What Causes a Foreign Accent?

The human vocal tract can produce thousands of different sounds but languages use only a tiny subset of them. What happens when you try to speak a language that uses a different subset from your own? Produced for Mental Floss

[@dragoncurveenthusiast]

In my experience, it helps when you don't try to sound "normal" to your own ears. Try to mimic the language in an exaggerated way, as if to make fun of it. Your own voice will sound different and alien to yourself, but you will get compliments for your pronunciation. After a while you get used to the new sound of your voice and it will become "your" voice for that language. This it what it was like for me when I learned Hungarian as an adult. It has a couple of unfamiliar sounds as well as a very different overall speech melody / cadence compared to my native language German.

[@clintross7778]

Dragon Curve Enthusiast oh ok

[@FlowUrbanFlow]

In short: Speak languages with their accents, not your own

[@cyberhaggis]

Or... you could get punched if you exaggerate XD

[@WK-bo6qv]

I’ve been learning German for four and a half years and it’s incredible how much my pronunciation changed just by watching a German movie every week for a semester

[@haphuongle2920]

One of my English teacher during college taught us this way, and another one who taught French advised the same. Some of my classmates make fun of his method and rejected it, but it worked well for me. Only when I'm so stressed out and exhausted that I automatically switch to my Vietnamese intonations when speaking English, which happened during my graduation thesis defense.

[@jagdpanther1944]

Or you could pronounce "Hello" as most London people do...."'allo mate"

[@dragonchan]

That got me 😂😂

[@RaceTheAce77]

When I tell people that I'm learning Japanese they get shocked by how many kanji there are and the entirely different grammar structures. But atleast (for the most part, not entirely) the pronunciation and grammar rules are atlesst consistent. The more I watch of this channel about how complex English is, the more kanji doesnt seem so bad haha

[@welshpete12]

This is something I have wondered about for years , thank your clear explanation.

[@warspork5928]

Ze Germans are known to miss a few darts.

[@SimonS44]

WarSpork our Änglisch is not se jelloh from se ägg

[@dragoncurveenthusiast]

I think you are spidering! You speak very first cream! Sorry, I guess only German speakers will get this. Those are mirror translations of German phrases, but while they are perfectly understandable in German, they are hilariously meaningless in English. Hier sind noch ein paar: www.buzzfeed.com/maximilianzender/speakturnings?.qbGymEyj6G#.ysBP67PqBM Now I'll throw myself over the houses... (that's an Austrian one, I guess)

[@quietcorner293]

Reminds me of the Berlitz commercial. Radio: Mayday mayday I am sinking. Coast Guard: So, vat are you sinking about?

[@AnyaChuri]

So love your explanation!

[@fouroverseven7799]

Love your videos... thank you.

[@LucasAlmeidaSantos12]

Amazing video! Congratulations from Brazil :)

[@RoverBlasto]

How beautiful, your videos are such a masterpiece set.

[@miftahulfaris4400]

what a great video! definitely deserve more views and subs

[@Ramk0core]

I already knew about everything said in this video, but I love the way you guys explain it, so I watched it all anyway :)

[@dragonchan]

Oh supreme person 🙏🙏🙏

[@translationsinlondonltd3076]

Great video!

[@Sal.K--BC]

Great explanation!!

[@AWWx2]

Using that analogy with the darts and the target is excellent. I'm glad to have seen this explanation. By the way, do children raised in bi-lingual households, (for example French-Canadians, or others in families where one or both parents speak more than one language more-or-less fluently), do those kids learn the two languages without a "foreign accent" to their speech? Perhaps French-Canadian is a poor example, because most bi-lingual French-Canadians seem to speak both French and English with a bit of a localized accent in each language. However, I'd like to learn more about children raised in bi-lingual homes, perhaps Latino-Americans would be a better example. I know a few kids who grew up in homes where both parents spoke limited English, but the kids as grown-ups seem to speak both English and Spanish with native fluency and virtually no "foreign" accent. Any thoughts on this? Any other videos you would recommend I watch? Books to read about bi-lingual fluency from childhood?

