Should You Try To Sound Like a Native? Is it even Possible?

[@ctam79]

Is it possible? If you think so, you're right. If you think not, you're right.

[@joedwyer3297]

The answer that pleases 100% of askers

[@ib9rt]

Also, the difficulty in getting a perfect native accent is very subtle. I have heard someone speak where she has an almost 100% perfect London accent, and if you only had a short conversation you would think she was a local. However, every now and then a slight hint of her native German breaks through where, for example, she sounds a "d" like a "t" which would not happen in English.

[@kokofan50]

The American midwestern dialect does that.

[@ib9rt]

@@kokofan50 People would say "ant" instead of "and"?

[@kokofan50]

@@ib9rt it’s limited to certain words. Also, and gets shortened to an’ or n’

[@shweshwa9202]

@@kokofan50 probably because the majorly of settlers were German and they spoke German until WWI?

[@kokofan50]

@@shweshwa9202 it does come from areas that had heavy German immigration

[@arjay9745]

You definitely SHOULD strive to sound like a native, but not EXPECT it will work in every case. It is, of course, possible and even happened to me with one of the several languages I learned. The reason, I believe, beyond hard work and positive attitude, is just that I had a particular affinity for that language. Also, some people think fantastic results depend on the language being "easy" relative to your native one, or similar to your mother tongue, but that's not true, either. For me, a native speaker of English, I learned Hungarian perfectly (never called out as a non-native after about the second year of study), did reasonably well at German, and utterly failed at Italian, the one people always claim is "easy". Some languages just grab you and others don't.

[@fisyr]

My native language is Czech. I went to France when I was about 8 years old and I picked up pretty much a perfect French accent. Now I live and work in Canada and although I picked up a lot of local speech patterns, I never really was able to lose my Czech accent when speaking English. I don't think it matters too much, because most people can understand me quite well and in larger Canadian cities there is a lot of people and lots of different accents, so I feel like I don't particularly stand out with mine. The most important thing is to try to lose certain idiosyncrasies that would make it difficult for people to understand you.

[@thethrashyone]

I think a lot of people suffer something akin to imposter syndrome when it comes to imitating sounds that are not native to their own language. They seem to believe that it's somehow insulting to native speakers, as if mocking them, and so they choose to stick to their own native sound set as a way of signaling "Yeah, I'm a gaijin, I'm staying in my lane, don't mind me." (Irony being, they _won't_ pay you any mind at all if they can't understand what you're saying because of your overly thick accent.) Personally, I think that mentality is kind of sad and casts somewhat of an undue aspersion on the native speakers of your target language, as if they're incapable of appreciating a foreigner putting effort into speaking their tongue. It also casts an undue aspersion on yourself, as if you somehow "don't deserve" to be part of that linguistic sphere...but then, why even bother learning a language in the first place? Just go all out and give it your very best. I guarantee you, native speakers will notice the effort and respond positively.

[@narsplace]

The goal is to have enough of the language accent as possible to be understood yet enough of your own accent to sound sexy.

[@texasbeast239]

Yeah, nobody minds Sofia Vergara for HER accent. 😉

[@redorchestra30]

I like it, keep them guessing

[@artugert]

Not every foreign accent in every accent sounds sexy lol

[@StuartJayRaj]

Great presentation and agree with pretty much everything that you've said. Native 'like' Prosody trumps 'perfect' accent, but setting the goal from the beginning is important. Your English is a perfect example of this. Any native English speaker listening to you can hear you are not native, however, your prosody is PERFECT, you have so many sounds from certain British English dialects - diphthongs / vowels in general - and even the glottal stops you have smattered through your English, and just the general flow of sounds and phrasing of the language, your English actually is nicer to listen to some native speakers that I know. When you're looking at languages that are spoken by many foreigners like English, then there is a lot more leeway for accent / prosody, but as you know as a Chinese speaker, that leeway varies from language to language. Even mandarin gives you a lot more leeway because so many non-native speakers (Including Chinese non-native speakers of Mandarin) speak Mandarin, so the 'scope' for different renderings of the language is much broader. As you get into languages like Cantonese, or Thai, the scope for variation becomes a lot more narrow.

[@Paul_Inman]

I'm trying to learn Italian and I try quite hard to pronounce words correctly and often find myself adopting an Italian accent because it actually makes forming the words easier. However I am under absolutely no illusion whatsoever that it sounds in any way authentic to a native speaker. I think to achieve the level of sounding like a native, one would have to live in the country. By doing that you would find that you would eventually pick up the local accent. Much like if you move within your own country to a region where people have a different accent (in the UK that can be one or two streets away), your accent will probably change naturally to more closely align with the local one

[@reezlaw]

@Conon the Binarian⚧ I wonder what an "exaggerated Italian accent" sounds like

[@minkorrh]

You would be surprised how far emulating the accent goes. Just stop for a second and think about immigrants you have met who speak English, but with a very strong foreign accent. It's difficult to understand. Make the effort to sound like your host. It worked very well for me.

[@NaturalLanguageLearning]

I find the "just speak with your natural accent" concept so stupid, some people love to justify their lazyness. You should definitely try to sound more like a native. Sounding like one 100% of the time will be extremely hard, but getting halfway there is still much better than not even trying and sounding like shit forever. Also, totally agree that having a good accent and pronunciation will make natives think your level is much higher than it really is, even if your grammar and vocab aren't great.

[@inaleyen2737]

Excellent! Your videos are more informative than most of the graduate courses I attended as part of the requirements for my PhD in applied linguistics.

