For Better Pronunciation in a Foreign Language, Work on Your Attitude.

[@Thelinguist]

We are influenced by our native language when we attempt to pronounce a new language. Once we have learned a few languages, the hold of the native language weakens and it becomes easier to imitate new pronunciation. FREE Language Learning Resources 10 Secrets of Language Learning ⇢ www.thelinguist.com LingQ Grammar Guides ⇢ www.lingq.com/en/grammar-resource/ My blog ⇢ blog.thelinguist.com/ The LingQ blog ⇢ www.lingq.com/blog/ My Podcast ⇢ soundcloud.com/lingostevepodcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/learn-languages-with-steve-kaufmann/id1437851870 --- Social Media Instagram ⇢ instagram.com/lingosteve_/ TikTok ⇢ www.tiktok.com/@lingosteve Facebook ⇢ facebook.com/lingosteve Twitter ⇢ twitter.com/lingosteve

[@zahleer]

Steve could you give your opinion on """language prodigies"""" ? People still think that prodigies can learn a language to fluency inside a month or a week. Doesn't work like that but people think it's somehow posible.

[@magyarbondi]

@@zahleer That's one of the most discussed subjects by poliglots. Unfortunately, there's no Holy Grail in language learning. Even if it's possible to learn "a language" within a month, you'll forget it just as quickly if you stop using it. There's a "short term" and a "long term" memory, and most things never make it into our "long term memory" without constant practice and repetition. (Whether it is a physical or intellectual exercise.) Think about something else: people don't realise that a foreign speaker can be much more proficient in English than a native English speaker. Academic professionals or subject matter experts can speak a highly advanced English fluently, yet they will still be seen as "foreigners" in regular walks of life just because they don't have a native English accent! Nobody knows every single word and technical term in their native language when it comes to construction - or gardening - or fixing a machine...

[@zahleer]

@@magyarbondi Hey bro, totally agree on that I can't add something else. I just want to dispell that mith of "language prodigies"

[@figgettit]

does linq have corect pitch accent in japanese?

[@jesse_sweed]

5:43 is the bottom line! Pronunciation is a physical exercise. It takes intentional repetition to build muscle memory. Thank you for the reminder and great examples, Steve!

[@breadyegg]

True. I'm realllllly struggling in Cantonese with some of the vowel sounds. Most notably, the -eoi sounds in words like heoi3 (to go) and keoi5 (him). Needs practice. This video has made me think to go and find resources on how to physically set up the mouth to say them correctly.

[@jesse_sweed]

@@breadyegg that's wonderful! Let me know how your search goes if you think about it!

[@ImSlayah]

I studied the IPA at university and I have to say that it helps me greatly because if I don't know the sounds of a language or why a word is pronounced that way, the IPA helps me see clearly the sounds I have to produce to say a certain word and it then sticks with me. Of course this is highly subjective but I have colleagues who use it for the same purpose and it helps them too! Great video btw!

[@marikothecheetah9342]

I totally agree. IPA is extremely helpful, when you know how to use it. Dictionaries will have the word accent, the long vowels and whatnot. So you quickly learn to at least pronounce the word in isolation which is still a lot. With liaison in French you need to also learn the sentence accent (as in any other language) but it is still much easier if you know the proper pronunciation of the words in isolation. You start to hear what is accentuated and what is contracted etc.

[@danielbelmir0]

I also think that's helpful, but I think instead of choosing one of these two opposite suggestions, people can just learn the IPA while watching videos of pronunciation in the target language, as a listening practice, so even if the person forgets the symbols he or she can quickly figure out the symbols while using a dictionary. It's good to at least know about the IPA so you can see if that's helpful or not. In my opinion it's really useful for English but for other languages you can just read the word and the pronunciation is clear, so you will end up using it for just a few difficult words.

[@aquarius4953]

@@marikothecheetah9342 Phonology -how each words is pronounced in a chunk -, phrase, sentence is more useful than phonetic .

