I am by no means an expert on any language, but while in Germany I grew accustomed to pronouncing their words correctly. This was after discussing beer with a man who seemed a bit agitated, then told me I was pronouncing everything incorrectly. I wanted to give it a shot, and pronounce things the right way. I'm eating their food and drinking their beer, so let me learn the language.
It was a bit uncomfortable to make the shift from the standard English pronunciation to my attempt at German, but I found that by giving it some effort and through practice, people were happy to carry on a conversation for as long as my vocabulary would sustain. I realized that it's not just about the letters being strung together, but how you sound when reading them. Much of what we attribute to a "German Accent" is in reality their own pronunciation of the words. By omitting the "accent" I was not really saying the word. I learned to pronounce a few words the best I could and eventually left, feeling comfortable saying them the right way.
Then I come back to the states and go to places like Gordon Biersch where they serve German style beer with German titles. If I order it with correct pronunciation they just stare at me like I've laid an egg. I have to order it the way they expect I will order it. It's not a big deal, but I get the same level of discomfort now speaking it incorrectly as I did then when I was making the shift from English to Deutsche. After all, I'm just ordering beer and I don't want to make a big deal out of it.
What about you all, do you find yourselves in similar situations? What do you all do?
It was a bit uncomfortable to make the shift from the standard English pronunciation to my attempt at German, but I found that by giving it some effort and through practice, people were happy to carry on a conversation for as long as my vocabulary would sustain. I realized that it's not just about the letters being strung together, but how you sound when reading them. Much of what we attribute to a "German Accent" is in reality their own pronunciation of the words. By omitting the "accent" I was not really saying the word. I learned to pronounce a few words the best I could and eventually left, feeling comfortable saying them the right way.
Then I come back to the states and go to places like Gordon Biersch where they serve German style beer with German titles. If I order it with correct pronunciation they just stare at me like I've laid an egg. I have to order it the way they expect I will order it. It's not a big deal, but I get the same level of discomfort now speaking it incorrectly as I did then when I was making the shift from English to Deutsche. After all, I'm just ordering beer and I don't want to make a big deal out of it.
What about you all, do you find yourselves in similar situations? What do you all do?