My Language World Project (Eng)
I talked to some people who are close to me about how their languages defines who they are and their thoughts on my language and how it changed.
Mother:
Why do you talk the way you talk?
“When I go to events, I try to use formal sentence structures and try to sound very polite. The more I read the more I know new words and my speech keeps developing into who I am today. I usually develop my speech from movies and books. For instance, there would be some phrase in a movie and I would start to use that phrases. I think that books have the most impact on a person’s speech, old literature have more rich language that can develop how you think and the way you write which is very useful, in my opinion.”
How has my speech changed?
“When you talk in Russian, you keep translating form English which makes your speech seem somewhat weak which is why you need to read more Russian book. Your speech changed a bit because we talk about different topics which developed your Russian a bit, your main problem is translating from English to Russian. In English, your speech has definitely changed since you have started to read more books.”
Father:
Why do you talk the way you talk?
“I used to have a strong Ukrainian accent before I moved to the Netherlands and it changed a lot. I would learn English from songs because we weren’t taught in school how to speak English. If I would go back to Ukraine, they wouldn’t place me in a specific part of Ukraine because my accent has changed a lot. In Singapore, my Ukrainian accent is heard and In Ukraine, my English accent is heard. I would like to maintain my in-between accent because it represents who I am. I am not a native speaker, I enjoy using literal translation of certain expressions in my own language into English to come up with original and authentic expressions which makes me creative. Sometimes people find it amusing.”
How has my speech changed?
“You have no Ukrainian accent. I think you started using less of the word “like” and your sentences are longer. You speak quite softly which indicates to me that you have a gentle and shy personality. Sometimes you speak to fast to me and I wish you would slow down so I can understand you. I also really don’t like when you use English when you want to talk in Russian.”
Friend:
Why do you talk the way you talk?
“I used to have a British accent but after going to an international school for my entire life, it weakened a lot. I have adapted my language from different people who I have met, some of them use big words and some don’t which changed my vocabulary.”
How has my speech changed?
“Compared to G5 and G6, your speech has become a bit more mature, especially in the short stories that you write. I’m guessing that you started to read a lot of books which changed your vocabulary.”
After talking to multiple about their speech, it widened my thoughts on communication and language more because they don’t exactly notice how they talk and when they really dive into the thought, they realise more things about themselves. Most of them talking about their accent and how long they have lived in some countries but don’t realise what that says about their personality and what kind of human being they are. My Mother loves to read a lot of old literacy and old movies which I can see because she constantly uses expressions and creative sentences that she wouldn’t have said before. My Father wants to sound creative and funny because that is the impression he wants people to have of him so he directly translates expressions from Ukrainian into English. He also might seem like he wants to fit in with both parts of his accent (Ukraine and British). You could see that my Friend likes to change her accent because maybe she is unsure of the way she wants to be.
Most of the interviewees said that I have become more mature in the way I talk or write because I read a lot of books which might make me look smarter or helps me write projects and essays better. I write because I want to see how my writing has changed from the different events that happened to me or the people that I have met and maybe see how I could improve more. My accent maybe neutral or slightly American because of the videos I watch on Youtube and other Social Media networks which I think has a big impact. When I read books, I read inside my mind and the accent of that is something that I am unsure so I say the way I think it is supposed to be pronounced, without a specific type of accent. I also use a lot of code (Omg, Lol, Brb) when texting someone because I think that it is a more efficient way of typing and I want to fit in which is a big factor of communication, that is my sociolect.
