Caroline Ardrey: Hi everyone, welcome back. If you've just been in the program talk. And so as Clara very kindly introduced me I'm Caroline Audrey. I'm lecturing French at the University of Birmingham. I'm also generally a passion of modern linguist.
Caroline Ardrey: And so I'm going to be doing a kind of general body language is tasted today, but with a kind of a slice of, you know, focus on the specials and the French but it's it's very much kind of inclusive and for everyone, regardless of what language you're interested in studying
Caroline Ardrey: And so I should kind of mentioned that. Yeah, as well as being a lecture in French. I studied German as part of my degree when I was at university as an undergrad.
Caroline Ardrey: I've recently been teaching myself Spanish and having some online Spanish lessons during lockdown which has been great fun and I have dipped my toe into learning Russian in the past to certain evening classes.
Caroline Ardrey: And I've also tried to teach myself Italian
Caroline Ardrey: With varying degrees of success over the years. So I very much an enthusiastic mother linguist and this is very much not not just for the French
Caroline Ardrey: Kind of French and PDFs and so please do make use of the webinar chat function and I'm this is going to be, hopefully, very, very interactive session. I'd love it if you were chatting to each other as well and that's
Caroline Ardrey: The kind of thing that we would normally do in a kind of physical teaching space, and I would like as much as possible to kind of give you a bit of a taste of what it's like to, to be in a seminar, I know setting.
Caroline Ardrey: And we're going to talk you through and what it's what it's like to study more languages and a little bit more detail so
Caroline Ardrey: As I mentioned in the program talk semesters one and two with your first year, give you a chance to dip your toe into lots of different topic areas to study culture current affairs politics history and everything kind of in between.
Caroline Ardrey: So we do this by breaking each semester into two blocks. So half of semester. One is devoted to themes of identity accent. What it means to be a speaker of a particular language. And the second part of that looks at
Caroline Ardrey: Kind of global and political implications of speaking your language then in block three particular in French, we start to look at cultural products and how
Caroline Ardrey: How language and culture intertwine and how that shapes national and cultural identities. So, for example, within the French context and I
Caroline Ardrey: We have lots of different guest lecturers who come in and talk about their specialist area block three is is my block in French. So I do a lecture on
Caroline Ardrey: culture and politics and how a cultural product so politically engaged. So we look at some punk.
Caroline Ardrey: Punk rock which is anti nationalistic anti National Front and that's the 1980s, then we look at a valid for the 2000s, which is again anti National Front.
Caroline Ardrey: And we talked about to political engagement within the arts, but looking at contemporary music and then in block for we start to talk about
Caroline Ardrey: Languages more globally, bringing together all those those different ideas.
Caroline Ardrey: And that's that format is very much the same across languages. So when I talked in the program talk about this idea of the Birmingham languages graduate
Caroline Ardrey: And we haven't have this kind of concept in this model, which applies across all languages. So there is some kind of parity and continuity between
Caroline Ardrey: The structure of the course and the different languages. So you're studying three languages you will recognize the structure
Caroline Ardrey: But because the language is so varied and rich and the way in which we teach them according to different research specialisms is quite different. And you shouldn't get kind of fatigue or feel like it's it's very senior be doing three languages. That's, that's the goal.
Caroline Ardrey: So just to get a sense of the things that you study. So we've got this nice dinner co op painting here from 1830 so around the time the 1830 revelation of France, which
Caroline Ardrey: Is a really important and defining cultural product in terms of understanding the idea of the French Republic and we talked about that on in French.
Caroline Ardrey: In my beginners talked about this in French and in Russian. You look at that Russian fairy tales and about how and cultural identity has been written and shapes through the Russian language and through
Caroline Ardrey: Through storytelling and there's all sorts of different cultural products which are located within the Spanish curriculum. And so I've got
Caroline Ardrey: Just here, just as an example of the poetry of Nickelodeon. And so instead of saying that in a very French luxury kind of way. They're not it not a Spanish lexicon giveaway.
