
Well, in English, no, but in a - well, actually, even in English, as I said, some people really say that they find my accent very weird. Both foreigners and British people do - it's amazing how often I get asked, where are you from? You're not British.
[00:27:32.140] - Franziska (Guest)
I'm not good with English accents. I can't. Like, I can. Some accents, I can tell. But, yeah, in general, not really.
[00:27:38.570] - Oliver (Host)
I think also, I guess the thing is that you know, I think I look very British, but lots of people tell me that they don't think I look British.
[00:27:45.140] - Franziska (Guest)
And so to me, either, no, you don't look that British.
[00:27:47.960] - Oliver (Host)
Yeah. So any doubts about the accent makes people think in a city like London where so many people are not British, you know, have moved to London and moved to the UK, I think people might assume that it's more likely that if anyone has any unusual features in that accent. But to me, my accent sounds so Southeastern. Anyway, anyway, we're digressing again.
[00:28:10.610] - Oliver (Host)
So, listener, I hope that this has made you feel better. As always, please share the episode, please rate the podcast, please subscribe if you haven't already, and please send me any ideas, any thoughts you have on future episodes or this episode to oliver@morethanaguage.com. Until next time, thank you very much again for listening. Bye.
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