To be honest, I think I BARELY scratched the surface here with everything I COULD say on this topic. I didn't even talk about the marketing tactics used to prey on students who "want to sound like a native". I also didn't talk about where this desire originates: does the industry push this idea to sound like a native because it's what students want? Or do students want to sound like a native because the industry somehow sets up native speakers as some sort of ideal standard? I also didn't mention much about how my views on this topic (as a teacher/coach) have shifted over the years as I went through my own personal journey of "discovering my voice." Like I said, there is SO MUCH we could discuss on this topic. But for now I'd love to hear YOUR thoughts since I've already had the chance to share some of mine. Let me know what you think!
Hey Stefanie, you did great as always! Y'know, you got used to jump into the habit hole, and this is not the shorter path but this is the highest rewording one. If l change the characters names of your story, I could tell my story, although my English skills is even close to your Spanish skills. But for me, as your example shows, when we get less attached form the outside aspect of this process we find room to work inside, and then the results are inevitable. I'm happy to see you again, my Big Hi from São Paulo Brazil... take care and peace!!!
Thanks for sharing your experience, every single aspect of it resonated with my own experience. Please, do a Part 2 with the thoughts you shared in this comment.
Whenever someone tells you that your English is so good, you'll know they've recognised you don't sound like a native speaker, because if you did, they'd never make any comment about it. And, the more you sound like a non native, the more compliments you'll get on your language skills. But there's a certain uncanny valley just before being a fully native speaker when people might think you're probably a native but a clumsy one or too thick to get a joke. Which really is a terrible feeling 😂
Not necessarily. Where do you come from? is simple small talk. So recognizing an accent is not the only way to detect non-native speakers. Normally, people will just tell you and then the compliment and surprise might be genuine. It is rare however for a non-native to sound completely native.
@@ramonek9109If you're intelligent enough, you'll take it as an offence cause the compliment signals that you're sticking out, you don't belong there. 😌
Not necessarily true. I’m told this all the time. I’m a native English speaker born and raised in Canada, and people say this to me. 😂 I think it’s because of my ethnicity. I guess I look like English isn’t my first language. 😂
I would say I might think they're native when I've only heard a little bit. When I hear more, there will be a word choice natives won't use or a minor grammatical error that's not a native mistake. Then it's like "ok, this is not their first language, but so good!"
For me, what’s much more important than sounding like a “native” speaker is to be able to articulate my thoughts like a native speaker with great communication skills. The fluency and eloquence is much more important than the accent for me. There is no such thing as a “native” accent. I have also resigned to the fact that there are certain sounds that I won’t be able to accurately reproduce since they are not sounds I grew up hearing and making. Wherever I go, people around me have absolutely no problem with my accent as long as I speak clearly. But when I get nervous and lose the fluency or use the wrong words, that definitely a communication obstacle.
In Europe these days nobody cares if you have an accent. In fact it's useful, it warns your audience not to take your English for granted, there may be gaps and abstruse euphemisms should be avoided.
@@cookiejarseattle Totally true (except your claim that there is no such thing as a native accent, of course there is. In fact most large languages tend to have several native accents + the sociolects. I clock it immediately if I hear in my native language and even in other languages because I have an exceptional ear for languages But your point stands, and is the same I was making in my own comment to this video.)
Absolutely! I also want to be able to express my thoughts smoothly, consistently, logically, and for that vocabulary and grammar are top priorities. I know people who sound native but only when they read or repeat after somebody, or construct simple phrases without much sense in them, however when it comes to discussing, debating, being assertive and persuasive in communication, all their great pronunciation is of no use, it is simply not functional, and they cannot achieve the goals of communication while focusing on a perfect accent.
I love hearing different accents because it shows that you’re from somewhere cool and you learned a language just to communicate with native people, which is really sweet. As long as I understand you, your accent only makes you unique and shows where you’re from. Of course it’s nice to sound like a native, but I definitely wouldn’t stress over it!
