Accents and Languages

100th POST! HOORAY! *steals paper blowy thing from wedding obsessor and celebrates with it*

And because I've hit this large number, I'm not going to talk about my day and how pointless it seemed to be, since I got almost nothing done due to an unforeseen problem. No! I will talk about something else!

The first- I mentioned in one of my France posts that I was surprised by all of the French speaking in France. Having lived in English-speaking places my whole life and not visiting many places before that didn't use English, it was really different, and I still can't imagine speaking another language and not translating it into English first to understand what people are saying. This is also why I was so amazed watching Megan throughout my visit.
Megan is very good at French. She always has been, in my eight or so years of knowing her, but seeing her in action in France- it was awesome, and I told her so. I can't fathom having an ease with other languages, as learning new ones has never come easily to me. It's fascinating.

The second- Adrienne mentioned that, in traveling around London with her dad and sister, she was told by several English people that they thought she was from the north of England. This is puzzling to me. Perhaps it's just because I talk to her pretty much every day, but she still sounds very American to me. I, too, was asked where I was from in England by my seatmate on the Eurostar, and I don't think my accent has changed, either. There are three explanations I can think of for these occurances:

1) There is an English accent that is similar to a standard American one. There very well could be- there seem to be a million dialects- but I'm not well-versed in the intricacies of English accents. According to Wikipedia (only the best resources here, folks), the areas of Lancashire, West Country, Corby area, Yorkshire, and Lincolnshire in England use rhotic Rs, as well as Ireland and Scotland. Perhaps these people think we are from these areas.

2) There has been a slight change to our speech. As much as I would love an English accent, I rather doubt this one- I've talked to people from home over Skype and I think they would have mentioned it.

3) There are enough Americans living in England/London for them to simply assume that we live in England despite our obviously foreign accents.

Whichever it is, it's very interesting.

Lastly for today- I have to admit defeat for my first Script Frenzy. I'm a bit disappointed in myself- this was probably the most free April I'll ever have, but I slacked off when I was traveling and it really took a toll. It also failed because the plot was weak. But it's okay- I failed m first National Novel Writing Month, too. It's all about figuring out how to approach it. I'll probably still finish the play, just not this month.

Now I must go and Skype!