Caroline Ardrey: But there's very much a kind of a focus on the diversity, not just
Caroline Ardrey: Kind of the idea that French is spoken in France. She's spoken in Spain, you know, it's very much an idea of what these languages mean more globally. And of course, in Italian, the icons of every module.
Caroline Ardrey: Which kind of gives you an introduction to the fusion of language, culture and politics in Italy, you couldn't talk about that, without mentioning Dante force and so
Caroline Ardrey: Very much talking about the things that matter. But getting a feel for the history, the culture, the identity of each of those target languages.
Caroline Ardrey: Obviously, many of you will be thinking about taking up a new language as well as perhaps considering an advanced language, you can do to beginners languages, University of Birmingham provided one is French or Spanish. So there are lots and lots of options available to you.
Caroline Ardrey: Doing a beginner language can seem a little bit daunting. We often have
Caroline Ardrey: Questions around. Well, you know, do I get to the same level in both languages. And the answer is absolutely yes. I taught people who've actually become
Caroline Ardrey: Better in their beginner language than they were in there than they are in their advanced language just because they have become so passionate about it. And so it very much what you put in is what you get out
Caroline Ardrey: Through I think any degree program that certainly within languages. If you really focus on improving your language skills you will succeed and you will
Caroline Ardrey: Get better and you'll start to notice connections between your languages as well as divergences. And so it's very much the case that
Caroline Ardrey: Thing of being a woman linguist kind of increases your, your brain flexibility that, you know, the researchers have said it and they showed it in MRI scans.
Caroline Ardrey: And I really believe that that learning and one language and kind of
Caroline Ardrey: Increase the way in which you make connections between things. And if you've learned French or Spanish or Italian, for example.
Caroline Ardrey: Or if you're doing GCSE if you don't use if you're a level in those languages, you might have had the experience of walking around church.
Caroline Ardrey: And seeing plaques or gravestones and Latin and being able to translate some of those even if you've not studied Latin
Caroline Ardrey: And that's all because you've developed these fine tuned skills in terms of making connections between things and recognizing patterns.
Caroline Ardrey: And, and I think that is what is really fantastic about kind of doing a modern languages degree, where you do get to choose different options and combine languages in different ways.
Caroline Ardrey: And I think that's one thing that is particularly exciting about the Birmingham curriculum.
Caroline Ardrey: Is the way in which we have departmental modules as well as single language options which bring everything together and we are very much the Department of modern languages, rather than kind of individual isolated language areas.
Caroline Ardrey: And so I've talked about the idea of the beginner language, which I think is a fantastic program. I'm really happy that we're now doing
Caroline Ardrey: Beginner languages and all the languages which we also previously we didn't do begin the French and having taught. We're going to French, I can say it was a great community few and
Caroline Ardrey: People performed fantastically as it so I'm really, really pleased that we now offer a beginner languages for all of our language areas.
Caroline Ardrey: And just to kind of reinforce how kind of exciting it is to get into studying a new language. I'm going to presume, I hope that nobody is very, very fluent in Swedish if you are. You might have a little advantage here, but I have a question which is on the screen.
Caroline Ardrey: And I would like you to have a think about the question, look at the kind of the
Caroline Ardrey: The pictures, read, read the statement and see if you can work out the answer. You can use the chat box to voice your thoughts, but also
Caroline Ardrey: Put your put your answers in the chat box. When you're ready to get that chat box up, have a look at the question and I'll give you
Caroline Ardrey: Maybe about two minutes. I've got a little countdown timer so when it starts to get, get to the end of your couple of minutes I will give you a an alarm. So if you go a couple minutes. See if you can answer the question, is the chat.
Caroline Ardrey: Okay, we got one already. Someone things nine even coming
Caroline Ardrey: Don't be shy.
Caroline Ardrey: Someone says seven I take it you know quick of the market.
Caroline Ardrey: I could someone's voice. And I thought, so some things that Brennan is the well. Okay, good.
Caroline Ardrey: Excellent. A few seconds here.