[@BrazenBard]

I've been told by Brits, Americans, Canadians, and Australians (including New Zealanders) that I speak English like a native speaker (it's my second language, being Norwegian) - but none of them could agree on where the accent was from, just that it wasn't from their neck of the woods. I find that English is the easiest language to "fake" native grasp of, given the immense range of native dialects around the globe. Don't know if any other language could ever allow for the same distinction... As for your accent, I don't often *hear* you slip up, but I can often see your Italian accent is well in hand. Well, both hands, really. (I jest. Mostly.)

[@jakemckeown9459]

Tell people you’re from Wyoming. No one will be able to call you out (it doesn’t exist)

[@BrazenBard]

@@jakemckeown9459 I don't think so, I lean more toward a non-American English accent, it's just that no-one can pinpoint where on Earth it's local to... but honestly, I'm just glad no-one can immediately pick me out as Norwegian from the accent. We've had some... athletes and such with, hm, *very* distinct... grasps of English, to put it politely.

[@BichaelStevens]

I am forever stuck with sounding like a Pole or Romanian, and I accept my fate. It's just how I am. Another person I know sounds perfectly native, but our backgrounds are the same. What makes them different from me, if they learned how I learned, they do what I do, they started as soon as I started? Oh well, big whoop, people understand me and that's what matters.

[@BrazenBard]

@@BichaelStevens That is, indeed, the most important thing. So long as you can make yourself clearly understood, the actual accent is pretty unimportant, IMO. Unless you, like our dear Metatron, are teaching the language in question.

[@BichaelStevens]

@@BrazenBard It's not like I sound like that kid in that famous Russian skit about learning English 😋"Maj nejm iz Antuon, evrij mornjing aj getaap at seaven ukhluohk"

[@davidchilds9590]

As a case in point, Metatron has great English pronunciation - I think most speakers of Standard English will understand you easily. However, no native British English speaker is going to mistake you for a native-speaker. On the other hand, I have interviewed many non-British people (French, German, Russian, Spanish, Italian, Indian) who do speak English like a native. Also. not all languages are equal: I think that Xhosa is probably nearly impossible to sound like a native speaker, unless you learn as a child.

[@igorbednarski8048]

I think it's possible, but not worth it for most people to sound EXACTLY like a native speaker. The thing is - the closer you approach sounding like a native, the harder it gets, I'd say exponentially so, nailing these tiny remaining details exactly right will possibly cost you as much effort as it took you to get from 0% to 99% I'm not pulling this out of my ass, I did study English philology (and I would go to the university library to read the journals with the research papers published by my professors, I'm that much of a nerd 🤓) and wherever there is phonemic contrast, L2 speakers develop the ability to speak new sounds relatively quickly - and when there isn't, most barely shift their native pronounciation. For example: I do pronounce θ and t (and even tʰ) as different sounds, even though this doesn't occur in my native language. I do pronounce ɪ and i differently etc. Does it mean I pronounce these EXACTLY like the natives do? Hell no, it's quite immediately obvious I'm not an Englishman, even if my accent doesn't give away where I'm from, It does give away where I'm definitely NOT from 😅. Having said that, people clearly can tell whether I'm saying 'three' or 'free' or whether I mean 'ship' or 'sheep'. That's good enough for me and for 99,9% of people. Does it mean you "shouldn't" try to get even better than that? Of course not, if you really want to, go for it - as long as you have an idea of why you're doing it and what for.

[@josephhoward9346]

I was working in the Houston, TX area a few years ago and I took my wife shopping. Struck up a conversation with the woman at the register and suddenly I used a word that she wasn't familiar with and I had to explain what I meant. I thought it was odd at first but turns out she was a student learning the English language in order to go to her home country (can't remember where) and teach English there, at this moment my mind is blown because I never would have guessed English was a second language for her.

[@Spvrinnaeli]

Originally my goal was to achieve an indistinguishable-from-natives level in my Spanish and Italian, but I've sort of relaxed on that recently. I think it's absolutely possible with one language or maybe a few different languages that are sufficiently different, but it's just extremely difficult and not worth it between the romance languages. I'd still love to get my Tuscan and Andalucian accents perfected one day (I'd say I can convincingly portray a Tuscan or Andaluz to a non-Tuscan or non-Andaluz right now), but for the same effort I could probably improve my portuguese a lot or even finally get started on French. It's a question of dedication and priorities.

[@SweetTaLe]

I try to sound as native as possible, but like you said it's difficult. Learning correct English pronunciation took me years! Words like the, weather, feather, father, jewelry etc... were especially difficult for me. I did learn over time, but I still often get tongue tied when speaking. Sometimes I'm flawless and sometimes I just fumble my sentences completely. I think you should try and aim to sound as native as you can, but there's no shame in having a bit of an accent. Pronouncing sounds that are not in your native language is tough!

[@monalisadavinci7076]

in Hertford, Hereford, and Hampshire Hurricanes Hardly ever Happen--remember your H's everyone!

[@rb98769]

I agree completely. It's not something for everyone, but if it's a language that you love, and you want to perfect it, why not? I've seen a lot of this, people asking some grammar question only to be met with a bunch of "you don't have to learn that!" replies. That's of no help.

[@vaxrvaxr]

I'd watch a series on how to improve pronunciation. Particularly advanced topics.

[@artugert]

Learning the IPA very well helps a lot, if you haven't already.

[@GaeilgeLaighean]

I completely agree with you in this regard. Pronunciation it as much a part of a language as any other (difficult as it may be ) The idea that it should not even be attempted is like telling learners that the past perfect continuous is un-important, and you shouldn't even attempt it, as you'll sound awkward or clumsy. When your learning a language, most things you say are clumsy.

