Accents and sounds

A discussion about how to absorb sounds and intonation of foreing languages

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Polyglot
• multilanguage
• language
• acquisition

[keyeskey]

谢谢你的视频，最后的那个用手听回声的方法蛮有意思的。我能问下­您是从什么开始学外语的吗？

Great video, thanks for the tip! BTW could you tell me that when do you start interested in language learning ?

[poliglotta80]

@keyeskey 我大约在13岁开始对学习语言产生兴趣。我认真地自己学习英语 :-) 卢卡

[Luiseut59]

I totally agree with you in both explainations. I mean, ineficciency is in many other school systems around the world. And I also think that most of the people who decide to live in another country where people speak another language, have too much accent, because they start speaking the language very soon.

Bueno, es lo que yo pienso. ¿Qué crees tú?

[poliglotta80]

Lo que pienso es que si te marchas a un pais y ya tienes un discreto conocimiento del idioma,o sea, ya has "preparado" tu cerebro al estructura fonetica y gramatical del idioma, tu progres va ser enorme, probablemente mejor que si te vas por alli sin saber nada. Es normal que vayas a aprender bien el idioma de toda manera,pero quizas con defectos de pronunciacion y gramatica que puedes evitar de desarrollar preparandote en manera adecuada :-) Bueno,por lo menos es lo que pienso yo :-) Luca

[QKlilx]

Perhaps this is true for everyone, but at least in my case I have a difficult time with proper intonations. I'm told to have a near-native Japanese accent and a very good Korean accent, but I need work on my intonations in both languages.

I suppose I should sit down with someone sometime and have them correct me each time I make a mistake. :D

[poliglotta80]

Learning to pronounce single words is very feasible,but the real challenge is to get down the intonation of a language, which is the secret to getting a native-like accent. This also can be feasible but requires a higher level of concentration and a harder work, possibly with a native speaker correcting your flaws and pointing towards the right direction :-) Luca

[EjPwned]

ur getting sexier!

[thelinguistblogger]

Yes! I liked the whole thing but two aspects of your speech really jumped out at me: respect and prejudice. The sooner we get over how "funny" a new sound is in a foreign language, the sooner we will learn. I also think that xenophobia (and therefore a lack of respect for all other cultures) has to do with people not learning languages. Many people resent having to learn English, Spanish, etc. and end up not learning the language as well as they could.

[jojzoro]

Thank you for your effort. I wonder if you can send me the text as I could not hear you properly. Thank youb

[AlimeProductions]

I heard that I have an American accent in Chinese, but it's light, but no matter how much I try to get rid of it, I can't for some reason.

[daglug1]

How do you place your mouth to make that swedish sound at 4:13?

[yurismir1]

You actually pronounced "preface" wrong. It's actually /ˈprɛfɪs/. Don't worry, a lot of native speakers of English don't even know that. I could try to help with your English intonation as well. Some things stuck out to me in this video. Overall you speak very well though.

[YouStoleMyTube]

@Emi0612 Don't worry, the people who judge you for your accent rather than commending you in the other areas where you succeed are probably not the kind of people that you want to be friends with anyways!

[YouStoleMyTube]

If someone has a bad accent it's probably not that they're trying to butcher the language. They're probably doing their best, and focusing on the actual construction of sentences WHILE speaking them flawlessly is a difficult task for a new learner. If someone spoke to me in English or Mandarin with an accent, I wouldn't be annoyed. I would applaud their successes and effort and encourage them to keep up the good work!

[estderoma]

hai viaggiato molto? sei stato a contatto con dei madrelingua per ogni lingua?

[Emi0612]

Thanks! I've been living in the UK for a year, my English is good but l have a strong accent and it's driving me crazy! I don't know what to do, I live with native speakers, watch tv and films, listen to music... I'm bilingual Italian/Japanese so learning another language was supposed to be "easier" for me, and as far as lexis, grammar and structure are concerned I'm fine, I just don't hear/see the various sounds, even when recording myself :(

Sorry for ranting. Thank you, you're an inspiration!

[ScarsonFilms]

You are such an inspiration to me! I completely agree with you, learning the accent of a language is out of respect, not out of vanity!

[TMDLex]

I love your videos, but one request is that you could perhaps invest in a microphone? The sound is pretty hard to hear because of the distance and echos. Thanks.