[@AWWx2]

Oh, by the way, I found a very interesting video about bilingual learning in kids and it speaks some to the ability of kids who learn from birth in bilingual homes being able to hit the target in both languages for all the needed sounds in each. kzbin.info/www/bejne/oJjbfaOChJishLs

[@AWWx2]

49jubilee: good to know. I think it's probably true that kids of puberty age or younger learning a second language CAN do so with little to no "foreign accent" sound to that second language. I am almost as fascinated by English accents of their various forms as I am by bilingualism. Just one of those things I've long been curious about but never really took the time to study up much about.

[@toreadoress]

It really depends if both of the languages are equally learned. My family moved to the US about 10 years ago from Bulgaria. I was 20 years old at this time, even tho I studied some English in high school and I can speak and understand it, even 10 years later I still have the eastern-european accent, it is much better now than 10 years ago but still have it. It is very difficult to "polish" the accent, especially when your thoughts are still in your native language. Now to your question about the kids: My mother has her own kindergarten and she watches Bulgarian kids between ages of 2 and 6. My mother speaks very little English, she is 60+ years and even for 10 years it is very difficult for her to learn it. The kids however speak perfectly Bulgarian and English because they interact equally in both of languages. Kids are amazing in terms of learning stuff, their brain is like a sponge and it is not burdened like grown ups. Think of it like and empty computer Hard Disk. When it's empty it's really easy and fast to install stuff on it, when it gets full it starts to stagger and you have to compress files to be able to open more space for new stuff. I don't know it it's the best analogy but I think it's similar.

[@OntarioTrafficMan]

I think a huge part in having a non-foreign sounding accent is hearing a consistent accent while learning. That's why I sound more native in Dutch than in French, even though I've spoken French my entire life, but only spoken Dutch for a couple years. While growing up in (English) Canada, the French I heard was a total mix of French accents from around the world, without any particular accent being predominant. So I basically internalized a very broad version of French without any distinction between Canadian French and European French. Each individual sound I make could fall anywhere on the enormous target representing the entire range of French accents. No matter where I am, I sound foreign when speaking French, since I will inevitably miss the much more specific targets for the local accent. In contrast, I learned Dutch while living in South Holland. So the accent I heard while learning was much more consistent and the targets for the sounds were therefore more precise. Another side effect of this difference is that I can much more easily identify the geographic location of someone's accent in Dutch than in French. Again because learning Dutch with a South Holland accent gives me a reference point that I can compare other accents to. In French, I never learned a reference point, so nothing really sounds 'foreign' to me.

[@dragonchan]

@@OntarioTrafficMan idk what are yo trying to say, but it seemed really cool, I am learning English lang and whatever you have said is right I think

[@thomashogan16]

I was taught grammar and composition by Irish nuns. As I can fake a pretty good Irish accent, I count my grammar school days as very cool!

[@RomanaAbramobna]

Love it 😍

[@Ritercrazy]

So that means my Mandarin is going to be Greek for a while.

[@gregorybrian]

The pair of dartboards. Ugh, do you know what it looks like?

[@jamesestrella5911]

I get that, but the analogy still works even if you are willing to bend it that way. Good day.

[@Casey_Jones]

The same can be said with the Japanese accent turning L sounds into R sounds, there is no L sound in Japanese, and the R is the closest target.

[@RyumaXtheXKing]

And they have this sound that is somehow inbetween R and L.

[@roinymphornithorynque3282]

killer-killa-kira

[@Bellehiek]

Ryuma King that... sounds more like Korean’s ‘ㄹ’ than Japanese

[@FlowUrbanFlow]

They switch it the other way too. The reason is that Japanese has a sound in the middle of L and R, so they hear both the same. Cloudy and crowded sound similar to them

[@Enjoytheshow435]