[@keyem4504]

I agree that you should try to get it right, as least as right as necessary to be understood. I know several people (most of them French, but I'm sure that's by chance) that are fluent in English but it's very hard, close to impossible, to understand them because they don't seem to care at all about their accent.

[@jakubSwaps]

I started watching KZbin videos in English when I was around 10 or so. That's how I learnt the language, hours upon hours upon hours of listening. I'm from the Czech Republic but people who hear me speak ask which US state I'm from. It's not just possible, it's very doable if you have a good ear and put a lot of time in.

[@coolbrotherf127]

I think it's definitely possible. For example if you moved to Japan, learned Japanese while working at a Japanese company, only watched and read Japanese media, married a Japanese partner, had Japanese kids, talked to Japanese friends, and never spoke in your native language for years the you'd probably sound extremely similar to the natives. The natives don't have Japanese baked into their souls, they just spent their entire childhoods being educated in the language and exposed to it 24/7. Anyone who tries to replicate that will get really close to the same level. On the flip side, as and English speaker I meet people who have learned English as a second language literally every day and the tiny grammar or pronunciation mistakes hardly matter at all when they are actually communicating with me. My brain hardly notices it half the time. I think it helps to sound more native in certain social situations, especially if you live in that country, but focusing on clear communication is much more important than native level communication.

[@kennethgreifer5123]

I am an American. I speak English, but if I go to England, should I use an English accent? No, because I would look crazy to them. If I meet an Australian here, should I use their accent too? I know the language, although not their slang words. I say no.

[@bogusawwierzynski2789]

Agreed, It`s better to be imperfect yourself than try to be fake somebody else.

[@PC_Simo]

About the English ”I”, I’m hearing it’s getting to sound more like the Italian (or Finnish) ”I” (the tense vowel, similar to the English ”EA”, in ”Tea”, etc.), more often, in SSB; whereas, in RP, it was typically the lax vowel of ”It”, sounding more like the schwa-vowel, in its short, monophthongal form 🤔.

[@James-yp6lu]

Grazie per dire "Limerick" la contea di Limerick in Irlanda

[@warwicker22]

Although my vocabulary is quite limited, I’ve always been proud of (and complimented on) my pronunciation in Japanese. The fact that you tie it into people who play music explains it a lot as I am a musician! Now I just need to increase my vocabulary and grammar. 😅

[@mayramartinez209]

I must admit, I want to do it so people don’t treat me as a foreign (and to increase my ego, not gonna lie).

[@raylewis395]

I'm trying to learn Spanish while trying to maintain a functional level of Italian. I am told that when I speak Italian, I sound very English, but when I speak Spanish I sound Italian.... However my biggest problem is interference - when I try to say something in either language functional words such as pronouns and prepositions from the other language creep in. The way I have been trying to deal with this is to concentrate on the difference in phonology between the two languages. Is this a good scheme? By the way - I love your South London accent!

[@andreasarnoalthofsobottka2928]

Interference between romance language I have experienced a lot. A short while after I started to learn Spanish, it totally covered my French, and so it did with two of my classmates. (Italian and again French)

[@UncreativUsername]

Wait what it's South London? Don't get me wrong I'm not insulting his accent I just have no idea how to tell accents even though I live in London. Well I can tell accents apart, but unless I actively go and learn what an accent sounds like, I'm not going to match it to a name

[@pierangelosaponaro2658]

I might have a little similar problem with accent, possibly, more with confusing languages. Romance languages, have many words that are not completely the same, though very close in spelling and pronunciation. Spanish and Italian have that. They are lexically similar by 80-85%.

[@SpacePatrollerLaser]

From my experience, the "ih" sound is derived from the "ee" sound since most of the words where it occurs are of Latin origin. I suspect it has someothing to do with Grimm's Law

[@danielharris9403]

Something I never hear linguists talk about: JOKES. A silly one-liner (whether in delivery or an impulsive belly-laugh), I feel, is the final step to mastering a language.

[@Fantastic_Mr_Fox]

I'm French. No one would ever guess that I am, from hearing me speak english. That's what I would consider a 'Native' level of fluency.

[@brostelio]

For my two pence I can say that in my experience, having been born and raised outside my native country (Greece) for 26 years but having always spoken Greek at home and having gone to Greek school after-hours during my schooling years, and now living in greece for 20 years, there are two things to consider: 1) My mannerisms stand out as being different to most Greeks', so (frustratingly) something is always "off". 2) I agree with the Metatron's point that if your pronunciation is very good, a native speaker will assume you know much more vocabulary than you actually do. This in itself is an obstacle to communication some times, especially on technical matters (speaking with doctors, car mechanics, local councils etc). It's all very interesting though.

