Friday, July 23, 2004
I loose the ability to think, when it's hot outside. I cannot read, cannot sleep, and even worse, cannot speak English, cannot write - is stumblingly incoherent.
The four phases of English to a foreigner in old Blighty:
1. New kid on the block.
English not that good, natives must speak slowly, no accent to speak of (only the neutral sound of English school-teachers elocuting letters like "h" as "eitch" and not "heitch")
2. My way?
An oddly-shaped accent appears, depending on the company kept, this can either be posh, east end or Portsmouth over Galway and Scarborough. No particular difficulties understanding the language (except of course from Scottish, which is a bitch at the best of times). Phone calls can be made in a relatively smooth fashion. (It is also at this point one stops calculating Pounds into Danish Kroner in order to find out whether or not an item is expensive)
3. Been there, done that.
A certain tiredness kicks in. One does not worry about sounding authentic anymore and therefore loses all sign of accent and reverts back to English as spoken in Danish primary schools. English can be spoken, listened to and read at all times. (One no longer thinks in Danish and dreams only in Danish at appropriate times).
4. Being boring.
One becomes English, which includes wearing football shirts at all times and eating only chips on holidays abroad, preferably in English 'restaurants'.
The four phases of English to a foreigner in old Blighty:
1. New kid on the block.
English not that good, natives must speak slowly, no accent to speak of (only the neutral sound of English school-teachers elocuting letters like "h" as "eitch" and not "heitch")
2. My way?
An oddly-shaped accent appears, depending on the company kept, this can either be posh, east end or Portsmouth over Galway and Scarborough. No particular difficulties understanding the language (except of course from Scottish, which is a bitch at the best of times). Phone calls can be made in a relatively smooth fashion. (It is also at this point one stops calculating Pounds into Danish Kroner in order to find out whether or not an item is expensive)
3. Been there, done that.
A certain tiredness kicks in. One does not worry about sounding authentic anymore and therefore loses all sign of accent and reverts back to English as spoken in Danish primary schools. English can be spoken, listened to and read at all times. (One no longer thinks in Danish and dreams only in Danish at appropriate times).
4. Being boring.
One becomes English, which includes wearing football shirts at all times and eating only chips on holidays abroad, preferably in English 'restaurants'.
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