Do you Feel AWKWARD When Pronouncing Another Language Correctly?

Have you ever experienced a strange awkwardness when trying to pronounce the foreign langauge you are studying the way it's meant to be pronounced? Or in a way that is closer to how natives say things? On a different note, have you ever asked yourself if you should pronounce words in a foreign language the original way, when speaking your language, for instance, English? Let's address all this.
Pronunciation is the way in which a word or a language is spoken. This may refer to generally agreed-upon sequences of sounds used in speaking a given word or language in a specific dialect ("correct" or "standard" pronunciation) or simply the way a particular individual speaks a word or language.
Words' pronunciations can be found in reference works such as dictionaries. General-purpose dictionaries typically only include standard pronunciations, but regional or dialectal pronunciations may be found in more specific works. Orthoepy means pronunciation considered correct, or the study thereof.
A word can be spoken in different ways by various individuals or groups, depending on many factors, such as: the duration of the cultural exposure of their childhood, the location of their current residence, speech or voice disorders, their ethnic group, their social class, or their education.[3]
Linguistic terminology
Syllables are combinations of units of sound (phones), for example "goo" has one syllable made up of [g] and [u:]. The branch of linguistics which studies these units of sound is phonetics. Phones which play the same role are grouped together into classes called phonemes; the study of these is phonemics or phonematics or phonology. Phones as components of articulation are usually described using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)
#language #metatron #pronunciation

[@Emielio1]

YES! Haven't seen the video yet, but YES! This is actually my biggest problem of all. I feel so silly when I, as a native speaker of Dutch, try to emulate Oxford English. I am pretty sure that I subconsciously "downplay" my ability to speak without a Dutch accent whenever I speak English with someone, perhaps because I feel anxious that I might come across as snobby or pretentious. This while I do know that I can, in fact, speak Oxford English without a discernible accent when I actually focus on battling that tendency to make myself sound worse.

[@HyperManSP]

Yes, absolutely! I feel the same way, and it isn't always as simple as ignoring people that make fun of you for it. Because there maybe isn't anybody making fun of you, maybe it's all in your head, which I suppose would get the same advice, just get over it, but it's not as easy of a compulsion to break.

[@BlackQback]

Oh, this rings a bell 😊. Except, when speaking RP English at home (i.e. in my home country), I was either teased or outright accused of showing off, so I consciously started to pronounce English names, Anglicisms, oft-used English phrases with Southern Slavic accent. Later, when in England, I would have to re-acclimate myself or be told "what's with the Russian accent?"😆.

[@patricialavery8270]

Non-English speakers who learn as you call it "Oxford English" do sound pretentious to some Americans, because "proper" English from England is always used by someone telling us what an awful country we are and how much better Europe is .lol. I love hearing the dialects from other places in England on imported TV shows and youtubers who speak in a more natural sounding way. "BBC English" is kind of a turnoff to me, I have negative associations with it.

[@Emielio1]

@@patricialavery8270 Ah, I can definitely imagine that it has some negative implications for you if that is the case. However, most of us non-native English speakers over here in Europe get taught "BBC English", so for most of us it's not really a choice. If I concentrate I can certainly use an American accent, but to me it sounds "unnatural" to hear myself speak that way, since I've spoken Oxford English for 20+ years now, and it's the only version that gets taught in Dutch schools unless you're studying it in college, where you get to pick between American, Australian and British English.

[@arceyes]

I found that the Dutch folks all spoke English very well. When I spent time touring The Netherlands I just spoke Afrikaans. Mostly people we’re very receptive.

[@BlackQback]

The awkward thing I experienced was speaking Queen's English (due to having an English tutor, not me being English) in a Slavic country, so I had to tweak/ downgrade the correct RP to English with a Slavic accent in order for my regular English teacher at school and schoolmates could understand me. It lead to many, sometimes funny, sometimes a bit uncomfortable situations.

[@sweethistortea]

My moms native language is Czech and she disliked learning English because of how different it was compared to Czech.

[@aniE1869]

I remember talking to Japanese tourists when I was a kid and was having trouble understanding them not just because they were using broken English, but they were also using a name for a landmark that was used nationally and internationally. But it had a very different name historically that is still used by the locals.

[@josephkolodziejski6882]

Uluru /Ayers Rock?

[@Tiagabby4]

You see, I live in japan and I learned english by myself by listening to music and watching movies, but when I was in english class, the japanese teacher would ''correct'' me, making me say the english word with the japanese accent ( that table = zatto teeburu ) otherwise the teacher would be mad at me. To this day I dont know what I was supposed to do... But sure as hell I didnt apply the japanese version of english that they tried to push on me.

[@ckeith9954]

Thanks Metatron. If you must know, I am a Filipino. And while we have were known to be very good bilingual speaking people (native language plus English), we do have problems with English. Because we pronounce some things we thought it was correct, have problems in actually being understood at times by natural English speakers. This isn't about grammar.

[@stevedavenport1202]

I have noticed this too with pinoys....for example Graham crackers.

