How important is "a good accent"?

When learning a language, it is inevitable that we have a certain accent. Some people achieve native-like accents, but most of us will have some sort of foreign accent. How important is it to have "a good accent"?
Should we aim to have a good or even "perfect accent"? Who decides what a "good accent" is? What do you think about accents when learning a new language? Should you master them to a native-like level? If so, even natives have different accents, so which one should you choose and why?
What happens if your accent is so strong that communication can't take place? Should you just make sure people understand you or does it all depend on your situation and personal preference?
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[@gringoenespanol]

Good pronunciation is important, but a good accent is purely subjective.

[@CouchPolyglot]

Yes 👍

[@EdMcF1]

There was a comedy show on British TV in the 1980s called 'Allo 'allo, based in France in WW2, there was a British 'double agent' called Officer Crabtree who was an English spy disguised as a French Gendarme. He spoke 'French' in a hilariously 'mangled' way (sending up British people speaking French generally), his 'catch-phrase' was 'Good moaning'. There are plenty of clips on YT of him which is a good test of English comprehension.

[@CouchPolyglot]

I will need to check that out, thanks for sharing :)

[@EdMcF1]

I find that native Spanish (and Catalan) speakers have a very strong accent which usually makes their background language fairly clear in English, whereas with Portuguese speakers, they have a much clearer accent, hard to trace. Quite a lot of Scandinavians (Danes/Norwegians/Swedes) can speak virtually unaccented English. What matters is if an accent impedes communication seriously. The odd funny word just makes it more interesting to talk to someone.

[@reggietkatter]

European Portuguese and Scandinavians listen to a lot more English language media which I think really helps. I spoke with a Brazilian Portuguese native recently who had a very marked accent and intonation.

[@WillOrrWhat]

Yes, Spain has a very strong dubbing culture, where media is dubbed in some number of the local languages. A lot of Catalan people I know watch mostly Catalan or Spanish dubs of US media. Portugal doesn't have that kind of media culture, and most imported media is just subbed, so they have more exposure to native English speech. From what I understand, Spain and France are a bit different from much of Europe with their dubbing cultures being far more extensive than most other countries'.

[@CouchPolyglot]

This used to be the case for my generation and older people as well, but I think the younger people in their teens or their 20's are now watching more stuff (e.g. on KZbin) in English, so maybe it is changing? But I am not sure tbh :D

[@LuanSantos-yy1jh]

@@reggietkatter j'dirais que en général l'accent des gens qui parlent portugais et sont en train d'apprendre anglais c'est pas fort, parce que la langue portugaise il y a beaucoup de sons ce qui aide la phonétique du anglais ( j'suis brésilien)

[@Valicore]

As a Californian, where 30%-40% of the population is foreign born, I realize now I never found accents odd, they've always been a part of my life. I talk to so many people with so many accents on a regular basis, and have since I was a child and went to a very diverse school, that it's normal. I have almost never heard anybody mention an accent UNLESS it impedes communication, and I think that's what matters.

[@CouchPolyglot]

It is cool that you have such a nice attitude towards accents :)

[@johnczech7074]

You really presented this subject well! Thanks beautiful lady!!

[@CouchPolyglot]

Thanks 👍😊

[@CrisOnTheInternet]

Accent is a problem if people often don't understand you, but since I noticed that between native speakers of different places sometimes also don't understand some things I relaxed 100%

[@CouchPolyglot]

Yes, my thoughts as well 😊 The only issue I see with accent is that sometimes people feel insecure about it, and so they decide not to speak. If you never speak, you won't practice and won't improve and will feel more insecure, so it is a vicious cycle 😬

[@Parso77]

Generally speaking, we don’t want to aim for perfection in any field of language learning because that puts too much pressure on us (and is an unattainable goal). But I do think it’s harder to learn the lyrics without the tune - we do want to try to get some of the basics right. In particular, English speakers learning other languages need to aim for an accent which at least makes it unclear that they are English speakers - otherwise, there is a real risk of “being put back into their own language” and that inhibits opportunities to practise and learn.