[@surrealistidealist]

I think imitation can be helpful in this regard, especially if you already love the culture and the people of your target language. This has really made a big difference for me in learning pronunciation in Russian. Imitation and "Noticing" seem to go hand-in-hand, mutually reinforcing each other synergistically. Try to imitate everything: the intonation, the emotion, the body language. Imitating the facial expression can help remind you of how to make the correct mouth movements.

[@fishedout3652]

Wow did you just help me with my French! I knew that my french sounded very "american" but now I know why. Thank you Steve.

[@alwaysforevercurious8607]

I was just wondering if you have read this research paper on being able to hear sounds reliably that are not in your native language. Research paper title: Training Japanese listeners to identify English /r/ and /l/: IV. Some effects of perceptual learning on speech production. I found a free copy when I searched on the title. The research was a joint project between Indiana University and a research lab in Kyoto, Japan. They first used an app to train the participants to reliable hear the difference between the R sound and the L sound. If I understand the paper correctly it was easier to say words with an L and an R sound in them after scoring 100% on the identification training on the computer app. I think what it indicates is if you can hear the sounds correctly in your brain, it is easier for the brain to correctly do the mechanical part of manipulating the throat, mouth and tongue etc. to make the proper sound. Sorry if this is rather a long comment. I do enjoy your incites on language learning. Thank You.

[@Thelinguist]

sounds very interesting and plausible

[@gerlautamr.656]

Hello, Steve, your pronunciation of "bueno" was just on point, congrats!

[@happythursday6923]

Saludos hablo español y estoy aprendiendo inglés, me gustaría ser tan inteligente como tú para saber tantos idiomas :) Thanks for the advices!

[@babybruv6389]

*the advice

[@giulianaimpini]

You just got to 400k suscribers. Congrats Steve 👏 It's great to see you getting so much suscribers, your videos are always helpful, insightful and make me want to keep studying languages 😀

[@jailtongiraodasilva2427]

Wow ! Steve . You demonstrated how to pronounce that word in French so well pronounced. Your pronunciation in French is impeccable! Great video. Thanks a lot!

[@magyarbondi]

This is so well said and good to hear from a native English speaker. I had the same problem in reverse. In English, practically any non-stressed vowel can turn into a *schwa* (the technical term for what you call "slur" in the video). While in my native language, Hungarian, 'schwa sounds' and even 'diphthongs' are non-standard, which simply means they can make you sound "uneducated". It takes effort for us (tbh. for most Central/East-Europeans) to learn to "blur" our English with schwas. (Most Hungarians will still just say *ö* instead, because that's our closest sound to it!) I was lucky, because my English teacher started with phonetics in secondary grammar school. But guess what... when I moved to the UK, I had to realise how wrong I understood diphthongs. To me, they were still 2 sounds put together. For instance, now = nah-oo. I had to learn to make my diphthongs into 1 syllable. (Not to mention that there's even triphthongs in [mainly British] English, the one in "hour" etc.) N.B. There's an even easier way to learn how to say the *ü* sound. Just say *i* with rounded lips.

[@gabriellawrence6598]

I can listen to someone practing piano on the back, interesting thing is when Steve starts talking about feelings and emotions you can hear the themesong from Beauty and the Beast.

[@Sosui2]

His wife is a big fan of the Piano ! :) In many videos you can hear it :)

[@ashiminfinity]

Great advice sir! Noticing, listening intently and repeated imitation is definitely boring but is an effective way to improve the pronunciation I believe. Thanks for your insights 🙏🙏

[@heidiloesti3267]

I like the piano exercises in the background! (Much better than a planned background music!)

[@dudunpavel23]

Стив, вы очень крутой мужик. С удовольствием смотрю ваши видео уже очень долгое время

[@tradizioni_festereligiose]

It's pretty interesting the story you told in this video about the italian immigrant in Montreal. I am a native italian speaker and live in southern Italy. A distinctive trait of the various dialects spoken here is that whenever the "S" is followed by another consonant like "SP - SCarpa - SMettere" the sound S is pronounced such as in the word "Scegliere".