[@helRAEzzzer]

I think you should try to sound as close to native as you can get. My grandparents were native French speakers (a derivative of New England French [Lowell French - it was spoken in Greater Lowell, Massachusetts] and Chiak and Quebecois - IDK exactly, I just know they used all three dialects with different family members). They sounded like native English speakers to me, a native English speaker. I think it's cool. Ready to Glair on KZbin is Italian originally, and her English sounds like she is a native American-English speaker. It's so trippy to hear her switch between Italian and English. I love it! There are some languages, like the clicking languages of the African continent, that change the anatomy of the vocal cords in order to pronounce the words, so it takes YEARS to do it, but people have done it. Honestly, I can't understand what people are saying if they speak English with a thick foreign accent. I have a very thick regional accent that, I can tell from their facial expressions, is difficult for some non-native speakers to understand. I've also been told I have a bit of a mixed accent - probably with a little bit of French; I don't speak it, but I did grow up with it. I try to play down my accent a bit when I notice others can't understand me, but it's a bit annoying to do so. I have a friend from Indonesia that half of our conversations tend to be us just smiling and nodding at each other. 😅 I'm from outside Boston - that's not even close to how we speak!😂😂 *I'm typing as I listen to the video and just passed that part* Honestly, be careful trying to mimic our accent. If you're not used to our culture, you may get upset when we laugh at you. It's all meant to be in good fun, but people from outside of New England tend to think we are just extremely rude. If we are actually upset about something, you'll know immediately OR you will never know because we will bitch about it in private. We take the piss here, like the Irish do. Light mocking can be a sign of respect and welcoming. I definitely recommend getting used to our culture before practicing our accent. It is also fairly difficult to understand you when you try to do it. Once you get it down, though, we will be extremely impressed by it. Most other Americans can't do our accents - really there are multiple Boston accents; South Boston (Southie) is the stereotype accent. Massachusetts in general has different accents. I have an accent similar to a Lowell accent. My sister has a bit of a Chelmsford accent somehow - I guess it's how our hometown's accent, Dracut, hybridized with my Dad's Concord accent? I know these towns don't mean much of anything to people, but I find regional accents fun and like seeing on maps where they are and how small or large of an area they're found in.

[@petarjovanovic1481]

The biggest issue in my opinion and experience as a person who tries to learn a third language is that people who teach languages don't actually know much about languages in general, especially not about phonetics and how to make a certain sound so a lot of people avoid teaching this subject and they just tell you "pronounce it in a way you can. If people understand you great". I'm currently going to a language school with 10 other students and the teacher not once corrected the pronunciation of people who are just pronouncing a certain sound in a wrong way.

[@kaimamoonfury1335]

I wouldn't be surprised if it's in another vid. But what is your first language? I would ASSUME it's Italian, but I'm curious to hear. Also wondering if you think some languages are better suited for learning to pick another one than others. Sort of how an English speaker may seemingly have an easier time with German. Commented to early XD, you mentioned your difficulty with the letter "I"

[@thorthewolf8801]

I might just be contrarian, but I definately dont agree on mixing accents. You should definately try to improve your pronunciation to "sound" like a native, but you will never achieve 100%. Why not spice it up then? If I like the way the scots say dance I will pronounce it like they do! Maybe I like saying water in a posh british accent!

[@globulidoktor1733]

yes and no what's even 'native' sound? let's take English for example, depending on the environment, everyone sounds differently.. I even know an English native who sounds like a German (I can tell as a German speaker) edit: to clarify, I mean that person's English

[@FirstLast-wk3kc]

Would you please pin your main channel in description of the Academy (this one)? If that's not a problem of course. It's just a bit uncomfortable when you have a link to this one on your Metatron channel, but none on Metatron Academy. It's a little thing, and it's not important. Anyway Goodluck to you

[@matt92hun]

I think it very heavily depends on your target language and your intentions with that language. Holiday, or work? Maybe your target language has a similar phonology and you already sound 80% native when you say your first sentences. Like you could give someone speaking an Eastern European language something written in another Eastern European language, but using the orthography of the first language and most people would sound quite native even if they never tried learning a foreign language. Maybe you're trying to learn English, where someone living in Britain has probably seen both Star Wars and Mad Max and they've had plenty of exposure to accents that don't sound like the one they grew up with. And even if they somehow haven't, they still most likely only understand English, so they'll have to make do. Maybe your target language is Danish where native speakers are only I used to the standard and maybe their local dialect if it sounds somewhat different. They also speak English, so if they don't like your accent, they'll just try to switch to English. In English you can have the strongest Italian accent and people will still understand you, sounding more native is mostly optional. In Danish if you as an Italian speaker don't aspirate and activate your posives, they'll just consider you as someone who doesn't know a word of Danish.

[@moderatedoomer2945]

FWIW, you're so close to native English pronunciation that the slight deviation is so slight that if you didn't say that you were Italian in this channel, I'd have trouble guessing your first language. Moreover, the extent to which your pronunciation deviates from my dialect of English, the standard California/West Coast American English, is more similar to how I speak compared to other native dialects of English.

[@edwardgrenke6417]

While I was younger, I chose to learn many languages because my dad was bigot. He probably did not know it. My mom was forbidden to speak Occitan, but she and I continued speaking it, but I thought I was speaking French until I took it in school. I find it easier to watch foreign TV and use what I learn. I had put my foot in my mouth many times.

[@andrewlawrencemilton]

I am an English native speaker. My knowledge of French is so-so but people say my accent is good, so much so that French speakers have said it is not obvious that I am English. I have been mistaken for Dutch, German and even Canadian. I am more than happy with that.

[@simonguiri9628]

As a german (Who does not even live in Germany😅), I do not think that you have to Sound like a native german. That being said, its getting a little annoying when you see some foreign people who only rely on English because they are for example working in an american company. I mean we would judge any other foreign group for not integrating so I think anglophones don't have any excuse at all here. But they will always say that's impossible to speak go German which is BS, my sister in law is Arabic and has no accent after 3 years of speaking. You don't have to sound native, but you should be able to communicate yourself accurately

[@zorradone]

Should you pick an easier accent. Like me as Dutchman should I copy a South African boer accen in Englsh? Or as an Italian copy an Argentine Spanish accent? Whats your opinion?