[@thethrashyone]

With that second scenario, I tend to approximate pronunciations to the register that I'm currently speaking in. When speaking English it just feels awkward to slip into my Spanish register for the duration of only a single word, and vice versa when speaking Spanish. It does also feel a little like putting on airs. When I hear English speaking politicians over-exaggerate the pronunciation of Spanish words/names, it just kind of rubs me the wrong way, as if I'm being pandered to. Trust me, it doesn't bother anyone when an Anglo approximates a name like Jiménez to "huh-MEN-iz" any more than it should bother anyone that a Hispanic approximates Simth to "eh-SMEET".

[@sweethistortea]

I’m learning Italian to speak with my Nonno and other family members, and it always feel weird when I want to talk to them. I’m scared that I’ll say, “ Wow, Nonno you look great today” as “Gorilla ate an apple next Friday” if I goof the pronunciation or mistranslate.

[@paulwalther5237]

As a new language learner I did go through a phase where I felt weird if I were trying to imitate natives in a way that strayed from how we would say something in English too much. I know I'm not the only one (or you wouldn't be making this video) but I even remember overhearing an American on my airplane to Europe saying something similar to her friends about speaking non English languages (I think we were going to France). She just couldn't do it because it felt too fake to her. I wonder if she ever got past it (why do I still remember her I don't know). Although I think you're better off trying too hard than the other way around I did have an experience where a native told me my R was crap. I remember a German girl telling me my R was all wrong and they didn't say it that far back in the throat. I was exaggerating it because I couldn't help it - it was that or the American R which to me was way worse. Personally I think a small percent of Germans DO say it as harsh as I was saying it but I would agree that she wasn't. I tried to soften it as a result with limited success (my tongue was not cooperating). It may have slowly improved since then as nobody else has said anything. Nobody likes it when a native tells them they're saying something wrong.

[@Overcrook65]

Fortunately, most types of R are acceptable and understood in German-speaking countries (Russian is stricter in that regard), although not all are particularly common. The North American R (ɻ) is still common in the dialects of some regions: Siegerland, some parts of Hessia and Upper Lusatia.

[@PsychoWedge]

The reason for the r thing is mainly that German has three different r pronunciations which are regionally used. So depending on where the person hearing your r is from your r may sound completely wrong to them even if you're literally copying the way you say it from your native speaking teacher.

[@grzegorzbrzeczyszczykiewic445]

Even more awkward situation is when you speak foreign language and you have to pronounce a word from your native language, like for example a name of a person or a place. You either have to imitate a foreign accent and feel incredibly awkward because it sounds stupid, or pronounce it as it should be and also feel incredibly awkward because you're breaking the flow of speech and the other person probably won't even understand you.

[@aatuhussa2652]

I regurarly pronounce Finnish (my native language) words in Spanish-speaking (my strongest foreign language) contexts, and what's worked the best for me is approximation. That is, I will pronounce my /h/-sounds but I won't switch from the Spanish frontal a-sound to the Finnish a-sound that is pronounced slightly further back. Basically I do anything that's easy to do but won't pronounce anything that would require me to completely flip the configuration of my mouth, even if that ends up with me sounding slightly foreign in my own native language.

[@adriantepesut]

I personally care about pronouncing things correctly, at least always producing the same sound using the same articulators as a native and just don’t personally worry about having a perfect accent I think you should listen a lot before trying to master phonetics of any language and only technically analyze sounds that still give you trouble after lots of listening I agree with the point about not insisting on the native pronunciation when it’s not the language your using I speak Spanish but if I’m speaking English I’ll say burrito like an American just like I wouldn’t expect a Spaniard to say hamburger instead of “hamburguesa” when speaking Spanish

[@mariocatanese1011]

What if the word is Bruschetta? Should you say that wrong (like an American) from one American to another if you are ordering in an Italian restaurant? I prefer to say it properly and teach people the right way, if they say it wrong.

[@sylvainvanduyl6143]

Ever tried Russian... 😢 ? In 2019 I had a 4,5 month course of Russian. This is maybe one of the most difficult languages ever...

[@jancovanderwesthuizen8070]

I've always found it strange when people say "Pari" or "Barthelona"

[@manuelramospetruchena4620]

Quick question Metatron. Have you ever heard Argentinean/Uruguayan Spanish? It sounds like an Italian speaking in Spanish. I've heard that many times. I still have to learn Italian, but I would like to know your take

[@jordanandrei4984]

Thank you for bringing this up, having been to school in two different countries I have very much witnessed this being a widespread issue. And that’s also a problem that affects regional languages. The Irish language for example has a VERY different phonology to English, but the vast majority of learners absolutely butcher it, pronouncing it as if it were English, completely ignoring the phonetics of the Irish language. Today, Irish as a natively spoken and properly pronounced language is in an extremely dire situation and on the brink of extinction being overshadowed by new learners (due to Irish being mandatory in school and the curriculum being laughably bad). From my own experience, as well as from talking to many people on this subject confirming it as a national problem, Irish is mispronounced either out of pure ignorance, or purposefully out of fear of being laughed at by others. Nowadays it’s very difficult to come across properly spoken Irish. The reason for that is that when pronounced properly, it is considered to sound weird, farmer, old fashioned, “culchie” etc and when one tries to properly pronounce it, they will often be mocked (very ironic). One of the reason for the language being in such a state nowadays, appart from general lack of care, is that there simply are not enough teachers that have even remotely good Irish to teach the whole country, Irish being a mandatory subject in all schools in this day is simply unrealistic (sadly), as well as the required level to teach Irish being substandard. This also affects other languages like Occitan and Breton which nowadays are pronounced solely using French phonetics by the majority of speakers. Most speakers of these languages are new speakers, and these languages end up sounding like sims language or English/French with made up words, and I find this whole topic despairing.

