Here I am, back on this blog business, emboldened by my first few readers and feeling the urge to raise a very important question tonight: do I need to improve my accent?
I have a love-hate relationship with this French accent of mine. Ten years ago, when I first got here and started grad school, I would have killed to get rid of it, since my masterplan was to stay in this great country, make a career and blend in. One is so naive at that young age! I couldn't stand the friendly smile of people asking me where I was from, only to continue with "that's what I thought" when I grumpily revealed my nationality.
I have grown up, don't worry. I know, French accents are cute and mine is not even that bad. I know, it can even help me in my job. That's why I don't feel like flagellating myself every time I am spotted (anymore). I'm still asking Lumberjack to correct me when my pronounciation is wrong and I accept that at the end of a long day some words sound terribly French in my mouth. I've also come to realize that everybody, natives included, speaks with an accent, sometimes a very strong one! And that's not a bad thing! In short, I have come to terms with my accent.
Until yesterday, that is.
On my way to my first meal of the day (at 5pm, that day of blogging and twitting and etc... kept me very busy yesterday!), I decided to stop by the local theater, which is pretty famous here, and sign up for an acting class. I had studied the classes' description and I was really excited. It's been more than a year since I last was on stage, as I put everything on hold not knowing when I would leave France. So when I climbed the stairs to the registration office of that fancy/hip theater near me, nothing could have spoilt my pleasure.
But she did. The director of studies. Because before even considering acting classes, or at least in parallel to it, she STRONGLY recommened I took a "standard speech" class to make my accent "less thick." Now, granted, she was speaking in general, that it helped with thick accents. But at the same time she clearly included me in the category of people who need this kind of class before going into the acting one (let me remind you that taking an acting class is not a privilege but something I would pay for!)
So let me ask you: why am I told all year long that a French accent is sexy, only to be sent to a reeducation camp at that jail theater near me?!
And guess what? I signed up for it.
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Maybe she feels you'll play Shakespeare better than any native speaker, and soon you would have to play with an aristocratic British accent...lovely, isn't it? I'm also thinking that this can be part of being comedian. Otherwise you get stucked to foreigner roles, like Depardieu, Reno or Cassel... Does it sound that bad, really? But anyway, for me it seems your accent is pretty close to sound American, and once you got it you can jump from one accent to another as you prefer to feel yourself a charming foreigner or a real chameleon. Enjoy the classes!
ReplyDelete...interesting journey to schizophrenia...
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