Caroline Ardrey: Give you about 30 seconds more
Caroline Ardrey: couple of nights order fantastically in breaking this down. So someone said that they believe burdened with the well someone thinks that creep into the crawl somebody's got snuggly snail and lots and lots of sevens and somebody worked out.
Caroline Ardrey: Every day, every night. So that was our hosts someone's someone's going to go to opt out, you're very, very, very honest for Speaking Swedish and I have to apologize my pronunciation here. I don't speak, speak Swedish. So
Caroline Ardrey: This was, this was a nice challenge for me and sounds. Sounds good. Yeah. Oh yeah, seven okay so
Caroline Ardrey: So yeah, we can work out that every day. He goes, is a snail everyday. He goes up three meters and everyday town two meters. You don't even need to know whether it's a well really you need all you need to know is up and down.
Caroline Ardrey: We've got the numbers written as, as members digits of that helps us a little bit. We've got the word meter, which is the same and someone's worked out every day and every night. I don't know if you had use other reference points. I mean, obviously we know English day and which helps us
Caroline Ardrey: Maybe we speak German. It's a little bit like Todd in German. So that kind of helps us a little bit and but we've also got these pictures. So we've got ideas of context which can also help us.
Caroline Ardrey: And we've got numbers. And I don't know if and if it was a specialism as Swedish they got you to understand that the well was Brennan, or whether
Caroline Ardrey: He is the pictures. Maybe you've got a better knowledge of German which can be helpful.
Caroline Ardrey: And so, and
Caroline Ardrey: So we will work out. It is the answer is seven, of course, because if he's going up three meters every day falling down two meters every night.
Caroline Ardrey: Ordinarily, it would take him nine days. But of course, once he gets up the top is not going to fall down again. He's going to escape from the well so we can then say is seven.
Caroline Ardrey: So nobody said cat. Interestingly enough, so. So here you've all showing great linguistic resilience. You've worked things out by using your knowledge of English, perhaps, of using other languages.
Caroline Ardrey: And no sound patterns. Maybe you wrote it out loud. Or actually, yeah, this sounds a little bit like something I already know where the English or something else. And maybe you got snigger snail because you've seen a cinnamon swell, which is in Swedish quarter sentiments nail
Caroline Ardrey: So, you know, there's lots of different cultural reference points and linguistic reference points which are all brought together.
Caroline Ardrey: And then shows us that when we are presented with something in the language we know what to do when we don't know what to do.
Caroline Ardrey: Right, and that's that's the exciting thing about languages. It's this idea of making connections of putting things together, understanding things when we don't really understand things
Caroline Ardrey: And this is what I've talked about trying to learn Spanish reason you're trying to teach myself Italian and as as a
Caroline Ardrey: As a French speaker and a French teacher is actually this is this is really similar to French, I can see the connection here and like, this is what I quite liked this puzzle was actually given to me by my sister.
Caroline Ardrey: And I did get the right answer and I did it partly by being a native speaker of English partly by knowing German so between those who I could start to see where the words and chimed in with each other.
Caroline Ardrey: And that's what's what you can develop I think from learning and what language and speaking other languages is this ability to make connections.
Caroline Ardrey: And that's what I think is particularly fun so
Caroline Ardrey: Very well done, it will have some good mathematical now say you've got a some important language skills and you've managed to work out the answer. And yeah, absolutely. He doesn't slide down at night. So between you all, you're all done fantastically on that.
Caroline Ardrey: So this idea of fluency, whether you're learning a language for the first time, or whether you are an advanced
Caroline Ardrey: Speaker already somebody who's already a B2C perhaps you've done a level I be or another qualification that's equivalent
Caroline Ardrey: And whether whether or not you're new to a language. The idea of fluency is really, really important and thinking about what it means to be fluent in a language.
Caroline Ardrey: And so I've recently read a book called fluid forever by a guy called Gabriel Viner I'll put his name in the chat box for you and the book.
Caroline Ardrey: Essentially chases way into getting onto a high level language program.
