Edmund in the Courtyard

Our British friends enjoy Sam’s accent. Apparently her American twang is really strong, or perhaps it’s the phenomenon whereby a foreign child speaking her native language sounds unbelievably cute.

Today after French class, Sam’s American accent came up in conversation among the parents and I said that she can mimic a British accent, but only unconsciously. When you ask her to speak “British” it comes out all wrong, but if she’s absorbed in play, making dolls and bears talk to each other, one or two of the characters will usually sound authentically English.

I asked Sam to speak some of her “British” today and she first quipped “Mum!” and then after everyone laughed, she launched into an impromptu recitation of a chapter from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

She still sounded mostly American, but I watched jaws drop as she kept going, and going, and going.

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is Sam’s favorite book of late. We’ve listened to the audio book dozens of times and we’re currently reading The Silver Chair, the fourth book in the Narnia series. Sam is desperate to get into Narnia and she checks the wardrobe in her room at least once a day.

This evening at dinner after I told AC about Sam’s recitation, she reprised it. AC managed to record it using his mobile phone. In this clip, she starts off American, then her vowels and Rs change and she sounds more English, only to finish near the end with a big old Yankee “um” and her American accent reasserts herself.

Will Sam have a future career as a voice actor? AC and I had a hard time not cracking up while she recited from memory the scene where Edmund walks into the courtyard of the witch’s house and finds numerous statues of stone.