How to Know What You Sound Like to Other Peie
"What? Yous are not French?!?"
The girl, a Parisian herself, sat next to me, stunned. We had been chatting away in the hall of a hostel in Prague, Czech republic, for several hours.
For all that time, she had idea that I was one of her own. Non a native Italian, but a born-and-raised français de souche (native French).
And all because I had worked tirelessly to develop a great accent in French.
With that girl, information technology ended up making a huge departure. The accent helped me create an instant, potent, emotional connection with her.
Then much then, in fact, that she and I would proceed to engagement for five years afterward.
By speaking French with a native-like accent, I was speaking to her eye, even before speaking to her mind.
In fact, this is only i of the many times, episodes and means in which a native-like accent has helped me establish a strong, solid bond with countless people all around the world.
"Ok Luca, great, I know that speaking any language with a great accent has incredible benefits. Only how can I practise that? Information technology seems so difficult!"
Truthful. It'due south almost incommunicable when you have the incorrect mindset and the wrong tools.
That'due south why I have decided to share my seven best tips to help you develop a great accent right from the start.
Let's get started!
Tip 1. Focus on Phonetics from the Very Beginning
When starting to learn a new language, many learners avoid focusing on their accents. Instead, they worry well-nigh collecting words and sentences, and only "knowing" as much virtually their target language every bit they tin, hoping that someday, and somehow, they will develop a nifty accent.
This is a short-sighted approach for many reasons.
Firstly, if you ignore phonetics—the sounds, pronunciation, and intonation of a language—yous will ultimately have a very difficult time communicating with anyone in the language.
This is because:
Secondly, if y'all ignore proper pronunciation and intonation, yous will stop upwardly developing and reinforcing bad habits.
This is because:
What you lot demand to do is focus on the phonetics of the language, I recommend that yous offset practicing to improve your pronunciation as soon as you can—from the very kickoff of your learning, if possible.
Whatsoever your case may be, make sure that proper pronunciation and intonation are a priority for you. If you lot start early, you can avoid e'er having to worry well-nigh having a bad emphasis.
Tip 2. Acquire Intonation Start, Then Pronunciation
The majority of linguistic communication courses and classes bachelor today usually teach phonetics by focusing on the pronunciation of private sounds.
Once you lot have learned how to pronounce sounds in isolation, these resource will then teach the pronunciation of words, and so sentences. Intonation, if it is taught at all, is covered at the very terminate of the process, and often poorly.
This common method of instruction phonetics follows a "bottom-up" approach, where y'all beginning with the smallest units (sounds), and gradually combine those elements to create larger and larger pieces of linguistic communication (words and sentences).
I, however, use a top-downwardly approach. And that is what I recommend for you.
Start with intonation showtime, so move "down" until you focus on perfecting individual, isolated sounds.
Why follow a meridian-downwards approach, when the opposite arroyo is more common?
Simple.
The lesser-up arroyo treats sounds similar Lego blocks. Like small units of linguistic communication that can be combined any which way without ever changing.
Simply this is not how sounds work. Sounds are not static; they are dynamic elements which can change depending on a number of contextual factors.
For a quick example, the phrase "desire to" and "going to" in English language are oft reduced to "wanna" and "gonna" in normal casual spoken language. However, with the bottom-up approach, you might miss this common sound change, and end upward sounding more stilted, and unnatural.
In certain cases, like the tonal languages of Chinese, this approach makes the learning process a existent ordeal.
The elevation-downwards arroyo, starting with intonation, takes these important changes into account. You lot learn the proper intonation and pronunciation for an entire sentence or phrase at a time, with all the subtle changes and manipulations intact. Then, you can break it downward into smaller and smaller pieces.
To go started with the top-down approach, you'll demand to take activeness on the next few tips, starting with listening and reading.
Tip 3. Listen and Read to Every Text
To learn the intonation and pronunciation of a judgement or phrase, you lot'll first need a judgement or phrase to learn from.
For beginners, the best place to get sentences for accent practice is commonly from textbooks and other resources specifically for learners. This is because these resources often provide audio versions of the texts they contain.
What you desire to do is read these texts while simultaneously listening to their audio version.
The audio files, of course, volition give you all of the auditory information you need in order to sympathize how to intone and pronounce the sentences properly. The text will requite you lot an "ballast" then that yous can tie the sounds yous are hearing to the written symbols that represent those sounds.
This activity is extremely beneficial for improving your emphasis, since it takes all the guesswork out of trying to interpret how a text should be pronounced. Assuming the phonation on the audio file is that of a native speaker, you lot now have a perfect "accent role model" to attempt to emulate.
The simply issue with listening and reading a text is that, when you're non actively listening and reading, the printed text can't convey sound-only details similar intonation, and certain sound changes.
