Accent Formation in Foreign Languages Part 2 Technique

[dusthillguy]

Sorry that this isn't a very useful comment, but it's hilarious how his facial expressions change at 14:50. By the way, this is a very interesting series of videos.

[MEpianist]

I agree with your point about trying to cut down the time between Hear and Repeat. Do you suggest listening to audio with a transcript. For example, I'm studying Russian and have found that the Echo of Moscow radio station has a great transcripting system... very helpful.

[dliraaa]

What you said is really true. I'm brazilian, and as a portuguese native speaker I have never had any difficulty in understanding or reading spanish despite having never studied it. When I travel to Venezuela or Colombia, most of the times I don't need to study spanish to comunicate because I can understand them quite well, even though most of them don't understando what we say...

[Olekander]

Dr Alexander, I can't help but notice that your native accent on certain words sounds as if you have learnt the word as a foreigner, or that you are so knowledgeable about phonetics that you pronounce the word as it ought to sound, and not as natives pronounce it. What's your opinion?

[stratfordny]

are you and SLP?

[Safron42]

The mechanism which controls accent is a person's brainwave state. Adults have a vastly different brainwave state than children. Children are always in a deep alpha state whereas adults are beta dominant. If you could somehow force an adult to enter a high alphawaves, plus had a lot of time, they would then learn a language mimicking the sound perfectly. So, You'd actually would have to alter state of consciousness to solve the accent problem of 2nd languages.

[TheLLSystem]

tlls.webs.com

[Codylangaugesblog]

I find that I pick up accents without realizing by just being in the environment where it is spoken. when I travel, I come back with a slight accent from that place.

[LightedPaladin]

Wow, Professor Arguelles, thank you so much for sharing your knowledge. It is very interesting and helpful. Thank you

[jinushaun]

Learning IPA and some basic linguistics is so key to accelerating new language and accent acquisition. If you know IPA, you can know what a language/accent should sound like and you can reproduce it via IPA.

[christopheclugston]

@jinushaun Prosody is so much more than IPA. Capacity to produce IPA does not mean taht your prosody is correct. If you're an English L 1 speaker I will guarantee that you wlil overlay your stress timed language onto other languages that don't have that. I will also bet heavy money that you will not be capable of discerning tone.

[AnthonySullivan]

@christopheclugston

For such a master of language this idiot sure doesn't have a grasp on spelling.

[christopheclugston]

@jinushaun What is distinctive (that's a linguistics term) in English are not in other languages. I am also leaving out the entire syntax aspect that is necessary for using another language easily and without gliches.

[Valdiviation]

shadowing has accelerated my spanish so fast that I feel like learning more languages seems like a lot of fun instead of difficult. Thank you!

Do you have to hunt down people to practice certain languages or is your immersion strictly scholarly via texts??

seems like you could travel the world in a beautiful way unknown to almost all.

[betonomobmotan]

Da li ste pokusali nauciti moj maternji jezik, bosanski (hrvatski, srpski)? Zanimalo bi me koliko je ovaj jezik tezak za nekoga ko se s njim srece kasno i pokusava ga nauciti?

[mikeshepherd]

@betonomobmotan

"Da li ste pokusali nauciti..."

I have studied it on and off (as a native speaker only of English) for many years. As regards pronunciation, I imitate easily the sounds of bos/hrv/srp and don't understand the difficulties of other English speakers (whose attempts I find unpleasant to hear), but I have no unusual ability with the language otherwise. So, although I can sound like a native, my overall ability remains weak, because I have had limited exposure to it.

[jceja24]

Shadowing works. When using R.S. I found that I am more successful in my pronunciation when I do shadow, then when i wait and then speak.

[Glossika]

Professor Arguelles,

I was under the impression that your own speech in this video sounded very didactic (and then you mentioned it), as many of your stop consonants do not undergo surface morphophonological changes (all your [t]s sound the same i.e. they don't flap, become glottal stops, and you use very little liaison). Is this forced enunciation or is this your most common way of speaking? Obviously I don't mind, it's merely an observation.

[Dzwitch]

It was an effort to give Spanish speakers a chance to understand anything :-)

[uvindian]

Thank you!

[Garc1993]

Professor, I have a question: The circumflex accent (^) was used in Spanish and is now considered completely archaic. Its purpose was the indication that the grave accent and the acute accent were reunited in a word, and therefore had the function of prolonging the accentuated letter. If it's possible, I'd like to know how this actually worked. Perhaps a simple example could present its function without further elaboration.