[@matt92hun]

Phonology seems to be largely ignored, regardless of source and target language, because most people don't know how language acquisition works. Even when they try with some explanation, it's often along the lines of "it sounds like the O in dog". "Dog" in which dialect and which accent? That's your problem to figure out if you care enough to bother trying to pronounce the language accurately.

[@annafirnen4815]

My problem with pronouncing English properly is when I use English words while speaking my own language. There is a big difference of how you use your mouth in both languages and I have issues switching the sounds mid sentence. But when I speak purely English I don't have that problem of course, I just speak with an accent since my pronounciation isn't perfect yet.

[@D3ltus]

When I was in school learning english my teachers really wanted us to say the words correctly and with proper pronunciation and I always felt silly doing it. I have to thank them nowadays however, several years after finishing school, because although my english has a strong accent (same with my native tongue) I have never had problems being understood.

[@keithkannenberg7414]

The subtlety that you didn't touch on is that the fact that, in many cases (at least in English), the foreign derived word has now been adopted into the new language. Spaghetti and samurai are English words now that have "correct" pronunciations using English phonemes. If one is speaking English (and it's not a language/linguistics context) then it makes sense to pronounce those words the way Anglophones do, much the same as it would sound weird to say Roma or München with native phonetics in an English sentence. Your solution as content creator is IMO perfect, by the way.

[@montyyy08]

I was in an authentic Indian restaurant with some non-Indian friends. I did speak a dialect of Hindi at home, and I just couldn’t bring myself to pronounce the dishes in an English accent! I felt awkward even though my friends said it in an English accent (I wouldn’t have expected them to pronounce it “properly” like I did 😅).

[@shrektheswampless6102]

Metatron non ho mai sentito un italiano parlare l'inglese così bene e di certo se non sapessi che tu lo sei non l'avrei neanche immaginato 😅 Posso solo immaginare qui a Palermo quante persone posso averti invidiato per le tue abilità linguistiche.

[@Octa9on]

my native language is English and I'm fluent in Spanish. I find that when speaking English I'll almost always pronounce common nouns with an English accent, however with names of places and especially people I'm fairly likely to use the Spanish pronunciation even though it can cause a break in the flow of the sentence. I feel it's more respectful to say a person's name as close as possible to how they do themselves

[@tonyraph4938]

I’ve found Spanish words in English to be very complicated when it is supposedly correct to use the Spanish vs American English pronunciation. Nobody says “quesaDILLa” or “MedelLIN” but apparently it’s obnoxious if I pronounce Sevilla correctly when talking about the city in Spain in English. Sometimes we just have to accept that we can’t make everyone happy.

[@vitogunnhilder]

I do feel embarrassed, but really only when it’s pointed out. I mean, people will point out that you’re able to speak their language, that’s not embarrassing. It’s embarrassing when they suddenly become very focused on what you’re saying before they say “Your accent is weird/interesting/cute”.

[@fixer1140]

You know what I do? I simply say ¨yeah, that happens to people who speak more than one language. But if you want to we can have this conversation on my language¨ No more complaints 😅

[@maissthro3645]

In my experience, it helps a lot getting used to pronounce it naturally on the flow of your natural speech. It's not an easy task but it is achievable and sounds less forced. of course, it will almost only work in the area you use daily since you'd be in a lot of practice. I did that when teaching martial arts and it is not an easy task, but constantly repeating and having to use language switch on the fly are a very useful tool when getting used to the language. I think it also helps a lot if the language you are practicing shares phonemes with your native speech since it will less of an abrupt difference on sounds.

[@giuseppeesposito7094]

I will try to explain how I feel awkward: I'm Italian and I have a decent english pronunciation, obviously not perfect or native sounding, but I can hear and undestrand the differences I should implement to enhance my pronunciation, but I feel a little awkward sometimes doing it if I try to spell some words closer to as a native would, because I feel like a bad imitation, a bad attempt to emulate a sound. I can try to replicate it but that does not sound perfect from my mouth, so in those cases I prefer to just pronounce as I'm confortable doing it and as correctly as I can, even if is less native sounding, because I'll rather sound like a decently speaking foreigner then like a silly sounding foreigner trying to emulate natives. I hope I explained myself, sorry for my bad English.

[@emmanuelwood8702]

You have to be willing to risk being ridiculous to get better at something .

[@giuseppeesposito7094]

@@emmanuelwood8702 I'm talking about Neapolitan population, which has a good percentage of very voulgar and ignorant people. Of course there's no shame in the mistakes of who's trying to learn

[@emmanuelwood8702]

@@giuseppeesposito7094 You calling me ignorante Guiseppe?

[@giuseppeesposito7094]

@@emmanuelwood8702 absolutely not, why are you thinking that?

[@emmanuelwood8702]

@@giuseppeesposito7094 you said napoletani are ignorant.

