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Shadowing for other L1 accents | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Akalabeth Groupie Canada Joined 5519 days ago 83 posts - 112 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: German, Japanese | Message 1 of 6 25 April 2010 at 10:55pm | IP Logged |
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I'm curious if anyone has used shadowing not for actual language learning, but to learn
other accents in their native language. I'm thinking of trying for a British or Irish accent. Obviously a just-for-fun sort of thing. If anyone's done this, did they have any difficulty mixing up their native accent with the second accent? Is it super time consuming? I still want to continue learning Japanese, so if I can't do both I'll probably drop the second accent. If anyone has done it before any thoughts would be helpful. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| robsolete Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5385 days ago 191 posts - 428 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Arabic (Written), Mandarin | Message 2 of 6 25 April 2010 at 11:36pm | IP Logged |
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Hm. I don't see how this would hurt, and I'm sure it would be a great exercise. I've never done this myself, but I took a lot of classical voice lessons in university, and so I met a lot of music and theater folks. Those who had to learn accents would do something pretty similar to shadowing (though usually also while learning their lines).
I don't know if it would be enough to JUST shadow, though, without studying some phonetics. I mean, I guess if you want to do it as a party trick, then sure it's enough. But if you want to be able to truly pass, you'd probably need to study some phonetics just so you can consciously be aware of what *specifics* need to be different and, with a lot of time and practice, learn to fend off the unconscious influence of your 'mother' accent. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| BartoG Diglot Senior Member United States confession Joined 5447 days ago 292 posts - 818 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Italian, Spanish, Latin, Uzbek | Message 3 of 6 26 April 2010 at 1:57am | IP Logged |
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robsolete is right about finding out about phonetics and sound production in general. If you don't know how to make a nasal, you can shadow French till the cows come home and not get anywhere. But once you learn the trick, all you need is practice, which shadowing is perfect for. Consider point of resonance: American Standard resonates somewhere in the middle of the mouth; British RP (received pronunciation, what Americans perceive as stereotypically British) resonates further forward. Shift the point of resonance and your vowels will change, your consonants will become more clipped and the American "r" will be hard to say in a lot of places, which is why the British don't. If you know about points of resonance, doing a credible job with a new accent is a whole lot easier. This is, of course, just one thing that the accent coaches will tell you about if you really want to know. So yes, shadow away. But first, find out what really goes into making the sounds that you're shadowing.
If you're interested in accents in general, Blumenfeld's "Accents: A manual for actors" has examples of tons of accents and explanations of what's going on with your mouth in order to produce the sounds you're shadowing. It comes with CDs. And it also provides coverage of a lot of non-native accents, which will not only give you some amusement but maybe accidentally offer a tip or two for a sound you're having trouble with in your L2. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| dangre37 Newbie United States Joined 5389 days ago 12 posts - 16 votes Studies: Russian | Message 4 of 6 26 April 2010 at 7:42pm | IP Logged |
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You might also want to check out the Accent Help site, at:
http://www.accenthelp.com/ They have a lot of different accent training programs available. I personally find no harm in learning to speak with a new accent; it can make an individual appear colorful and interesting. But if you choose to use a specifically foreign accent in public, don't be surprised if someone asks you about it. Then your motive for doing this sort of thing comes into question. If you're not really British but speak with a British accent because you think it makes you sound hip, then you may be viewed as a pretentious phony. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| andee Tetraglot Senior Member Japan Joined 7077 days ago 681 posts - 724 votes 3 sounds Speaks: English*, German, Korean, French | Message 5 of 6 27 April 2010 at 2:27am | IP Logged |
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I think if you work on it long enough you can basically lose your original accent.
Look at people like Anthony LaPaglia.. I've heard him attempt an Australian accent when he was in an interview here and it was pretty terrible, even though he's Australian. He said in the same interview that he started using the accent he has now to get acting work in America. If he told people he was Australian first and then spoke in his New Yorker (I think it's a New Yorker accent, I could be wrong) they claimed to still hear the Australian side of things. So he started just telling people he was from NYC and speaking in that accent from the word go. Mind you, this is an extreme example. Having a knowledge of phonetics and doing it to practice other accents is a different thing. Personally, I attempted to change my accent somewhat for teaching. I naturally speak something in the middle of a NW Lancs and Aussie, but I attempted to standardise for the classroom. I can change to a BBC English model with almost no regional markings with no real training, but American is another story. I'm intending on going through a General American accent program to try to remedy this since it's what the majority of my students feel most familiar with. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Luk Triglot Groupie Argentina Joined 5335 days ago 91 posts - 127 votes Speaks: Spanish*, English, French Studies: Italian, German, Mandarin, Greek | Message 6 of 6 27 April 2010 at 6:03pm | IP Logged |
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check out the channel of this girl: http://www.youtube.com/user/amiablewalker
she's an actress and in some of her videos she explains how to develop an English accent. good luck! 1 person has voted this message useful |
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