filipino accent...hmmm

It does sound funny. I am a Filipino myself and is a tesol teacher. Accent can be neutralized. It can be learned first and foremost by listening to sounds very well, particularly the sounds of the language. Filipinos are known to have a neutral accent especially those who are working in the call centers. I think that should be the aim of those who want to get rid of the Filipino accent. Another is that English should be taught properly in schools. Filipinos learn better and speak English better when taught better.

You're right about these common faults being funny. However, I still believe that most Filipinos can speak better english than those from other parts of the world.

It does make it difficult for other English speakers to understand you. I have a Filipino friend whom I have spoken to on the phone and, though she can write excellent English, her accent is very difficult to understand. What I think you are talking about is really a dialect because when you are speaking, you will very often mix some Pinoy (Tagalog or other) words in and sometimes use Filipino constructions but with English words.

I believe that it is quite possible for people to speak two or more 'dialects' or languages. The human brain is certainly capable of understanding many more than just one language. In fact, from the age of about four to eight, it doesn't matter what language someone speaks to you. So long as you know some of that language, you accept that that is the way that you talk to that person. After the age of about 8 to 10, one becomes aware of language in a different way, it seems, and it becomes very much harder to learn a new language.

Yes, it could be amusing at times especially our friends in Pangasinan. They have this unique accent in uttering English words e.g., "river" is pronounced as "riborrr" and "jeans" as "ranglorrr" (joke, joke, hehehe).

Anyways, peculiar English accent or pronunciation can be encountered worldwide, which is of course linked to the native language in a particular country. Chinese cannot pronounce the letter "r", they always use "l" instead. The reverse is true for Japanese. Germans and Dutch pronounce "w" as "v" (and vice versa) and "g" as "k" (and vice versa). I guess that's how it is.

I think it all comes to the proper education and learning we had since the elementary days. When we speak english back then, we don't care if we were having the accent or not, we just look at the correct words and not the pronunciations. Our teachers don't even bother to tell us what's the difference. They don't practice it themselves. LOL

Yes, sometimes it can be funny. I have some friends who are like that and the most surprising of all, they are not aware they pronounced that way. Like for example October, one male friend pronounced it Octover, people he will say fifol, apply is ridiculously pronounced affly. At first, I was amused but when one of our male friends is influenced the way he pronounced words, I began thinking if I will still listen to him, I am afraid I will be influenced too.hahahaha

Well, maybe that mistake can be attributed to his speech manner, sometimes he stammered in public. Though I tried to correct him, still he is unaware when he began to speak.

hmmm maybe it sounds funny because we are used to it being funny. i mean if we hear people from latin countries speak with an accent, they don't sound funny because it is different from our accent. another factor may be is that we do know how american english sounds like so when we hear someone with a filipino accent it seems kinda off.