[@holycameltoe124]

do you really need to slow down to pronounce japanese properly though? you didn't slow down in your example... so you could just use the proper pronunciation and not bother about any haters.and I doubt most people would pick up the subtle changes in tones when you're pronouncing chinese words like beijing. and now it got me thinking about were is the line between showing off, showing capability and being humble. because you don't need to show off but on the other hand if you do know the pronunciation there's no need to pretend to not know to spare some waiters feelings. he or she is probably indifferent in any case. you can pronounce it right without sounding like a douchebag. I get the humility aspect as I don't like to show off, but I don't like always caring caring about other people's feeling either, especially when you're paying good money to dine with your girlfriend for example and just want to impress them a bit, you can just be yourself. and indeed don't put the waiter down, their job is hard enough as it is, but you don't need to be really humble, we're not in japan. there is actually some middle ground, and no matter what you do there will always be people who dislike you, they'll just dislike you for the way you look, so don't bother too much. be mindful, sure, but if you care too much you may lose confidence or self worth, there's a limit to humility and it can actually set you back. when you don't show your capability at work because you don't want to offend or annoy your coworkers, it will really set you back. show your capability and don't be a douche about it. the way you do it is one way but you can always just pronounce things correctly without slowing down or sounding like a know it all, showing some backbone and that you believe in yourself can go a long way in people liking you too.

[@matthewheald8964]

Another awesome video by Metatron. I think (with all modesty) I'm on the higher end of that accent scale; when I was learning Spanish, it felt like my whole jaw & mouth position just shifted & I started speaking with more or less the same vowel sounds & qualities as natives & it all feels totally natural when my mouth is in that mode (idk how else to describe it). I'm not trying to brag or anything as I really did nothing to earn it, but I am definitely very thankful for this gift in particular. However, I think I know some people who might benefit from this video even more than I did. Also, to his last point, people always have been & always will be offended by progress. Just keep on living.

[@CounciloftheRings]

Hey Metatron, I just wanted to wish you luck with the daily videos this month! I hope you want to share the results as well, as there are KZbin myths out there. Some say new videos compete with each other, while others say it might give a huge boost posting daily for a period. So I'm curious to hear what your results are! Cheers and good luck! 🤗

[@marcelhalbich9301]

Learning the correct pronounciation is in some cases very important. Some languages have words that are written the same but have to be pronounced according to their meaning differently. For example the German word "umfahren" can mean the exact opposite of what you want it to be, if pronounced not correctly. The English "read" is also a good example where the pronounciation is eminent.

[@Vinsanity997]

My question would be should you try to imitate a specific accent or dialect and use their specific words with natives from that area

[@mansfieldtime]

I found that not having my own accent I am able to understand other fairly easily why they have a strong accent.

[@wolfcryerke]

I get annoyed when people don't begin to try and change their accent. I mean, how do you expect people to understand you.. Then again, I've been changing my accent to accomodate the other person, even between dialects in my native language, since I was little. My colleagues make fun of me that they can tell what (kind of) person I'm talking to on the phone just from hearing my accent change. It has been awkward sometimes too, like when my boyfriend said to stop changing and only using my native accent when talking to people because it annoyed him. That's actually really hard for me to do when not around others with that accent, I don't know, it comes automatically at this point.

[@angiewegenerdjmetalamazon4468]

"Non pronunziare male il nome di Johann Joseph Wenzel Graf Radetzky Von Radetz" ;-) kzbin.info/www/bejne/nZOsmal3pqhrms0

[@katejay9786]

Omfg i thought it was just a me thing to be embarrassed about this kind of thing!! I assumed it was some childhood bullshit from being mocked for reciting a French poem as well as I possibly could in year 9. As a kid it especially sucks to be in the middle space when you're trying Très Fort whilst everyone else is drawing on their desk or falling asleep. My (Australian born-and-raised, definitely not first-language French) French teacher wanted me to recite this thing about "la lune blanche" in front of the whole school, meanwhile, the actual French exchange student is rolling her eyes like "she's not even that good tho?? can't you hear.. peughh, mes oreilles" And then for the rest of the year people would randomly wander past me and yell "SAY L'HEUR EXSQUEEZE" at me in the hall. I loved French but I hated learning it at school.

[@mihainita5325]

+100 to saying the "single word" once like in the original language, then using the rules of the main language. After all i speak English, and English has words for karate, katana, Rome, Munich, etc. They might not be the way natives pronounce them, but guess what: these are now English words. And we now speak English, not English with sprinkled words in other language. Pushing it to the extreme, if i know the proper French, Italian, Latin, Greek, (etc) pronunciation for words adopted by English, should i make my English speech a "salad" of different pronunciations?

[@sandrios]

I feel uncomfortable saying water with American pronunciation, whenever I have to say water I say it with the hardest glottal stop instead of t

[@katathoombz]

The sound shall stop most violently at the glottis.

[@sandrios]

or I should say instead of d

[@Epsilonsama]

Depends if it's GA or RP. In GA (General American) the t in Water is in between a d or a hard t.

[@pierreabbat6157]

Water you saying? I was at a stopover in an airport in London and some officer asked me if I had (what I heard as) "wota". I had no idea what he meant.

