Quirky Monday: Accents, Dialects, and Language-A Few of my Favorite Things

Pop quiz y'all.

If you want to see me with a big stupid grin on my face, you show me which of the following:

A. Chocolat
B. Letters to Juliet
C. Take the Lead
D. Anything on BBC/ITV
E. All of the above

Answer: All of the above.

Why? Because every single one of them has at least one person speaking another language/in a dialect.

Definitions, real quick:
Accent-unique speech patterns, choice of words of an individual
Dialect-particular form of language specific to a region
And I luv'em both.

Ok, yes, I know the title of the post kind of gave it away, but it's true. I friggin LOVE listening to other languages. Dialects too--some of my favorite productions/films I've seen feature people who speak in dialect--and my ears and heart are in heaven for the next two-ish hours.

French, Italian, Spanish, Swedish, Irish, Russian, Arabic, Mandarin, you name it, I love it. Hearing something that isn't English(or American) does something to my smile muscles. Even German has a tendency to make me grin like an idiot.

I own recordings of two French play productions because it's two hours of people speaking in French(and the stories and concepts aren't too shabby either). During my commute or at work, I sometimes listen to the other people around me because they are speaking Spanish(or French, or Korean, or Mandarin). I have watched the behind-the-scenes footage of Chocolat because I get to hear actress Lena Olen and her husband director Lasse Hallstrom speak to each other in Swedish.

Letters to Juliet is set in Italy, and I watch both the film and the behind-the-scenes footage to get my Italian fix. Take the Lead stars Antonio Bandaras and Dante Baco; the former's native language is Spanish and the latter speaks in a dialect in the film(Brooklyn-something).

Are there times I wish my native language was not English? Yes. Are there times I try to imitate another dialect just for fun?...Yes. Do I sometimes buy audiobooks/go see productions/buy movies because not only is the story amazing, but it happens to be read by/starring someone who reads in a dialect/accent(what? David Tennant is in "Much Ado?" Benedict Cumberbatch and Felicity Jones are doing "Mansfield Park"? Judy Dench and Finty Williams are in "Pooh Bear"?)?.......Yes.

I will also admit that there are times--a few times--when someone speaking in a dialect/different language can turn me into a great big pot of goo. I watch Miss Fischer's Murder Mysteries and Australia so listen to those amazing accents for hours on end. I watch Red Dwarf because of Lister's Liverpuddlian way of speaking. It also kind of helps that all those characters mentioned above aren't bad in the looks department either.

Dialects can also send me into fits of laughter-especially when done wrong. I have heard native Brits speak and I speak French(and own French films, see above), so I know when people get in wrong--and I know it shouldn't be funny, but it is! I watched the film "Outcast" on Netflix for two reasons, first, because 1) I hadn't seen a Hayden Christensen film in a while and 2) I was curious to see if Nicholas Cage could do a dialect/period piece(no comment).

Dialects and language are things I love. So that's how you get me to grin if I'm in a crappy mood.

You're welcome.