Caroline Ardrey: By working really hard on fluency and intonation and this has led me to think what a lot more about what we mean by fluency and how we can work on achieving fluency and it's also allowed me to think about the idea of accent and
Caroline Ardrey: So I have
Caroline Ardrey: The discussion question for you again use the chat box. I'd like you to have a think about how important is it to get your accent right when you're speaking one language.
Caroline Ardrey: Other things. Think, put your thoughts in the chat or will be very keen to see what you think.
Caroline Ardrey: Simon says very important without a good accent makes it nice speakers may not know what you're saying. That's a good point.
Caroline Ardrey: It's important, if it affects understanding. Absolutely.
Caroline Ardrey: Not pronouncing it. Oh, nice and German. Yeah, it's that might be might be important. Maybe not in a colloquial so i think i mean it depends how patient, the people you're speaking to you up so announcers is essential.
Caroline Ardrey: And someone else made a good point about blending into different cultures and kind of assimilating perhaps it can change pronunciation. If the accent is incorrect absolutely can change the meaning as well.
Caroline Ardrey: Important to the main and gets across
Caroline Ardrey: English can be pronounced in many senses and destroys branch has one year and says French also have lots of accidents and so as long as you're understood
Caroline Ardrey: Oh, yeah. So someone undergo another fan of Gabriel here and known in my house has gave and say, you obviously identify yourself as a non native if you speak with it with a foreign accent. I think this is something tonight.
Caroline Ardrey: I think it's important, this idea of a middle ground as well. So some speakers may try and help you. Others may just revert to English straight from the off.
Caroline Ardrey: For tonal language is a little bit more important for 10 languages, it might be essential, meaning is conveyed by those those different tones, isn't it.
Caroline Ardrey: When you get to different parts of the country that have different access. This can be hard to understand, and vice versa. That's also a really good point. If you learn
Caroline Ardrey: To speak with a particular accent and then you go elsewhere. Perhaps you've learned to speak German, and then you go to Austria and you struggle to understand the x and that might be a challenge to overcome.
Caroline Ardrey: Attempt to speak, an action shows you're throwing yourself into the culture. They must have the quality
Caroline Ardrey: There accidents due to the third, like a different meanings. That's definitely true. I mean, even just very little things like in French. The difference between two
Caroline Ardrey: Is really important. Most valid fans are really important. And yes, the speakers visualize what you're attempting to say, I think that is absolutely essential. What about I deserve respect is it that you think it's respectful to try and speak with a good accent.
Caroline Ardrey: Giving it the SU a agree it's respectful to try
Caroline Ardrey: Is there a risk that we can hold ourselves back because we don't think our accent is good enough. So we might be scared to try
Caroline Ardrey: Even if you're always going to be accent is good to try as long as you're as long as you're trying. Yeah. Absolutely. And I think that is really, really important to particularly as learn
Caroline Ardrey: A new language. And if you practice and practice, you will get better and I think I really love teaching seminars in the target language because it's fantastic to watch students go without really noticing it from
Caroline Ardrey: First year I'm kind of struggling with bits of XM, perhaps, particularly for beginners and to really, really developing a good, a good sense of the accent and
Caroline Ardrey: And it's important to get a good grasp of the coach and then build more detail aspects such as accent. From that point, that's an interesting
Caroline Ardrey: Question.
Caroline Ardrey: Depending on the language and they just speak of maybe a bit judgmental and could put your speaking the language yet. And it can be quite off putting. Perhaps if people just suddenly jump in because because English can be a bit of the lingua franca. And because perhaps
Caroline Ardrey: And English speakers. Some of us may have been lazy in the past about learning other languages.
Caroline Ardrey: So someone says, actually you don't pay attention to how perfect someone someone's accent is when speaking
Caroline Ardrey: Legion.
Caroline Ardrey: Yeah, so somebody had an experience of living in Japan and people hadn't respect you for trying. I think that is really important in a lot of places and
Caroline Ardrey: I still now as somebody who teaches French and as a fluent French speaker and get people saying, Wow, it's really impressive that an English person speaks French and I
Caroline Ardrey: Think in one sense it's very nice of them to say so. And another sense. I find it very sad that people think it's impressive that
Caroline Ardrey: You know, one one English person can speak French. And so we, I think we're all in agreement that it's really important to try. It's really important to to be respectful. It's really important to learn about other people's cultures.
