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Identify English accent

English Language & Usage Asked by cadaniluk on August 16, 2020

My English teacher speaks, as far as I can tell as a native speaker of the German language, some really weird English. However, I’m not entirely sure if this is just my twisted perception or really a bad shot at imitating some English accent.
Some properties of my teacher’s pronunciation:

  • "v" as "w" and vice versa; not always, though. The most noticeable example is the word "word"
  • The "st" in "question" like the "sch" in "schwa"; really deep and all like the German "sch"
  • "because" as "becourse" with a rhotic "r"
  • Irregular rhoticity; I can’t spot any pattern here, seemingly arbitrary

In addition, my teacher is natively German, so these peculiarities might be traced back to my teacher’s native language.

Has my teacher adopted some weird accent out there or is it just my teacher’s German accent?

2 Answers

It isn't a German accept per se; it's Germanic (even though English is a Germanic language). Greta Garbo, I believe, had a problem with her v's and w's all her life. The rhotic part, unless I'm much mistaken, comes from watching American movies and TV shows, even though no born-and-raised American would pronounce "because" as "becorze": that's just an over-zealous foreign enthusiast talking.

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Answered by Ricky on August 16, 2020

With such high level of English that you have, you'd think you could be able to tell that yourself;)

From what you have provided, though, I think it is a combination of both: German people would naturally mix up the 'V's and the 'W's and use a rhotic 'R' when pronouncing the letter 'R', but, personally, I have never seen a German pronounce the 'stio's as 'shwa's or trying to use a rhotic 'R' in place of letters that are not 'R'.

Answered by Max on August 16, 2020

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