P and b in Arabic. I only hit the P when I focus, but no way I will remember it when I’m excited or angry!! Egyptian Arabic also doesn’t have the th, but it’s easy for me to pronounce it because formal Arabic has this voice! Always remember, never make fun of someone who speaks broken English; it means they know another language! From my experience, the only ones who make fun of foreigners’ accents are the ones who are not well-traveled and the ones who are so locally-minded! Cosmopolitan and cultured people understand well how hard it is to speak a foreign language as an adult because they’ve already tried to live in another country and they have already tried to learn and communicate in a foreign language! I love that I live in Miami now, nobody asks me where I’m from the moment I open my mouth any more because everybody has an accent. Yes, It’s cool to complement accents but don’t make it the first thing you about an individual because it will immediately make them feel alienated as if they are the outsiders who failed to assimilate (not saying that assimilation is a good thing but our desire to assimilate and fit in is human nature, and it has an evolutionary reason). The most I’m comfortable speaking is when people ignore the way I speak in focus on the content of what I’m saying. Hence, it’s always better to avoid pointing it out in the first place, whether negatively or even positively, because some will become self-conscious to speak after that unnecessary comment. I get a lot of compliments on my English from people who think that I’ve been living here for so long because of how fluent I am when the truth is, I’ve been here only for three years and also have never studied English in school or courses!! I’ve picked it up organically from TV, just like how babies learn from their parents and surrounding. Still think about my accent a lot tho and why I sound French to most people!!!

[@MrTttvideo]

I feeru good-ah.

[@yosancahyadi4852]

I see English' "k" has some aspirated air through it like "kh" but more subtle My language only has the _dry_ "k" which makes it difficult for me to lose my accent lol

[@markcollins2876]

UK don’t often pronounce the h, and French

[@roinymphornithorynque3282]

ze french spiks wiz a french akkant xd

[@lucasm4299]

*akcant

[@cerberaodollam]

Your damn dental fricatives and "slurred" (non-trill) R sounds gave this Hungarian years of self-consciousness that could only be dispelled by alcohol. Hehh.

[@Charlotte-lw3ox]

hey tttthhhhere, that sounds pretty rrrrrrough, buddy

[@Furienna]

As far as I know, my big problem with speaking English is that I can't for the life of me hear the difference between V and W. Because we have only V in Swedish.

[@finnsalsa9304]

Mitt största problem med engelskans V och W ljud är att mitt modersmål har inget av dessa två ljud. Vårt V-ljud är något mellan V och W så därför säger jag "vinner" och "wictory" istället för "winner" och "victory" x_x

[@Furienna]

@@finnsalsa9304 Vad har du för modersmål?

[@finnsalsa9304]

@@Furienna Finska

[@Furienna]

@@finnsalsa9304 Okej, det trodde jag nästan också.

[@cainmosni6540]

I feel like this video was missing suprasegmental features but otherwise well explained!

[@cainmosni6540]

Oh and phonotactic constraints too! Why do people add sounds where there are none or omit them?

[@Aritul]

Yes! That's true. I think cadence also plays into an accent.

[@matthagen67]

I hope your book explains a fundamental quirk of English - why the heck is the personal pronoun "I" capitalized?

[@jamesestrella5911]

I have no clue. Convention, most likely. Why does Spanish have an inverted question or exclamation mark? It’s not required for intelligibility.

[@jimgreen9059]

Easy! Foreign languages, and those who speak them, including us as English speakers in another country. : ))

[@johnmartin3134]

Its dolce. Dolci is plural.

[@gavinparks5386]

I suppose that's why many English and American speakers can't say loch, nicht , cleugh and cheugh!

[@ChubDetector]

Why did i watch this

[@kacperwoch4368]

Speaking English a lot helps unless you are Polish and your friend you're speaking with is Russian - Every /h/ becomes /x/, all English 'r' become hard or rolled /r/ and the whole mess with /th/ sounds which become /f/, /d/, /v/, /t/ and more depending on the context. Example in English (You are the most humble person): /juː ɑː ðəˈməʊst ˈhʌmbəl ˈpɜːsən/ Polish/Russian: /ju ɑr de most 'xʌmbəl 'persən/

[@thebonkera1221]

she really uses "dark" to describe hard ? Like what?

[@comandante9312]

Mother tongue. hard to gain it for nonnatives.

[@pewp_tickalar]

Is it bad that I think less of people for not being able to pronounce foreign sounds in languages that they've been studying/speaking for years?

[@WildWildPigeon]

Don't think less of them, feel better about yourself!

