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> Nobody learns to speak any language as an adult without an accent. Probably true, but not because of the vowels, but because of rhythms and consonants for la
by Mithaldu 11y ago
> Nobody learns to speak any language as an adult without an accent.
Probably true, but not because of the vowels, but because of rhythms and consonants for languages other than english. Particularly vowels are divisive, and to take spanish as an example, consider this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5nGUb6DarQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5nGUb6DarQ
Watch it with your mouse cursor off, and read the spanish bits, then sound them out, then check whether you got it right. (If you know spanish, find someone who doesn't.)
As an english person, you'll get a lot of them wrong. However most people from the european mainland will get most of them right, especially germans like me. Barring the ll sound, and the rhythms, spanish sounds very close to how a german would read it.
Yes, there will be accents, but nothing as strong as you get with a european mainlander speaking english.
And that is entirely because english vowels are a mess that can only be conquered by memorization.
- moomin 11y agoWell, strictly speaking everyone has an accent, including native speakers. But being able to pass for a native is perfectly possible; in fact my brother can do it in France, a country that is famous for spotting foreigners a mile off. How did he do it? He spent several years there and really worked at it (he can also do a convincing range of British accents). His one regret is that he nailed it in a somewhat bucolic part of France, so the cool Parisiennes just assume he's a paysan. Is it harder? Yes. Impossible? Far from it. Although I'll bet you elocution lessons would help (my brother hasn't done any).
- Turing_Machine 11y agoI used to know a woman who learned French in Belgium (her husband was career military, and they were there for quite a long time). When she visited France, they all assumed she was Belgian.
- bonoboTP 11y agoI agree as a Hungarian who speaks English and German. German pronunciation was much easier to learn and not just because of the writing system. Simply the whole phonology is closer (except for the German throat-R, we roll our Rs in Hungarian). English has this weird flow to it, this kind of liquidlike smeared sound. And the intonation and stress is also very alien. It's also usually easier for a beginner to understand another beginner from a different country, than a native speaker pronouncing the same (simple) sentences.