Yes. We all have some sort of accent when we speak a foreign language. However, the accent that comes out of the mouth of an American speaker is so easy to spot, and it’s so goddamn ugly sounding. I fucking hate it. You’re not speaking English, so for fucks sake, don’t pronounce those words like you are speaking English.
I’m really cognizant about phonology in languages, so it’s pretty easy for me to figure out what these common faults American English speakers make that they can easily prevent.
UK and Australian speakers also share similar “fault patterns” to those of Americans, so the following advice does apply. I've also read something similar to what I'm going to write here somewhere, so there might be a similar article somewhere in the net, though I don't remember where to find it.
1. Stop trying to add your own subjective intonation to the language.
Generally, there are three types of stress patterns in a language: syllable-timed, stressed-time, and mora-timed.
In syllable-timed languages, every syllable takes up the same amount of time. Examples: Chinese, Spanish, French, Italian, the Fino-Ugric languages (Hungarian, Finnish, Estonian), etc. Listen to Spanish news. This characteristic is clear as day.
A mora-timed language is similar to a syllable-timed language, but certain syllables could take twice (or more) time than other syllables (essentially, certain syllables are “monomoraic” and others are “bimoraic”). Japanese is an example of such a language.
English is a stress-timed language. This means that the time interval between each stress is roughly equal.
The clash is most obvious when English speakers try to stress-time syllable-timed languages like Spanish or French. This is a dead giveaway, so take special care not to do this. Keep all the syllables equal length. This still applies if the language has stress (in general, the stress patterns are predictable in syllable-timed language: for example, the stress is either in the last or penultimate syllable in Spanish by a very clear rule)
Yes, there are other stress-timed languages, but you’ll still sound like shit if you try to apply English stress patterns to these languages. You need to apply their own patterns.
Russian is a noticeable example of a stress-timed language. Some other examples: Arabic, German, and I think the Scandinavian languages. The best thing to do with these languages is to learn the word stresses in your vocabulary list well as well as learn the rule as to how to properly reduce the vowel lengths of unstressed syllables (the rules to а, е, о in Russian, for example).
2. Stop reducing vowels to freaking schwa sounds.
The “schwa” sound is the sound of the vowel roughly of that when you say “uh” or that of the last syllable of “intention”.
A lot of English speakers feel that if a syllable isn’t stressed, you can just laze away and schwa-it up.
Don’t be one of those. In fact, there are quite a few languages that don’t even have the schwa sound. Spanish is an example. Each vowel is freaking pure, so pronounce them properly and fully.
General rule for foreign languages: start with the assumption that each vowel has one AND ONLY ONE sound; don’t force other stupid sounds like the schwa into a letter. Of course, this isn’t always true for all languages, but it’s better to use this as a starting point and learn any new vowel sounds are than starting with the arrogant belief that you can pronounce a certain vowel combination in a variety of English-esque ways.
3. Stop diphthongizing vowels
Say the word “say” slowly. You’ll notice that there are two vowel sounds to “say”, so it sounds a bit like “SEH-EI”. This is what a “diphthong” is: when you glide together two (or more) vowel sounds in one syllable.
Example: in Spanish, I’ve heard people pronouncing “Qué” as “Kay”. Like wtf? You obviously sound like shit, so stop. There is only one vowel sound in “Que” and this vowel exists in English (say “bet”), so there’s no excuse for anyone not to pronounce this word correctly.
More examples: the French word “sais”. Pronounce it like the English “say” and you’ll sound stupid. Pronounce it like a quick “seh”, and you will be far closer to the target. Also: the French word “non”. There should only be one vowel here. Don’t try turning this into an English “no”.
In general, the vowels where English speakers tend to diphthongize when they’re not supposed to are the e and o vowels.
Another corollary here: Americans tend to be too freaking lax when pronouncing vowels. Tighten your lazy ass mouth. When you pronounce “tu” in Spanish, it should be quick and tense. If you pronounce it like “two” and have the vowel resonant for 5000 seconds, then you’re not doing it right.
Another note: diphthongs do exist in most languages, but it is safe to pay attention in pronouncing the vowels purely and separately in the beginning and then combining them.
4. The freaking R sound.
The English R sound doesn’t freaking exist in most languages, so get rid of it.
In most popular languages you encounter, you either trill the R like in Spanish, or have that slightly guttural uvular R like in French.
This is especially present at the end of words like “tener” in Spanish or “pour” in French.
In addition, sometimes English speakers add this R when it’s not even in the word.
The first time I heard a Brit pronounce the word “idea” as “idear”, I was like what the flying fuck? How the hell did you manage to sound Chinese all of a sudden?
Now, that was an extreme example, but make special care you don’t leak out this R in other languages.
There’s other stuff too, but I think this is a good start for most of the errors. I didn’t cover sounds that don’t exist in English, but I may do that in the future.
Actually, I’ll cover one vowel: the French u or according to IPA, the /y/ sound. Pronouncing this is a piece of cake: pronounce an English “u” vowel. Notice that your lips are rounded. It’s no surprise that the English “u” is a rounded vowel. Now, pronounce the vowel in the word “cheese” (it’s like the letter E). Sustain this note. You’ll notice that you’re either slightly smiling or smiling like a dumbass. Either way, that’s a good start. Now, just round your mouth without changing the vowel sound. Congrats, you made the /y/ sound.
