I miss the days when my French was really starting to congeal before Patricia left for home (France) and as I deal with my struggles in Italian, this video made me laugh while getting me to realize, oh! Then again, I never worried about my accent because I know the French can always tell I’m an American via other, obvious hints. Contrary to anecdotal incidents, whenever I try to meet a French person halfway at my job or in person, they’re always kind and patient with me struggling to speak their native tongue. French French for sure! The Quebeckers, dang they’re rude. Last time, he said, “Just tell me in English please.”
Another cool side effect of living in Austin popped up after residing here for only a couple years, I could understand my Puerto Rican friends much better. Not like every word, closer to every five to 10 but the thing was, after interacting with the numerous Latin American residents we have (not everyone is from Mexico), I could at least discern José and Nelson’s accents from at least Mexican, the most common. To me, they no longer sounded alien, more like what the average American would sound like if they were fluent. Compared to Latin Americans, my buddies had very flat, semi-Ben Stein sound when they spoke. Ergo, I could understand the gist of what they were saying (usually) versus being a Midwestern bumpkin in the Eighties.
Next year, I’m going to keep pushing and trying. Sure, if the video is true, my Italian will always suck because I can’t sing. I also refuse to talk a like a Chico Marx, unless I’m telling a joke, then your audience expects it.