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Acquiring the native accent | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
| vanityx3 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6242 days ago 331 posts - 326 votes  1 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Spanish, Japanese | Message 1 of 25 13 February 2008 at 4:50pm | IP Logged | |||||
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How come some people even though they live in a country with a different language than their native language never pick up the native accent, while others speak with a really good accent?
I notice in America all the time, people that have lived here 5 or 10 years and speak English and hear English on a daily basis, but they never pick up the accent. They still try to speak English like they would speak their native language, and it usually sounds weird. Other times people pick up the accent really quickly. Any ideas why some people get it [a native accent] and others never do? Edited by vanityx3 on 13 February 2008 at 4:51pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Rekunoto Senior Member United States Joined 5956 days ago 104 posts - 105 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Mandarin | Message 2 of 25 13 February 2008 at 5:25pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I think people get into a habit of speaking and writing before they have been exposed to enough of the language. In the process, if the person doesn't know how to correctly say a sentence, they may just say it how they would do in their native language. I wouldn't burn myself out trying to get a native accent. Instead, focus on not developing a foreign accent. A couple of tips to keep you from developing a foreign accent in your target language.
1. If you know you are pronouncing something wrong, focus entirely on pronouncing it right (ask a native speaker for help. If this isn't an option, listen to the sound over and over and work on reproducing it) 2. Do not speak unless you know for a fact that whatever you are trying to say is grammatical. 3. Don't listen to people who say "foreigners will always have accents" or "English speakers can't roll their R's" or whatever. So, in my opinion, the major reason for having a foreign accent is a poor method of learning. When language learners go out to learn a new language, they have a choice to make. 1. You can accept having a foreign accent 2. You can work towards, and eventually achieve, a native accent. Many people who choose number 2 eventually give up and go back to 1. These people will be sure to tell everyone the achieving native fluency in a language is impossible. It seems as though sometimes we think that if we fail, everyone else will too. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Julie Heptaglot Senior Member PolandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6684 days ago 1251 posts - 1733 votes 5 sounds Speaks: Polish*, EnglishB2, GermanC2, SpanishB2, Dutch, Swedish, French | Message 3 of 25 13 February 2008 at 5:52pm | IP Logged | |||||
It's a completely different topic but I just couldn't stop myself ;). I don't agree. I know it's important not to develop bad habits (because it's like repeating the same mistakes over and over till we will have learned them) but still... it's more important for me to use the language, to communicate. And many mistakes can be corrected then, with a decent amount of exposure to the language. (Pronunciation is much more difficult to correct, but grammar isn't really a problem). By the way, I don't even know if what I've just written is grammatical... And I'm not a beginner. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| leosmith Senior Member United States Joined 6331 days ago 2365 posts - 3804 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Tagalog | Message 4 of 25 13 February 2008 at 7:20pm | IP Logged | |||||
There are probably many reasons, but let me just focus on one. Some people aren't willing to take the risk, be flexible, sound silly, or whatever you want to call it. I remember when I started studying Thai, I thought "I don't like the way they make those silly sounding tones. So I'm going to make the tones the way I want to." When I went to Thailand, and essentially wasn't understood at all, my whole attitude about pronunciation changed. Now I do anything my voice will allow to get closer to the sounds I hear. I think many people aren't willing to make this jump. Edit: I just thought of another example. My Japanese tutor couldn't pronounce "woman". He wasn't even close. So I said it very slowly and clearly, having him repeat it. Again and again, breaking it down in many different ways, he pronounced it the exact same way each time. Absolutely no change. I was sure he wasn't even trying. I was a terrible teacher of course, but I still think the root of the problem was his inability to relax and let his voice try something new. Major fossilization. Japanese have about the most narrow range of pronunciation there is, so I suppose I should cut him some slack. Edited by leosmith on 13 February 2008 at 7:28pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Earle Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6096 days ago 276 posts - 276 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Norwegian, Spanish | Message 5 of 25 14 February 2008 at 12:04am | IP Logged | |||||
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Well, what I'm going to say is not going to be universally popular. To a great degree, the ability to imitate is hard-wired. I do know that being musical has a large part in the process. I think that a person learning a new language should aim for clarity in speaking and being understood, as that might be the highest goal attainable. IF one has to move into another culture and business or professional needs dictate that a major effort needs to be made to "fit in," then have at it, but I think the "native accent" is a will-o-the-wisp...
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| Betjeman Groupie Germany Joined 5924 days ago 85 posts - 204 votes Speaks: German* | Message 6 of 25 14 February 2008 at 3:57am | IP Logged | |||||
I totally agree with your disagreement. If you always tried to be grammatically correct, if you never allowed yourself any mistake, you would hardly ever develop the spontaneity of a native speaker - including a native-like accent, which has a lot to do with rhythm, speed and melody (while colloquial language is rarely grammatically faultless). So in my opinion you're not off-topic at all. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6484 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 7 of 25 14 February 2008 at 4:18am | IP Logged | |||||
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I also have to disagree. You are in a much better position to correct your errors if you don't have to think about what to say all the time, and being fluent in that sense of the word is something that takes training. If you never say or write anything because you are afraid of making errors then you won't get that kind of fluency, it's that simple.
The whole notion of 'fossilized errors' is wrong. People who make the same errors do so because they think that their communication is going well so they don't have to care about their language any more, not because their wiring has settled permanently in an inappropriate way. But an otherwise fluent speaker who is told about a recurrent error, understands the problem, accepts the solution and seriously try to apply it should be able to correct any recurring error almost on the spot. A speaker who is struggling with even the simplest attempts at communication may not be able just to add one more irritating thing to look out for. This doesn't mean that you have to try to speak and write from the beginning, - for instance it may be a good strategy first to learn enough to read simple texts before you try to compose your own sentences. But from the moment you feel that you are ready for that then just keep going in spite of all the errors. It is more important to acquire as much momentum as possible than it is to be perfect from the beginning. Edited by Iversen on 17 February 2008 at 4:14pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| densou Senior Member Italy foto.webalice.it/denRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5913 days ago 120 posts - 121 votes Speaks: Italian* | Message 8 of 25 14 February 2008 at 6:30am | IP Logged | |||||
Indeed... 1 person has voted this message useful |
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