Is Ahnold's heavy accent an affectation?

[raccoon]

German speakers I've been acquainted with speak English with much less of an accent than Ahnold does. Given that he's an actor, and that another politician unfortunately in a higher position than Ahnold fakes an accent, I wonder.

[EST]

1. I think so, part of it, at least.

I have met many whose native language is not english and, in many cases, the person can speak much plainer than they do.
The ones that stick with me include a guy from Puerto Rico who was a great ladies man. He had correctly divined that he attracted far more female attention with broken or heavily accented English.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

2. How Do You Explain Kissingers?

Arnold did come here in his twenties...

[raccoon]

6. I don't remember how Kissinger sounded. nt

[aquart]

3. He came to America as a young man, after puberty.

So I'd say it's real. Just like Kissinger.

[MadHound]

4. I seriously doubt it.

I grew up in a small town made up primarily of German immigrants, some who had immigrated twenty-thirty years prior(mostly fleeing Nazi Germany). Most of them still spoke with a heavy accent. The younger one was at the time of immigration, the less pronounced the accent would become, but I knew a few who had immigrated in early adolescence and they still had a fairly heavy accent. The only ones who didn't have such an accent at all is those who immigrated as small children.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

5. I Read That Your Speech Pattern Is Set By Age Six.

I don't know if that's true or not...

[Bassic]

12. Age 12 actually.

If you're exposed enough to a second language by age 12, you can learn to speak it without an accent.

[Bluebear]

7. I don't think so, unlike Chimpolini, who got ten times more Southern this week

on the campaign trail.

[Hepburn]

8. I think the only thing about Ah-nold which is real...

...may be the accent.

Although not from Germany, all 4 of my grandparents were born in Europe. They were various ages when they came to the US, but all were at least 16 years or older. One of them died before I was born, but of the three I did know, all had strong accents. The one grandfather I did have, I will note, had less of a strong accent and I think that was because he was out in the business world and spoke much more often with American born English speakers. The grandmothers tended to speak to their friends who primarily spoke in their foreign languages. My grandparents were Romanian and Yugoslav, so maybe in regard to an accent that is different than being from Germany, but I don't think so. We had Italian, German and Hungarian neighbors and I recall the same seemed to be found with them and their accents. And, I have a friend who is from Romania and his accent is just about like I remember with my grandfather and my friend has been in the states for slightly over 40 years ~~ a strong accent ~~ but consistent with someone who is in the business world and spends a lot of time with native born English speakers.

I do know, however, that when any of my family or friends spent considerable time either in their native countries or around people who only spoke that language, the accent got a lot stronger when they spoke in English. My friend from Romania went to visit his family and when he got back, his accent was noticeably stronger.

Just my two-cents....

[KatyMan]

9. I've always unscientifically noticed

that the older a person gets, the more their accent returns This seemed to happen with my German and Irish grandparents and family, but I could be wrong.
I also noticed, as you said, that if a person spends time around their ethnic group, their accent returns. Happened to me recently, actually: while, as an American in England, I don't have a British accent, my speech sort of effects their rhythm and word usage, but after spending a week back in Texas, I sound foreign again!

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

10. Same here.

I don't have the accent but I've certainly picked up some of the intonation, and a lot of the words.

I get a lot of shit about it from my brother in law.

"Cheers? Did you just say cheers???"

[genie_weenie]

11. Yes. During his run as box office champ

Arnold found he was gradually losing the heaviness of his accent and took voice lessons to accentuate it.

[panzerfaust]

13. Why is W the only one in his family ...

... to speak with a Texas accent?

At least as far as I know he is. Certainly, his Pa don't.