[@rodrigotavaresnh]

Another excellent video from Steve.

[@hamzabannouri5196]

Thank you, Mr. Steve brilliant and informative as usual

[@MichaelPhillipsatGreyOwlStudio]

Thank you for that very helpful video, Steve. I'm trying to learn both Italian and French at the same time. So far, it's going pretty good. I actually had no difficulty picking up the French fronted 'u' (it's sort of like you're about to spit the 'oo' out) or the pronunciation of 'on'. The rest not so much. I want to pronounce 'le' as 'lay' rather than 'luh'. Probably because I learned some Italian way before I started this process, and I also took Spanish in high school. With Italian, I find it difficult to remember the exception to penultimate syllable emphasis, e.g. mangiano. I want to say manGIAno every single time, rather than MANgiano.

[@ronaldgamboa6594]

Thank you for your amazing videos!!!

[@digitalspecter]

Very interesting! I've noticed that English speakers struggle with Finnish "y"-sound (it's the same sound you demonstrated with French/Chinese) and I came up with exactly the same idea how to help them learn it! First you say "u", keep the lips round but raise the tongue like you were saying "i".

[@joselehmus4201]

Saludos desde México señor Kaufmann.

[@dro6619000]

Hi Steve I appreciate you "history" lessons.

[@keithkannenberg7414]

I was laughing at your example of "usually". As a native English speaker I don't think I ever pronounce the second U in the word. It's just "usally". Good points overall... one of the hardest things for an adult learner is to stop working at the language once you've gotten far enough to be understood in context.

[@nicoleraheem1195]

Lol same.

[@NaturalLanguageLearning]

I think there are very specific ways in which pronunciation can be improved: -a lot of listening in general -listening and repeating (preferably entire sentences, and several times) -and most important: correction by a native speaker Attention to detail is very important in language learning, to reach higher levels.

[@ariohandoyo5973]

Thanks for sharing your idea about pronunciation, my late papa taught me to pronunce things in english properly. I agree with him, hola it's not Hola but Ola.😊

[@ranierimaciel463]

Great video Steve, Gratias !

[@ViacheslavKr]

Hi, Steve! I like your lessons very much. Can you make a lesson about finding an ideal language exchange partner? I know that you can answer such a question. When we are at an advanced level of a foreign language is it much better to have a partner at a similar level(not a beginner at least)?

[@eduardomonteiro6863]

I'll try my best!

[@yaketythack]

Great content Steve ! The Gujarati study has exposed the line between "Re" "eR" and "RRR" . To understand this, the use of Nursey rhymes has been imperative. People often neglect the fact of their immersion being so constant in a native tongue and environment. Every time we use a known word it is still practice, no matter how many uses. Thanks for being you Steve.

[@Elspm]

I get awfully lazy with my pronunciation because I'm used to my brain automatically doing a lot (when I learnt Czech the ř for example was relatively simple for me) and so when I come across a sound that I find I have to strive for I really struggle. Right now I'm learning Arabic I find the places when the ر and the غ sit together incredibly hard, it is just so far from even the most rolling Scots prose that you can find me just saying غرفة over and over again and never succeeding.

[@Lindagil650]

I love your video me too can speak 3 languages but I would like to learn more x

[@sadhbh4652]

Yes, it can take a while to accept the truth of what you are hearing in a foreign language. When I was first learning German I spent a lot of time referring to everything as "es", the gender neutral, rather than "er" or "sie" as would have been correct. Coming from English it just felt wrong to give objects a gender, even though I could hear all the Germans doing it. I find your stories about your youth very interesting, would be interested to hear more.

[@Ballykeith]

Steve's book, The Linguist (available on LingQ), talks about his travels as a young man. I've started reading it in Italian.

[@sadhbh4652]

@@Ballykeith I read it! Great book.

[@jessemccallums2448]

Good work, Thanks!