[@CouchPolyglot]

I had never thought about that, but you have a point. When I was a German beginner and people would switch to English, I would simply say in German "sorry, I do not speak English". But if I had had a clear English accent, no one would have bought that and I would have been stuck with English :O

[@JuanMoreno-wo5yb]

@@CouchPolyglot The percentage of people who have accent mixed up with pronunciation is amazing! I get from you that, that is not the case and that is so good. Accents for the most part are beautiful and they sound so great and people should not think much if anything more about them. What IS IMPORTANT is good pronunciation! That is where shadowing comes in and is imperative in your language practice. In Spanish, learning the vowels is a key and I suppose there are other languages similar. English unfortunately is messed up when it comes to the vowels which change all the time 😢. I don’t even know where you are from and what is your first language. Your accent doesn’t do anything but sound interesting and probably gets people to ask you where you are from. ❤

[@Tehui1974]

As a native English speaker (New Zealand), I like hearing different accents. To me, the most important thing is that the listener is able to be understand the speaker without any difficulty. My neighbour is from Cambodia and I struggle to understand him when he's talking to me in English. However, when I listen to Laura speak English, even though she has a slight accent, I can understand her perfectly. I've been learning Spanish for 3 months (as my third language, Māori is my second). And I'm struggling to pronounce some of the words correctly. I just can't wrap my mouth around some of the words properly yet, as it's a bit like a tongue twister. I don't get discouraged by it though and always strive to improve. I also can't trill my 'r' yet, but I'll keep trying. 😃

[@CouchPolyglot]

thanks a lot, yeah, having an accent is normal and it is ok :) Espero que te sirvan mis vídeos para aprender español :D

[@WillOrrWhat]

In the US, I grew up around a lot of people criticizing anyone that had an accent for "not knowing how to speak English." Sometimes people would be described with comments about "English not being their native language" that were always meant disrespectfully. If people see that type of culture, even if they dont agree, it can definitely cause them to be more concerned about the quality of their accent.

[@CouchPolyglot]

It is sad how sometimes people are so insecure that they need to feel superior and they use accents or race to do that 😥 But thanks for sharing your experience 👍

[@hannofranz7973]

Funnily enough, you are concerned about your German accent being actually Catalan/Spanish. I very much agree with what you are saying. I started off with adapting to British standard, later on tried to pick up American English until a ten-month-stay as an assistant teacher in Scotland which made me going back to British English. Even though, I've never ever tried to speak like a native speaker. I'm fine as long as my pronunciation and intonation sounds naturally. If I try to imitate a certain kind of standard or local dialect, it doesn't feel real to me. It wouldn't be me. It's different if you have grown up into a certain variety. So I don't mind whether people come to the conclusion that I'm German as long as it is for my voice level and not for a really bad pronunciation and intonation, wrong syllable stress or lacking word linking, which are the four crucial aspects of the English language. I've been told by native speakers that I have a German voice. I can live with that. I am German so my voice is German, too.

[@CouchPolyglot]

I have been told before that my accent in English is German hehe It makes sense, cause I've been working at a German company with many meetings in English so I somehow picked up the "German speaking English" accent. It is fine to have an accent, it is just funny it is not Catalan/Spanish :D

[@hannofranz7973]

@@CouchPolyglot Manche meiner spanischsprachigen Schüler könnte man für englischsprachige Muttersprachler halten dafür wie sie "ei", "r" und "ch" aussprechen.

[@musical_lolu4811]

Depends on the language. In some languages the stakes are quite high, phonologically speaking. And I'm not talking about the "you sound less 'educated' thus you're a lesser human being" kind of crap common with European languages. More of the "I understand you just half the time, sometimes less" or even the "you said DIE instead of FOUR" sorta thing.

[@CouchPolyglot]

That is indeed an interesting point ☝️ I think it is ultimately about being understood, but it is more challenging in some languages than others 😯

[@josephphelps1350]

I don’t think accent matters too much as long as you’re easily understood, and hearing someone speak with an accent can be endearing in my opinion. With English there are other things that I think are more important-for example, incorrect word stress can make it much harder to understand what you’re saying than a little accent (like, the noun prógress and the verb to progréss). Some phonemes also seem more important than others to hit-for example, many English speakers do have a harder time understanding speakers of certain East Asian languages because of a lack of correct articulation of the L and R sounds. On the other hand, I’ve rarely been confused when a non-native English speaker replaces the “th” sounds with a T or a D. I know some Germans and Dutch people who speak practically flawless English at C1/2 levels, but don’t use the TH sounds and they’re perfectly understandable (though I may suggest if that’s the only thing left for you to master with English, you might as well give it a go!).

