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Where did my accent go?! | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| Eimii Groupie United States Joined 5838 days ago 44 posts - 47 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Russian, Polish | Message 1 of 8 17 December 2008 at 3:29pm | IP Logged | ||
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I don't know if this is just me (it's probably not) but it happens so much. Whenever I practice speaking the language by myself, I feel like my accent is near perfect, but when I get into a social situation where I'm actually speaking to people, my accent just goes out the window and I speak with the heaviest American accent in the language (this was with Spanish, but it's happened to my Russian too).
In Spanish I didn't practice as much, because I was passing the class and didn't care as much. But with Russian, I really want to learn it and I actually feel like I have a good accent, so I hate when this happens. I think it's just nerves, but what should I do? It's hard to stop my damn American accent from making an appearance. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Julie Heptaglot Senior Member PolandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6909 days ago 1251 posts - 1733 votes  5 sounds Speaks: Polish*, EnglishB2, GermanC2, SpanishB2, Dutch, Swedish, French | Message 2 of 8 17 December 2008 at 3:59pm | IP Logged | ||
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If you just practice speaking you're able to concentrate on the pronunciation. Then you start just to speak to somebody and you're not paying that much attention to your accent anymore. It's perfectly normal, it means you just need some more practice (and patience :)).
I heard (but never really tested it) that it's good to exaggerate while practicing (speaking louder, more clearly, making long vowels longer than usually etc.) - the accent should get "normal" when you then actually speak the language. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Eimii Groupie United States Joined 5838 days ago 44 posts - 47 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Russian, Polish | Message 3 of 8 17 December 2008 at 4:07pm | IP Logged | ||
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Yes, I practice speaking in a Russian accent all the time and sometimes I'll say a sentence in English in a Russian accent without meaning to. Or I'll roll English r's for no reason. It's just when I get nervous speaking, my accent doesn't work. I just need to get more comfortable.
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| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 6017 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 4 of 8 18 December 2008 at 5:59am | IP Logged | ||
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It's a matter of self-image.
Part of you feels that your accent is like your face, and shouldn't change. In classes or practise sessions, you aren't presenting yourself, you're just playing around with the language. However, once you're in a social situation, part of you feels that changing the accent is dishonest: it's like you're acting or just pretending to be someone you're not. When you can convince yourself that there's nothing wrong with changing your accent a bit (heck, you probably do it all the time any way -- I sound very different on the phone to England than when I'm talking to my friends in a wee village pub) this will just cascade through any and all languages you learn. It's all because you're worried about appearances. Sit back, relax and enjoy the ride, then it'll just happen. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Olympia Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5987 days ago 195 posts - 244 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Old English, French | Message 5 of 8 18 December 2008 at 10:45am | IP Logged | ||
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To me, having an accent is no big deal. Just focus on really pronouncing all of the sounds as accurately as possible.
As one of the previous posters said, my accent is part of who I am, and I have to respect that. Yes, I'm always looking to improve my skills, but having an accent just means I am from a different place--it doesn't necessarily mean I speak incorrectly. In my opinion, focusing on having correct grammar and vocabulary is far more important than having a perfect accent. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Eimii Groupie United States Joined 5838 days ago 44 posts - 47 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Russian, Polish | Message 6 of 8 18 December 2008 at 12:16pm | IP Logged | ||
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Cainntear, you're completely right that I feel like I'm being someone I'm faking the accent. I'll try not to care as much.
Olympia, I see where you're coming from and I agree that grammar and vocab. are more important. Though, after several Slavic people said that English speakers sound ridiculous speaking their languages...I wanted to develop their accent. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| furrykef Senior Member United States furrykef.com/ Joined 6478 days ago 681 posts - 862 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Japanese, Latin, Italian | Message 7 of 8 21 December 2008 at 4:24pm | IP Logged | ||
My guess is that it's nervousness. Nervousness does things to your voice and you kinda lose control over it. A lot of people handle foreign languages just fine, but I know I get nervous when I use Spanish in real life (largely because I have very few opportunities to do so and therefore never get any real practice). I could be completely wrong, of course... if you don't feel nervous, well, then I guess you're not nervous. But if you do feel nervous, well, that's probably what causes it. - Kef 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Alkeides Senior Member Bhutan Joined 6154 days ago 636 posts - 644 votes | Message 8 of 8 22 December 2008 at 6:31am | IP Logged | ||
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I assume you usually speak far more English than Spanish daily.
Try speaking in a different accent in English itself. It will feel awkward in the beginning but it's fun if you can do it accurately. The rhythm of British accents and the pitch is actually quite different from American accents. Speak like that to everyone you meet - it can get rid of your anxiety in feeling that you're "faking" something fairly quickly. After all, actors do fake accents all the time, no? 1 person has voted this message useful |
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