[@BrazenBard]

As a question regarding the pronunciation shift in your example with samurai and yari, how long pauses do you need to pronounce the Japanese words in an English sentence? It sounded a bit... exaggerated. As for sounding native, I've been told I sound like a native English speaker (actually Norwegian), but no native English speaker I've spoken with have been able to agree exactly *where* I am native to. :D

[@HelmutQ]

Tengo un accento marcato in itialiano. Non me ne vergogno più di tanto, suono un po' come un incrocio tra benedetto XVI ed il sergente di Hogans heroes. Ma continuo a cercare di migliore la mia pronuncia senza imbarazzo. In inglese è molto diverso. Già foneticamente l'inglese e un casino totale. Al posto di 5 vocali una miriade di dittonghi diversi con variazioni regionali enormi. Sono esposto a mille forme d'inglese, del Nord, di Londra, della Scozia, America, Africa del Sud, Australia, quale dovre fingere, come faccio a rimanere nello stesso registro per solo una frase o due. In Harry Potter sento mille accenti. Scozese posh l'insegnate, da contandino il gigante.. Harry abbastanza posh, Hermine ancoro di più, quello coi capelli rossi sempre di Londra ma proletario. La giornalista americana. Mi arrendo. Parlo col mio accento teutonico che mi mette tra Einstein e Schwarzenegger, e mi accontento. Tanto non vale la pena a provarci. Ormai quasi tutti almeno negli Stati parlano un inglese con accenti improbabili o comunque male. Peggio ancora in Canada. In Italiano le differenze sono molto più lievi, i veri dialetti ormai quasi estinti. Poi l'inglese ha anche il problema di registro sociale e di volgarità. Una cadenza del Nord viene associato all'imbecilità una d'Irlanda all'IRA. Se ti scappano le parole f.. e c... che in Inghilterra costituiscono il 50% di ogni conversazione su qualsiasi argomento in America chiamano la polizia. Non puoi nominare il signore ma devi dire "my gosh". Detesto l'inglese americano degli ultimi 15 anni dove tutto e awesome, si deve dire I love you a sconosciuti usano parole latine a sproposito detti idiomatici e acronimi che cambiano ogni tre mesi. DUI driving under influence. Influenza di che? Meglio parlare col classico accento tedesco del cattivello di James Bond or Christoph Waltz in Django Unchained. Almeno gli fa paura e ti lasciano in pace.

[@rosacuore15]

I’m in between 🙂 but I don’t feel awkward at all. I’m doing my best to achieve the native English accent, but from experience, many American people don’t care about accents. They want to understand what someone says. Indeed, there is some ignorant ones who would point out, everything, to every one, regardless of the culture of origin. Because, they are naturally, however, very competitive showing up in climbing up a ladder to a ranking position in the office-floor, of course. Thanks for the video!

[@matt92hun]

What if the word doesn't have a foreign name, like Szabadbattyán, or it not on only doesn't have a foreign name, but sounds downright silly in another language, like Middelfart?

[@euchale]

When I started working in the UK people would constantly tell me how to pronounce things because I pronounced them the American way. While working there I went to the US for vacation, and people started to constantly tell me how to pronounce things the American way...

[@ffosiliaudecymrusouthwales1716]

As a language teacher myself, I often share your videos with my (adult) students. Thanks for all the insightful videos you create; I appreciate your work.

[@SuperErickelrojo]

Well, as romance language speakers we should be careful when pronouncing "You can't".

[@petersmythe6462]

The first type of person must have been really common in California because everything is named in Spanish but pronounced as if the Spanish language didn't exist.

[@overlordnat]

I knew a Dutchman who would say ‘Grolsch’ in the actual Dutch way when ordering in pubs. He soon stopped doing that though when no one could understand the strange noises coming out of his mouth: “hhhhhohhhhh” (or something very similar)!

[@mrclean29]

I have the capability of pronouncing good English but i usually don’t because if i do that a lot it tires my tongue muscles, so i speak with Italian accent. In the end, when Latin was the lingua franca, everybody pronounced it their way, so…

[@sasshiro]

My two cents is, only do so if: your audience is familiar with the original language’s pronunciation (which then becomes partially code-switching); you’re not familiar with how others pronounce it and only know the correct way; OR if you’re in a position of educating the audience about that topic, then it’s pertinent to point out the proper pronunciation. Otherwise, it could come off as being snooty. As a Spanish speaker, it irks me hearing commercials in Spanish where they don’t attempt to translate terms from English and simply pronounce them as they are in English. Same applies when I hear bilingual people pronounce Spanish words as they are in Spanish to someone who doesn’t even speak it, knowing that the audience won’t catch what was said.

[@lewiitoons4227]

The only time I feel awkward when speaking my second language is more when I use English loan words that are common in Latin American Spanish, I tend to not break the flow and say it with my Spanish accent but I do feel like I’m almost taking the piss For example I’d say “a mi me gustan los raperos bien oldskules” instead of saying “old school” like in English just feels particularly awkward giving it’s an English word but as it keeps the flow I don’t think it matters to much

[@iptf]

There's a funny trick I've seen English speakers use when talking to foreigners, which is to put on an outrageous accent of the language of the person you're talking to. Apparently it makes the English just easier to understand for people.