Yup! As a native English speaker talking with someone with a noticeable accent is more enjoyable than speaking with someone with a native accent. Not sure why you would want to get rid of such a beautiful feature of your English. Some accents are just amazing sounding in English! Better even than our plain English accent.
It's actually freaking annoying when you do your best to speak properly only for a native speaker to ask, "Where is your accent from?". Just to remind you that your efforts are in vain, in case you forgot 🫣
As I get older, my focus has shifted from being ashamed of not speaking like a native English speaker to embracing my own unique identity. Having said that, I don't neglect to learn correct pronunciations and sound natural. I learned that people pay attention to individuals who are unique, knowledgeable, and focused on their dreams.
Thanks for talking about this, I feel most polyglots need to hear this. The hardest thing in language learning is finding your identity and being comfortable in it
As a Spanish native speaker I'm glad you brought this up because there are people obsessed about sounding like a native and I felt frustrated but when I traveled to the USA when I was 22 everyone there understood me quite well and even praised my English so now I'm not obsessed about the accent anymore, and sadly, it's more common that people from your own country criticize your English because you don't sound like a native but those people aren't aware that there are so many accents in the world haha and it's fascinating to hear all those different blends of accents like you said
I’m glad I found this video, because I’m learning Spanish and I do want to speak as well as a native speaker, but to me it’s never been about the accent. As someone who grew up in the USA, in a Hispanic household but not speaking Spanish, my goal was more rooted in learning an extensive vocabulary and how to use it in order to maintain conversations with natives, eliminating more and more “learner’s mistakes” as I go along. But I’m not going to lie, recently… now that lots of Spanish speakers around me has noticed the vast improvement I’ve made in my Spanish, I was starting to fall into the trap about worrying about my accent… and sure, I want to pronounce words clearly and correctly, but this video is showing me that I don’t have to stress sounding exactly like a Mexican. I should instead worry about finding my voice in Spanish, saying things with more confidence, and continuing to correct the few mistakes that can come along. Because there is so many accents, even within one’s own country (the Boston accent and an accent from an English speaker from Houston, Texas for example are WAY different) can be so different, it doesn’t make as much sense to worry about the accent and it makes more sense to worry about good pronunciation.
there are tons of native English accents, people should just educate themselves and stop associating native English just with the standard American or the RP British accent for example...so, so tired of the ignorance on this topic....the same people have no idea that English is an official language in more than 60 countries or that Britain has over 30 different native accents depending on the part of the country, plus dialects........
also idk if it happened to you but the more you immerse yourself and use it, the better your accent gets because you're like a sponge adopting sounds and whatnot, but that requires time and it doesnt happen overnight, years have to go by
@@justpassingby3409 Yes, that’s true. Although one thing that can speed up your progress immensely is if you are fortunate enough to have people who speak your target language in your daily life. For example in the USA, there are LOTS of Spanish speakers… so I naturally get tons of opportunities to practice from where live naturally. But if that’s not the case, finding content like podcast which can help teach you is immensely helpful and can even get you thinking of different topics and exposed to different accents (which has helped me understand a coworker I once had who was from Argentina… now that accent makes Spanish sound WAY different than what I was used to with Mexican Americans)
This is a beautiful speech! I used to want to speak with a British accent and I was obsessed with it. I wanted to be praised by fellow Vietnamese. However, it was a tiring process cause my mouth got tired and exhausted, my brain couldnt work well cause my thought process is always faster than my mouth. Now I have switched to something in between American and British, but I feel so much better. I dont feel tired when I speak, and I dont even care what people think - eventually I’m Vietnamese and I’m proud of that.
