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The importance of a good accent | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Teango Triglot Winner TAC 2010 & 2012 Senior Member United States teango.wordpress.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5557 days ago 2210 posts - 3734 votes  Speaks: English*, German, Russian Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona | Message 17 of 255 10 December 2010 at 8:43pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I think it all depends on which language you're learning and how well accustomed native speakers are to hearing their language spoken differently and with differing levels of fluency.
For example, I've noticed how some of my Russian friends find it particularly challenging to understand what other non-natives are saying, whereas by comparison, I'm quite used to hearing English spoken in a variety of ways and at all sorts of levels. So be it listening to Jamaican patois or laughing along to Rab C Nesbitt on the tele, it all just comes quite naturally really. However I accept that this may not always be the case with other languages, or at least not to the same extent. This is why I'd say that a good accent is always a bonus and something good to aim for, but it's probably much more important in countries where variation in pronunciation is less common. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| mick33 Senior Member United States Joined 5925 days ago 1335 posts - 1632 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Finnish Studies: Thai, Polish, Afrikaans, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Spanish, Swedish | Message 18 of 255 10 December 2010 at 8:43pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
EDIT: I had to correct a typo. Edited by mick33 on 13 December 2010 at 6:49am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| justberta Diglot Senior Member Norway Joined 5586 days ago 140 posts - 170 votes Speaks: English, Norwegian* Studies: Indonesian, German, Spanish, Russian | Message 19 of 255 10 December 2010 at 9:29pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Someone with a limited vocabulary and a flawless accent is more fluent in my book. We
aren't talking about memorizing a few phrases from a phrasebook here, rather being on an intermediate level with flawless pronunciation and accent. Thorbjorn Jagland and that old Norwegian actress embarrassed me on TV today, our King is worse though! Yet compared to Putin, Morales et al. the Norwegians are pretty good. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| ruskivyetr Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5482 days ago 769 posts - 962 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Spanish, Russian, Polish, Modern Hebrew | Message 20 of 255 11 December 2010 at 12:52am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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In my opinion, a good accent is important. I've noticed that if you have an accent, people slow down their speech
and use simpler words as if accommodating a conversation with a child. Regardless of how well you understand the language, or how well you speak it, a person will always act otherwise. Obtaining an accent that people respect (as in they will speak to you like they normally speak) isn't hard. Most people learning English/other school languages, just pronounce words without trying to have a better accent. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Lucas Pentaglot Groupie Switzerland Joined 5168 days ago 85 posts - 130 votes Speaks: French*, English, German, Italian, Russian Studies: Mandarin | Message 21 of 255 11 December 2010 at 8:55am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I'm surprised Selfrid (a language specialist) confuses accent and prononciation.
A foreign accent is often funny, pleasant or nice...a bad prononciation is never, because it interfers with comprehension. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Aineko Triglot Senior Member New Zealand Joined 5449 days ago 238 posts - 442 votes Speaks: Serbian*, EnglishC2, Spanish Studies: Russian, Arabic (Written), Mandarin | Message 22 of 255 11 December 2010 at 9:32am | IP Logged | ||||||||
I got the impression people on this topic have different concept of 'having an accent'. I have an obvious accent (obvious even if I just say 'yes', since my 'yes' differs from spiky, short and quick Kiwi girls' 'yes'). However, in four years no one ever has slowed down their speech when talking to me. So, we must be talking about different 'kinds' of accent. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5335 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 23 of 255 11 December 2010 at 10:56pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
If you are referring to me (Solfrid not Selfrid :-) I am not sure I would go as far as calling myself a language specialist in the present company. An accent can be light, cute, or it can be heavy to the point of being incomprehensible. In my book that is a sliding slope, not two different alternatives. But please tell me where I am confused. I am always willing to learn :-) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| microsnout TAC 2010 Winner Senior Member Canada microsnout.wordpress Joined 5472 days ago 277 posts - 553 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 24 of 255 12 December 2010 at 1:07am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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There is certainly a distinction between accents and correct pronunciation yet they are obviously related. Different
L1 native accents like British, Scottish and Canadian English are all considered correct pronunciation by virtue of being shared by millions of people. Less desired are the crossover L2 accents but some of these are pleasing as well - for example I like a French Canadian accent in spoken English if the underlying grammar is correct. The worst to my ear is what I would call a "language student" accent caused by spending too much time practicing with other students of the same level. Sometimes in this situation you need to repeat something in a LESS authentic way for them to understand - the exact opposite of what is needed with native speakers. That is you repeat in the more anglicised way that they are used to. I guess this is just bad pronunciation. As mentioned above it is clear that people judge your fluency by your pronunciation and this can be a problem if your listening comprehension is not up to par as you can receive a torrent of high speed native content in return if you say something too well. It is unfortunate however to need to dial back your authenticity a bit to prevent this. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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