Why is it harder for some people than others to pick up a good accent?

Hi everyone, thanks for coming back for some more of my ‘language treasures’!

At our last International Coffee Morning* in St Albans, someone asked the question:

‘Why is it that some people pick up a ‘good’ accent really quickly, while others may live in a country for years surrounded by the language they’re learning but still struggle to get rid of their foreign accent?’

Good question! As a language and pronunciation teacher, and having learned a few languages myself, it’s a question I ask myself a fair bit, so I’d like to share with you some of my thoughts and discoveries about this issue.

Many people tell me they’re ‘no good at languages’. It’s true that if you have a ‘musical ear’ or a ‘linguistic gift’, you may pick up correct pronunciation more easily. When I was studying Translation, one of my favourite things was to use the language lab at the university to “listen and repeat’’ beautiful BBC English on tape (!) until I felt I was getting it exactly right! I was enjoying it because languages are ‘my thing’, and getting it right was a personal challenge, so I was very motivated. It probably also helped that I love singing, so I was able to pick up the tune and the rhythm of the language, where it goes up or down, how long the sounds are, which bit is stressed etc. (It’s been said that if you sing foreign words it really helps you learn to pronounce them!)

But I believe being ‘gifted’ is only part of the picture. I was lucky enough to have a good foundation early on, owing to the fact that my first English teacher was an Englishman, and to the wonderful language lab mentioned above. This meant I didn’t ‘learn’ mistakes. And yes, linguistic ability does run in my family.

However, as we saw earlier, motivation plays a big part, too, which in turn is influenced by a person’s experience with regards to the language they are trying to learn. For example, coming to England and meeting my future husband suddenly gave me huge motivation to improve my accent, as well as a great model to copy. J On the other hand, I have met people who have to learn English out of sheer survival necessity, but don’t like being in this country. And others who are desperate to integrate and make friends but are tripped up by the fear of their accent being laughed at, because someone somewhere did make fun of them. And still others who are urged by loved ones to please keep their ‘lovely accent’ because it is seen as endearing. All of these are psychological factors that will have an effect on a person’s learning.

Another big factor I believe is the learning method.

Ever noticed how kids often seem to be able to get a native-like accent much more quickly than adults when they are immersed in a foreign language? Based on what I am told by many lovely retired people I teach French at Language for Fun (www.languageforfun.org), this is partly and age thing – kids simply benefit from a much greater brain ‘plasticity’, the ability of forming new connections in the brain, which over time is gradually lost. (Although I am also told this process is slowed down by language learning, which is why so many retired people come to my lessons – thanks guys!J) Also, I think kids pick up the accent more easily because they are already tuned to listening for the sounds of language. This is because they’re used to learning new items in their first language all the time anyway.  And it could be argued also that kids are happier than adults to try and fail and copy people. Plus there are issues such as a greater need to fit in and be like their peers, meaning kids will work harder at copying sounds exactly. (This last point is why, growing up as a German expat in Brussels, I very quickly lost my regional German accent in order to fit in with the more ‘standard’ German spoken by the majority at the German School. And it may also help to explain why second generation immigrants who grow up as kids in the host country often develop an even stronger local accent than the locals themselves!)

But I believe one of the most important reasons kids  who are immersed in a second language environment often achieve a better accent in their second language is that as children, they are more likely to focus on the spoken sounds before they learn how words are spelled. This means they concentrate on copying what they hear, which they are busy doing all the time anyway, and they are not trying to figure out how to interpret the spelling of a word. Trying to guess how to pronounce a foreign word based on its spelling can be tricky if you don’t know the language well, and you are likely to base your guess on the rules of your first language.  If you guess wrong, you mispronounce the words, which in turn leads to a foreign accent.

In my next post, I will suggest some ways of overcoming some of these hindrances to learning ‘good’ pronunciation, and I will ask the question if it’s right to refer to pronunciation as ‘good’ or ‘bad’.

Thank you for reading! Please comment and let me know your views and experiences, and if you like this blog please share it with others. See you soon!

Sigrid

(*If you would like to know more about the International Coffee Morning in St. Albans, please leave me a note in the comments field and I can send you the details.)