Love this! The tiredness often comes from the tension and anxiety. It's amazing how GOOD we feel when we finally relax! Plus, as I said in the video, your accent can naturally change and shift over time... you don't have to force it. Yes, we can work on pronunciation, but there has to be a balance... and when you enjoy the process EVERYTHING becomes easier :D
A lot of people have told me that my English is "good." When I was young, I felt that it meant that my English was "far from perfect." But I have stopped thinking that way. Now I simply have fun communicating with English, and I am confident that my English is "good" after studying it for many years.
Mate, I've been told my English is "good" too. I'm a native speaker, but I'm brown, so, you know, white people... This kind of comment is meaningless. It says more about the speaker than it does about you.
Listening to some foreigner talkng my language with their accent, but without struggling to understand them, is just charming. «You are from the Netherlands?» «Yes I am» «Cool, love you’re speaking my language! It gives such a nice flavour and identity.»
This is not just English lecture . It’s more than that ! It’s a philosophy of lots of deep insights ! It was a full of wisdom. Thanks for sharing this !
I totally agree with you. Why should I sound like a native? What should I sound like like a native for? I do not need that. My unique purpose at speaking another language is to make myself understood. That is enough for me. Moreover, I’ve never been interested in denying my origins.
You can never compete with the natives in their own language, and it would be somewhat presumptuous to try to do so, almost disrespectful, trying to gain membership to their tribe under false pretences. Language and accents are basically secret signals to our own fellow countrymen, they tell them all about who we are, our social status, our native local area, our level of education, etc. So a foreigner trying to play that game is absurd, you won't impress the natives, only confuse and irritate them, as they won't be able to pigeon-hole you efficiently.
Great video! I’ve gone through a similar journey with English. From the obsession to sounding like a native to realizing that it's much more fun to create my own blend.
It’s a different beast when you were actually meant to be a native Spanish speaker but your parents didn’t teach you Spanish. I was born in Costa Rica with a Latin American family but I only started learning late in life, so sometimes I feel kind of frustrated with my level of Spanish. I wonder if the language will ever flow off my tongue easily because sometimes I struggle with the r’s. Sometimes I feel inadequate for having a crappy level of Spanish when speaking to natives but anyway, I try not to be negative about it. But even I feel like an imposter sometimes lol, but Spanish is a big interest of mine so I keep at it for my own benefit. I can’t change the fact that I didn’t grow up speaking the language, so I should be proud of where I am now
That's exactly what happened to me! Born into a family with Spanish speaking parents, but I never learned the language as a child. I went through a good portion of my life feeling ANGRY, like the language "should have been mine"... but I finally let it go and now I realize the circumstances that surrounded my childhood, and I understand why the language wasn't passed on. These things can get really complex. But in my case... my mom was already a proficient English speaker, so she spoke to us in English because it came naturally to her. I was the 5th of 7 kids, so all my older siblings already spoke English because of immersion at school. So, their English had a big impact on me. And my dad was a Spanish speaker but Spanish wasn't his first language... it was his THIRD language. His Spanish wasn't as good as his English. Anyhow, all of this meant that we became and English speaking household by the time I came on the scene. I didn't understand this when I was younger. I understand it now, so I don't blame anyone. I learned Spanish and re-claimed that part of my culture/family/history. However, my story will never be "I learned Spanish because I grew up with it."... and that's OK :D
This is the first video of yours I've ever watched and I like it a lot. I'm Scottish so English is my native language but I am a fairly advanced Spanish speaker. I recognise the trap of chasing perfection so this video was very insightful for me. My wife and kids live in Spain and I have a wonderful teacher who is from near the area where my family live. Slowly but surely she's helping me iron out all the wrinkles.