Caroline Ardrey: And we should think about getting an accent. Right. And, but it doesn't matter if you make mistakes. There is another kind of aspect to this, what is the right, excellent.
Caroline Ardrey: So I teach French is a Parisien accent the right accent.
Caroline Ardrey: I don't think it is. I'm not gonna not going to say to snap selling. We have students who go all over the world as part of their degree program.
Caroline Ardrey: And and I've had students come back from Canada with a brilliant Kubrick what accent. I think it's fantastic that they have that accent and that accent is a right accent.
Caroline Ardrey: Yeah, the dominance of a person French will absolutely and I think, you know, we can talk about the same kind of concept in
Caroline Ardrey: Lots of different languages. We can think about the dumb dominance of
Caroline Ardrey: Potential dominance have received pronunciation. You know, there's been an English debates around people having regional accents presenting the news, for example, on TV.
Caroline Ardrey: So it's really important to have an understanding of different accents and what it means to to hone a particular accent when we were learning foreign language
Caroline Ardrey: So we've kind of all already kind of answered this question through our discussion. So I will kind of move on.
Caroline Ardrey: How many people in Strasbourg other more German sounding accent is as close to the German border interesting
Caroline Ardrey: And South American Spanish and European Spanish absolutely have different accents. This is something will come on to that in a minute. And so
Caroline Ardrey: In one sense, getting your accent. Right. It's not first and foremost, the most important thing, but in other contexts, it can be absolutely essential.
Caroline Ardrey: I guess your accent right as part of fluency is can be really important. So, in
Caroline Ardrey: Canada 2% of the 22% rather of the Canadian population has French is their mother tongue, so that's that's quite a large proportion 22% of Canadians have French's them at the time.
Caroline Ardrey: So in Canada before an election, they will. There will be a TV jewel or debate and in the 2015 Canadian for federal elections and
Caroline Ardrey: They found that actually and not being confident in your French speaking not having a good accent.
Caroline Ardrey: Making grammatical mistakes pronunciation mistakes and perhaps pronouncing and a final teeth or masculine words and can be really jarring for me to French speakers and then therefore could make
Caroline Ardrey: Somebody who doesn't speak French very well or hesitates about when they speak French news folks so
Caroline Ardrey: In Canadian politics, getting your accident right and getting your pronunciation right it's absolutely essential and it could cost you and a political position. If you don't
Caroline Ardrey: Do very well. And there's a lovely ranking of different Canadian politicians and how good their and their French accents are
Caroline Ardrey: So in French well as English speakers and there are certain sounds which are really difficult to make. And if you have a mother tongue, which is something other than English, there may be certain sounds which you find difficult to make when speaking French, for example. And so in particular.
Caroline Ardrey: Trying to learn French, English speakers have problems a vowel sounds. I mentioned the infamous and chief of us to kind of
Caroline Ardrey: Those vowel sounds are really, really important and even higher level speakers and get those wrong pronouncing final consonants.
Caroline Ardrey: Can be particularly tricky. So we have the word bath meaning green and and in it's got a T on the end, we don't pronounce that T unless
Caroline Ardrey: It's agreeing with a feminine noun. So as an E, that's really important to know. But it's not obvious unless you've you've learned the language he practiced it and the our sound. For example, in French.
Caroline Ardrey: Can be really, really difficult for non native speakers and particularly for people who have English as their mother tongue.
Caroline Ardrey: And somebody mentioned yesterday the ah sound is a nightmare in lots of different languages and the ah sound in Spanish really difficult for native English speakers and
Caroline Ardrey: Suffixes so the T IO n cure can be really difficult for native English speakers once learning French, and there's a lovely video
Caroline Ardrey: And if you want in your own time to look this up and you're interested, the local says expect a Panamanian town is a brilliant and they'll series on YouTube, we look up episode five la posse SEO and you will. I think you'll enjoy it is quite an amazing this all kind of
Caroline Ardrey: Discussion of all the things that Americans struggle with when pronouncing French and
Caroline Ardrey: Why, why they find French, a little bit weird.
