Quote:
Originally Posted by seiki
I was just wondering if a native speaker would be less likely to talk with you if you had a strong foreign accent? I am just learning japanese and do not believe i have an accent but it is highly possible that i could.
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Chances are - you do have a strong accent.
I would say that it might not have a strong effect on their
willingness to talk to you... But it will most likely have an effect on the level of conversation and what they will discuss with you. Even if your Japanese is very good, if you have a strong accent they will likely judge your level as below what it really is. In what I`ve observed, they cut down the difficulty level and speak in the sort of way you would talk with a gradeschooler...
And, well, to be honest this seems to be what happens to most everyone with a strong accent no matter what country they`re in and what language they are speaking.
But even before any of that, unless you`re Asian and look very Japanese, you`re already going to have people figuring you don`t speak Japanese and wary of starting a conversation.