[@waichung482]

Just dropping in there about the general consul friend 😅 great video!

[@yuanyuanwang8612]

Thanks a lot

[@aviatesony1793]

I have the same problem, some words in English are quite difficult for me to pronounce, such as WATER or CORRIDORS, I mean my natural accent is gonna kick in every time 😁

[@muttlanguages3912]

To make it harder, water is pronounced differently in different areas

[@dailyieltslisteningtestsch7383]

Absolutely awesome 👌

[@IKEMENOsakaman]

For me, I always write down words that I learn from films, and repeat them over and over again for 500 times.

[@yaketythack]

Every use of any word is always practice. this includes hearing it ambiently as well. Study after fluency even more important to keep the skills crisp. Language is free knowledge, keep talking.

[@estrafalario5612]

@New Apollo anyway... It's 500 times is a lot

[@estrafalario5612]

@New Apollo hahaha

[@estrafalario5612]

Good to find someone who gets the nickname 😜

[@estrafalario5612]

But I'm not criticising. If that works for him, that's the only important question

[@osamahabbas3443]

thanks steve

[@高魁元-s7e]

thanks

[@LucyVojtas]

Hi, I find myself influenced not only by my native language but also by the other languages I learn. I go to a French bilingual school and especially after intense classes, I am not really able to switch to e.g. English (which is a foreign language in my case). Moreover, I feel like both my English and German pronunciation slowly decline over time, as more and more of French and my native language seep in. Do you have some advice on how to tackle that problem?

[@PsicologiaSocialBrasil]

Saluton el Brazilo! Lernu Esperanton!

[@AnAmericanlinguist]

For the story about Sauvignon blanc, was your friend speaking English when he pronounced it this way? Perhaps he just didn’t want to sound pretentious so he used the common English pronunciation in the middle of an English sentence. How do you pronounce “llama”, or “karaoke” when speaking English? If you don’t say them with Spanish or Japanese pronunciation, why the double standard with the wine?

[@Thelinguist]

It wasn't so much about him but about people who have trouble pronouncing French because they don't pay attention to the vowels.

[@buffcanuck83]

Excellent video.

[@rahulkulchandu2241]

Hi Steve I m Rahul from India when i use the native pronunciation most of the time i forget the spelling but when i speak with my own accent which is Indian then it becomes more easy to remember I terribly face this problem..How to solve this problem cuz i want to speak like a native..

[@bofbob1]

When speaking English, I pronounce the "n" at the end of "sauvignon", like "yawn", because that's what I hear around me and it's also what my dictionary says. Of course, you don't pronounce it in French, my native tongue. Pronunciation of foreign words in another language is its own thing, and has very little to do with pronunciation of those words in the language of origin. So maybe he should've said "soh" and not "sah", but that's compared to the English standard, not the French. They effectively become their own words, with their own pronunciation that fits into the standard of that language. Conversely, my pronunciation of loan words like "footing", "jogging", "show", "marketing", etc. when speaking French is going to follow the French standard, which has nothing to do with how those words are pronounced in English. I mean, you can say "wi-fi" in French if you really want to stick to the original pronunciation, but nobody is going to know what you're talking about, because in French it's "wee-fee".

[@Thelinguist]

All true but I am referring to people speaking French. This guy fancies himself a francophile and wine lover so he was trying to pronounce it in French.

[@Elspm]

It's tricky that. I tend towards saying something close to the original, but if I said Sauvignon Blanc correctly (to French) in a bar in my home town of Glasgow 1)people would 100% think I was being ponsy 2)I'd be at risk of getting the wrong drink But then someone has given me a hard time for saying my anglicised version of croissant (cwa-sson) because they perceived I was saying it as in French and being ponsy (I was not, my r was really weak). They insisted that when speaking English I should be saying cross-ant, and to be perfectly honest I thought they sounded like a total idiot for saying it that way.

