Do you....

[R_C]

...change the way you speak when having a conversation with people from another tribe (at work, professional meetings, in "mixed" ( ) social gatherings etc) ? Why ? And if you do and you are told "you don't sound Jamaican" what explanation do you give for changing the way you speak naturally ?

[Stormmey]

Re: Do you....



waiting on the replies....nothing to add as I think it was specically meant for jamaicans and am not.

[j-kid]

Re: Do you....

Di odda way around wid mi. Dem sey ah don't hav a strong JA accent. Som wuds mi wi pronounce different, but odda dan dat, wen dem sey, what yuh sey? Mi wi sey excuse di accent.
Dem wi look pan mi, laugh an sey. What accent? Dem mi wi screw up mi face pan dem, an kiss mi teeth.

However, wen mi round odda jcans it wi buss out stront. Also wen mi get mad.

[CeaBee]

Re: Do you....

well i change because them doan speak Patlish..

.and i do sound jamaican so i've never gotten that comment. so n/a for the last part.

[Stormmey]

Re: Do you....

CB a jamaican think you were Trinidadian

[CeaBee]

Re: Do you....

jammie...trini....alla it sound the same to these southerners

[j-kid]

Re: Do you....

CeeBee right bout dat, caa dem blame Jacans fi everyting, especially if is ah Black man wid ah foreign non-proper accent.

[Stormmey]

Re: Do you....

I will say this though, when am speaking to couple of my jamaican family....they always try speak like me.....with Canadian accent and I cannot understand a word them saying my brother is the main one Even though I tell him just speak normally that I understand.

So coupled with him really really speak fast all the time..... and the phoney accent I get a blastid headache when I talk to him....so these days I just email or MSN much easier.

[R_C]

Re: Do you....

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: CeaBee</div><div class="ubbcode-body">well i change because them doan speak Patlish..

.and i do sound jamaican so i've never gotten that comment. so n/a for the last part. </div></div>

But here's the thing. When mi deh roun Italians, Hispanics, people from the deep south of America ( ) French Canadians ( ), wherever else, I don't hear them trying to accommodate anybody. Dem chat dem lingua same way. So why do we so frequently seem to feel it necessary to &quot;spoke&quot; ?

[Stormmey]

Re: Do you....

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: J kid</div><div class="ubbcode-body">CeeBee right bout dat, caa dem blame Jacans fi everyting, especially if is ah Black man wid ah foreign non-proper accent. </div></div>

.....that could be taken as a compliment....jammies larger than life man....see how everybody try copy the jamaican accent, I don't see anyone/hear trying to copy other islsnd accent. I find the jamaican accent really cool, my Jamaican granmama!! speaking with her is a linguistic education. She says &quot;me is a jamaikan fuss and lass mi na put awn me na merican ar Canadian mi a Jamaican&quot;.

[CeaBee]

Re: Do you....

because i try it the other way and used to get pure &quot;Que&quot;? in Miami

and because i can....i guess that haitians and hispanics whose first language isn't english would have a tougher time.

[Jazz]

Re: Do you....

I don;t knowingly change it but I find that yes I do - esp. in professional type scenario. yes mi get those comments or surprised looks when I say I am Jcan... but once they see me in a relaxed setting they always say &quot;oh now I hear your accent&quot;

wen dem aks mi - mi jus shrug tell them it's adpatation

[Bizzy]

Re: Do you....

I don't have a jamaican accent

I either chat patwa, proper english or ebonics..

RC, u saying we mus chat patwa at work? mi only chat patwa wid relatives/friends that are jcan or ppl mi feel comfortable with

[Peasie]

Re: Do you....

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Rollin_Calf</div><div class="ubbcode-body">...change the way you speak when having a conversation with people from another tribe (at work, professional meetings, in &quot;mixed&quot; ( ) social gatherings etc) ? Why ? And if you do and you are told &quot;you don't sound Jamaican&quot; what explanation do you give for changing the way you speak naturally ? </div></div>

Yes. I change the way I speak. I have to. How di ross dem gwine unnahstan mi? I conduct workshops across the U.S. and I always get &quot;You have an accent, where is it from?&quot; It unnerves me a little. But some folks are genuinely curious. For the most part, I chose to be civil when I respond. It is not anything to get mi baggy in a bunch about. <span style="font-style: italic">*shrug*</span>

Sometimes when I get, &quot;You don't sound Jamaican&quot; I will answer with, &quot;Just annoy me and you will hear Jamaican&quot;

Now I can get very, very irate when some <span style="font-weight: bold">people who should know better</span> look on mi and seh, &quot;You don't look Jamaican.&quot;

[R_C]

Re: Do you....

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Bizi_Oh_Em_Gee</div><div class="ubbcode-body">RC, u saying we mus chat patwa at work? </div></div>

No man, I am dealing with that &quot;neutral&quot; north American accent that many of us try to adopt in certain situations. I just notice that no other tribe seems to find it necessary to wash away dem accent in that manner and was wondering how many of us here do it and why.

For eggsample, when is the last time you heard anyone remark &quot;you don't sound......Irish (German, French, Japanese etc) to anyone ?