Languages and dialects

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Greetings again!

This may have come up already, but I'd like to discuss this topic a little bit. I like learning foreign languages, and if I could spare both the time and money, it would be something I'd do all day long. I always have been into language, maybe due to the fact that I starting talking at about 7 months (and I mean talking, as in: almost like an adult. When I was hungry, I cried for my mother in this fashion [translated of course]: Mother, would you mind bringing me my baby bottle, please?), and I never had a hard time learning new languages, especially when it comes to speaking. Something noteworthy might also be that I picked up native accents pretty quickly. When I went to school in the US some years ago, people would always be confused when I said I was from Germany, as I tend to speak English with a distinct british accent, and I don't know where I picked that up. When I went to school in France, the same thing happened (even though I am not nearly as fluent in french as I am in english), allthough I saw myself adopting the local accent from the students. Even my Japanese teacher at community college acknowledged that my pronounciation was suberb, and that he can barely tell a difference between me and a native speaker (and my japanese ist nowhere near fluent). I am also capable of convincingly reproducing a wide range of German dialects, much to the amusement of my friends, and I never practiced that, either. I heard it, and then just talked that way.

As I saw in some other threads people mentioning that they were into learning new languages, do you have trouble learning these or is ist your special interest and it comes easy. And what about dialects / accents?

I have pretty difficult in learning languages. I had language delay, i've learned to write in english in about 3 years (but i can't talk in english, and as you can see, my written english is not great).
Now i'm triyng to learn norwegian because i like this language, but finding good material is not easy, so i try to learn and understand norwegian songs.
About dialects, i haven't the accent of the zone where i'm born and i live. They say I tend to talk almost like a ligurian, a tuscan or a french instead of talking like a lombard. and i can't speak dialect. I can speak just italian and very little norwegian, with italian accent.

I am not personally gifted with being able to speak multiple languages. I am however interested in written languages, and similarities between them.

What caught me about your post, was the description of yourself as a child. My son started speaking very early as well, 11 months. He turned thee last week and he does still have trouble fully pronouncing words that get into 4 or more syllables. (They can be understood, he is just still perfecting them).

For example, he wanted me to switch the rear view mirror down in the car so he could see my face. This is the conversation ( a month before he turned 3)

H: "Mommy, turn the mirror down so I can see your face"

Me: "I can't right now sweetie, I need it to drive."

H: "Reach your hand up, and flick it down. You can do it."

(so I reach with my left hand and pretend I can't reach.)

H: "No Mommy. Use your right hand."

(he gives me an encouraging face and nod)

He's like a little adult! My husband and I suspect highly that he is an Aspie as well.

I think there are two distinct parts to this: the ability to learn a language on paper and the ability to pronounce it correctly. The first requires a certain kind of mind, that can grasp grammar rules; the second requires you to be a good mimic. Not all linguists can pronounce well. There are lots of translators who are extremely fluent on paper but who can't speak their second language to save their life.

Like you, I am a good mimic, and soak up accents in the way you describe. It just comes naturally; perhaps it's got something to do with the "fitting in" or "pretending" that goes along with AS. I don't really know, but I do know that I've promised myself not to mimic accents any more, unless I'm playing around. I just want to be myself and don't want to do any more acting, but it's so hard. I just slip into it unconsciously, and always seem to adapt my accent to whoever I'm speaking to.

I get cross with myself for doing it. Why do I have to copy everyone and adapt myself to them like a chamelon? Why can't I just be myself?

Evidently, Aspies tend to use unique language. I've just become aware of the difficulties NT people have in understanding my unique language.

My parents report that I always spoke in complete sentences. Other people have reported that I talk as though I was writing. I get annoyed when public figures can't use complete sentences.

I can usually communicate what I want to people in Spanish, but can't understand their replies due to my limited vocabulary. I have the Rosetta Stone Dutch Lv 1, and will pursue it more when I get closer to being able to go back. People report that I have good pronunciation.

Texans tend to think I come from elsewhere, but Minnesotans picked up my Texas accent, even when I tried to mimic theirs.

I am also interested in languages. I want to learn Russian and Hungarian. I don't know why Russian. I think I like the sound and the way it is written. I want to learn Hungarian because my heritage is Hungarian. It's REALLY hard though! Apparently I do the accent thing too. I pick up the accent with the language perfectly. I didn't even realise that this was something fairly unusual. I assumed that everyone could do that!

This is exactly how I feel. This whole mimicing thing is really a big part of me. There is this saying that a person is nothing but the product of his or her environment. I heard this phrase not long ago, and at the time, it struck me that this simple phrase describes me and my personality more than anything else. I don't have much of a personality to speak of. I am collection of characteristics and traits of others, that I adopted. I often hear that I have a complex personality with many facettes. If only they knew that if I could just be me, I would be the most boring person in the universe, because I would be barely more than just... well, be. And my god, would I be happy just to be.

@jrjones

Yes, that is also something people keep telling me, that I speak as I would write an essay, at least if I don't concentrate on it. This has actually become worse since I go to college and have to do alot of reading and writing. When I try to communicate with people and do not want to sound like a machine, I tend to use elaborate figures of speach, long sentences and many, many metaphors that only mean something to me.

I have a hard time learning and understanding forgien languages. On the other hand, I'm very interested in all the different dialects that are spoken in English speaking countries.

I also talked early and precociously, and now I'm a language enthusiast. I taught myself German, in part because I saw it as an exacting discipline, akin to science. Also, I became a fan of Viennese operetta (lighthearted cultured German music from 100 years ago) and that provided additional impetus. These days, I frequently take in downloaded TV and radio programs from Switzerland that cover current events and popular science.

I tested into Junior-level German classes at my university last Fall, and made an A in the course I took. My professor was impressed by my lack of an American accent; when speaking German I have an accent that blends operatic and Swiss pronunciations (which are similar to begin with.)

I found it relatively easy, as well as very pleasant, to learn the dialect of the Swiss, which is quite distinct from the Standard Language they share with Germany and Austria.

I don't have much interest in a language career; I find it's much more fun to do my own thing. My other interest, databases, lends itself quite well to a lifelong career.

I also spoke early and precociously, albeit with the "little professor" formality that's talked about. I also never stopped being able to learn new languages, which it seems many people do after a certain age. I learned Spanish starting at the age of 14 and became fluent by age 16, then learned Romanian starting at age 46, two years ago. I went to Romania about a month ago and was able to speak it with good fluency, no problems in understanding or making myself understood. I have a lifetime goal of learning 5 languages well. I also have this thing about picking up dialects and phrases from places I live, like when I lived in Texas I started saying "y'all" and I still say it. Nobody can pick out where in the US I'm from because I have weirdisms of speech/dialect from all over the place, given I've lived in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Delaware, Texas and Indiana.

~Kate (yeah I know I'm a language geek)

That's interesting...I also have a very strong special interest in languages, but I never pursued it as a career (I am in the medical field, which was actually an earlier special interest). I'm now looking at starting a translation business to make some extra money, though

~Kate