Learns English as a second language at 12; has no Korean accent.
Sure, Jan.
shareYour comment is absurd. I know dozens of people who learned a second language as a child, spoke it for 20 years, and have no accent. I am one of those people, and no one has ever told me I have an accent. How do you think actors accurately change their accent? How do you think TV reporters who grow up with an accent lose it when they're reporting (though occasionally they do slip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EM-O2AVrNBg)? It varies very much by person. You can't look at a single case and generalize it to everyone.
share"Absurd"? Not exactly. Science shows that accents generally become permanent by the age of 12. Maybe not 100% of the time, but it is the rule rather than the exception. Learning a second language as a child is not the same thing as learning a second language at 12+ years of age which was the age of the character in this movie. And actors aren't permanently altering their speech, they're merely putting it on long enough to get the take (and if you ask a native speaker of whatever language the actor is mimicking, they'll often tell you that the actor isn't necessarily nailing it).
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/accents-are-forever-35886605/
There's a documentary called The Imposter which is excellent and also goes into this subject.
You are woefully uninformed about speech and language development. Language learning is far more complex than you assume. It is influenced by various factors such as motivation, exposure, and practice. AGAIN, you're extrapolating from general patterns to one person. And that indeed is absurd. To suggest that a specific individual cannot learn and use a language for many years and never lose an accent is the epitome of presumptuousness. Tell us, what percentage of people who learn a language after the age of 12 maintain an accent into adulthood. Give us the facts and figures. Furthermore, give us your rationale that there is a 100% chance that the one person you select will have an accent in adulthood. Even the so-called "research" that you cite does not make such absolute pronouncements.
The critical period hypothesis suggests that there is a window of time during which language acquisition, including accents, is most easily achieved, but this does not mean that it is impossible to learn or modify accents beyond a certain age.
I never said anything about "impossible" or "100% of the time." You're the one talking in absolutes. Please go ahead and take up your other concerns with the linguistic experts. I'm just the messenger!
shareYou weren't the least bit hesitant to poke fun at the filmmakers as if your pronouncements are absolute, until you were challenged. You presented yourself as an expert with little knowledge to back up your comments. Yes, of course, I'll take it up with the linguists because the messenger doesn't know what he's talking about and misrepresents them.
shareLOL and massive violent eye roll @ me "presenting myself as an expert." Anyway, I stand by my original post. What we saw in this movie was quite unlikely. You have a nice day.
shareNo surprise that you "stand by" your original post, hopelessly flawed though it is. You're a textbook example of the Dunning-Kruger effect. People who have little competence overestimate their abilities.
shareThis movie is partially autobiographical from the writer/director Celine Song who similarly like Na Young immigrated to Canada at 12, resided there for 12 years before moving and residing in the U.S. for 12+ years. She doesn't have a Korean accent now although she said at one point she had a combo Korean/Brooklynese accent. Song interview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNT742_fS0g
I'll add that Raul Julia speaks English with a very strong Spanish accent, but he can ditch it for roles:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjogCytzX0s
If you're aware of the differences between Standard and the accent/regional English, then it's possible to eliminate it.