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It's bullshit. I can speak Dutch without an English accent and I learned the language in my 20s, having 0 exposure to it in my youth. There are to main sounds
by radicalbyte 3y ago
It's bullshit. I can speak Dutch without an English accent and I learned the language in my 20s, having 0 exposure to it in my youth.
There are to main sounds which are in Dutch but not English ([ui] and the hard [G]) and one which isn't in some English dialects (the rolling [R]). However you can absolutely learn them as an adult. It just requires serious training (years of hard practice, same as with sports). You literally have to build up the facial muscles.
One thing I will admit: I choose not to pronounce the [ui] sound properly due to a combination of being lazy, identifying as an Dutch-as-second-language speaker and because for some absolutely irrational it sounds really childish to my years. That latter point played a surprising role in my lack of ability with the French language. It feels theatrical in the way that certain queer people choose to project their speak and I do not want to project as being something I am not (or be confused as someone making crude n-phobic caricatures which would be 1000x worse because it could make someone else feel insulted). Honestly it's probably a tick I have from being raised to be a polite British gentleman :)
- darkerside 3y agoI've noticed that some people speak foreign languages with what I consider to be quite poor accents, but they enunciate strongly. If they are smiling, it almost comes off to me like they are making fun of the language or just pretending they can speak it well. To the point I've laughed along with them before realizing my mistake and cringing. And then I wonder which of us is more fluent? The one who with the better accent or the one who can more confidently project their thoughts in that language regardless of "skill"? (Probably the latter)
- 4gotunameagain 3y agoYea but you are talking about two languages that as you correctly pointed out only a few phonemes are different, with very similar phonology, stress, etc. They are very closely related.
- vik0 3y agoI feel like we're so deep in the thread - where after people have time and time again disproven the original comments message about how being 12 years old is some magic cut-off point to language learning - there are now people who just keep adding different requirements, leading this conversation nowhere and making the new point unfalsifiable and - by extension - unscientific; whereas the original comment had an allure of having a modicum of scientific rigor behind it (which, in the end, was disproven)
- radicalbyte 3y agoI think that the original comment has some anecdotal truth - because the vast majority of people do not spend the effort required to speak their second/third languages without an accent. You have to do silly exercises and stuff for very little gain in the end. You're better off learning a 3rd language. Professional Actors do it all the time, they spend a lot of time practicing (and I assume money) being trained by Speech Therapists to different perfectly.