Job Discussion Forums

[Guy Courchesne]

[jessicah632]

[Guy Courchesne]

[jessicah632]

[RyanS]

What about the canadian accent? when we squeel everything we ask a question?

[ls650]

[Cdaniels]

speaking of accents, There is a video program for learning Spanish called "Destinos" which you can watch for free at http://www.learner.org/resources/series75.html It is like a telenova, where you follow a lawyer, Raquel, in her journeys to track lost long relatives of a Spanish-Mexican oil tycoon. Vocabulary is reviewed after each episode, and you hear a variety of accents (the Argentine gaucho was the hardest for me to understand.) The video is "streamed," you will need a broadband connection and episodes cannot be downlowded for later viewing. The actors speak quickly, but clearly, and context and repitition helps the viewer learn while watching. The videos are quite expensive to buy, but there are textbooks and various supplements. I used it for college classes in Spanish, and the course system is used in many colleges and high schools. There are plans to stop providing the online service for free soon. It isn't to everyone's taste, but its worth a look, anyways.

[Justin Trullinger]

[Perpetual Traveller]

[jessicah632]

When I think of "European," I generally think EU. Perhaps it's an American thing, I'm not sure, but when someone says "I'm going to Europe" here, you generally think: Germany, France, England, Spain, etc. While eastern Europeans are certainly geographically European, for some reason we designate it as, "I'm going to EASTERN Europe" whereas with western Europe it's simply, "I'm going to Europe." Bad American geography? I don't know. But I would be very hard-pressed to list a Russian accent and a Serbian accent as "European" accents, for that reason.

Plus, I am Russian-American, and for whatever reason my family is disdainful of being called "European." (I asked my mother and she qualified this by saying, "Well, maybe the St. Petersburg people are 'European,' but that's it.") My Arabic teacher was actually from Serbia, and I never asked her, but similarly, I seriously doubt she would consider herself "European." Perhaps it's a generational thing, as well. I'm not sure.

And, as I said, that guy's article is extreme enough to be not taken seriously...but you know, I've heard similar remarks from a few males, enough that it articulated in such a light does trouble me somewhat. *shrug*

--Jessicah

[jessicah632]

...In fact, I find it very interesting Turkey here is listed under the "Europe" board. Russia and Serbia still surprise me. I mean, many ex-Soviet nations are slowly becoming incorporated into the EU, but to me (perhaps b/c of my heritage) I just feel that I would be lambasted here if I were to say, "Oh, yeah, Russia. It's in Europe." Do you guys think Russia itself will ever become an EU nation?

Also, we were always taught Russia was, geographically, an Asian nation. Obviously, culturally, it's not, but it would make a lot more sense for me to say, "Russian is on the Asian continent," as opposed to "Russia is on the European continent." Do you guys (I'm assuming most of you aren't Americans) make the same distinction, or not?

And Serbia? Perhaps because of its tumultuous recent history, I'm not sure, but I always think of it as very separate from Europe -- as did my Serbian Arabic teacher, I remember her telling us stories about her university days "in Europe" -- that is, in Scotland. From that I got the feeling she treated her homeland as very distinct from Europe. Or was that perhaps her past few years' living in America that influenced her choice of words?

So now...Turkey? Really? What makes it "European"? Because of its historical ties to Rome, the Byzantine empire, etc., or what? Its geographic proximity? Morocco is a stone's throw from Spain, and yet no one considers it "European," right? It's "North African/Middle Eastern." But Turkey has just as many Muslims as Morocco does, no? Why isn't Turkey considered "Middle Eastern?"

And I'm honestly curious: do you guys consider a Turkish accent a "European" one?

Sorry, this is just very interesting to me, to hear your guys' take on this!

--Jessicah

[Cdaniels]

I never learned that Russia was "Asian." Because Moscow is a European city and the dominant city of Russia, I've always thought of Russia as European. St. Petersberg (Leningrad at the time) with its famous Hermitage is not only European but it also a large city. The Asian part of Russia is very sparsely populated. Where the heck do you live? Are your ancesters Siberian? BTW there has been a huge influx of Russian immgrants into the Boston area. I would be likely to be thought of as an idiot around here if I said Russia wasn't a European country.
Turkey does seem more ambiguous to me. Istanbul used to be Constantinople (thanks They Might Be Giants!) The seat of the Byzantine Empire was founded by the Roman Emperor Constatine (the first Christain Emperor) It has a long and bloody history with Greece (Troy was in Turkey) I always thought of Turkey as a sort of subcontinent. American schools are notorious for being terrible at teaching Geography- I'm sure I missed out on all sorts of things about European history, but to classify the rest of the world according to a Mercator Projection really misses the mark.

[jessicah632]

[Cdaniels]

Jessica, well as I'm part Irish in a very Irish Boston, making geographic distinctions (like Northern Ireland vs Ireland) has huge political implications. You can still see bumper stickers around here that say 26+6=1 which is a sort of militant, nationalist sentiment referring to the counties within Ireland and Northern Ireland. So I'm sensitive to the fact that borders and geographic definitions can be a really sore point with people. Whether we are innocently ignorant or want to emphasize culture over other distinctions its not a subject to treat lightly
I don't mean to sound so preachy, but... oh, wait maybe I do

[jessicah632]