Advice on accent as a semi-native?
I am C2 in French. I call myself a native speaker but to be honest, I’m stronger in English. My mother went to a French school in Morocco. When she was younger she had a Parisian accent (because she lived in Paris for ten years) but when she moved to Quebec, obviously there were some changes.
I went to a French kindergarten in Quebec (run by French people).
Most French people are shocked when they find out I’m American. They compliment me on my French accent. I majored in French at university, by the way.
HOWEVER there are some people who will tell me I have a North African accent. French people will tell me I have a beautiful accent, so I’m confused. I don’t know if the other people are racist or what? (I met them in a competitive environment.) Or maybe the other folks who compliment me are picking up on something, but not fully aware.
When I visited Paris last year, I hadn’t been to France in five years so my French got rusty. Someone I spoke to asked me where I was from, because she couldn’t tell. I don’t know if she knew I was a foreigner because I was wearing athleisure&goretex? Or because there was something ambiguous in my accent?
How would you approach diagnosing this issue? Thanks