[@thealexanderbond]

In your case Metatron, I'd say you're 95-ish% towards speaking in a native standard English with a hint of South/North London, but still a 5% hint that you are not native.

[@EngineerOfChaos]

As a Philadelphian, you keep pronouncing water wrong. It's wooder

[@Observer29830]

My position is that you need to be able to pronounce stuff enough to be understood, but mimicking the native accent is not necessary, or, frankly, worth the effort. Where I'm from lots of language schools were accent wankers - it's where the teacher would interrupt you speaking or reading every time to correct your pronunciation unless it is 110% perfect. Students of such schools typically suck in both. It may be important for teachers and ... I dunno, some other super-niche vocations where pronunciation may be important. For like 95% of you? Few will notice, fewer will care. You might also lose part of your charm and personality that comes along with an accent. Lots of people find accents to be charming or cool. Why'd anyone want to lose that?

[@darkyboode3239]

10:44 I’m a native English speaker, and I actually used to pronounce the TH like a D and an F when I was a kid. I would pronounce the as “da” and think as “fink.” But when I was 11, I began to pronounce it the correct way and have ever since.

[@m.pixley8413]

I appreciate your willingness and persistence in speaking English like a native. While there are multiple English accents anyway, it's clear you're striving for authenticity and are pretty close to sounding like a very well spoken native, and if not perfectly native --at least very well spoken 👏 bravo!

[@rbir2653]

I can't make the nasal sounds in Portuguese after 20 years speaking fluently. Pao, mao, irmao.

[@homegirl5763]

Your impression of the English cockney accent is spot on! It really is like that Londoner common dialect. Bravo!

[@EVPaddy]

I think it depends on the language. Even Germans trying to speak Swiss German sound horrible. If you can do it, ok, but most can’t and better stick to standard German

[@lyrigageforge3259]

I am a Finn, I most certainly do not sound like someone speaking 'Rally English', which is what we call it when someone speaks English with a strong Finnish accent. Frankly that strong an accent is both embarrassing and very difficult to understand even if one speaks English as native - even I could not follow a Finn with too strong accent and know every part they may say. I have ran into other accents too, while someone speaks English - which then are so distractedly strong - to the point, it is very difficult to recognize the words. Lol, some more unique actual English accents too can be hard to understand - I mean when the tongue spoken is English, but it's spoken in unique way. Say some individual Arabic or Indian accents would come to mind. Just because our ears aren't used to that accent. It is just the way it sometimes is. But when I was a child, my mother taught me to speak my native tongue exactly the way it is written - no local accents at all - and so that may be why I like accents. My point being that being able to adopt either to using the language the way others use it (native speakers that is) - or at least the way it is most commonly spoken, is also a matter of being polite. Polite in sense, to make the effort of being easy to understand. I learned my English in US, using country music as the means of getting the 'tempo of the tongue' and the the pronunciation right. It just was what fit my mouth best out of different varieties of English accents - I mean to take to the southern way of doing it. Obviously there are few different forms of US southern English and most states sound a bit different. But I got to the point where the Americans weren't really able to tell if I was from somewhere else. Had people be really surprised a few times when they heard I wasn't from some part of the states. Since then I picked up some different ways more to pronounce - it short of depends with whom I speak as I find myself adapting to some of their ways to say the words on the fly. But I do that also with my own language, as there are different accents within Finland too. It is almost like a bit of a challenge. But the purpose is not to imitate. More so it is to fit and to be understood and to not feel insecure about how you said something. I absolutely hate the feeling when someone asks what I said and I am left wondering if I pronounced it correctly - well did - that does not happen really with English anymore - but I do have that issue with other languages and I do not want to have to wonder what they heard and how I said it wrong. That is a can of worms to make me not want to even try again - so for me the ability of saying it close to how a native speaker would do is literally what gives me courage to go on with a language. And when you learn the tongue long enough, speaking with native speakers, it just starts to happen too, just picking up the accent along with it all. It was actually the best way for me to learn English. Screw grammar, speak like people speak. Screw stupid repetitive recordings to repeat. Screw all the damned word lists and stupid little stories in some language school book. Give the real music, real situations and real people. In reality, my school English lessons had little use, but learning it by experience had mountains of use. But at the same time there are languages I am absolutely not able to pronounce or even attempt to say similar way as the native speaker would do - for example Swedish. That comes out with most awkward US-English sounding accent ever - lol. Idk what that's about, but after I learned to actually, most effortlessly speak English the way I use it - I lost indeed any ability to pronounce Swedish even remotely correctly. Oh, and no-one has ever said I sound like pretending, while speaking English. Then again, I suppose I have collected a kind of mixture of different ways, where accents may even depend a bit on the word - and they mix, when I don't bother to pay attention to keep with just one accent - lol. The reality simply is that some of us base a lot on how words sound like and learn in different ways - for me it was useful to do this way - pretty much hanging on the learning on the sound of it. Finnish is a language where you literally read and speak the alphabets exactly as they sound and are written - so starting a new language or attempting it, I would need to learn, not just phonetics of the alphabet again even if they were pretty much same, minus few special Finnish characters. That's for example the case with French - say - for example the letter S - in Finn there is just one S, there are no variations - so I would go mad with trying to figure out how you say something just trying to read it from written source. Those little characters to indicate pronunciation used in dictionaries are and have always been useless. And so if the teacher does not take multitude of hours making sure you get the hang of getting the sound out correctly - then there really isn't way forward (for me). Many times languages come with additional pay load - additional demands while you study them. For example there having to be something like 'English in English' dictionaries to explain fancy words - that's complicated when your language doesn't really have need for such. It also is ridiculously frustrating and pointless, when a language has words which have genders assigned to them, when there is no saying why or what determines them. A matter which is absolutely illogical for a foreigner who never learned set words to start with as a child by the ear. That sort of stuff can put you entirely off from trying to learn it - sadly. So being able to learn something in environment to use it is far better - to hear it and to have those people around you who will help with the way things are supposed to sound like. And it certainly isn't insulting or wrong towards anyone - when you just want to get as good at something you can - and above all sound understandable to over come an accent that many would have hard time understanding. Yes being good at a tongue can make you sound and seem professional, even highly educated - some countries really have silly assumptions to claim that only university level education can make you good at a foreign tongue, even though there are many who simply learn on their own or have experience living in a country where set a tongue is spoken. Anyhow, it really is also good to avoid the personal embarrassment - so that you don't need to wonder what else you perhaps managed to say instead of what you intended to say. I'll leave an example. In Finn - if you say 'Minä näin sinut.' You said 'I saw you.' But if you just stumble to say 'Minä nain sinut!' You managed to say 'I marry you.' by using a word which also means 'to fuck' while it can mean 'to marry' too. So yea - the way you work your tongue on a word does have quite a lot of baring.

