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Foreign accents that might be funny to some people can be downright charming to others. Foreign accents are always subjective -- I've met Italians and French people who LOVE an American accent (or hate it, or hate the German accent the most, or think the Swedish accent is the cutest, etc.). In the case of your prime minister's spoken English, I think many Americans would find it quite charming.
Here the "fantastic English proficiency" of our Prime Minister has become a recurring joke on the internet. Someone on youtube has also remixed it for making a funny song.
In his case the problem is that he sounds funny/not serious even when he speaks Italian, and his English is really poor. In practice we are divided between the ones who laugh at him and the ones who are are ashamed of him.
Foreign accents that might be funny to some people can be downright charming to others. Foreign accents are always subjective -- I've met Italians and French people who LOVE an American accent (or hate it, or hate the German accent the most, or think the Swedish accent is the cutest, etc.). In the case of your prime minister's spoken English, I think many Americans would find it quite charming.
Yes it is definitely subjective- plus, it differs within a group. I think some Filipinos have a beautiful accent speaking English, some, not so much.lol
Here the "fantastic English proficiency" of our Prime Minister has become a recurring joke on the internet. Someone on youtube has also remixed it for making a funny song.
In his case the problem is that he sounds funny/not serious even when he speaks Italian, and his English is really poor. In practice we are divided between the ones who laugh at him and the ones who are are ashamed of him.
Thanks for that -- quite a fun video parody. Renzi's English isn't ready for a public forum -- I will agree with you there. France's current and former presidents, Hollande and Sarkozy (esp. Sarkozy), don't speak great English, and some French people I've met would prefer they both just not bother. I've heard that Angela Merkel of Germany actually speaks rather good English, but she's such a perfectionist about everything (and she fears her accent is unattractive) that she won't hold forth in English in public at all. She'll speak it only behind closed doors in private chats. I don't think most native speakers of English are nearly as critical of foreign accents as Europeans are. First, there are many immigrants in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia and we hear all sorts of foreign accents all the time. Second, we often don't learn other languages -- the language requirements in US schools are pretty minimal, so most of us don't bother. Those of us who do bother know how difficult it is to master a foreign language. We're probably less judgmental about Matteo's English-language "skills" than educated Italians like you might be.
to be honest any foreign accent depends on the level of proficiency of English. The accent will be stronger for people who don't speak fluently English. I think any foreign accent can be irritating if the accent is too strong and the English too broken.
I'm French and I'm sure a strong French accent would annoy anyone. I can see how a light French accent can be sexy depending on the speaker.
Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek aren't bad. For the most part the Spanish accent sounds very rough in English. Though Salma has a Mexican accent, she sounds like my mother. Lol
Actually I forgot to add Cuban/Puerto Rican accents in English- do not like those, I find them to be very exaggerated.
Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek aren't bad. For the most part the Spanish accent sounds very rough in English. Though Salma has a Mexican accent, she sounds like my mother. Lol
Actually I forgot to add Cuban/Puerto Rican accents in English- do not like those, I find them to be very exaggerated.
Yes I know I threw her in to see if you were awake. lol
Yeah, because the Cockney and Geordie accents are such bliss to the ears.
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