|
 |
Timeline to developing an accent | ||
Tags: Accent | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| s_allard Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5428 days ago 2704 posts - 5425 votes  Speaks: French*, English, Spanish Studies: Polish | Message 33 of 100 26 March 2014 at 7:28am | IP Logged | |||||
|
As I follow this thread which reminds me of similar discussions, I think we are getting away from the OP which
asks how long does it take to get rid of one's foreign accent, not how long does it take to acquire a native-like accent in the target language. There is a big distinction between the two. Although this is a different debate, I think it is well established that it is extremely rare for adult learners to ever actually sound native-like. What is less rare is to attenuate one's native accent to some kind of neutral sounding nondescript accent. This is difficult enough. For example, I have never met an adult learner who has learned to sound like an identifiable Québécois or European French speaker. On the other hand, I have met adult learners with excellent French. But they don't sound native. Edit: correction of a few typos. Edited by s_allard on 26 March 2014 at 10:02am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5332 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 34 of 100 26 March 2014 at 8:57am | IP Logged | |||||
I agree. Most Scandinavians get exposed to so much English that it is almost like being immersed, but you hear very few with a native-like accent. That may change in the next generation though, as they get exposed to massive amounts of English from the age of 3-4. I already see that my daughters' accent in English is far better than mine :-) One would think that in Canada you would get people who are truly bilingual, because of the potential exposure. Why is that not the case? Do they stay within their language communities? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Ari Heptaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 6580 days ago 2314 posts - 5695 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese Studies: Czech, Latin, German | Message 35 of 100 26 March 2014 at 9:25am | IP Logged | |||||
|
I suspect that for the vast majority of people who speak a foreign language with a negligeable accent, they have spent very little time working on it. My experience is limited, but I've never met anyone who used to have a pretty thick accent and managed to get rid of it to any significant extent.
My point isn't that it's impossible to improve one's accent*, but that we shouldn't talk about people with a negligeable accent as if they had worked hard to get it, because I don't believe they have. They probably had a great accent the first time they uttered a word in their target language. --- * I do believe it's very hard and you can only improve it a little bit. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| maydayayday Pentaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5217 days ago 564 posts - 839 votes Speaks: English*, German, Italian, SpanishB2, FrenchB2 Studies: Arabic (Egyptian), Russian, Swedish, Turkish, Polish, Persian, Vietnamese Studies: Urdu | Message 36 of 100 26 March 2014 at 9:52am | IP Logged | |||||
|
s_allard: thanks that was the point of the original question - how to nullify your own accent and what techniques work for you. I don't really believe Ari's statement
that you can only improve it a little bit. Six years seems a long time ..... 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| s_allard Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5428 days ago 2704 posts - 5425 votes Speaks: French*, English, Spanish Studies: Polish | Message 37 of 100 26 March 2014 at 10:00am | IP Logged | |||||
It is true that there are many truly bilingual people in Canada, mostly native French speakers of course but not exclusively. But just like the next generation of Scandinavians, it is because they are exposed to the other language at relatively early ages. The really perfectly bilingual people have usually attended school in the other language. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5332 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 38 of 100 26 March 2014 at 10:26am | IP Logged | |||||
I think you are right. You either have a talent for it- and an interest for it - or you don't. I can see how people who are uninterested in accents, and do not find them important would have a harder time getting it right once it is set. I do think everyone has a window of opportunity when they start on a new language though, and if they focus on listening and repeating, there is a fair chance for everyone. Once the accent is set I think one would need an enormous effort to do anything about it, and those who did not bother to get it right the first time are unlikely to want to put in that much effort later on. I would differentiate between two cases though. The one where you pronounce sounds so wrong that they are in fact other sounds/letters than they are supposed to be, and the case where you have the basic sounds down right, but your s, your l or your r is a little off, and your intonation is all over the place. In the first case I would work very hard to do something about it, regardless how long I had studied a language. In the second case I would probably just ignore it. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| beano Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4620 days ago 1049 posts - 2152 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Serbian, Hungarian | Message 39 of 100 26 March 2014 at 12:21pm | IP Logged | |||||
Do you foresee a situation where practically all Scandanavians speak near-flawless English (authentic accent included)? I realise that English is already widely spoken across the region but levels must surely depend upon age, occupation and educational factors. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5332 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 40 of 100 26 March 2014 at 12:28pm | IP Logged | |||||
Not in the near future. The ones with flawless accent now are probably just a fraction of a percent. And levels most definitely vary with age and education level. I have several members in my extended family who could hardly say a word, most of them are conversational, a handful are good, and only my daughters come anywhere near a really, really good accent. The rest of us, including 4 English teachers could not fool anyone for more than 30 seconds, tops. 1 person has voted this message useful |
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
