While catching up on one of my 30 Rock fix this past weekend, I found myself intrigued by Vanessa Minillo’s codeswitching-character, Carmen Chao. Codeswitching being the idea that one can change their dialect (or register*) to another in order to meet the demands of the situation.
The entertaining character plays off of one’s innate ability to hear foreign dialects or accents and place them. However, when faced with Carmen Chao’s ability to master so many different dialects and registers, the characters of 30 Rock and its viewers are left wondering what nationality the woman actually is. Many Americans only speak English and for those who attempt to learn another language, learning the language is only half of the battle.
Mastering the intricacies of language and its accents are extremely difficult, because all human beings are so ingrained with the rules of their first language. Something as tiny one’s puffs of air (aspiration) while speaking can be difference between a realistic register and butchering a foreign language.
There are tons of these tiny little aspects of language, which the ear can tell but most do not have a name for. And on top of that, all of these details are different from language to language!! So this makes me wonder- is it even possible to master your first language, let alone another language?
*Register- a spoken variety of language connected to a certain role or situation.
Michaels, L., Fey, T., Klein, M., Miner, D. & Carlock., R. (Producer). 2011. !Que Sopresa! [ 30 Rock ]. New York, NY: NBC.
Katy, this clip is a good one! I love how she is able to do all these dialects with an ease, and kept the mystery of what ethnicity she is from the general public. However, you make an intriguing point. Learning a language, even though it is someone’s dominate language, can take a long time to master 100%. I think if someone wants to master another language that could take a long time on top of trying to master their own language. Once individuals try to master another language, often those individuals have the foreign sound so it seems ligate but may not have 100% mastered it fully. But then, how do we know if we had mastered any language? I believe it may be an on-going process. To be culturally diverse, I think it is a good idea for people to know more than one language, but since people can not master their own language simply, it is safe to say it is ok as long as we can understand each other in one way or another.
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