To solve this problem, permit's move on to our side by side step.
Tip 4. Mark & Label Phonetic Details past Paw
Written language is rarely a perfect representation of speech communication. Ofttimes, in fact, written language does a terrible job of reflecting the actual sounds of a given language.
This is particularly true for languages like English language, and French, both of which accept lots of "silent letters" which appear in written words, but don't have to be pronounced.
Fifty-fifty worse, these languages even have words that are spelled similarly, simply pronounced completely differently, like English's "coughing" and "though".
As learners, if we but rely on texts as they are written, we take no way to recording any of these actress details. This poses a particular trouble for our intonation-kickoff approach, since nearly written languages practice not include written tone markers.
Luckily, at that place are a couple of commonplace tools that we can use to set this problem—pencil and newspaper!
What I mean is this:
When yous're listening and reading to a text, don't merely read information technology on your computer screen or smartphone. If y'all tin, get the files and print the text out, then you can have a hard copy. (Of course, if you're learning from a physical book, just use the volume).
With a physical copy of the text in hand, yous will and then be able to use a pencil to mark up the text, and label any important pronunciation or intonation details.
You tin utilize paper & pencil to mark things like:
Physically taking the time and attempt to mark down phonetic information like this will assist these elements stick in your heed, and make it easier to written report the text later, even when you don't have the audio on hand.
Tip 5. Practice Pronunciation past Reading Texts Aloud
Let's assume that you've gone through all of the other steps, and currently are sitting in front end of a printed, marked copy of a target linguistic communication text that you lot've listened to and read dozens of times.
What should you lot do now?
For the next step, I believe y'all should put the sound file aside, and try to read the text aloud on your own.
Think of it similar trying to sing a favorite song for the get-go time; you know how the song should sound, but now information technology'southward your job to reproduce the song using your ain voice.
Bold you did a thorough chore of marking down precise details of intonation and pronunciation onto the printed folio, this task is really all near following along with the written text, and trying to speak the sentences exactly as they were spoken in the sound file.
Go deadening at first, and endeavor to reproduce the tonal patterns and sounds of the sentences as precisely as you can. Equally you gain experience and accuracy, you lot can then endeavor to speed things up.
Tip 6. Vary Your Pronunciation Exercise by Interleaving Activities
Reading out loud isn't the simply fashion you can practice what yous've learned from the listening, reading, and text-marker steps.
In fact, I believe reading aloud should simply be one of many ways that y'all review any text or sound that you're trying to do.
Some other activities you lot tin endeavor include:
The ultimate aim here is to practice and review a text often, just in a different way each time.
The act of varying your activities in this fashion, which is chosen interleaving will profoundly help the proper pronunciation and intonation stick in your mind.
Tip 7. Get Feedback from Native Speakers
Have you ever listened to a greenhorn speak your linguistic communication?
Information technology's an interesting experience. Usually, even if the person speaks your language at a loftier level, it is very like shooting fish in a barrel to hear small-scale errors and mistakes in their speech.
That'due south because native speakers are hard-wired to detect even the smallest deviations from what is considered a "native emphasis".
While information technology's piece of cake to be intimidated by that fact, I believe you lot should utilize it to your reward instead.
How?
By getting emphasis, pronunciation, and intonation feedback from native speakers!
For instance, a great way to practice your texts from earlier is to read them aloud to a native, or read them aloud and send a recording of information technology to a native.
If yous can exercise that, the side by side step volition be, just to ask them how yous did.
Though not every native speaker is familiar with the specific details of pronunciation or intonation, they all volition be able to tell you when something sounds not-native, or otherwise unnatural.
Take that feedback, and use information technology to fine-tune your accent. If possible, you can even work with the native speaker to correct your accent and go it fifty-fifty closer to native-like.
If you lot cultivate the addiction of asking for feedback and using it to correct your emphasis, I am certain you lot will always observe a way to improve your intonation and pronunciation.
First Refining Your Accent Today
Every bit yous tin can encounter, there's no magic book to read, app to download, or audio file that volition brand you speak like a native from the start.
Although it takes time and effort, the vii tips I've shared with yous volition give y'all a clear and efficient route to a jaw-droppingly good accent.
Honestly, I wish I had known all this twenty years ago. And unlike you, I had to go through a long trial-and-fault process to make it happen.
I take given countless phonetic grooming lessons in the last x years, and I have witnessed how the correct mindset, passion, and consistency tin can work wonders, independently of individual talent.
So, don't get stuck with limiting beliefs.
Brand a plan, take the first footstep, and meet for yourself what'southward possible.
Written by Luca Lampariello
Source: https://www.lucalampariello.com/how-to-sound-like-a-native-speaker/
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