This forum looks like just what I need! I know I'll be lurking around this site for a while and hope to eventually contribute to the community with useful information. :-)
I was fortunate enough to acquire a Swiss boyfriend in the U.S., but he has since returned to the Lucerne area where lives. I am also fortunate enough to have a major case of the travel bug and look forward to the opportunity to live and work in the country with one of the highest quality of life ratings in the world!
Now, I know there is a need out there for English-speaking SLPs (speech-language pathologists/therapists) as well as accent modification (or the politically incorrect expression, "accent reduction") specialists, especially after poking around this forum a bit, but I don't quite know how to market myself as such and acquire a work visa to do so. I've made some preliminary contact with people through links referenced throughout my site search in this forum, so I'm hopeful to hear back from them and find out more. It's already been a great relief to have discovered this site, and I look forward to coming back often!
Hey Smiler, and welcome to the EF! I'm sure you'll find a lot more useful information and, once you sort out the work / permit issues, will come over and enjoy your time in Switzerland!
btw, I've never heard of accent modification before ... is this intended for native English speakers who cannot be understood (eg, some UK accents) or for those who learn English as a second language and have some unusual ways to pronounce particular phonograms?
You're right on both accounts. If effective and efficient communication is the goal, then the listener has to be able to understand what the speaker is saying even if both speak a dialect of English. People in India may speak English as their native language, but that accent tends to be very difficult for American listeners. Or Swiss learners of English as a third language may have accents or mispronunciations negatively affecting their clarity for business purposes. Accent modification is for anyone, even actors who want to portray a certain type of character! Although, my training is only for Standard American English :-)
Thanks for the welcome -- I'm still poking around other threads. Does your "Senior Member" status mean you've been around for a while or that you're active in posting comments/questions?
Hi Smiler, welcome to this forum, a place for nice and funny people.
I didn't know there was a city called Lake Zurich in IL, although that I have been in Chicago pretty often and then used to drive up to Lake Geneva... Well, if you're making your way to the real Zurich (not to Lucerne, please, since it's so rural - but I already here the opposing voices...), let's get into touch. I might need your assistance about languages and there proper use.
Thanks for the info, Smiler - the 'Senior Member' bit just relates to numbers of posts, so a very 'busy' person could get it in a month I guess ... I've been on for almost a year now ...
There is a small debate that accent reduction is not PC but I don't know how many of our clients would understand the meaning of accent modification. Feel free to ask me a few questions about accent reduction. I believe my website and contact info are under my profile.
LoL Alright, alright, we get it enough around here for unoriginal names. Lake Zurich may be a small suburb but we're proud of our little body of water!
Nice, but you ought to bear in mind that very important media VIPs in German speaking Europe like Chris Howland (our family almost missed the bus/plane on Mallorca as my brother had become a friend of Chris and chatted with the man endlessly), Lou Van Burg, Rudi Carrell and Roberto Blanco made/make a lot out of their a bit exotic accent. And right here in Switzerland, almost everybody has an accent. You rather ought to change towards "improvement of the courage to speak whatever language regardless of how perfect you are". Arnold Schwarzenegger, with a horrible Teutonic accent managed it up to Governor of California !
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I will never forget my first experience with English. An uncle from Texas and his wife visited Switzerland, the uncle a native Swiss but who (was) emigrated to the USA at age 5. His wife had it with endless sessions on the toilet, and on a day, grandmother and mother had prepared a meal for all 7 of us, but aunt Gertrude was "missing". Uncle Bill first tried to instruct my older brother to go up to tell Gertrude ....., but my brother refused. And just before my mother would have got into a fit of rage, uncle Bill looked at me and said to my mother "but you have a younger son also" and so, I was instructed and then went up and through the door told aunt Gertrude "meal is ready, you can come down" . Seven words, but she came down within three minutes. And then afterwards I when learning English always considered that if a language primarily serves to get aunts down from the throne it cannot be such a thing afterall !
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and, before this and even more so later, I was the one to act as the "speaker" as my brother never wanted to speak "foreign". And so, without any language course learnt basic Italian, I on visit to relatives in Western Switzerland learnt basic French, I also had some basic Arabic. No doubt, whenever my French apparently is halfway acceptable and fairly fluent, my Italian and Arabic to "native" ears must be horrible, but the ability to use the two languages always is positive ......
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Conclusion: do not concentrate onto the reduction of accents, but concentrate on the being ready of people to USE whatever command of whichever language they may have .
What then about Katzensee or Tùˆrlersee or even Greifensee...? Are these all ponds? This is not America where the saying goes: "Big is beautiful"! Obviousely another topic for a Speech-Language Therapist
Americans and their 'big is beautiful' ... in Australia at one time there was a single sheep station that was larger than the entire state of Texas, possibly the greatest source of "big is beautiful" in the world ...
Of course, Australians are obsessed with big things as well ... big banana, big merino (sheep), big pineapple, big prawn, the list goes on!
Oh, and I cannot forget to add that the Swiss also like to have "the biggest ... in Europe.". Seems to be a global phenomenon, really ... apart from, perhaps, the Japanese who excel at "the smallest phone", "the smallest radio", "the smallest ..."
Some politicians practice inverse snobbery and speak with a strong local accent to stress their grass roots identity. Most striking example for me was former British Prime Minister Harold Wilson. He often spoke with a cultivated Oxford accent but, at election time, rolled out his Yorkshire accent.
This phenomenon is also evident in Switzerland. Many politicians speak excellent German abroad. But at home they intentionally lapse into local accent and dialect structures.
Would using their native language in their native area count as 'lapsing'? For me, Swiss German and High German are two separate languages - as everyone I've spoken to on the issue agree. So, good High German for international work - yes. Good Swiss German for speaking to people in the electorate - yes. I don't see this as some deliberate ploy.
I do agree that there is often a strong swell of support for politicians who speak in the same accent and phrasing as their electorate, but hopefully in each election there are enough people who can see beyond how they speak to what they say - and whether they can actually deliver what they promise!
I am amused when national politicians speak High German (for the benefit of our compatriots in the Romandie) and simultaneously distort it (for the sympathy of our Teutonic Swiss).