Caroline Ardrey: And so, but there are similarly if you're trying to learn Spanish. So I've devoted some of my lock down to trying to learn Spanish
Caroline Ardrey: And as a someone who speaks French and English. I think I have a double whammy of difficulty and my Spanish teacher says that I sound French, and I'm not sure if that's a good thing in this context.
Caroline Ardrey: But, but there's our sound again. It's really, really difficult and the letters g j and that sounds
Caroline Ardrey: Really really difficult for native English speakers to to live and also it's just to know the difference and the rules. You know, before certain vowel sounds. You know, to pronounce like this.
Caroline Ardrey: And where to place the stress on words, particularly because there's no accent, knowing the rules the rolling are is difficult. Yeah, we can all agree.
Caroline Ardrey: And I was loving videos on this to help you.
Caroline Ardrey: Same in Italian. Absolutely. So, you know, even though geographically and we're very pleased to France. We're very close to the Iberian Peninsula really pretty close to Italy and yeah those sounds are really hard for us to pronounce.
Caroline Ardrey: And looking at videos. There's an excellent videos which show you where to put your tongue against your teeth to make a certain sound for example of really helpful.
Caroline Ardrey: In Russian, of course, as well. You know, it's not just, it's not just French and Spanish and they don't have the monopoly on this, not it, not Italian either. And there are there are lots of
Caroline Ardrey: consonant sounds that we just aren't used to making as native English speakers, I will write down the link to the French YouTube video. So the, the Russia does a Russian pronunciation YouTube video just here and I will write down the link
Caroline Ardrey: At the end for you as well. Do feel free to ask me again.
Caroline Ardrey: And so really real challenges and and so we can use certain tools to help us like to these YouTube videos which focus on pronunciation
Caroline Ardrey: My Spanish teacher, send me a fantastic video of how to pronounce the sound. The English speakers it tell told you exactly where you needed to put your tongue, what you needed to do with your mouth to make that sound and it is really, really helpful.
Caroline Ardrey: And we can also try practicing through tongue twisters, for example, and
Caroline Ardrey: So I did practice, the French one earlier Dano signals to swell. I found a password since events assessed United
Caroline Ardrey: And that can just help us to get our tongue around all of these different sounds. And I went to pronounce this function. So I'm not a specialist in Spanish and merely a learner.
Caroline Ardrey: But the Spanish one it was grateful. It's not only just getting your mouth around with a vowel sounds but also practicing that infamous j and sound. It's been a
Caroline Ardrey: Good one for getting your tongue around some Italian consonants as well.
Caroline Ardrey: And so we can use a tool called for by which some of you might have used before, just to hone in on some of that pronunciation. And so for example if we go on to the link for for for you ain't got here today think because I've got my mic on.
Caroline Ardrey: But I'll see if I can play it for you. Just now, we've got some native Spanish speakers here pronouncing the difference
Caroline Ardrey: The difference. Sounds good. Got a woman here and
Caroline Ardrey: I think there's a man and a woman pronouncing these say you weren't able to hear them. But do take a look at four or five and have a play around with it can just help you to listen to the different sounds and different people pronouncing them. So here we've got somebody pronouncing
Caroline Ardrey: A word in Russian as well, just to kind of help you pronounce again that vowel sound, which is really tricky. People who are English native speakers.
Caroline Ardrey: So can we say that there's a correct accent.
Caroline Ardrey: Or correct actions well accents. Do we want to practice when we're learning a language.
Caroline Ardrey: What do you think
Caroline Ardrey: Native accent, it could lead to issues of class in class based discrimination. Absolutely.
Caroline Ardrey: I hope it wouldn't make a leader regional discrimination as well perhaps
Caroline Ardrey: Perhaps even racial discrimination. So it is a really thorny question. I think you're absolutely right and native accidents are correct. All native accent security perhaps
Caroline Ardrey: It's like saying this universal English accent when in reality it's different per region per person.
