A research challenge

[ajva]

You know I absolutely love people speaking languages, particularly British politicians. So! Apparently Nick Clegg speaks Dutch, German, French and Spanish. I've found a video of the first of these, and very impressive it is too - his Mum is Dutch, apparently - but I'd pay good money to find video examples of him speaking the other languages. But in my first research attempt, I've had difficulty. So I'll throw this out to the floor, and make this pledge: £10 per different language to the charity of your choice for anyone who can find me a clear video of Clegg speaking French, German or Spanish that lasts long enough to show he does it well or badly (i.e. "merci monsieur!" as a protester throws a croissant in his face would not quite suffice).

Here's my offered Dutch one.

Comments

[barakta]

I don't speak Dutch or Spanish... Just a deafie and lipreading/cadence perspective comment.

In Dutch he's clearly word-seeking like a lot of people speaking a language they might not use often but he sounds completely different and I'd love to hear a Dutch person's opinion on his accent and cadence.

In Spanish it sounds to me and from watching him that this is a language he's learned later in life, less fluent than the Dutch and with a Germanic accent but what would I know, I can't parse Spanish/Italian/French at all too fast and not enough cadence difference - gimme German or Dutch any day :)

Hee hee.

[emmy-mallow.livejournal.com]

From my *cough* experience his Dutch accent is quite poor and I'd know he wasn't native speaker from his intonations.

[ajva.livejournal.com]

Really? That surprises me. Is it possible you're used to a Belgian/Flemish accent?

[emmy-mallow.livejournal.com]

Nope. The accent I was most used to was one from the north of the Nederlands. I had a relationship with a Dutch guy for a while. He used to say that there was a real north / south divide with accents and you could tell where someone was from really easily. Apparently southern Dutch accents are more rounded and musical, a bit like our impression of a Bristolian or a Farmer!

Tiesto, the DJ, is a good example of a southern Dutch accent. I'll have a hunt around to see if I can find some recording of a Northern accent so you can hear the difference.

Cleggs accent (to me) sounds really clipped and not rounded or musical at all. So that indicates foreign or northern Dutch. But then, I'm not that much of an expert - just have a thing for Dutch men and their voices!

[barakta]

I've left a Cloggy friend of mine on IRC a 'tell' asking what he thinks of Cleggy's Cloggy accent. Will report back.

[ajva.livejournal.com]

This is really interesting. Yes, from what I can tell, he seems to be pretty much bilingual in Dutch and English (he sounds native to me, although I'm not Dutch, of course) but I guess he won't have much opportunity to use Dutch. And I think I'm right in saying that Spanish was the last of the four he tackled, starting to acquire it only once he'd met Miriam in his 20s.

[barakta]

I can often identify weirdnesses in people's accents that others don't notice. At uni I had a tutor who one minute sounded Scottish and the next he sounded American. It was extremely confusing cos he slid between the two. Eventually I asked my personal tutor where he was from and explained - turns out he's a Scot who lived in America for a while and is now in Sheffield married to an American :) She was amazed I picked it up.

Part of it is how I understand people, I very much pattern match to an existing pattern, so I will think "X sounds like Y, ok apply Y rules to parsing X" which works pretty well as a basic heuristic.

I case as much about rate and cadence as I do about volume and I struggle with significant changes in vowel sounds from accents I am less accustomed to. I am ok with many Scottish accents (although the really broad ones like pure Aberdonian are beyond me) cos my mum's a Scot and prefer Germanic sounding accents to anything Romancy or Asian or African all of which I am terrible at parsing.

After nearly 2 years in Brum I'm finally getting to work out how they speak and understand them most of the time, although I still meet people I am unable to parse at all.