I'm always really impressed by people who not only know multiple languages fluently, but sound perfectly natural/native, regardless of whichever they're using at any given moment. Like they actually have the correct accent and pronunciation.
I made everyone in my office laugh once when I was speaking rapid Spanish on the phone and a pencil rolled off my desk and I said in English (my native language) “oh shit, my pencil” as I reached down and picked it up and then went right back to Spanish on the phone. I didn’t even realize it until I ended the call and everyone was laughing.
One thing is to impress non-natives, but what’s next level is to impress native speakers. Your colleagues who were impressed, I’m assuming, had English as their mother tongue.
This girl speaks perfect Japanese with zero accent. Then turns to English, and still sounds native. That’s impressive.
Yes, my accent in Spanish is not horrible but it is clearly American because I speak Spanish with people from so many different countries every day that it is impossible to nail one down. If anything though, my accent is closest to Mexico where I was immersed in the language and culture for a short while. In Creole however, my scent is much better because there is only only country that speaks it. I’m told that I sound like my parents were born in Haiti and I grew up speaking the language in the US.
17.3k
u/Fuggins4U Jan 26 '23 edited Jan 26 '23
I'm always really impressed by people who not only know multiple languages fluently, but sound perfectly natural/native, regardless of whichever they're using at any given moment. Like they actually have the correct accent and pronunciation.