In any case, I’m a huge fan of foreign languages, so I’ve read up and broken down many things in this subject. Perhaps this will be a good general place to discuss difficulties in pronunciation or whatnot.
I’m really cognizant about phonology in languages, so it’s pretty easy for me to figure out what these common faults American English speakers make that they can easily prevent.
UK and Australian speakers also share similar “fault patterns” to those of Americans, so the following advice does apply. I've also read something similar to what I'm going to write here somewhere, so there might be a similar article somewhere in the net, though I don't remember where to find it.
1. Stop trying to add your own subjective intonation to the language.
Generally, there are three types of stress patterns in a language: syllable-timed, stressed-time, and mora-timed.
In syllable-timed languages, every syllable takes up the same amount of time. Examples: Chinese, Spanish, French, Italian, the Fino-Ugric languages (Hungarian, Finnish, Estonian), etc. Listen to Spanish news. This characteristic is clear as day.
A mora-timed language is similar to a syllable-timed language, but certain syllables could take twice (or more) time than other syllables (essentially, certain syllables are “monomoraic” and others are “bimoraic”). Japanese is an example of such a language.
English is a stress-timed language. This means that the time interval between each stress is roughly equal.
The clash is most obvious when English speakers try to stress-time syllable-timed languages like Spanish or French. This is a dead giveaway, so take special care not to do this. Keep all the syllables equal length. This still applies if the language has stress (in general, the stress patterns are predictable in syllable-timed language: for example, the stress is either in the last or penultimate syllable in Spanish by a very clear rule)
Yes, there are other stress-timed languages, but you’ll still sound like shit if you try to apply English stress patterns to these languages. You need to apply their own patterns.
Russian is a noticeable example of a stress-timed language. Some other examples: Arabic, German, and I think the Scandinavian languages. The best thing to do with these languages is to learn the word stresses in your vocabulary list well as well as learn the rule as to how to properly reduce the vowel lengths of unstressed syllables (the rules to а, е, о in Russian, for example).
2. Stop reducing vowels to freaking schwa sounds.
The “schwa” sound is the sound of the vowel roughly of that when you say “uh” or that of the last syllable of “intention”.
A lot of English speakers feel that if a syllable isn’t stressed, you can just laze away and schwa-it up.
Don’t be one of those. In fact, there are quite a few languages that don’t even have the schwa sound. Spanish is an example. Each vowel is freaking pure, so pronounce them properly and fully.
General rule for foreign languages: start with the assumption that each vowel has one AND ONLY ONE sound; don’t force other stupid sounds like the schwa into a letter. Of course, this isn’t always true for all languages, but it’s better to use this as a starting point and learn any new vowel sounds are than starting with the arrogant belief that you can pronounce a certain vowel combination in a variety of English-esque ways.
3. Stop diphthongizing vowels
Say the word “say” slowly. You’ll notice that there are two vowel sounds to “say”, so it sounds a bit like “SEH-EI”. This is what a “diphthong” is: when you glide together two (or more) vowel sounds in one syllable.
Example: in Spanish, I’ve heard people pronouncing “Qué” as “Kay”. Like wtf? You obviously sound like shit, so stop. There is only one vowel sound in “Que” and this vowel exists in English (say “bet”), so there’s no excuse for anyone not to pronounce this word correctly.
More examples: the French word “sais”. Pronounce it like the English “say” and you’ll sound stupid. Pronounce it like a quick “seh”, and you will be far closer to the target. Also: the French word “non”. There should only be one vowel here. Don’t try turning this into an English “no”.
In general, the vowels where English speakers tend to diphthongize when they’re not supposed to are the e and o vowels.
Another corollary here: Americans tend to be too freaking lax when pronouncing vowels. Tighten your lazy ass mouth. When you pronounce “tu” in Spanish, it should be quick and tense. If you pronounce it like “two” and have the vowel resonant for 5000 seconds, then you’re not doing it right.
Another note: diphthongs do exist in most languages, but it is safe to pay attention in pronouncing the vowels purely and separately in the beginning and then combining them.
4. The freaking R sound.
The English R sound doesn’t freaking exist in most languages, so get rid of it.
In most popular languages you encounter, you either trill the R like in Spanish, or have that slightly guttural uvular R like in French.
This is especially present at the end of words like “tener” in Spanish or “pour” in French.
In addition, sometimes English speakers add this R when it’s not even in the word.
The first time I heard a Brit pronounce the word “idea” as “idear”, I was like what the flying fuck? How the hell did you manage to sound Chinese all of a sudden?
Now, that was an extreme example, but make special care you don’t leak out this R in other languages.
There’s other stuff too, but I think this is a good start for most of the errors. I didn’t cover sounds that don’t exist in English, but I may do that in the future.
Actually, I’ll cover one vowel: the French u or according to IPA, the /y/ sound. Pronouncing this is a piece of cake: pronounce an English “u” vowel. Notice that your lips are rounded. It’s no surprise that the English “u” is a rounded vowel. Now, pronounce the vowel in the word “cheese” (it’s like the letter E). Sustain this note. You’ll notice that you’re either slightly smiling or smiling like a dumbass. Either way, that’s a good start. Now, just round your mouth without changing the vowel sound. Congrats, you made the /y/ sound.
In any case, I’m a huge fan of foreign languages, so I’ve read up and broken down many things in this subject. Perhaps this will be a good general place to discuss difficulties in pronunciation or whatnot.
![[Image: wink.gif]](https://rooshvforum.network/images/smilies/wink.gif)