[misternonconformist]

Professor, How many languages do you speak? Also: I'd be curious to hear an expert's opinion on the question whether Lithuanian and Latvian can be classified as slavic languages.

[pykenike]

they are both balo-slavic languages. but are subdivided the only languages in the division "eastern-baltic"

there are loads of relations with serbo-Croatian!

[mednos]

A software program may be developt in the future to analyse your speach perfectly and give you a feedback.

[justmine4me]

I just realized how handsome you are! lol

Professor, can you explain the reason why people of different races (at least in my observations) tend to sound different?

[kytelernl]

Its nothing to do with race. Its to do with culture.

[ulquiorra89]

Hola profesor queria preguntarle cual es su opinion acerca de los idiomas mezclados (si se pueden considerar idiomas) como el spanglish o el franglais.

[bipolarteddybear5656]

it is VERY creepy XD

[freshmintburst]

lol @ your french accent

[leotoro19]

I started learning English as a second language about 6 years ago, and one of the methods I have found to be most helpful is what you call shadowing. It helped me improve my self-confidence and gave me courage when I actually had to engage in active conversation. Thank you for sharing your knowledge, you are doing a great job!

[AstAMoore]

Shadowing, eh? A brilliant idea!

[shedsevenfan]

Prof Arguelles,

In this video I noticed that you have a copy of Michel Thomas Chinese on your shelves in the background.

Would you say that this is better than Assimil or Linguaphone?

[ProfASAr]

I would not compare them to say that one is better than the other for they all have their strong points and all three (at least) can and should figure in a comprehensive self-study program for this language.

[eejot14]

My wife shadows when she studies English & Japanese, but she has never studied any linguistic theory. She has always done it naturally and it almost replicates how you have previously described - as problem-solving beings we usually discover what works best for us on a personal level and that's how she came up with it I guess. Likewise, I shadow when studying, but the style that works best for me is at a mid-point between your documented style and the listen-repeat style.

[dleewo]

Your discussion of phonetics has piqued my interest and I wish to learn more about it. Is there a good starter book you can recommend?

I did a search for "phonetics" on Amazon and there were quite a few books in various price ranges up to $100+. I don't wish to spend that much as yet, but maybe there is a book in the sub-$30 range that I can get.

Derek

[ProfASAr]

Sorry, there is a good paperback that I would recommend, but it has disappeared from my shelves. At any rate, when branching into a new subject like this, I would really recommend that you browse in a library or a large physical bookstore rather than (or before) ordering a book sight unseen online just so that you can see exactly what you are getting.

[nimic86]

The Sounds of Language, An Introduction to Phonetics by Henry Rogers I would say is a very good starting point.

[christopheclugston]

@dleewo You are not going to learn Phonetics form a book. If you can't transcribe the sounds and make the sound (the entire point of Phonetics) then you will be lost. The only way to accomplish this is to actually take a University class in Phonetics. If you are serious about learning and having this skill (which is a basic skill for a real lingquist) you will not quibble about the money.

[jonmahoney04]

Great video. :-)

Thanks Professor.

[cantaloupe42]

Thank you very much for taking the time to make these videos. They are extremely helpful.

[AKZummy]

I´ve been following your videos. It seems as if you´re learning quite well how to speak in front of a camera.

You´re comming along, you´re becomming more relaxed. :)

[power9787]

nice video

[scootermclean]

Professor,

These videos are excellent. I have been following your videos and writings for over a year, and find these videos to be very informative and entertaining. A good contrast to your other videos that focus mainly on textual analysis.

[Green4321]

"Shadowing" - an interesting concept. I'm an adult (senior) learner of Dutch. I often sing along with YouTube Dutch hymns, especially those with Dutch lyrics available to me. I find this does help to reduce anxiety about my accent. On the downside, however, my dog does get very annoyed with me :-(

[bandeiram]

Professor,

Thank you so much for the time and effort you've been putting into creating these lectures. I've been learning a lot from you. I can barely wait until the third installment of these lectures come out.

I would love to see you explore the other items of the IPA chart as well.

I hope you received my e-mail.

Till next time!

[MaBu888]

I think Ciceronian and Vergilian Latin can be restoredvery easily, in terms of pronunciation... especially in my case...and I am one of those musical types. My latest Latin video is incidentally my best one yet.