[@tomislavhoman4338]

Re number 2, take a look "The guy who over-pronounces foreign words" by college humor :)

[@helRAEzzzer]

Sushi doesn't translate to raw fish. I suppose it's the closest way to get your point across, but it doesn't, technically, mean raw fish. I don't think it translates one to one at all into another language from Japanese in general. I assume you know that, but this is an educational video. I wouldn't use that example. Honestly, why didn't you use your native languages there? You're not required to, it just seems like, given the topic being covered, the best go-to.

[@joseantonioperezalonso9967]

I agree with this. However, I would like to add and clarify the following: When learning a foreign language, it is generally advisable to focus on its standard version, and to avoid slang and regional accents or excessively colloquial speech, unless you have already mastered the language very well, otherwise your way of speaking may sound ugly and strange.

[@aleisterlavey9716]

I thought i understand english pretty well and then i watched " No country for onld men" yesterday and i was like " is this really English? 😵"

[@eh1702]

Without being able to speak either language, it sounds - superficially at least - as if most Japanese vowels and consonants also appear in Italian. Is the “matrix” similar?

[@petersmythe6462]

I think some people feel awkward because they think it sounds like a caricature of the language they're learning and they don't want to be offensive to the native speakers by pronouncing as a caricature. This is misguided though because almost certainly your language teacher has not assigned you a racist caricature of the language they themselves speak. Rather, it is the learner's own bias that suggests correct pronunciation is a caricature in the first place.

[@Nome_utente_generico]

I have the sense that some of us Italians unconsciously do not pronounce English well because it would be like imitating them/making fun of them.

[@dylanstuckey3824]

I feel like I’m expected to have an accent and will offend if I pronounce something correctly

[@FiliusFidelis]

For me the problem, awkwardness if you will, with interjecting a foreign word into a sentens is that you're brain has to shift gears so to speak.

[@Leftyotism]

No I don't feel weird, I try to make the same sounds without my accent. But then I am German and I hear all kinds of dialects and accents here.

[@alberteinstein1015]

Why is Metatron's American accent so accurate though? Spot on!

[@AsdrubaleRossi]

I feel ankward saying the work ankward correctly

[@manetho5134]

Yeah I always honed down my English accent to make it more Egyptian, cause Egyptians feel that speaking English with a native accent is gay

[@JanoTuotanto]

It is pronounced "yarry" and "kay-tanner" , like a true Jaypannees.

[@gowest5791]

I feel my English pronunciation is all over the place. Some words sound more British, some more American. Don't know if there is a fix for that

[@kathleensiemion5108]

Maybe have a clear idea of the dialect that you are aiming for and spend time listening to media that uses that dialect.

[@OVIDIUS.P]

I might be in the middle to on a few languages I speak. When I speack french here in Montreal alot of people ask me if I'm from France, I just can't do quebec french😂. But when I'm in France they know right away I'm not french, aldo I'm really close. When I speak english imigrats often ask if I'm american but then I asked my friend(english speaking canadian) he tells me that I have a slight accent and he can tell I'm not native english speaker but that I'm really good. He told me that only when I lose focus I lose the accent in english and that's when he can tell. Italian being a latin language I'm very good with the accent and pronunciacion. Romanian being my native language no issues there I can do transilvanian accent or very litteral and university level speach.😁 I also speak bad Hungarian, being from Transilvania I grew up amongst hungarians also so I picked it up. I can do the accent fairly well, but my vocabulary is not that great. And I also drive my friends crazy with classical latin, they keep teling me I'm a dork😂and I don't need it. I tell them I don't need it, I want it. 😂 Once I meet a couple from Japan, visiting Montreal and they needed help to start their rental car. They didn't speak english, not french not any language that I knew. That was a fun experience. Good thing google translator exists😂.

[@Hwelhos]

i dont think u need u need to pronounce words like rome the right way due to it being a name. its like saying that germany is called deutschland in german. so id say that thats extra info and not main info

[@carlos_takeshi]

As a speaker of Brazilian Portuguese, I find that correctly pronouncing it in most situations here in the US would be counterproductive. The vast majority of people have no idea how the pronunciation system works, so they wouldn't know what you're talking about if you say the world correctly. If I tell someone I'd like to get some churrasco, and say it shuhasku, like it actually sounds, will they get it? On the flip side, I was having lunch with my parents at a Japanese fusion place. The waitress was telling us the special. My dad, who is Japanese, was getting tripped up by the bento special, which apparently featured "cara-age" (said like "cara" - The girl's name and "age" - years of life). I had seen the menu entry, so was able to explain it was karaage. The second one feels more clear cut than the first, but I'm still uncertain overall.

[@fixer1140]

Welcome to hell lol. It´s the same thing for me with spanish, and then when I have to move to portuguese, the portunhol decides to show up kkkkkkkkkkkk

[@Leftyotism]

Took me a while to make the Greek s-sound. Learned it from my Greek friend!

