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My attitude isn't shitty, it's an honest observation. I know people from four different places in germany who can speak in hilariously heavy dialects (frisian,

My attitude isn't shitty, it's an honest observation. I know people from four different places in germany who can speak in hilariously heavy dialects (frisian, bavarian, saxonian, swabian), in northern uk (scotland), and various parts of the usa (people from 'redneck' states are amazing for online play), and they're able to switch to the standard version of their country's language at the drop of a hat. Also, you are comparing apples and oranges. I am talking about people in their own country with dialects, you're talking about people in other countries speaking differently from the country where their language originated in. Frankly, i would appreciate it if you wouldn't constantly assume that i am lying for the sake of my "internet cred".

foldr 12y ago
It is simply not true that anyone who speaks a dialect can easily switch to a more standard pronunciation. To take your particular example, the idea of a born-and-bred cockney speaker suddenly switching to Received Pronunciation is just laughable to any British person. If you won't believe this coming from me, a British person, then I'm not sure how much further we can take this conversation. >I am talking about people in their own country with dialects, you're talking about people in other countries speaking differently from the country where their language originated in. I don't see why national boundaries are particularly significant here. Intranational dialectal variation can be as large as international variation. If your point is that it's not reasonable to expect a Cuban to put on a Mexican accent, then I'd point out that it's equally unreasonable to expect someone from the East End to speak like the Queen. In both cases, even if the person happened to be able to do a good impression of the accent in question, they'd feel as though they were doing an impression rather than having a normal conversation. In general, there is no conspiracy here. If people want to communicate with you, and feel able to speak in a more standard dialect to help with this, then they will. If they don't, it's because they can't.

foldr 12y ago

It is simply not true that anyone who speaks a dialect can easily switch to a more standard pronunciation. To take your particular example, the idea of a born-and-bred cockney speaker suddenly switching to Received Pronunciation is just laughable to any British person. If you won't believe this coming from me, a British person, then I'm not sure how much further we can take this conversation. >I am talking about people in their own country with dialects, you're talking about people in other countries speaking differently from the country where their language originated in. I don't see why national boundaries are particularly significant here. Intranational dialectal variation can be as large as international variation. If your point is that it's not reasonable to expect a Cuban to put on a Mexican accent, then I'd point out that it's equally unreasonable to expect someone from the East End to speak like the Queen. In both cases, even if the person happened to be able to do a good impression of the accent in question, they'd feel as though they were doing an impression rather than having a normal conversation. In general, there is no conspiracy here. If people want to communicate with you, and feel able to speak in a more standard dialect to help with this, then they will. If they don't, it's because they can't.