Ok... I speak Portuguese, English, and Spanish fluently. I'm able to communicate well enough in French and Haitian Creole. I never thought it sounded like a native person. The biggest goal is to communicate, period. I think a foreign accent has a kind of charming ❤❤❤❤ Definitely, your accent in Spanish is very good, if you travel to a country only the Spanish is massive it will be very interesting to you! ❤ Something hard to Americans in Spanish is the tendency to use vocal fry and the sound of the r. Besides that, everyone has particularly ways to learn. ❤
Totally! Everyone loves that person who speaks with a strong foreign accent. Think of those you know. It makes them seem very genuine, they are not pretending to be who they are not. And if their grammar and vocabulary are good, that's even better. That will really impress them, not that one should be concerned with wanting to do that
Thank you so much for sharing your story! The same thing happened to my English as I was learning it throughout the years. When I was a teenager, I wanted to sound American so bad. If a native speaker noticed that I was not, in fact, from the United States, I felt defeated, sad, embarrassed, and disappointed in myself. Realizing now that my journey is unique, my identity is mine to create and cherish is such a liberating feeling. I feel free to express myself however I want to.
It's such an amazing feeling, right!? Sometimes I wish someone could have told me all of this YEARS ago... but I also know myself and my stubbornness and my perfectionism and I probably would have ignored their advice and had to learn the hard way anyway haha. Oh well. At least I arrived! :D
It’s always interesting listening to you talking about language learning matters, not only for your useful tips and considerations, but also for your extremely clear and pleasant way of speaking, thanks to which I barely miss a single word. As an English learner, I think that having the goal of speaking like a native is good not to achieve it thoroughly, but to keep alive the motivation to improve a little bit every day. After all, if we have a real passion for the language we are learning, it’s totally normal that we want to reach a high level of proficiency, so that the listener doesn’t need to put too much of an effort to understand us. So, perfection is definitely not the real goal, but consistent improvement is (and eventually reaching a high level).
I gotta say I'm proud of my self, i quite understood what you talked about, I'm a Spanish native speaker, thanks a bunch for being part of this exciting moment 🙏🏼
Stefanie, thank you so so so much 🙏 I'm so grateful to you because I was struggling for this anxiety for years. It was terrible because I didn't even realise that I have this fear of speaking and making mistakes. Your video literally made me cry from this huge insight of mine. Thank you so much again 😊💗
I love watching your videos cuz I can understand until 80% of what you're saying,even without subtitles. And that is a proof that I'm getting better day by day. Thank you so much coach. Love you everywhere, everytime 🤗. Be blessed🙏
That's very good. If I was at intermediate level of English, I think some of her speech is a bit fast and unclear. I can hear that she's trying to keep it slow and clear. (Sorry to the creator, I also speed up at times. No shade.)
The Argentina tie spoke to me - native English speaker, but been trying to become proficient in Spanish. The elderly couple who effectively took me in as their grandchild when I was 19 (and both passed away about 3 and 4 years ago, respectively) were from Argentina I felt like I had to learn in an Argentinian accent, but found myself gravitating to the sing-songy nature of many Colombian accents. I decided it wasn’t dishonoring my “grandparents” legacy by adopting accents that aren’t Argentinian
Happy new year ;) When I hear you speak, I realize your accent is exactly the one I try to replicate and tend to achieve. I did not decide that : it is just the most familiar accent to me, also I understand every single word you say very easily. The thing is : it is not the one I prefer. I don't know why, I wish I could sound like martial artist Scott Adkins... there's very beautiful sounds in it, but it's really hard for me to grasp evreything he says ; so I guess I never will. Thank you for this video, you said a bunch of things I never quite realized before. I studied English at University and speaking correctly has been one of the great purposes in my life.
Good points. The main thing to keep in mind is that a "native accent" is like striving for perfection. I think a good accent is important, but past that is personal desire and/or interest.
I work in a contact center and getting a “neutral” accent is an advantage. Those who have a near-native accent tend to have higher CSAT scores (yeah). But one thing that trips someone who has English as a second language is vocabulary - you tend to have a wider vocabulary but do not have a good sense of what words will be considered archaic or non-conventional/ conversational. And this will also readily mark you as a non-native speaker.
