I’m French and I bet that it’s the rythm. I can hear this foreigner with a perfect accent but with a way too perfect rythm with the same tonality:
“Bon-jour-deux-croi-ssants-s’il-vous-plait”
A French would sing it.
Bonjour ! : High pitched, the “bon-” louder than the “-jour”, quick, dynamic.
A pause…
“Deux croissants” medium pitch, without any pause before:
“S’il vous plaît”. Sometimes said very fast, since it’s something you say everyday (“Silouplai”), and with a low pitch since it’s the end of the sentence.
A simpler explanation is that people tend not to be able to hear their own accents.
Someone who wasn’t brought up speaking French will probably never have an “absolutely perfect” accent. They may think that they sound exactly like everyone around them, but to someone brought up speaking French, they don’t.
There are a lot of British actors who do American accents for various parts. These are native English speakers who grew up listening to American accents on TV shows and in movies. They work with dialogue coaches, and can rehearse their lines until they think they can deliver them perfectly in American-style English. Any slips in their accent can be fixed in ADR before the film is released. Yet, many people, including me, are able to spot a few quirks in their speaking and often identify these people as not American.
For French in particular, it has the “u” sound that also exists in German, but doesn’t really exist in English. Many people who weren’t brought up with that sound can’t even really hear it, or can’t hear it as different from the “oo” sound that they associate with the letter “u”. As a result, words like “ouverture” don’t have two distinct “oo / u” sounds for them. So, they might think they’re speaking flawlessly and that nobody can notice, but it’s really obvious for anybody who was brought up hearing and speaking French.
Everybody has an accent. But, do you mean that you can still tell that English isn’t her first language or something?
A friend of mine is a champion unconscious code switcher. I lived in Australia for a bit and I don’t think my accent drifted much. It was enough of a problem that when I went to restaurants and asked for water they’d look at me confused, so I had to learn to say “whoa-tah”. This friend came to visit me in Australia and within a week he was using Australian terms and drifting into an Australian accent, even when talking to me, and it was completely unconscious.
Everyone cites Hugh Laurie as the best UK-born imitator of the American accent, and I completely agree, but I also think it’s fucking hilarious that now a lot of UK actors trying to do an American accent also end up imitating Hugh Laurie’s gravelly voice.
The Fauxmerican Accent is now Grumpy Doctor Voice, 11/10 comedy
amusingly, Laurie complained that he had, in fact, lost his British accent after so many years of working on House and had to work with a dialog coach to get it back.
Same as every american sketch comic trying to do a German accent, does a Brüno imitation (Sasha Baron Cohen’s character).
Brüno’s accent is really good, being a mixture of many characteristics, one of them German, another being typical gay speech patterns.
So now everyone who thinks they’re doing a German accent, does a gay German Brüno voice. Not quite right.
That would be more like “bo------r, (nods vaguely toward the croissants)” the “s’il vous plaît” is implied, but definitely there somewhere. The “merci” will be a slight nod backwards.
I’m French and I bet that it’s the rythm. I can hear this foreigner with a perfect accent but with a way too perfect rythm with the same tonality: “Bon-jour-deux-croi-ssants-s’il-vous-plait”
A French would sing it. Bonjour ! : High pitched, the “bon-” louder than the “-jour”, quick, dynamic.
A pause…
“Deux croissants” medium pitch, without any pause before: “S’il vous plaît”. Sometimes said very fast, since it’s something you say everyday (“Silouplai”), and with a low pitch since it’s the end of the sentence.
A simpler explanation is that people tend not to be able to hear their own accents.
Someone who wasn’t brought up speaking French will probably never have an “absolutely perfect” accent. They may think that they sound exactly like everyone around them, but to someone brought up speaking French, they don’t.
There are a lot of British actors who do American accents for various parts. These are native English speakers who grew up listening to American accents on TV shows and in movies. They work with dialogue coaches, and can rehearse their lines until they think they can deliver them perfectly in American-style English. Any slips in their accent can be fixed in ADR before the film is released. Yet, many people, including me, are able to spot a few quirks in their speaking and often identify these people as not American.
For French in particular, it has the “u” sound that also exists in German, but doesn’t really exist in English. Many people who weren’t brought up with that sound can’t even really hear it, or can’t hear it as different from the “oo” sound that they associate with the letter “u”. As a result, words like “ouverture” don’t have two distinct “oo / u” sounds for them. So, they might think they’re speaking flawlessly and that nobody can notice, but it’s really obvious for anybody who was brought up hearing and speaking French.
My wife gets absolutely irate when I tell her she still has an accent, and that she also code switches her accents depending on who she is talking to.
Everybody has an accent. But, do you mean that you can still tell that English isn’t her first language or something?
A friend of mine is a champion unconscious code switcher. I lived in Australia for a bit and I don’t think my accent drifted much. It was enough of a problem that when I went to restaurants and asked for water they’d look at me confused, so I had to learn to say “whoa-tah”. This friend came to visit me in Australia and within a week he was using Australian terms and drifting into an Australian accent, even when talking to me, and it was completely unconscious.
Reminds me of Hugh Laurie, the director House praised him for having the perfect American accent, not knowing he was British.
Everyone cites Hugh Laurie as the best UK-born imitator of the American accent, and I completely agree, but I also think it’s fucking hilarious that now a lot of UK actors trying to do an American accent also end up imitating Hugh Laurie’s gravelly voice.
The Fauxmerican Accent is now Grumpy Doctor Voice, 11/10 comedy
amusingly, Laurie complained that he had, in fact, lost his British accent after so many years of working on House and had to work with a dialog coach to get it back.
Same as every american sketch comic trying to do a German accent, does a Brüno imitation (Sasha Baron Cohen’s character).
Brüno’s accent is really good, being a mixture of many characteristics, one of them German, another being typical gay speech patterns.
So now everyone who thinks they’re doing a German accent, does a gay German Brüno voice. Not quite right.
The “director House”?
Why would someone praise someone they thought was American for having the perfect American accent?
Yeah, that story makes no sense.
If I recall, he was chastising another audition, as in “look at that guy there, that’s a perfect American accent, that’s what I want”
“Bonjour ! Euhhh…. Deux croissants s’il-vous-plaît et euhh…. ce sera tout”
Literally this, just add an insane amount of euhh everywhere and they’ll think you’re one of them.
And you wonder why people think you are uptight? /s
As someone living in France for a while now, that’s exactly what I picked up from immersion, never noticed that before.
You describe it and I can hear my aunt (in law) saying it that way. I believe it.
So basically the same tempo as HEllooo, two croissants please. Taking as much time saying “s’il vous plait” as “please”.
Basically talking like a normal person haha.
Please do “I’m sorry, but I don’t speak French” now, please, thanks, please. :)
You say it with the pitch and rythm of “Je ne regrette rien” from Edith Piaf.
Thank you. I will try not to burst into song next time I get this springs up :P
<<Pardon, je suits stupide.>>
No shit this bailed me out in France. 😄
JE SORROUX, JE NON SPEAKOUX FRENCHOUX
WE WE CROISSANT. OMELETTE DU FROMAGE.
Yeah that’s just gonna piss off any French person because we have no idea how that became so popular.
Dexter’s Laboratory must be the reason, I can’t accept any other explanation.
Yeah, but it’s a cultural niche that’s not known at all over on this side, and it became a meme, while being wrong.
Unless they are Breton
That would be more like “bo------r, (nods vaguely toward the croissants)” the “s’il vous plaît” is implied, but definitely there somewhere. The “merci” will be a slight nod backwards.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzCEZ6KTIS8