No, I did not use to think having an accent when speaking a foreign language was totally OK. I used to think it was totally ridiculous and embarrassing. I’d cringe when I’d say things that would make my accent stand out.
First of all, let me make one thing clear – pronunciation and accent is not the same thing. The former is the ability to pronounce words so that others can understand you. You cannot read ”beautiful” as ”botiful’ and expect people to understand you. The latter (accent) is more about country, area or even social class.
Definitions taken from:
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/pronunciation https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/accent
Besides, it’s quite normal for a person from Quebec, for instance, to speak French in a Quebec accent. Or dialect, as we call it in linguistics.
Now that we know the difference between pronunciation and accent – let’s see why having an accent when speaking a foreign language is totally OK.
1.Your accent shows who you are.
If you’re American and you’re learning French, you’ll have an American accent when talking in French. Shocking!
Honestly, I bet you wouldn’t want to be mistaken for someone you’re not. You’ve probably lived your whole life in one country and the way you speak is influenced by that. WHO CARES if you don’t sound like a native speaker from France. That is not who you are. You are one bad ass human being who’s brave enough to share their thoughts in the language they don’t even think in. How amazing is that?
2.Impressing yourself matters more than impressing others.
Only YOU know how far you’ve come. Your language journey is unique. You remember how hard it was when you started and how many challenges you’ve faced.
The others will be impressed, but for a short while. You’ll get a compliment and get all happy, but nothing compares to the true feeling of happiness and being proud of yourself.
Besides:
3.Everyone has an accent.
It’s true!
For example, Americans would read ”herb” with a silent h, whereas the British would pronounce the h. Students often ask me which one is ”more correct”. Guess what, neither!
Take your own country as an example. I bet there are more than two accents/dialects. I also bet you traveled to a different part of your country at least once and thought: ”These people talk funny.” That is because their dialect is different!
There are also languages such as Spanish, English or French that are spoken in more than one country in the world. But, obviously, French in Quebec is different from French in France, due to physical isolation that took place and that allowed the two dialects to become distinct from each other.
A fun example (and more related to dialect than accent per se) would be that in Quebec French, ”terrain de stationnement” is still used (they’ve kept the old French word), whereas in French, it is called ”parking”! When I first heard Quebec French, I thought: ”Wow, their French sounds more French than French in France.” And that is precisely because of physical isolation! The French thought it was cool to start calling the place where you park your car a ”parking”, while in Quebec, this change could not take place.
The reason why I’m telling you all this is because I want to illustrate how much where you are physically influences the way you speak. You cannot fight it!
4.What matters is getting your idea across and being understood.
Unless you’re completely butchering words, which I don’t recommend at all, the only thing that matters is that you get your idea across. If your grammar and choice of words are great, you’re far better off than having ”the right accent” or getting the ”Wow, are you Frech? Your French is amazing!” compliment.
At the same time, I don’t want to discourage you from getting the accent you like. As a matter of fact, if you’re exposed to a certain accent, dialect or way of speaking, you’ll probably pick it up. Good for you. Just remember that having an accent when speaking a foreign language is totally OK. Embrace the difference!
I personally believe that making your accent perfect and conforming to some ridiculous standards is a language myth that should not be believed in.
Language myths can stop you from making progress, but FEAR NOT, I also made a list of the most common language learning myths: https://accentavocado.com/6-most-common-language-learning-myths-you-should-stop-believing/
Baiiii! 😁