Thanks for this very interesting video! Wanting to sound like a native speaker is a very ambitious goal and can be a real problem indeed. Some people just want to be understood and they see the language simply as a tool to communicate with others. They don't care about their accent and don't want to spend time or money to get rid of it. That's perfectly fine. But some people want to sound like a native speaker (or perhaps they even have to). It's really hard to get there, and in this case you have to learn to accept that others might still recognise you as a non-native speaker despite all your efforts. You have to learn that it's NOT a problem and that you can still do it. (I know it’s extremely difficult!) Language learning is always about frustration, but you can overcome these moments, whether it’s related to the accent, vocab, grammar, fluency, etc.
Hi Steph Great I am an English teacher but I can speak some Spanish,I picked my Spanish from soccer teams that camp in my city Taif , Saudi Arabia I used to attend thier training sessions and contact with some players who were from Spanish-speaking countries
This video really resonated with me. Your points about the downsides of focusing too much on sounding like a native speaker are so important and eye-opening. It’s a powerful reminder to embrace the process of language learning as a journey, not a destination. Hopefully, more people will adopt this mindset and free themselves to enjoy learning and speaking foreign languages without the pressure of achieving some unrealistic ideal. It would be wonderful to hear more of your thoughts on this and related topics in the future. In particular, I’d love to hear your opinion about non-native English speakers teaching English. In my own experience, some of these non-native teachers can be excellent teachers who have put a lot of effort on their own professional development, but I feel that there is still a lot of discrimination in this area, not only from other professionals but sadly from many learners too. Thank you for sharing these insights.☺
Thanks for your feedback! The topic of non-native teachers is an excellent one and I definitely have plenty of ideas I could share about it. But, in a nutshell, I think there is room for everyone when it comes to teaching and we shouldn't discriminate against any teacher solely on the basis of whether or not they are native. However, I will say that I had some non-native Spanish teachers in high school and college, and it always frustrated me when they spoke Spanish as if they were speaking English... like they didn't even TRY to make their pronunciation sound more natural. Students really want immersive language learning experiences and they want to be in touch with the language on a cultural level, not just to learn grammar and vocab... and that's why sometimes they seek teachers who are native speakers. Anyhow, there is SO MUCH we could dig into here... and ultimately each person has to figure out how to navigate this situation according to their own desires and goals. The most important thing is... if you feel like the cards are stacked against you, like if you are an English teacher who is a non-native English speaker, figure out the unique value you bring to your students and learn how to SELL that. There are ALL kinds of teachers who are successful, regardless of their background. It's all about knowing what YOU bring to the table and getting people to see the value in YOUR skills and experience. For example... I have an ESL channel with 1 million subs and I have helped THOUSANDS of students in our private programs that I designed and built from the ground up... but I never did any kind of certification program for teaching English. Don't focus on what you DON'T have. Focus on what you DO have and what you are capable of. These are just a few of my ideas on this topic :D
I'm coming from the Accent freedom course which you've made a couple of years ago, I'm here to say thanks from all my heart stefanie for all your efforts, i wish you all success and happiness in your life💛
This is so much more important than speech - but it's a fantastic option. This is a fundamental, foundational, core level human issue and I'm extremely happy it's being discussed. You can improve yourself however you see fit; you cannot make yourself something you're not. Accepting that some things cannot be altered, and that's not a bad thing, is paramount.
I don’t have any natural talent in terms of language… it’s taken me so long for me to get any good at Spanish. Now I do want to speak Spanish at the level of a native speaker, but not to fool people into thinking I’m a native, but rather I wanted to have the vocabulary to keep up in conversation as well as a native and not commit so many noticeable “learner’s mistakes” of course, everyone will commit those mistakes when they first start so it’s maybe it’s not a good goal to have at the start. In any case, I’m going to keep the advice this video has in mind to make sure I’m keep learning languages fun and exciting because it’s easy to lose motivation when it feels like obligatory work rather than something one wants. Since there are so many different accents, I should remind myself to find my own voice in Spanish rather than force myself to sound like whatever Mexican accent I’m hearing at the time when learning Spanish.