[@yunasimanuishmausha4547]

Possible with Spanish, an easy to pronounce language. Almost as easy with classical Latin.

[@johnmagoola7905]

For me, I'm trying to learn Japanese as a native English speaker (well, I used to also speak Korean), and I thought a good place to pick up mannerisms and accent was anime. I've learned that that's only partially correct because in a lot of anime, the way people speak is very dramatic and would probably sound weird in natural speech.

[@jameydunne3920]

I think this lines up with what you're saying so... Yes, you should try to communicate as best as you can with the native tongue, dialects, and mannerisms of the place you're at. Most people will appreciate the effort, like you more, and be more helpful and forgiving to you. But, no, unless you're one of those exceptions he mentioned, you're probably not get it perfect or maybe even right at all. But time and conscious effort will improve your communication skills and their ability to understand you. I found (in general) if you apply earnest effort most people will help you and give you more grace than you'd expect. You may even get a few of the natives to open up to you, which is a cool unexpected benefit.

[@jahipalmer8782]

I just try my hardest to get the closest I can to a native. But luckily my target language is Spanish and there are so many different natives from so many different countries. Additionally, Native Spanish speakers born in my city (in Kentucky) have an accent kinda similar to my gringo accent. 😂

[@artugert]

Although if I pay close attention I can tell that you're not a native English speaker, since there are so many different English accents, if I weren't listening that closely, I would have assumed you were from somewhere in the UK. I think we are so used to hearing people speak English as a second language that we might not necessarily even think about whether someone is a native speaker or not, if their accent is decent enough, even more so if it is a Westerner. I personally like to try to figure out what kind of accent people have (or what language they are speaking), even when I just overhear someone talking. But I think the average person doesn't think about it that much, particularly if you live in a very multicultural place, where you hear all kinds of accents all the time. But as a white person speaking Chinese, every person you who sees you will immediately assume you are not a native speaker, even if you are (there are some white people who are native Chinese speakers, although they are rare). It's the same with other Western countries. Because there are many Asians living in Western countries, some of whom were born there, if you meet an Asian with a native-like accent of any Western language, you will probably assume they are native speakers of that language. But that won't happen the other way around, since there are much fewer white people who were born and raised in an Asian country. When people assume you are a native speaker, they will talk to you normally, but if they think you're not, many people will treat you differently, which can be a barrier to learning more quickly. But I really liked the point you made: that if your pronunciation is very good, people will assume that your proficiency, fluency, etc., are also at a high level, even if they aren't. So if you get the pronunciation down in the beginning, you will get much higher quality interactions with native speakers, speeding up the learning process.

[@AFVEH]

The key, I think, is to strive for a perfect native accent but to be realistic and make yourself aware that you'll never reach it. That way, you always improve but never get angry with yourself. For example, I'm trying to learn Russian, I try my best to get a perfect accent but for the life of me can't pronounce ы but I don't stress about it, I pronounce it like an и and due to the rest of the word and context everyone understands what I say and there's no problem... atleast so far 😅

[@sanmari1071]

My nationality is Polish, but i was born in Lithuania (borders were moved after II world war and my parents who were born in Poland now were in Lithuania), so when I moved to Poland I was discriminated because of long soviet isolation in Lithuania prononcian remained the same and in Poland it changed. At first I tried to adjust, I took courses, but later I said: f* it, it is my native language, haters will just hate

[@blackdragon5274]

I think it's neat to not sound perfectly native, it'd be boring if you didn't have an accent 😅 And funnily enough, I naturally switch between a southern, and "standard" American accent for different words since my parents have different accents, lol

[@fabulously695]

I’ve lived in England soo long, I’ve lost my French accent in French 😢 I’m going back in 3 years, I don’t want people to think I’m a foreigner 😅

[@광동아재廣東大叔]

Isn't there one of your fellowmen who is excellent in this kind of aspect, namely Luca Lampariello?

[@barrelrolldog]

Mate your English is exceptional. Well done! Its a good feeling to hear it a foreigner speaking English with a propa British accent.