[@exciteddemonstrator9150]

I would say so. People like you just have a certain knack for picking up language. Not everyone has it... especially when it comes to mimicking phonology. There are people who tend to focus way more on morphology or syntax

[@bogi18]

Have you yourself been studying a foreign language for years? Have you managed to almost perfectly mimic the special sounds particular to that language? Do you sound near perfect when speaking that language to its native speakers? And finally, are you sure you can trust those native speakers when they compliment you on your pronunciation and they don't just say that to be polite to you? If your answer is 'YES' to all of these, then sure, feel smug and superior to your heart's content. If 'NO', then yes, it IS BAD.

[@pewp_tickalar]

bogi18 At the time of writing that comment, i'd never considered that most people probably don't have the desire to sound like a native speaker like I do. Arnold Schwarzenegger doesn't make dental fricative sounds when speaking English even after being surrounded the language for 50 years now not because he's unable to, but because he can be understood just fine without doing so. He's had more important things to focus on. He's a very accomplished man.

[@Enjoytheshow435]

psychobyte00 The desire to sound native has an evolutionary reason!! We are just hardwired this way! The need to assimilate and to fit in is not something to be proud of (it means we’re all sheep a way or another), but it's definitely understandable! To be different back then meant to be shunned by the tribe and to be left alone in the darkness to fight wild animals by yourself! Nobody wants to be the new kid in the school. I’m aware that I feel a level of anxiety when people ask me where I’m from when I start to talk even when they compliment my English (you immediately feel alienated, and you cannot help but think of yourself as the outsider). Still, I understand that its a primal fear and I don't dwell on it. I know a Russian girl who just came here three years ago, learned English and now doesn’t have a slight accent but she also plays music by ear. I know a Mexican guy who was born and raised in the US, yet has a very thick accent because his family homeschooled him and he wasn’t exposed to a lot of natives! The human brain and how it learns and adopts is a fascinating thing!

[@NighteeeeeY]

3:45 oh commoooon there wasnt even a difference :D

[@pewp_tickalar]

vocaroo.com/i/s1J6lcPhDKpN

[@JackGaby]

But that's the thing, an Italian would hear a large difference

[@pewp_tickalar]

An Italian-speaker would have the same difficulties hearing the difference as an English-speaker, however a speaker of a language such as as Polish or Russian where there is a phonemic distinction between velarized and non-velarized alveolar laterals (dark and clear l sounds) rely on that distinction to use their languages. Мали(the country) and малый(little)

[@pewp_tickalar]

Rick Smith My mistake, you re 100% correct. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%81 It once represented the dark L sound and shifted to [w] over the past few hundred years except for in eastern accents and in Polish diasporas elsewhere in Eastern Europe

[@jjsmith706]

There really is a difference. If you couldn't hear the difference in her exaggerated example, then you might want to get your ears checked. It's a similar difference as the rhotic and non-rhotic R.

[@lucasm4299]

I disagree with the dart analogy. The bag one was too simple, but this one was too complex. Pronouncing new sounds is a SKILL. You have to be an attentive listener and practice. Use your mother tongue to help you in the new language, not hinder. The video acts like it’s hard or unachievable to get the new sound.

[@finnsalsa9304]

It depends on the native language of the learner. I was blessed with a native language where only 4-ish vowel sounds and 10-ish consonant sounds exist in English. In order to get rid of my accent I have to learn at least 7 new vowels + diphthongs and 14-17 new consonants depending on if you count aspirated p, t and k as separate sounds (which I would as my native language doesn't have them). It is really really difficult and annoying when my accent shows even in the most basic words due to English having such a complex phonological system. I've studied English for over a decade and I still haven't got rid of my accent despite listening to a lot of English being spoken and speaking English on a daily basis due to dating a native speaker.

[@najayanlama4048]

@@finnsalsa9304 learn Sanskrit or languages close to it or derived from it. It uses every single sound produced by humans which means technically you can get rid of accents or develop foreign accents very quickly when compared to other languages. And it also helps to listen and distinguish very similar sounds.

[@mikoajbadzielewski3396]

What causes a foreign accent? Laziness! Nowadays we have so much info about pronunciation... LAZINESS!!!

[@Furienna]

Did you watch the video? It explains why it's not laziness.

[@mikoajbadzielewski3396]

@@Furienna I don't remember. It was 2 years ago!🤣