Caroline Ardrey: You absolutely want to understand a variety of accents. I think you're very, very right there.
Caroline Ardrey: Every region has its excellence is based on where you want to go. I think in terms of sudden, you're right. In terms of understanding guys perhaps
Caroline Ardrey: There's a very strong argument for for making sure that you've got the flexibility to understand a different variety of accents.
Caroline Ardrey: And somebody suggested yesterday that you need to pick one accent and stick with it. And I'm not sure how you feel about that question that suggestion I have mixed feelings on it because
Caroline Ardrey: On the one hand, I think it's nice to be able to shift your accent and some people may kind of kind of tailor their accent. Anyway, I know that certainly an English and to the standard French i think i tell you that my accent a little bit to hear. I'm speaking to
Caroline Ardrey: Those formal spoken English and foremost bacon French, you're absolutely right, a formal standard perhaps avoids regional discrimination, but it's an interesting question. So there's been kind of a say trouble within
Caroline Ardrey: The people reading the news. They've suggested the there's a bias against regional accents and people reading the New so I'm not sure, necessarily, whether using the form or standard
Caroline Ardrey: completely eradicate original discrimination and yeah Sometimes your accent changes subconsciously, and this is supposed to be a marker of somebody who is perhaps quite sympathetic as well. And I think people
Caroline Ardrey: People who studied my language is generally often are quite flexible in the way that they change their speech to to accommodate different people.
Caroline Ardrey: I think absolutely. You're right. If you spend enough time in a certain area, your accent may adapt to the regional accent and I spent some time in Germany as a student. And one of the
Caroline Ardrey: German students here. I met. I was talking to in English, and she came up with this perfect Australian accent. And it turned out that she spent in our business. Yeah.
Caroline Ardrey: And in Melbourne. So she kind of just subconsciously adopted her English accent. She'd been taught a British British English accent but she's she picked up an Australian accent through to her time
Caroline Ardrey: And she sounded perfectly Australian. And so I think you're absolutely right that you adapt your accent to what you're hearing every day.
Caroline Ardrey: Which is why it's really, really important if you want to prepare for studying languages. And if you are a student over language.
Caroline Ardrey: To make sure you're really exposing yourself to a wide range of accent so that you learn to understand what's different accents, but also that you can
Caroline Ardrey: adapt your own speech and adapt your own accent. And so I had loads and loads of recommendations on the web chat yesterday for things to things to watch in the different languages and things to listen to
Caroline Ardrey: Some somebody says bar for the short a now. And so my dad is the northerners and he gradually elongated is as
Caroline Ardrey: I see a mute me further and further south so
Caroline Ardrey: Yeah, you can. That's, that's the kind of the reverse of it, but I think absolutely. Over time, you start to just grit little shift in your accent start to change that.
Caroline Ardrey: And so you get absolutely please expose yourself to all sorts of different language and watch lots of Netflix. I mean, we've all been stuck at home. Quite a lot recently and
Caroline Ardrey: And there's so much media available to us a lot of it for free by YouTube and things that we can
Caroline Ardrey: We can sort of engage with to improve our language skills and there's lots and lots of Canadian programming as well. If you want to improve your French and you want to move away from just hearing mainland Caribbean accent. So the time
Caroline Ardrey: Okay, someone has an American accent you change your accent with different people. I think a lot of us do that. So I think a lot of us can relate to that. So,
Caroline Ardrey: Please do you kind of engage that there's also a big link between languages and music and I learned a lot of French very early on from listening to pop music. So I am. I'm an enormous fan of pop music anyway pass my lectures or go out punk rock and
Caroline Ardrey: And kind of noughties ballads, and have a bit of 80s music all in French, and it really helped me to chew my ear by singing along toward these pop songs in French.
Caroline Ardrey: So listen, listen to lots of music and discover what's out there lots of recommendations yesterday for stormy and
Caroline Ardrey: But also for a lot. Lots of Spanish music and there were lots of recommendations for people watching and money heist in Spanish.
