I’ve got a few friends from the east coast and I assure you there is a bit of an accent us midwesterners carry. I believe the experience you are having is due to the neutrality of our accent – it’s neither slow (southern), nor fast (eastern). It seems that the entire middle to west of the country has relatively the same speaking style whereas everything south of central Illinois as well as all of Indiana, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and everything south of them speak with what is referred to as a ‘drawl’. It’s a slowing down of each spoken syllable with a stress on each of the soft vowels of any given word. I haven’t exactly figured out what the deal is with the varying east coast dialects. My friend from NYC speaks one way, New Hampshire another, Maryland yet slightly differently. It’s my notice that the northeast seems to be about as diverse in dialect differences as the English are in their cities – maybe its a trait from the pilgrims bringing over slightly subtle shifts from each of the areas they came from. That would certainly explain the colonies being named after previously lived in places (New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, etc) and the reason each of these places speak a bit different than their direct neighbors.

Having a strong command of accents and dialects can certainly help you blend into a crowd. Maybe it’s possible that when you receive the information that you sound British you were just listening to some British comedy or hanging out with some people with a British accent and picked it up. I notice I do similar things myself. This is a sign that you are really good at learning foreign languages (as exampled by your knack for subtle Spanish dialectal differences). Perhaps you say bollocks too frequently for your American friends’ comfort.

I didn’t mind the conjugations & declensions (I started with Latin which had both) as I found the language of language interesting, the ‘shape’ of the sentences. I used sentence diagramming—a VERY valuable tool—to study NT Koiné Greek.

I pick up accents easily as well without thinking about it. After a week or so in Wales, I’d be speaking English with a Welsh accent, and English people would have no idea I was American. Coming back to the US would be linguisticly confusion because I couldn’t really remember what my flavour of the language WAS.

Try visiting the Plimoth Plantation in Massachusetts, where the ‘residents/actors’ have assumed the identities, viewpoints and regional accents of their 1620-1627 counterparts. Coming back over the hill to the Present at the end of the day to hear Bahston is a real shock.

Just to carry language learning & structure further, I was proficient in a couple computer languages as well, and worked as a programmer/analyst for over 20 years.

Fascinating how language shapes the way one thinks; the concepts that are deemed important enough to have vocabulary for is very revealing.

Maybe you would like to create translations of manuals for companies? Have you ever read even short instructions in English that come from products made in China or some other country and it’s obvious that the person who tried to write them, really didn’t understand the English language very well? You could approach companies yourself and offer your services to translate their manuals, instructions, etc. If you are speaking to them fluently in their own language and they know it’s a secondary language they are bound to realize that you can do a great job for them.

Search some of those job boards and see what you find. Probably some jobs you never thought of. Maybe you want to provide services in many locations but stay near home? You could probably do conference calls or internet sessions to translate for people who need to work together. With technology none of you would even need to be in the same room. I think you would be a terrific asset for lots of people or groups. Maybe you could be an independent contractor for law enforcement. When they have someone who doesn’t speak their language they can call you. You know so many languages you could probably translate on the spot before someone else has to first figure out what that person is speaking. You have so many options. You should take the initiative to offer your services to any company that does something you are already interested in. Be independent rather than an employee, and you could work whatever hours are best for you, and work with more than person or company at a time. Maybe you would like to work with import or exports between companies with other countries. Maybe you have a certain subject you are interested. Approach some publishers and ask if they could use your services to translate books for them. (Fiction, non-fiction, college text books, etc). There are so many things you could do knowing so many languages. You translate, then maybe someone else (if necessary) edits for any grammatical or similar type errors that maybe only a native would catch, or someone in the field of study would catch. Good luck!
Another idea – create a LinkedIn.com profile. (If you haven’t heard of it, it’s meant to be a professional listing – what you do, your skills, who you’ve worked for, etc.) List all of your languages, start making connections and ask people to tell others about your multilingual abilities and let them know that you are looking for people who would be interested in using your talents. I think you can go far with your abilities!

Someone out there needs you, I’m sure of that. I’m particularly interested in what makes it easy for you when it’s not easy for most people. Have you met other people who as seemingly gifted with languages as you are?

Thanks,

Brent

Do you have any idea why you are so good at languages? Anything you did or studied?

Regards,

Brent

Thomas

I’ve been using Language 101 for a good chunk of this past summer, and I’m super pleased to report a few things. First, I really like the recent updates. I find that in French and Spanish (I’m trying to learn both concurrently) it only takes me about 6 or 7 views of a slide to get it, though some I’ve seen as high as 15. Another neat thing is that I wound up really getting into my work last month and barely logged in at all. The level of retention I’ve experienced is outstanding! I forgot a word here or there, but largely speaking everything I had learned was still very much in tact.

From a user standpoint, I really recommend the program to people who want to learn.

I speak Dutch, German, English, Finnish, French, Italian, Swedish, Frisian, Hebrew, Arabic, some Spanish, some Portuguese, a little Hungarian, Croatian, Papiamento. I pick up languages at an extremely quick speed, and also with a very good accent. In English I am able to speak with several British accents and also with an American accent. Where is the real use for my talent???? Please answer

With my kindest regards,

Mark Benninga, Hardenberg, Holland, Europe.

Sounds like you have a natural ear for learning foreign languages! Check out our scholarship page for more information on ways that you might still be able to learn new languages to sing your heart out with:

https://language101.com/scholarships/

Thomas

With a little work you will be a champion language learner!