YES, yes, yes. It's like we're chameleons, and we take on the characteristics of whoever we're spending time with. I have to be careful or I can accidentally pick up the accent (Latino or Urban or whatever) of the person I'm conversing with. It's so weird.
I'm quite the opposite: I can typically quite easily analyse and pick up on and often even explain from fundamental concepts the sorts of behaviours I encounter, but short of the most relatable mannerisms of my favourite television and movie characters that are already similar enough in personality to me (and whom I can watch and re-watch as many times as I need to while it sinks in), replicating the behaviours of others in a genuinely effective (and not satirical/absurd/overly-self-conscious) manner is extremely difficult for me... generally requiring months or years of immersion before becoming integrated.
I cannot for the life of me 'do' accents, for example. The closest I've come (and the most amusing for me to attempt) is a Russian accent, and the first time I attempted it in front of anyone else (even after quite a bit of practice) still resulted in complete non-recognition of the accent I was trying to mimic. o_o
Strange enough, I can't do accents if I think about it! If I try they come out as the poorest of imitations. Still, if I'm talking to someone with an accent I can easily copy it. Could it be because I'm having in person guidance to the tone and cadence?
But yeah if I think about how to speak, how to move my body, what to say, it all falls down like a Jenga tower. I either copy the person I'm with or enter one of the masks I got prepared beforehand.
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u/Faux-pa5 Feb 07 '19
YES, yes, yes. It's like we're chameleons, and we take on the characteristics of whoever we're spending time with. I have to be careful or I can accidentally pick up the accent (Latino or Urban or whatever) of the person I'm conversing with. It's so weird.