John McWhorter Quotes

I can hardly understand the Australian accent.

As a Scotsman, my accent can sometimes be difficult for people to understand.

Black English is simpler than standard English in some ways; for example, it often gets by with just 'be' and drops 'am,' 'is,' and 'are.' That's because black English arose when adult African slaves learned the language.

Whenever I come across an Arabic word mired in English text, I am momentarily shocked out of the narrative.

It would be good if teachers could genuinely understand that black English is not mistakes, it's just different English, and that what you want to do is add an additional dialect to black students' repertoire rather than teaching them out of what's thought of as a bad habit, like sloppy posture or chewing with your mouth open.

See, my strumpf is in my hair. Now, I don't know what strumpf means. It's just a term some brothas gave me.

Most people, throughout history, haven't learned one language to the exclusion of another. You learn to speak differently to a peasant and to a shoemaker. You speak differently to your mother, who comes from Burgundy, and to your father, who comes from Swabia.

I would always talk with my friends in English and Spanglish, but it was more like slang. It was more like, 'Yo, what's up, dog?' But in Spanish, I know what's proper, and what's ghetto. I know the difference.

The American has no language, he has a dialect, slang, provincialism, accent and so forth

Both my parents had heavy accents, and so did everybody they knew. It's a rhythm thing - people who speak English where they have to hesitate and think of the right word. And I think it rubbed off.

I still have an accent. But when I return to Prague, I speak the language yet do not know what they are talking about.

One of the biggest problems is - you know, I've got some Hispanic friends - is that a lot of those folks that don't know English, is primarily because they don't even know Spanish. They don't even know their own language.

Well, American dialects have been studied for a hundred years or so.

People who grow up with two or more languages understand that each can express certain aspects of reality better than the other.

I remember learning new words, trying to figure out what common things like cider, finding myself upset that my parents couldn't help me understand this new culture, that it was up to me to interpret for them as well as myself.

Everyone knows English is my second language and my vocabulary is not as broad as it is in Spanish, and because of this, sometimes I use the wrong words to express myself.

Are you trying to give me a hint that I should drop it? I can lose the accent; I just have to really focus on what I'm saying. And I have to talk slowly.

An accent in a way can be an entry into a character.

For the benefit of those who are not bilingual, I will now continue in English.

Man is multiplied by the number of languages he possesses and speaks.

My grandmother is bilingual, but she preferred to speak Spanish at home, so she would speak to us in Spanish, and everyone responded in English, sort of like what happens on 'Jane.'

The idea of Homo monolinguis - one-languaged man - the idea of children having to grow into one system before we confuse them with another mental system, is an idea with which, unfortunately, many people are brought up now.

I don't speak English or French, but that doesn't mean anything.

I so want to be able to speak another language. I love the way my friends who are half Italian and half English break from one language into another without even pausing.

I wanted to have a book that showed there's no one way to sound black. I wanted to tell teens that the way you speak is okay; you're good the way you are.