[@stephanledford9792]

My understanding is that most Europeans can speak English as a second language, and they generally learn from instructors speaking British English or American English. How do I know? From the way they pronounce words, at least certain words that British and Americans pronounce differently. You will be able to tell an Italian who learned English from an American instructor from an Italian who learned English from a British instructor from their pronunciation, and you probably will be able to recognize from their accent that they are Italians speaking English as a second language. I mention this because I cannot imagine anyone being offended by their pronunciation. They are doing their best with the accent they learned from and are not trying to fool anyone. My take on this is that you should learn a language by listening to native speakers and do your best to use that accent, knowing that the idea is to communicate, not to try and "fool" the person listening into thinking you are a native. If you use how your own language is pronounced, that communication may not work well, especially if you are reading a word. An example of this happened years ago when a Hispanic man trying to ask dad a question about his wife (my mother). "Wife" was being pronounced "weefay", because he was using Spanish pronunciations of an English word and not realizing that the "e" at the end is silent. He was trying very hard to learn English from a book. My dad finally asked him to repeat his question in Spanish, or we never would have figured out what he was trying to say.

[@philipohmes9395]

With so many variants used by people who speak a language natively it can take years just to understand the radio or television broadcasts of the English Language used world wide. For my listening understanding, I just do the best I am able. I never ever attempt to correct someone's accent that is different than my own when communicating in German, Latin or English. It makes more sense to me to learn the origins of words and how they may have been used in past centuries, than to sort my way through multiple accents or dialects of a language. Now if another person really messes up with their grammar usage, I first ask what their logic is for doing so and then suggest another way that is better. Otherwise just carry on as best you can. And to that end, I do spend hours every week learning how people speak German, Latin or English in various countries and regions around the world. Learning regional dialects better is what I like doing. TV shows, sitcoms, movies and the like are my choices. Although, In Switzerland...they actually do have language schools for natives and visitors who want to learn the local variant of Swiss German of the are they are working and living in, that is different from the area where they grew up. And in Germany there are language schools that will teach a Swiss person how to communicate better in High German and lessen their usage of their local Canton Dialect, so that they are better understood in Germany when engaging in business ventures. Then there are the movie stars, who will have a voice coach teach them how to pronounce words in a language style, they are not used to using for a role they will be playing.

[@AthanasiosJapan]

Warning when trying to sound like a native! The common example to avoid, is the gaijin who learnt Japanese from their girlfriends. They tend to sound like their girlfriends. Even if the grammar or the pronunciation are perfect, the choise of words and expressions sounds strange. My advice is to find and immitate a native speaker that matches your personality.

[@patrickwellington4214]

When you have time Listen to the late Yul Brynner speaking French during an interview with a French journalist.Trust me when I say that you will be amazed.

[@ronlugbill1400]

I am a language teacher. Most language classes do not emphasize pronunciation and most classes do not work with students one-on-one with pronunciation. If you have never had a teacher or native speaker work with you on pronunciation, do it. Your pronunciation will improve a lot.

[@jonathanstempleton7864]

I thought you might like to know that last week I saw a cafe advertising "enjoy a freshly made panini". I remembered your advice so went in and corrected them.

[@darkyboode3239]

When I speak, Russian, German, and Greek as an Australian, I don’t focus on my accent but rather making sure I get the pronunciation of the words right. I will admit that I do have a unique accent when I speak each of them, but it’s something that naturally develops on its own and doesn’t really emulate the way natives speak. As a non-native, trying to emulate the pronunciation or accent of a native isn’t really beneficial. It will just come across as imitating an accent, like if I were to put on an American accent for instance.

[@patrickstowers2748]

Mate, trying to speak Telugu, an Indian language, with a broad Kiwi accent, the locals do not understand you. Try and mimic their accent and at least the percentage of people who understand you raises exponentially.

[@valerietaylor9615]

I am blessed ( or cursed) with the ability to learn to speak a foreign language with a native or near-native speaker accent. This has led to several embarrassing moments when I traveled overseas and was mistaken for a native speaker, only to be found out because I wasn’t nearly as fluent in the local language as people assumed. Still, it was fun and I wouldn’t trade my gift for accents if I could.

[@ashleybennett4418]

It's no possible. You can achieve 99% nativelike but not 100%

[@GnohmPolaeon.B.OniShartz]

We sounds ridiculous. Just get the names right and remember the history as it was and they won't hate you, in my experience. Unless you're like a really good linguist then by all means go ahead and blow people away. Lol its different if you're actively talking to someone or some people who speak another thing but as a general rule, in passing. Names and events go way far.

[@hetwitblad6544]

Actually accents do tend to kind of wear off on you. Before moving to Canada my accent was mostly British (at least Canadians often took me for a Brit, I doubt any Brit would), but after a few months my accent started to mix with a Canadian accent. Now my natural way of speaking is this odd mix of different accents that grew naturally, though when teaching I can often revert to a more British accent

[@AllenNyros]

Dude, you are critically underrated! I love you content, both channels. Forget those haters my dude.

[@Itchy__]

I feel like part of the idea that you can't learn to be fluent might stem from the fact that when a group of people from one country migrate to another, they usually, instead of adopting the existing accent perfectly, tend to create a new accent within that langauge. Which may cause some unconscious bias on this topic. But even then I think many of those people can switch between speaking the "normal" accent and speaking in their own accent. This is prob mostly true if their financial and legal opportunities/repercussions are influenced by their perceived level of national/social acclimation. I could be wrong in this take tho.

[@ashwinnmyburgh9364]

Without watching the video, my opinion is yes, you should at least try and mimic the pronunciation of a native speaker. Otherwise you speak in a barely comprehensible anglophonic butchery of the language. But, I also acknowledge that some amount of an accent is inevitable and there is nothing wrong with that. Just please for the love of all that is good in this world, at least put some effort into pronunciation!

