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The importance of a good accent | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5116 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes  Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 193 of 255 24 April 2013 at 11:32am | IP Logged | |||||
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I can understand not wanting to set aside time specifically to work on the accent. I do not do that either.
However once you learn a new word or sentence it is all part of the process to learn the pronunciation as well, and if all you do is to apply the pronunciation used in your native language, then it seems to be a funny way to learn a language. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4489 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 194 of 255 24 April 2013 at 11:48am | IP Logged | |||||
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Accent and pronunciation is always the first thing I train. Why? Because getting it right
makes it easier for you to distinguish their sounds and also lowers the speech barrier at the beginning. It's easier to talk if you don't sound like a howling dog. Edited by tarvos on 24 April 2013 at 11:48am 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| montmorency Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4610 days ago 2371 posts - 3676 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Danish, Welsh | Message 195 of 255 24 April 2013 at 10:50pm | IP Logged | |||||
And sometimes (only sometimes), I almost envy those people. After all, they are quite often effortlessly producing what sounds like quite accurate TL, quite understandable (to me), but I can hear their native (English) accent clear as a bell, although they themselves seem quite oblivious to it. Since it's presumably also understandable to a native speaker of that language, I wonder, why did I bother to twist my tongue into unusual positions to try to achieve a more accurate TL accent (probably hopelessly unsuccessfully), when I could have not bothered, and put all the effort into vocab and grammar? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Tsopivo Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4253 days ago 258 posts - 411 votes Speaks: French*, English Studies: Esperanto | Message 196 of 255 25 April 2013 at 2:36am | IP Logged | |||||
I don't think anyone aims for a bad accent. The question is more: how much efforts are you willing to put into improving your accent? 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| mike245 Triglot Senior Member Hong Kong Joined 6754 days ago 303 posts - 408 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Cantonese Studies: French, German, Mandarin, Khmer | Message 197 of 255 25 April 2013 at 4:58am | IP Logged | |||||
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I consider striving for a good accent to be similar to striving for perfect grammar. In
most languages, you can be readily understood even if you mix up noun genders, conjugate words incorrectly, occasionally use an improper preposition, etc. An extreme example would be if someone said "she tomorrow with me go to store." I understand completely the meaning of the sentence, even though it's not correct. Nevertheless, most language learners (at least here on this forum) would still strive to use correct grammatical constructions as much as possible. Maybe you aren’t doing it because you want to pass off as a native speaker, but simply because you want to speak the language the best that you can. For me, the same holds true for trying to achieve a good accent. Edited by mike245 on 25 April 2013 at 4:59am 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6987 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French | Message 198 of 255 25 April 2013 at 7:55am | IP Logged | |||||
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I would expect people who don't care much about accent to have a terrible one. Even someone who wants a good one may fall short. Someone who doesn't care much is generally difficult to listen to, unless their accent has some prestige (say a Russian speaking English) or they are good looking.
It may have something to do with the native language. Spanish doesn't sound pleasant with a thick American accent. Most foreign languages don't sound pleasant to my ears with a thick American accent. Edited by luke on 26 April 2013 at 11:04am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Tsopivo Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4253 days ago 258 posts - 411 votes Speaks: French*, English Studies: Esperanto | Message 199 of 255 25 April 2013 at 8:10am | IP Logged | |||||
This is good comparison and while I think no one here would be happy with a "she tomorrow with me go to store" level of grammar or accent, some people will not strive for perfect grammar or accent either. They will stop somewhere in between; when they consider that the efforts required are not worth the expected improvement. Heck, even native speakers usually do not have perfect grammar and they certainly have accents. The difference I see though is that grammar is more "objective" and accent more "subjective". For instance, I do not see a context where involuntary grammar mistakes would be seen as something positive. On the contrary, a slight accent can be considered pleasant or charming. I also have the impression, but I might be wrong, that every one is more or less equal when it comes to grammar but accents come more easily for some than for others. I also feel that accents are somewhat less "wrong" than imperfect grammar. A native making a grammatical mistake might be a common sight but it is still "wrong". However, there is nothing wrong with a native speaker having an accent. Edited by Tsopivo on 25 April 2013 at 8:13am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| vogue Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 4036 days ago 109 posts - 181 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, Spanish Studies: Ukrainian | Message 200 of 255 25 April 2013 at 1:14pm | IP Logged | |||||
My Spanish accent has a very distinct American accent, but it doesn't impede understanding. I actually had a discussion one day with some friends where they said my accent was thick, but I had a much better vocabulary than a mutual friend who spoke like a native but didn't have the same level of Spanish. They said it was far easier to talk to me, because I understood and could give more complete answers than her (mind you - her Spanish is still quite good, but I am more accustomed to living in Spanish than her). Clearly an accent isn't always an impediment to understanding, and I'd take the 'you know more' compliment over 'she has a better accent' any day. On the other hand, it's a clear problem when your accent is thick enough to impede understanding. I've heard people speaking English and have had no idea what they were saying. Likewise, I've said things in Italian that went un-understood until I wrote them and my pronunciation was corrected (usually I was emphasizing the wrong syllable). 1 person has voted this message useful |
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