Caroline Ardrey: On Netflix. So, so do you make can make use of all this and be aware of what you're listening to what accent is this. Where does this person come from, how are they adapting their accent.
Caroline Ardrey: Lyrics training is really good for songs. Yes. It really, really is Emma, but also improve your vocabulary as well when you're singing along to a song.
Caroline Ardrey: GOOD SPANISH artists. Yes, absolutely. What winter Romeo Santos Rosalia excuse my pronunciations. I'm pretty pretty Nita
Caroline Ardrey: And learning Spanish or do not a case and loads of stuff and loads of recommendations here.
Caroline Ardrey: You know, keep keep them coming. Share them with each other. That's the great thing about doing a languages degree. We're all Muslim languages and it easiest together. Lots of all any older German artists here and older German artist little vote for her but Corona my hair as well.
Caroline Ardrey: And we'll get more come in here.
Caroline Ardrey: Okay, so in other words knockers is good if you want to Spanish accents.
Caroline Ardrey: All fantastic Mozart's
Caroline Ardrey: rockhopper for French rock, pop music on YouTube.
Caroline Ardrey: Loads and loads of recommendations. So I think this is the elite is a great Spanish program and they had some had some dark on Netflix. Yeah, so lots and lots of
Caroline Ardrey: Two minutes you inappropriate that I'm yeah that is one thing to bear in mind. I mean we have to accept that some of the things that we are watching might not be cut that kind of standard languages that we want to speak every day and
Caroline Ardrey: So you use tools like Spotify use tools like Netflix to help you kind of hone your accent and learn some vocabulary.
Caroline Ardrey: And so to finish off because I'm very aware that we've got only a little bit of time really for questions and don't say do take kind of advantage of all of these recommendations we getting in the in the box. And do we think that our accents a pulse of who we are.
Caroline Ardrey: Agreeing to disagree neutral.
Caroline Ardrey: neutral. Neutral here.
Caroline Ardrey: Some agreement.
Caroline Ardrey: Require a lot of agreement today some disagree.
Caroline Ardrey: Makeup innovation identities analysis.
Caroline Ardrey: shapes were speaking. Interesting. Interesting. Lots of agreements day. I think there were quite a lot of disagreements yesterday so
Caroline Ardrey: Okay. You agree Italian accent and I agree. Okay, that's that's perhaps interesting, it might depend on on what aspect of your identity is important. It doesn't define you as a person, but it does form part of your identity.
Caroline Ardrey: You don't have an accent when you write it, but it's still you interesting
Caroline Ardrey: I University. I was taught by somebody who is also a novelist and when I read his books. I heard them in his voice because the way he wrote was very much like the way he spoke.
Caroline Ardrey: Maybe on the surface. Yeah, I think, I think you're absolutely right that it's a bigger question than a, b, and c can easily cover.
Caroline Ardrey: So on that note, I think we're going to wrap it up and I'll give you some time to answer ask any questions that you've got. You might have questions for Jenny, in particular, who is actually a student with us.
Caroline Ardrey: And but thank you very much. All of you for your participation today and thank you for sharing so many songs Netflix shows and
Caroline Ardrey: Kind of ideas for how we can engage with our languages over the coming weeks and months. I think that'd be really, really helpful and you wanted the link to the French
Caroline Ardrey: video that I wanted to show you. So I'll put that in the chat box to now, but I'm going to hand over and
Caroline Ardrey: I will just answer one question, which is how much literature, can you choose and as much or as little as you like. So you get the chance to dip your toe in
Caroline Ardrey: And but then it's it's really up to you whether you do a little more literary optional module or whether you do have the option of modules.
Caroline Ardrey: So I hope this kind of answered some of your questions, giving you a sense of the kind of discussions and conversations we have in the target language.
Caroline Ardrey: Thank you all so much for participating and being so willing to get involved. I hope I will meet some of you in the flesh, in due course, but for now I hope you enjoy the rest of the day and do take this time, the next time. So, to ask any questions you might have. Thanks very much.
