Accent softening/elocution

Marsh_Samphire

I wish my Mum had brought me up to be bilingual too. She said that at the time (39 years ago) she was told that bringing a child up with 2 languages in the household would be too confusing for the child!

poet123

I think this is a difficult one. My experience of working with students who have English as their first language(or who would categorise themselves as having English as their first language if asked), but who predominently speak another to a parent at home,is that it does affect the standard of their written work. That is to say,their sentence construction is incorrect,and their use of grammar is patchy. This puts them at a disadvantage when coursework is a requirement.

However, the ability to speak a second language is a tremendous asset,so imo it requires some thought as to how/and how much, the child is exposed to another language in the formative years(before a basic grasp of grammar is set). Although,of course that is when they are most receptive.

In a family setting where one parent is a native English speaker though it may be less of an issue. My experiences are centred around the Chinese community,where the norm is for both parents to speak Chinese at home, and also the extended family.

ceridwen

I'm noticing the comments about elocution lessons here now...and that you "live in Surrey". Are you asking for details of elocution teachers in Surrey? Confused as to why you mention that you live in Surrey

ceridwen

whitewing wrote: »

Elocution lessons can be fun because you get vocal training that can give you a lovely tone and resonance to your voice.

---or bullying for having such a "posh" voice....until you learn to "tone it down" a bit.....:cool:

Gingham_Ribbon

We know several bilingual children, with parents from France, China, Sri Lanka, Denmark and Poland. We didn't know the child whose parents are from Poland from being a baby, but the others tended to be a little slower to speak at first, then became very confidently bilingual which is a HUGE asset.

Accents are a tricky thing though. Some people do make judgements because of them. I had a friend at school whose parents paid for her to have elocution lessons. Perhaps if you're still concerned in a couple of years, that could be an option for your boy.

fwiw, I don't see why the 'your' 'our' son thing is in the least bit relevant to the discussion.

Gingham_Ribbon

ceridwen wrote: »

I'm noticing the comments about elocution lessons here now...and that you "live in Surrey". Are you asking for details of elocution teachers in Surrey? Confused as to why you mention that you live in Surrey

Perhaps because it might be useful to know if there's something available in the area that might help?

Valli

ceridwen wrote: »

I've long since lost count of how many totally British people don't speak correct English...there does seem to be RATHER a lot...."I'm like aware of...innit".

and the native English speakers who say 'could of' instead of the correct 'could have' - 'could've' is COULD HAVE abbreviated.

'would of' and 'should of' are also incorrect.

ceridwen

Gingham_Ribbon wrote: »

We know several bilingual children, with parents from France, China, Sri Lanka, Denmark and Poland. We didn't know the child whose parents are from Poland from being a baby, but the others tended to be a little slower to speak at first, then became very confidently bilingual which is a HUGE asset.

Accents are a tricky thing though. Some people do make judgements because of them. I had a friend at school whose parents paid for her to have elocution lessons. Perhaps if you're still concerned in a couple of years, that could be an option for your boy.

fwiw, I don't see why the 'your' 'our' son thing is in the least bit relevant to the discussion.

Because the wife has an equal right to deciding what happens regarding the language/future of "our" son - and the language used is making me wonder a bit.....The mention of Surrey....is making me wonder because it's sometimes regarded as one of our "posher" counties....but I guess Meester didn't mean it to come over quite that way that someone who has been "trained" into the nuances of literally every single word that a speaker uses would be wondering...

Gingham_Ribbon

ceridwen wrote: »

Because the wife has an equal right to deciding what happens regarding the language/future of "our" son - and the language used is making me wonder a bit.....The mention of Surrey....is making me wonder because it's sometimes regarded as one of our "posher" counties....

With respect though, your wondering is intrusive and irrelevant. This is a thread asking for information or advice, not for comments and questions on the OP's family situation, relationship with his wife, or an opportunity to decide how 'posh' the OP is.

Mistifying.

meester

ceridwen wrote: »

Because the wife has an equal right to deciding what happens regarding the language/future of "our" son - and the language used is making me wonder a bit.....The mention of Surrey....is making me wonder because it's sometimes regarded as one of our "posher" counties....but I guess Meester didn't mean it to come over quite that way that someone who has been "trained" into the nuances of literally every single word that a speaker uses would be wondering...

My post is about 'accent softening'. We live in Surrey, consequently accent softening teachers in Aberdeenshire are not going to be much use to me. OTOH, if somebody knows one in say Wimbledon, that would be helpful.

Actually as I was writing this post, I got a call from a guy in Richmond whom I'd called earlier.