[@lobos320]

The rule i follow with foreign words in English. As a native speaker of English who is fluent in Spanish, when I am speaking English I speak English when i speak Spanish i speak Spanish. Here in the US many people "over do it" when pronouncing Spanish words or names. Sometimes it tryinf to show how "diverse" or "multicultural" they are. Sometimes its to emphasize that they are Hispanic ( and dont you ever forget it! ). It seems lots of TV news reeaders do this. The trilled rr goes on forever, or in the case of those who don't actually speak Spanish. They even trill the single r. My last name came from the German speaking area of Switzerland and starts with a W. If I were on the news very few would pronounce it startinf with the "v" sound as in German. But some reports almost rattlemtheir teeth out rolling the Rs in names. ESPECIALY their own names . And it seems female reporters who use a married non Spanish name with make sure a first name like Monica or hyphenate, make sure you know they are Spanish. If you speak English fluently ans you are speaking English saying your name with normal English pronounciation does not diminish how Hispanic you are. Place names that come from Spanish are over (sometimes) for some reason Nicaragua and Costa Rica get the super Spanish treatment but rarely is is done done for Mexico, Argentina or Uruguay. And in the US many places have Spanish names. Some reporters will go out of their wayto pronounce Los Angeles or El Paso as in Mexican Spanish but yet never even consider pronouncing Detroit or Montreal as it would be in Quebec French. Wirh that said each case is different and there are times the otiginal pronounciation is needed in context. And i would not say tortilla with the English L sound. I would say it as almost an English "Y" . When i spak in Spanish i promounce the words and names as is done in Spanish ( my Spanish accent js closest to Caribbean/US Spanish from learninf Spanish from mostly Puerto Ricans and Cubans who live in the Northeast and Southeast united states)

[@lobos320]

Funny story. I was speaking with a Brazilian named Jose. Many people.donr realize Portuguese says the J like we.do in English or French. He has some woke college girl who was a clerk at a store admonish for pronouncing his first name "wrong" and he didn't need to change to accommodate dumb Americans who don't speak Spanish

[@patricialavery8270]

Teacher told me I had the best French accent of all her students.I questioned that when I heard Jacques Cousteau's crew though.lol.I did try.Not sure about people in Spanish class,though.The school(in Texas)told us we "needed"learn Spanish to get a job.Since I was interested in a Scientific job,which never happened,sadly,I did what I wanted.My experience growing up in a mostly Latino area was that they can and do learn English,you don't need to treat them like morons.The people who refused to learn English were not people who planned to stay in the country and be a citizen,they were here just to make money to send home.

[@stevedavenport1202]

well, a lot of those people are under the illusion that they will be going home soon. But, they have kids then ending up staying until they die.

[@franohmsford7548]

If you pronounce Rome as Roma in England you might come across a few people thinking you're talking about AS Roma :)

[@pierreabbat6157]

Or they may think you're talking about the people who wandered out of India centuries ago.

[@mikemcclellan2863]

Metatron saying "spaghetti." : 😎 Metatron saying "spugeddy." : 😱

[@EZETAROaroMUSASHI]

this happens a lot in anglophone african countries

[@eh1702]

Have you ever experienced the reverse? I worked for a time in Lithuania and was learning more or less by immersion soon after independence, in what had been a closed area. (It took months to even get a dictionary). My native dialect of English is one that’s heavily stigmatised - especially in children and especially by English-teachers, who characterise its accent as uncouth, guttural, slovenly, and often call any dialect word “slang”. Ironically it is a conservative form, and some of the words they disparage are pure Middle or Old English. Anyway, the fairly-standard Lithuanian dialect where I went had an incredibly familiar, in fact deeply intimate, soundscape, to me. The vowel “matrix” is mostly identical to mine, including at least three vowels not present in Standard English (but are in some Canadian and NZ accents). I only had to remember to use the “au” of German “haus” (sounded in just a few words in my accent) that long vowels should be long, and that each vowel in a diphthong is a bit more distinct. The quality of consonants was also extremely similar, including rhotic / tap / trill “r”. I did not even register that at the time - the sound-rules for choosing which one to use must be pretty similar. Many years later I was surprised to learn that stress in Lithuanian is apparently tricky. I had not even noticed it, and had never had any incomprehension or misunderstandings because of it: but yeah - stress in my dialect has a bit of a different morphological underpinning than Standard English. It’s one of the features that outsiders notice most and mimic worst. But trying to “brush up” decades later, I do find stress tricky - in reading, stress and grammar are much harder to figure out than in conversation. Producing a word with the right case, tense and number with stress that’s not the same as in the root verb or noun - it suddenly seems very daunting.

[@Octa9on]

fascinating! thanks for sharing that. if I may ask, what's your native dialect? from how you describe it, I'm guessing it's from a rural area in the south, possibly Appalachia. or, I could be assuming you're from the US, and instead you're from the UK and I'm completely wrong?

[@eh1702]

@@Octa9on I'm from the UK. But the parallels with how Appalachian people and their speech get stigmatised are striking.

[@elizabethnelson321]

I feel like a moron speaking French.

[@sandrios]

Talking about Italian cities, after learning it as Venezia, I can't say it in any other way. It's just like that with only Venezia

[@fixer1140]

For the life of me, I just can´t say Venice or Florence.

[@Epsilonsama]

With pronunciation the problem comes when you are around 80-95% fluent where you understand the standard language perfectly but there's still that small ESL accent so when you speak with someone who doesn't speak the standard language but a regional accent or dialect you end up in a situation where either they don't fully understand you or you don't understand them completely. Happens to me a lot with African American Vernacular English (AAVE) because the English I grew up with was Standard American and later when I moved to the states it was in the Southwest so I lived in an environment without AAVE so now that I live in a region where that is spoken more I need to be more attentive to said way of speaking. As for the code switching, this day if I'm speaking English and use a Spanish word that became a loan word in English I do pronounce it closer to English but it took time for me to get there lol.