This kinda snap me out of it omg. I used to have a "better" english pronunciation and after I picked up so many languages, it's gone. I wanted it back but I realized that my current accent just makes me me and a part of who I am
2:30 that's exactly what happened to me a few years ago, I was so perfectionist that I would overthink and feel bad about it, I was trying to reach a higher level that was not going according to my situation I was still a noobie but I put in the work and got better at it, it's just a matter of persistency, patience and constant learning
Immigrating as a teenage must have been so hard! It's such a sensitive time in life where you are already trying to "figure out who you are"... and now you have to do it in a completely new culture and language. Talk about life hitting you with a ton of bricks! Anyhow, hopefully you have completely found your voice by now and are enjoying your freedom in English :D
this video opened my eyes, just realized i am doing the same thing you’re pointing out. im going to work on changing that from now on. Thank you for sharing your experience Stephanie 🙏
You are so welcome! I'm excited for you... English will NEVER be the same once you turn away from the things I talk about in this video. It's gonna be awesome!!
Hi Stephanie! Im Russian and also wanted to sound like a native English speaker. I started 13 years ago, got to the level where I’m being constantly mistaken for an American and for the last 6 years been coaching Russian speakers to speak in an American accent. For some reason I’ve been only reaping the benefits of my striving to sound as native as possible and am enjoying it still 🤷♂️ Btw we once spoke on IG when you were doing a live stream 😃
It’s awesome that you never went through the “dark side” as many of us have. There are many benefits as long as you don’t struggle with the mindset stuff
Same here! Being native Hungarian I have been enjoying so much that I have taught myself (with looooots of practice) to speak and sound like natives both in English and Italian. I also love switching between different accents and have never stopped enjoying the never ending learning process. I just do it for myself, it is kind of a hobby for me. Great to know I am not the only "accent freak" out here 😅 Keep on enjoying your skillls! All the best, Barbara 🤸♀️
@ szia, Barbara! Azta! Orulok en is, hogy nem egyedul vagyok! Egyebkent, pont magyarul is tanultam sok ev elott 😆 Az akcentusom szerintem nem annyira jo, de meg elmkekszem valamit 😆 van egy MAGYAR VLOG a csotarnamon ahol beszelek haha.
The best advantage of taking care of pronunciation is that it educates our own ears, allowing them to take in the river of sounds of a foreign country. And the simplest way to disarm the dark side is to talk slowly, carefully and politely. Doing so elicits a genuine and well-earned respect for having made the effort to connect with others in their language. Alone I practice at speed, but out and about…Foreigners talk slowly 😉.
Has tenido la capacidad de expresar en palabras todos o al menos en gran parte los sentimienyos miedos preocupaciones que he sentido al estudiar idiomas. Gracias muchas gracias no se lo habia escuchado a nadie. Es de muchisima utilidad para quien desea aprender una nueva lengua.
You can't have an American accent because there is no such thing. Americans have different accents based on the region they live in. There's no one American way of speaking aside from English
I totally agree with you. I used to want to speak like a native speaker, for pronunciation, words choice and the way native speakers talk. But it just made me stressed for a while. Then I gave up 😂 but it actually makes me feel more confident when I'm talking, yeah, I'm a foreigner and my level is good enough to communicate and express myself.
I learned Spanish as an LDS missionary which was basically a short two month training and I was put into the middle of Guatemala. It was difficult to overcome the fear of sounding stupid but that went away after about a month. After about eight months in a new missionary companion chided me about how horrible my accent sounded. He agreed to work with me on it daily, as we were together 24/7. I read out loud in Spanish for a half an hour each morning and he corrected my pronunciation. During the day as we walked, he helped me understand the tenses and rid myself of a lot of bad habits carried over from speaking English. About sixteen months in, I was speaking to people on the phone and upon meeting them in person they laughed and revealed that they had thought I was a native speaker based on our phone conversations. Learning a language from books can be helpful, but speaking it daily and focusing on how the locals speak can really make a difference in conversational speaking. Over coming that initial fear of sounding stupid and being open to constructive criticism about your pronunciation is the key.