[@CouchPolyglot]

Exactly, communication should be the focus. As long as people can understand you and your accent is not too distracting, it is not a big deal

[@sdjc1]

Like in most countries, different areas will have distinct "accents". I can distinguish my own (New England) from NY, deep South, Texas, Midwestern, Canadian border States (like MN), etc. , but I can tell these are all NATIVE. The experts say that it's because we're all using the same American language phonemes coming out of different parts of the vocal "cavity" (throat, mouth, lips, palate, tongue) which determine the famous point of articulation. As Laura hinted, spending some time (and money) with a qualified speech therapist could make you sound like a Chicagoan (like Alex Argüelles, for example).

[@CouchPolyglot]

thanks for sharing! Yeah, a speech therapist can help for sure, but I think in most of the cases it is not really worth it

[@sdjc1]

According to the linguistics experts (Prof. Alex Arguelles and others) it is anatomically impossible to speak with a native accent unless you've been exposed to the phonemes of that language before the age of 13. That probably means that you're a native speaker of Catalan and Spanish. Great video!

[@reggietkatter]

One instance of a person speaking with a "native accent" disproves this idea. There are many people which you can find online who sound native in one of their languages which they didn't have "exposure" to before that age. This idea is clearly wrong.

[@sdjc1]

The so-called experts don't just have ideas or opinions. Their assertions are (must be) based on scientific observation. Any valid rule may have an exception (or two)...

[@reggietkatter]

@@sdjc1 there is no such anatomical barrier to native speech. Any normally abled human of any normal background can produce the phonemes of any human language. You won’t find that in any literature outside of abnormal anatomy. There IS a cognitive impediment to producing the sounds of second language, but even those who find a sound difficult for this reason can learn to produce it.

[@reggietkatter]

@@sdjc1 it’s an idea and a erroneous one at that.

[@sdjc1]

Supposedly homo sapiens is capable of producing around 152 (?) phonemes. The American (English) language "only" uses 30 to 50 of those. As you age, the flexibility to articulate all those sounds diminishes. Technically, Reggie is right that the potential is always (?) there, but,,,(can you still make it work?).

[@didiDanaila]

Any comment has an answer from you. Where do you find the time? Job, studying languages, husband, KZbin channel.... I like your voice, accent or no, your voice sounds good in all languages that you speaking,

[@CouchPolyglot]

You are so kind, thank you! I am a bit of a productivity freak to be honest hehehe. I follow the GTD method and the learnings from Atomic Habits. E.g. right now I have 10 spare minutes while cooking and I am taking the time to answer some comments :). And while cooking I often listen to podcasts in other languages. So I sort of multitask I guess! :) I also really appreciate people leaving comments, so I want to make sure to answer them!

[@silviav6779]

È difficile migliorare il tuo accento da adulto, ma è chiaro che parlare il più possibile come un nativo ti consente di essere maggiormente accettato. Certo che avere un accento significa sapere almeno 2 lingue 😅

[@CouchPolyglot]

Sì :)

[@padraigdonworth9697]

Living in Germany as a native English speaker I'm frustrated nearly every day by people switching to English, usually when there is no barrier to mutual comprehension in German. While I don't personally care much about having an accent (and I actually find accents in other people attractive) I'm beginning to feel that I need to make a concerted effort towards accent reduction, possibly through formal lessons, to at least disguise my native language. Which is a shame, because I would rather spend my time and money on other things :/

[@CouchPolyglot]

That is pretty crazy, I am sorry to hear that :( Kopf hoch!

[@jdubruyn]

Accent😉❤comes from inherent cultural knowledge and understanding and heritage on the one hand and personality and character (and intelligence) on the other - if I'm allowed to guess - so a/perfect accent is not realistically achievable even if it is possible to sound almost identical. Even flaws in an accent are beautiful if the person is👀Not trying to be mean at all here but there is a pretty funny joke about eating make-up to be pretty on the inside which says a lot... and I suppose why some things are better left unsaid... and some smart people have trouble saying little...😇and angels don't ever say things*... And well rounded people always seem to have an accent. 😅Je ma pel... Lol. Thank you Laura nice video🤍

[@CouchPolyglot]

I did not know that joke, that was funny hehehe :D

[@jdubruyn]

💖@@CouchPolyglot

[@thomasfleck6552]

not too important, i believe. and you have to spend a lot of time in a specific region to acquire that accent. and even after that time you probably will not sound native to a native... you might sound australian or scottish to a foreigner, but to a native it will sound obviously fake. so, no need to waste time on accents. if people understand you it's good enough💁‍♂️

[@CouchPolyglot]

Yes 😄