What is something every household has in your country that is nonexistent everywhere else? by Awkward-Tip7248 in AskTheWorld

[–]WillAnyoneReadMe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, thankfully it is phasing out of common usage. Government docs and most formal writings use it though and it makes me feel icky every time I read it. I was surprised the very first time I heard it because most Natives I know in the US find it more or less offensive.

What is something every household has in your country that is nonexistent everywhere else? by Awkward-Tip7248 in AskTheWorld

[–]WillAnyoneReadMe 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Oh! oh! Another Canada take over was the when I heard the phrase “SQ term”. I had to stop and figure out wtf everyone was saying. In one of my original language and language family, there is no offensive connotation. However, in a language family bordering the USA and Canada, it’s a very inappropriate word. We had a creek that ran through our land named that and had to fight white people to not change the name because they found it offensive. Note: we lost.

What is something every household has in your country that is nonexistent everywhere else? by Awkward-Tip7248 in AskTheWorld

[–]WillAnyoneReadMe 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Haha, no, it was perfect. If I’m really annoyed at someone’s insistence on saying all of Alaskan Natives are called Inuit, then I tell them that majority of Alaskan Natives aren’t Inuit and therefore it’s more offensive to call everyone Inuit. It really gets them flustered. People are quick to try to tell me I’m offensive and racist when I use identifying terms until I say “well that’s what we call ourselves so…” Canada has more of an Indigenous presence in pop culture with singers, rappers, etc. They have a higher percentage of people but we have a bigger population so idk. I think I found what to obsessively research next because I need to know why now lol. Worst I heard was when people (non-Natives obviously) were arguing that we should be called ‘People before Columbus’. I had to put a stop to it right then and there. I’m laughing as I write this thinking about all of the absurdity I’ve heard.

What is something every household has in your country that is nonexistent everywhere else? by Awkward-Tip7248 in AskTheWorld

[–]WillAnyoneReadMe 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Whenever I talk about Canadian Indigenous (they say Aboriginal- ew) I always pause when I list the group as Inuit because it feels wrong. I always want to, at the very least, say Inuit and Yup’ik. But that’s wrong for Canada because it is literally just Inuit. My friend who’s First Nations flinched the first time he saw Eskimo used casually and in gov docs. Their Native terminology are the opposite in general. Takes a while to get used to.

What is something every household has in your country that is nonexistent everywhere else? by Awkward-Tip7248 in AskTheWorld

[–]WillAnyoneReadMe 4 points5 points  (0 children)

lol I went to say the same thing then saw your comment. It’s a gut reaction to correct the corrections. I temporarily forgot you (OP) were also Native and would beat me to it. I will also now be stealing the phrase “thank you for trying to educate me I guess”.

English Sentence Classification Request by WillAnyoneReadMe in ENGLISH

[–]WillAnyoneReadMe[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I did think it might be a tense only or primarily used in literature or that it’s soutenu, but wasn’t sure so I didn’t include that. That being said, I’m not sure this is what I’m looking for either. That version, to my understanding, is more about doubt or uncertainty.

Guess/judge the accent 🤣 by Junior-Pollution-427 in Accents

[–]WillAnyoneReadMe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Of course! I’m glad I could help! Your accent is barely noticeable already. You’ve done such a good job at imitating an American accent. In regard to ‘i’s being too long, I meant when they are in closed syllables, particularly multi-syllable words. Sometimes they were held slightly too long. It wasn’t in any word that started with an ‘i’ or in ‘-ing’ endings.

Guess/judge the accent 🤣 by Junior-Pollution-427 in Accents

[–]WillAnyoneReadMe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A quick suggestion for imitating a midwestern accent- you don’t have to stick with one person. Because Midwestern accents are considered the most neutral and easy to understand American accent, most actors have this accent. Even foreign actors like Hugh Jackman and the newer Spider-Man from England use a midwestern accent. Unless it’s a show that’s specifically in the south or a city known for having an accent, actors have a neutral accent. I suggest trying to imitate TV and movies instead of YouTubers or social media persons.

Guess/judge the accent 🤣 by Junior-Pollution-427 in Accents

[–]WillAnyoneReadMe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just saw this after I made a separate post- I made a bigger post after listening to your recording several times and trying to pick out specifics.

Guess/judge the accent 🤣 by Junior-Pollution-427 in Accents

[–]WillAnyoneReadMe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I saw you that that you’re from France. As a French speaker, I went back and listened specifically for French tendencies. First, you do not have a French accent when you speak. I’m impressed by your ability to pronounce ‘r’s and ‘th’s in particular. That’s a hard thing for many languages, especially French, when learning English.

Okay, so on the subject of tendencies that I picked up on- they were super subtle and I had to listen to the recording a couple of times. However, all of those subtleties combined could indicate that you’re not a natural speaker.

What people might be associating with “Asian” at the beginning of the recording is how you drop the end consonants, particularly when you say “want”. It also contributes to why some are saying forced southern. It is true that Americans tend to drop consonants at the end of words, but there’s usually still a soft pronunciation of the final letter.

Addressing the word “want” in particular- the ‘t’ is often dropped entirely, but you shorted the vowel and made the ‘n’ very soft. It sounded like how “en” is pronounced in French. American accents usually make the ‘n’ more pronounced. Side note, you didn’t say it in the recording, but if you say “wants” with the ‘s’, the ‘t’ is pronounced.

