Many people want to improve their pronunciation in a foreign
language. Pronunciation and accent can affect so many things: if you have a
native-like accent, you can pretend to be a native. Apart from being a fun
thing to do, this can give you opportunities you might otherwise miss out on,
for instance if you want to be a spy J,
or in situations where native speakers are given preference for a job.
Your pronunciation
could also negatively affect communication: if you have a very strong foreign
accent, people may struggle to understand you, which can be frustrating. Or it
might mean certain people are prejudiced against you.
But having a foreign
accent can also have more subtle, subconscious effects. If you have been
struggling for a long time to improve your pronunciation, for instance, and
have had a lot of negative feedback about how you speak, this can affect your
self-esteem and, as a result, your willingness to speak the foreign language in
public.
On the positive side, I believe our accent is also very much
tied up with our identity and how we see ourselves. You may feel your accent is
an important part of you, and losing it would mean losing a part of yourself. The
way you speak can identify you as being part of a particular community, which
you may view as an advantage or a disadvantage depending on your situation and
experience. If it is important to you to be identified with a certain group of
people because of your foreign accent, then that accent will matter to you, and
so you may struggle to acquire a native one, or you may not even want to try.
If, on the other hand, you long to be accepted as a member of a community of
native speakers, then you are likely to be highly motivated to copy the way those
people speak.
So is it appropriate to talk about ‘improving your
pronunciation’, or about someone having a ‘good’ accent? I believe most of us
have some kind of idea about what ‘good’ pronunciation of a given language
should look like, based on what we view as the ‘standard’ pronunciation of that
language. But standards are hard to define. For instance, in English, people
may view the ‘Queen’s English’, or ‘BBC English’ or even ‘Southern British
English’ (SBE) as the standard. Yet, although many people may regard these as
aesthetically pleasing, I am not sure that the average person would aspire to
actually speak like the Queen or like a BBC presenter, and speaking in perfect
SBE may be of limited use if you happen to live in Yorkshire or Scotland or Northern
Ireland!
In many ways pronunciation is a matter of personal choice
and subjective perception, and it is hard to set an absolute standard for
‘good’ pronunciation in any given language. So instead of asking ‘do I have a
good accent?’ more helpful questions are perhaps ‘Why do I need to change my
accent? Is it to fit in, to be understood, or because I see a native accent as
essential to speak the language well, just like correct grammar?’ These
questions help identify your motivation for working on your pronunciation.
Likewise, if you feel some resistance to working on your pronunciation, also
ask why: Were there negative experiences in the past, is there a fear of losing
your identity, or do you view your foreign accent as ‘useful’ in any way?
Like any other area of language learning, being clear about your
motivation to learn is crucial if you want to make progress. But of course, it
is equally important to find an effective method of learning which works for
you.
In my next post, I will give a few learning tips based on my
own experience and on what I have read. Stay tuned and remember to subscribe
and share! Thanks,
No comments:
Post a Comment