what do you make of chinese people speaking english in regional accents ?

Question

eg, welsh, scottish, irish, australian, even south african accents?
i know some find it a bit wierd, but i for one find it startling. it just goes to show chinese people don't just reside in hong kong and china respectively but almost in every country. do you know of anyone or someone who you have come across who speak in a mancunian, scouse accent for example? are you chinese but have a second nationality? seeing as i am a chinese brit who was born and raised in west london. i am really intrigued by this and as i would love to find out more on this

i don't want any racist answers whatsoever, otherwise i will report you to yahoo!

to firefly, no i am not a facist or a racist. you have clearly misunderstood this question. and besides i wasn't judging chinese people as you have so incorrectly pointed out

in response to TGD, i've read about chinese jamaicans and their history: very facisinating it is too!

by the way, i just back from visiting soho in central london and alas i was queing up to pay for my goods at a chinese grocers when a chinese woman spoke to me in an aussie accent. she was saying whether i was lining up in the queue and i replied politely of course with a yes

Answer 1

I think its cute as well, I speak Thai fluently but with a southern accent probably the Thailand equivalent to a Scottish version, it cracks most people up when they first here me speaking Thai.

When I worked in Singapore there was a Chinese Lloyds shipping inspector who was from Glasgow, he did not speak chinese but the Singaporeans used to all call there friends over to listen to him they were amazed (I speak Mandarin)

PS I m welsh with Blue eyes and fair hair

Answer 2

There was that Lisa on big brother. She was from Manchester but born in China and her parents still owned the local take away shop. Her accent was real Mancunian. It's not just the Chinese that are in this category. A lot of Pakistanis have a broad Scottish accent and I've even come across somebody born in Japan that speaks and sounds Irish. I think it's fascinating.

Answer 3

On TV I've heard Indians with Geordie accents, and a Hungarian (who'd been involved in the 1956 Uprising) with a strong Yorkshire accent.

In my own personal experience I had a work colleague (a Race Relations Officer in an East London council), who was originally from Pakistan, but had lived for a while in Glasgow. Now he had the weirdest accent ever. It was part Pakistani and part Glaswegian. Everyone had difficulties understanding him at first, but then we got used to it. A great guy he was too.

To hear people with non-British roots speaking with British regional accents is a bit of a surprise (but just because it is not so usually expected), and it is also a little amusing. Does anyone remember Charlie Williams, who built his career, as a comedian, on being a black man with a Yorkshire accent?

But hey, isn't it only to be expected that (1) people that move to a new area eventually acquire a local accent, and that (2) their children will also have a local accent, regardless of their racial origins? It's all good.

Answer 4

I find it nice.
I am not Chinese, but I am Japanesee. When I was in Japan, there was a blond, blue-eyed TV presenter from America who spoke Japanes with North-Japanese accent, and I quite liked it. I feel the same about a Chinese person with regional accent. And somehow, I have been trying to speak English with Irish or Scottish accent for a while, because i find it fascinating, and it's something I couldn't learn at school.

Answer 5

I think it is wonderful, because it proves the ear. There are Pakistanis in Scotland with perfect scottish accents, love it, it is real. It is honest. The Chinese who you mentioned first, do not actually take on much English local accent. They speak good English, with a chinese lilt. Where as the Pakistanis etc, actually do speak like the indiginouse population, unless they are 15 and try to bling and gangster speak, ya know wa a meen man.

Answer 6

I am a constant source of amusement to my normally, impeccably polite Chinese friends because, according to them I speak Chinese with the accent of a Peking market trader. If you learn a language `by ear` you use the same dialect and accent as the people you live and learn among. Yes, sometimes it can sound `funny-odd` to others and they laugh; but it is good humoured laughter.

Answer 7

hi, i live in australia and have several chinese friends from school days, and still keep in touch. they were born in china but came here to further there education and they all seem to have that drawn out american accent with them first but after a year, they adopt the "oz" accent a bit. i think it is great and i would never make fun of the way they speak, b/c many of them speak good english and have always tried to become better. i think for not only the chinese but whoever comes here .. good on them for adapting to our language with the accent thrown in.

Answer 8

The Chinese are the most adaptable people on earth and i admire them, they are clever hard working people the west could learn a lot from them. I have been to China/Hong Kong, {the same country now} and came away very impressed with the country and it,s people,s . Do not be ashamed of being Chinese, it is said they will rule the world one day, and i who are not Chinese beleive that.

Answer 9

I recently went to pick up my niece from her primary school for my sister and when i got there, i met a really nice Chinese woman who's daughter is a friend of my niece's and she spoke great English but sounded Chinese (if you know what i mean?) and when her daughter came out although she looks Chinese she came out with a perfect Midlands accent!! It surprised me and made me laugh at the same time... I don't think there's anything wrong with it myself... It's natural i suppose :)

Answer 10

I'm jealous of it! I'm Chinese but born and raise in the US so whenever I hear someone even speaking in a different accent I think it's great and wish I had a British, etc accent