Letters: I'm American but my English is more British since move to France
Connexion reader says being around so many Britons while trying to speak more clearly to 麻豆传媒映画 is having an effect
Reader says he unconsciously adopts an RP accent to be more easily understood by non-native speakers
Andy.LIU/Shutterstock
To the Editor,
As an American who has lived in or visited France often over the last forty-five years, I鈥檝e experienced many of the changes mentioned in your article on how living in France affects your English.
In addition, I have noticed that my English becomes much more British when I鈥檓 living here.
Some of that is due to the fact that we know more Brits here in the Charente-Maritime than we do fellow Yanks. We are relatively scarce in these parts.
But I鈥檝e also adopted a slightly more BBC (RP) vocabulary and tone when speaking with non-native speakers of English. It鈥檚 usually more in line with what they鈥檝e learned and it often makes the conversation go a little more smoothly.
As one might imagine, I get mocked a bit when I first return to the States!
Also, when I arrive in France and change regions on my laptop, the auto-correct in several programs defaults to British spellings. I鈥檝e largely given up trying to revert back to American English unless it鈥檚 really necessary.
I have a post-grad TESOL certificate and I am a linguistics nerd and I find all of this very entertaining.
Michael O鈥橳oole, Barzan (Lot-et-Garonne)
Send us your own views and experiences via letters@connexionfrance.com