[@logenvestfold4143]

I have a talent for vocal impressions so I’m able to get close to native speaker sounds I even if I just know a few phrases. Some people think I’m proficient in Spanish when my knowledge at the beginner level. I have to be careful when I speak so they don’t try to have a full on conversation with me in Spanish lol. I am currently learning French and I’m confident once I’m conversational I’ll be able to sound more like a native.

[@vidarfe]

I found myself agreeing with everything you said. Great video!

[@kymjohnthorburn6044]

Use the techniques used in authentic voice training, as used by well disciplined actors - not American. Focus on voice production , like an athlete, one starts with the muscles and the sounds produced. Modern people are use to pressing a button and not putting the time and training required. There exists a tendency in foreign language learning to accept the bad pronunciation and voice / sound placement, with a careless idea that the emphasis is only on 'as long as you understand the meaning of what is being said,' which in a multi-cultural environment = multi-lingual = accuracy becomes lost, and the language ends up as a creole, over time.

[@richardsonrichly8456]

You should try to sound like i a native for one simple reason. You will make them feel more comfortable around you simply because you're preseeved as more relatable and less distant and foreign. The less you understand someone, the less human they will appear in your mind,and thus its easier to just have prejudice or not feeling like interacting with them (Btw this is anecdotal and entirely subconscious)

[@amplifymysound]

My native language is Turkish and imo its very possible to adopt a native accent, but there’s another aspect of being yourself as well

[@ScottASmith-sx1yl]

I pick up dialects fairly easily but that also means that I try to mimic the sounds I hear without intending to. I guess that I just like strange (to me) sounds. 😂

[@snorriivan6365]

You should try to adapt your vocabulary and pronounciation, including accent if necessary, to your target audience. Many will pretend not to understand or will really be unable to make sense of what you're saying if you don't and it will make your life harder.

[@chrisizzy1801]

This is my third video of yours i watch and i was flabbergasted you are NOT a brit! Very well done. To my german ear your accent sounds like you where born and raised in the London Area.

[@hrafnagu9243]

I think you shoud at least try to mimic the sounds of the language you're learning. I've heard so many people around me saying words in spanish with absolutely no effort to pronounce it even slightly in a spanish way, and it sounds so bad😂 but that's my opinion.

[@FinalLugiaGuardian]

To be fair, people from New Orleans can't understand people from New York well either.

[@HelmutQ]

You have a very good English accent. Evidently, you have lived for an extended period in the UK, probably in the North. But any sentence from you with more than three words betrays your origin. I have no ear for accents and I cannot pin down what constitutes your accent phonetically speaking. But I do understand you much better than I would understand any native speaker. My cousin is native in French, I have a hard time understanding her. Her father was originally German-speaking he is very fluent in French, but for some undefinable reason not totally native. I do understand him a lot better than his daughter. Even accents having nothing to do with my own are usually easier to understand than native English. In Britain having a foreign accent is usually socially less classifying than having a Northern accent. Before picking up an accent in English one would have to decide which one. I have been having contact with many native English speakers in my life but not from one region. There is no overall standard pronunciation in English. The vowels are simply not defined. With whom should I have tried to synchronize? i surrendered to sounding like a hybrid between Einstein and Schwarzenegger. The muscles of the prior and the brain of the latter. After all, both were quite successful regardless of their accents. While Italian does have a number of dialects the accent in the standard Italian they employ in formal or just professional contexts is much more uniform. Personally, I sound like Benedict XVI which is also something I learned to live with.

[@thegreekguy1124]

You really,really should write down the subjects you are gonna make a dedicated video about

[@jebporter2505]

Metatron, A Japanese acquaintance says you sound like a native speaker from the Tokyo area.

[@TizianuMenzukialu]

its possible, I'm Italian my exgirlfriend was ucraine and you'd never bet it if she didnt tell you. she was born in ucraine so she speak tree languages as a native

[@SuperBolt7]

As a vocalist needing to sing different styles, I found this video fascinating! Thank you!

[@robertb8673]

Learning language should be fun. If it's to hard,hit the break.

[@the-bruh.cum5]

For me as an American who has been learning Spanish since like 2019/2020 I think my accent is decent it ain't perfect it has its Americanisms in it like schwa-ing when I'm tired or something, but it doesn't sound overly gringo. That said there are things that I over obsess in Spanish that makes me sound apparently. they don't make me scared to speak, but they are on my mind. Things like: stress (which is important for stuff like hablo(I speak) versus habló(she spoke), also soft consonants which I don't do besides d. Also my intonation doesn't sound hispanic, and also I sometimes say [e̞] as [ɛ] which reveals me being a foreigner. With this I'd say I agree with you as long as you make all the distinctions that natives make, and you sound close enough to that natives understand you. You should be fine.

[@frantisekcenek1199]

I was asked by my German teacher if I have from some relatives in Germany because I apparently sound like german

[@paulwalther5237]

To me it’s not should you try to sound like a native, it’s how hard should you try to sound like a native. Should you just listen and repeat and focus as best you can at all times or should you get a book on pronunciation, watch KZbin videos, record yourself etc.

[@АлексейЛеонидов-б9в]

I think that sound like natives is an ultimate task for migrants. Because the accent shows their difference. And it is bad for integration to new society. And than stronger accent than bigger this problem. On the other hand if person doesn't migrate to foreign country the accent can't be problem. I mean the accent which doesn't prevent understanding. In such situation more important understanding language. And investing a lot of time to improve pronunciation isn't a best strategy in my opinion.