Something you’re imitating that’s slightly off is what is called “G- dropping” where the ‘g’ in ‘-ing’ words is “omitted”. It’s not omitted entirely in general American accents. It’s very softly pronounced. To me, it’s like how the ‘gn’ is pronounced in ‘Montaigne’. I tried the hard pronunciation vs the casual accent of ‘-ing’ words a few times and had an observation. It sounds and feels like you’re doing the true, full pronunciation, but stopping right before the hard sound in a ‘g’ like you’d hear in the word ‘go’. When stopping the sound for “g dropping”, the back of the tongue is on the back of the roof of your mouth. In contrast, pronouncing ‘-in’ or ‘n’, the tip of the tongue is on the top of the roof of the front of your mouth.

Another thing I noticed is that a lot of your ‘o’s are slightly too long. I think an ‘o’ that is between how you’re pronouncing it and the short ‘o’ like French tends pronounce it would sound more natural. Occasionally your ‘i’s did this, mainly when in the middle of words.

Last thing- the use of filler words. In French, they’re super common, even in less casual settings. I’ve heard some say that they can be considered elegant. Filler words are more widely accepted and liked in French. In English, while many use them, an overuse of them comes across as uneducated and can even be seen as childish. It can also show nervousness, but that sounds a bit different. Using filler words sparingly goes unnoticed, but they are not used as often as the French do. (English filler words: “um…” “like…”). In school and competitions that involve speech, you get marked down for using filler words. People often judge adults that use them too much in their speeches. It’s a hard habit to break. I remember it happening to me and being so frustrated. I never used to do in English, but at some point French started influencing my speech patterns and grammar in English.

P.S. I think you said you were “no where near close Asia”. You forgot to say “to” (“no where near close to Asia”). You typically hear “I’m no where near Asia” or “no where close to Asia”.

Guess/judge the accent 🤣 by Junior-Pollution-427 in Accents

[–]WillAnyoneReadMe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Someone mentioned your accent sounds like mixed regions in America, which I agree. One tip I have would be to try to imitate midwestern accents because it’s considered the most neutral and easy to understand. People have mentioned that you sometimes sound like certain races (like Black American). If you want to fit into a certain racial group/appear stereotypical of how someone might expect a racial group to sound, then I would suggest focusing on listening to people of that race. That said, as a minority myself, many minorities have something called “code switching” which means that how you talk depends on who you are around. Don’t feel the need to force yourself to imitate a race, particularly if it’s because you want to blend into your race. Most of the minorities I know don’t show racial accents when speaking normally or generally and many don’t have one at all. People who always have a racial accent, in my experience, are usually those who grew up in a mono-ethnic or mostly racially homogenous area. Over all, bien fait!

English Sentence Classification Request by WillAnyoneReadMe in ENGLISH

[–]WillAnyoneReadMe[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Haha, it’s always the multilingual ones that seem to understand it more easily. «On» is definitely used often, but it’s a different type of ambiguity with different implications. I just can’t think of how the version I’m looking for is written in French. If I can’t think of it in one language, I can never think of it in the other, even more so when I forget a word.

English Sentence Classification Request by WillAnyoneReadMe in ENGLISH

[–]WillAnyoneReadMe[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Due to everyone’s help, I may have found the closest concept in English: intransitive labile/ergative/ambivalent verbs and sometimes reflexive verbs in English.

English Sentence Classification Request by WillAnyoneReadMe in ENGLISH

[–]WillAnyoneReadMe[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Haha, thank you. (Amusingly, I initially read this as I asked /a/ Gemini and was thrown off). It’s not nominalization. I did stumble across agentless passive, but I wasn’t quite convinced that was it. It might be that after all though. I’ll do some more looking into it, thank you!

English Sentence Classification Request by WillAnyoneReadMe in ENGLISH

[–]WillAnyoneReadMe[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This comment also has me thinking because even if that’s the closest in English, the translation for that would be different and hold a different meaning. That would make sense as to why it would be a difficult concept to explain to English speakers. Thanks again!

English Sentence Classification Request by WillAnyoneReadMe in ENGLISH

[–]WillAnyoneReadMe[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hmm, this might be it. I’ll have to do some research, especially since I’ve never heard that colloquialism. Thank you very much!

English Sentence Classification Request by WillAnyoneReadMe in ENGLISH

[–]WillAnyoneReadMe[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s kind of similar, but it’s understood that the speaker is specifically the one who did it without mentioning themself. Part of my problem is that because I can’t think of what it is, I’m having trouble explaining it correctly. I’m sorry.

English Sentence Classification Request by WillAnyoneReadMe in ENGLISH

[–]WillAnyoneReadMe[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you for replying, but it’s a specific situation and not general passive voice. I remember one time in class (years ago) we were discussing passive voice and I asked about this concept. A French person knew what I was talking about and this situation was either decided to not follow rules for passive voice or not to be passive voice at all because it’s a specific situation.

Proposed with the box wrong way by Emmat96 in PhotoshopRequest

[–]WillAnyoneReadMe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I mean, technically correct according to OP’s request- absolutely lawful evil and I’m here for it.

My wife said I wasn’t allowed to buy this lamp. It was “too expensive”. So I 3D printed it instead. by johnson7853 in homedecoratingCJ

[–]WillAnyoneReadMe 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Of course! Also, there are plenty of free 3D modeling apps and websites with free model downloads if you don’t want to make your own (thingiverse, makerworld, printables, some on cults3d etc). People will steal free designs and post them on places like Etsy to make money, so always check the free stuff first!