[@Helliconia54]

English is my native tongue, however, and i had learned French in school plus have French friends and family. Yes, i do feel awkward, however. I deal with People who are NOT comfortable with English, and I'm not fussed. At least they are trying! It helps me feel better.

[@yuzan3607]

For me the most awkward thing is pronouncing people's names and cities. For example a German David is very different from a Portuguese David or an English David. I don't want to offend people so I try to pronounce their names correctly in their native language but this results in some awkwardness with the sudden shifting, so I'm always not sure if it's better to pronounce the name in the language we're speaking or the person's native language. Also, sometimes for example, I only know German cities by their German pronunciations not their English pronunciation. But if I'm talking in English I'll say the city in its German pronunciation and people get confused.

[@fab006]

As a Swiss German speaker proficient in English, I will pronounce a lot of English words with a Swiss accent in Switzerland. But I draw the line at pronouncing “steak” as “shteek”😂

[@jgillott]

Thank you for this. I felt a bit awkward yesterday from my response to the farewell from the cashier at the supermercato. Initially, I didn’t recognize what it was I felt was wrong. Soon I knew it was the final ‘r’ in “arrivederci” I didn’t roll. A recurring problem for me as a learner of Italian.

[@edwartvonfectonia4362]

I am learning Italian here in Italy, and man, every time I say words "Italian way" or say sentences faster, I see myself as an arrogant or pretentious "try hard" person. Thanks for clarifying. I just too self-judgemental.

[@norbertzillatron3456]

There is one word in English that gives me pause: "crochet". Pronouncing a French word like in French in the middle of an English sentence feels rather awkward.

[@MidwestArtMan]

I'm a native English speaker who knows some Spanish and one of my least favorite things to hear is a native English speaker speaking Spanish with seemingly no effort put into the Spanish pronunciation. It just seems a bit disrespectful or something.

[@Overcrook65]

I often like to hear accents on others, so I don't find it too embarrassing if I have a slight accent myself. Of course you always want to improve and be able to drop it. And now for a funny song: "Mon accent" by Sangria Gratuite

[@aletaschulz1108]

YES! Usually it is because I don't hear my own pitch and emphasis.

[@baronvonboomboom4349]

Me, whenever I try to pronounce something Raf says :P

[@holycameltoe124]

Yes I sometimes do feel awkward when pronouncing 给

[@LoriQuaid]

If a foreign word has been adopted into your own language (for instance, English), it is now also an English word, and when communicating with English speakers, it should be pronounced as English speakers say it. I knew a native English speaker who pronounced the word "llama" as "yama" which is how certain native speakers of Spanish say it, but unless you've studied Spanish, you don't even know this, and hence you don't know what animal she is talking about. She came off as having an affectation, and she wasn't communicating effectively. I've also spoken to a native speaker of Spanish who lived in Texas. There are hundreds of place names (cities and streets) that have Spanish names, but they have a Texan pronunciation in Texas. He found that if he asked someone for directions to "San Jacinto" and pronounced it in a Spanish manner, he just got blank looks. The listener genuinely did not recognize the place name. So he had to learn the way it was said in Texas (which seemed wrong to him) in order to communicate effectively.

[@fixer1140]

It happens to me all the time. I´m native spanish speaker and when I see a spanish word, then obviously I will pronounce it in spanish, but when people can´t get understand, then I have to throw it with the english pronunciation. For instance, Amarillo Texas, San Bernardino, Colorado., etc.

[@stevedavenport1202]

Yep, had this experience with an Indian friend. He often corrected my pronunciation of the word "guru" since I pronounced it in an American way. When I was in Mexico, I hung out with Mexicans who would pronounce English words that had been incorporated into Spanish with a pronounced Mexican accent. I just followed their example to fit in. For example, the product Vicks Vapor Rub is sold in Mexico under that very same name but pronounced quite differently..i.e. Bee Bah Pour Roob. I made the mistake of trying to find some by referring to it with native English pronunciation and got a blank stare.

[@kyriakoskaroullas]

!!!!

[@HollowSoul-hn1hc]

Hello! 👋

[@pierreabbat6157]

I'm a native 2-3lingual, so I have no trouble switching accents in the middle of a sentence. I say e.g. "la iglesia en Spartanburg" with an American English 'r' and no epenthetic vowel, or "now roll up the tortilla" with a short trill. Feli does the same with German words in English sentences.

[@matthewgallagher8491]

I felt embarrassed trying to speak German to the locals, when I was stationed in Germany. I had German in High School, so I was trying to sound at least decent, and I was thankful the locals were really understanding and helpful.

[@Hwelhos]

ive got a problem with the second, its not necessarily awkward, just hard to switch. i dont really have this problem when speaking dutch and using an english word but i do the other way around. maybe it is because of different phonotactics? because if i want to say my name in english ("jan") its weird to use my native pronounciation [ˈjɑ̟n̠ˠ] and i shift more to an english pronounciation like [ˈjæn]

[@VK-sz4it]

Agree. Yet some simplifications are just silly. Would you pronounce bologna baalooney? Whenever I am in USA, I use something in between the correct and the american pronunciation.