[@bofbob1]

@@Thelinguist Ah, OK. My bad then. That makes sense. :-)

[@bofbob1]

@@Elspm Haha, I know what you mean. I guess it comes down to knowing your audience. I do a lot of work in music, and for me, in the language I'm using you should pronounce "Bach" (the composer) with a "k" sound at the end. I know that in German it's a hard "r", but I'm not speaking German ^^ So i'll usually say it with a "k" sound. But some people you just know that if you say it with "k", they're gonna go "well actually..." and then explain the whole thing to you. So with them I just say it with an "r" sound so they'll leave me alone ^^

[@bofbob1]

@New Apollo In French it's pretty messy. I mean, everything is going to sound French, so we're staying within the same sound system, but the way we interpret the spelling varies a lot. For instance, the letter "i": we'll say "wee-fee" for "Wi-fi", but we'll say "la-eek" for "like" (as in the kind of "like" you get on social media, with thumbs up or whatever). We're not very logical with this stuff ^^

[@clementgomes9599]

I need help with non-romance languages - I'm trying to lean Thai which has five different tones.

[@jdg6336]

its all about getting the vowels sounds down and not using your native language vowel sounds.

[@albertini552]

Steve, what happens in the case that already I had learned a lenguage with a bad pronunciation? My case is in english. Do you think that once you learned the language badly, you won't be able to correct it?

[@taylor-willliamhill3910]

Thai is one of those languages that have you pronounce sounds you never use in English. Also, the concept of tones exists. 555.

[@muhilan8540]

bueno has a diphthong, I'm pretty sure

[@7and7and7is]

According to the two audio examples provided by the SpanishDict website, in Spain it is pronounced as Steve pronounces it, bweno, with the single vowel, but in Latin America it is pronounced more like bweyno, with the diphthong, yes, or glide, a little higher (or more closed) and more to the front, which Steve identifies as incorrect, perhaps because he learned the pronunciation typical of Spain when he learned Spanish. Maybe he just hasn't noticed how Latin Americans often pronounce it;) even the master can't possibly notice everything, and there may also be many regions of Latin America where the pronunciation is more like that heard in Spain, there being such a diversity of accents. I wonder if native speakers from different regions would like to weigh in on what sounds most familiar to their ear. There seems, on average, to be a difference between the pronunciations from the Spain and Latin America examples provided by Youglish for Spanish, but to my untrained ear it is subtle and slight, and not very consistent; certainly not as pronounced as the difference between the examples on SpanishDict, where the enunciation is probably more distinct than that usually heard in the real world.

[@muhilan8540]

@@7and7and7is even the bweno is a diphthong just think about your lips are moving you’re gliding from the oo vowel to the eh vowel, in fact most linguists don’t even consider the w to be a vowel for this reason. just think there’s a reason that the “ue” vowel cluster simulates a w sound in english.

[@muttlanguages3912]

@@7and7and7is this probably in part explains why I cam understand Mexican TV alright but Spanish TV is much harder.

[@sebastianseminario686]

Good

[@hrmIwonder]

Do a lot of imitation of what you hear. It's almost babbling. Try to say parts of words, build your way up whole words and then imitate the intonation.

[@michaelrespicio5683]

English has many loanwords from many languages but incorporating one or two isn't really speaking that language. If so, we could speak 100 languages. Slight deviation in pronunciation from the original language is no big deal. Saunas are a Finnish invention yet while Finnish is pronounced exactly how it's spelled, it ends up as "saw-nuh" in English and this doesn't seem to bother Finns. Same when encountering words in languages you don't know, or names from different cultures. You may not pronounce them even close simply because you just don't know better and resort to English sounds, or those of your native language. By the way, don't care what anyone says but not all natives of a language will pronounce things or even speak in exactly the same way. There's a thing called an isogloss. Watch this and you'll hear from an expert who actually knows that they're talking about if you don't believe me. kzbin.info/www/bejne/naeQiIKne7KYaJY

[@michaelsmith574]

Joe Bid3n clone! Really, he's look like Bid3n