Totally agree with everything you mentioned at the end. And, from what I've seen, the LDS missionary organizations have some of the most effective language learning/teaching techniques. Full on immersion is SO POWERFUL. People often think the human brain can't learn languages well through immersion after childhood, but LDS missionaries who have done trips abroad have convinced me that this is not the case. You guys reach amazing fluency and native-like accents in just a couple years. It's pretty phenomenal.
Let me share a story with you. I have a cousin who's been living in North Carolina since 2011. Her kids are born in the USA, which makes them native English speakers. Recently they came to visit us and I was ashamed of talking to them in English. I was a afraid of making mistakes and embarrassed about not understanding something they say. So I missed this opportunity to talk to native speakers just because of this desire to sound like a native. Now I realize how silly I was!
@@fernandocardoso8959 it's OK because now you will be prepared for your next conversation with them! Just let loose and have fun :D And realize that they might also feel a level of embarrassment/sadness if they don't speak your language as fluently as you do. That happens when kids have mixed cultures. Sometimes they feel like they aren't "native enough" to be like all the other native English speakers, but they also don't feel native in the language and culture of their families. That's exactly what happened to me...
Hola Stephanie. Soy Argentino como tus padres y me encantó el primer video en que te presentas. Pienso escuchar muchos videos tuyos, pues tienes una hermosa presencia y una calida expresion personal. Si bien nos criamos acá mayormente estudiando British English, tu tienes un acento muy agradable y claro. Cariños desde Buenos Aires.
one of the problem for english learners is that they dont live where english isn't being the first language, and they dont have a english speaking partner as well in real life, so here's a problem for me especially who lives in the asian country, anyhow a lot of english applications provided on the phone to practice english, but i think the best aspect on copying faster to be like a native is move to another country that's english really everyday spoken (first language)
Yes, moving to an English speaking country can help, but there are so many people that come here, live their whole lives here, and NEVER learn English. And then there are people who have NEVER set foot in an English speaking country, and their English is amazing! So I think it comes down to exposure and communication... and thanks to the internet you can get exposure and communicate online (even with video chats!) from the comfort of your own home. It's amazing!
Stefanie, thanks for sharing this video and your true experience when trying to sound like a native speaker. As an English teacher from Argentina I always tell my students that the secret to communicate well is not to sound like a perfect British ( sadly in Argentina, most language teachers still think British accent is better than American) but to speak accuratly and keep it as simple as they can. To be efective speakers, we don't really need to sound like natives. Keeping our accent is part of our identity. New subscriber! Regards from Argentina!🇦🇷😊❤
The British accent (of an educated English person) is the true accent for the English language, is it not? So, yes, it should have a certain cachet. Every language has an optimal regional pronunciation, although in this era of "non-judgementalism" that's not a fashionable thing to assert.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us!! I once "audited" an English class in Argentina... I got permission to sit in the class and observe how it went... and it was actually really sad because the students were SO SHY and no one wanted to speak up. Teachers have a big job when teaching English as a second language because it's not just about the grammar, vocab, and pronunciation... you also have to help the students build confidence... and that's basically the work of a psychologist haha. Anyhow, I'm sure you are doing an amazing job! Your students are lucky to have you!!
@@TheEnglishCoach The students were only shy of speaking in front of their fellow students, which is probably why trying to learn a language in a classroom is a terrible idea, and totally obsolete. There's no need nowadays with RUclips, all one needs to do is immerse oneself in videos spoken in that language, about topics which interest one, from wood-working to geopolitics. Avoid the "foreign language videos" unless you want to proceed at a snail's pace. Total immersion is the best method. After about a month one can understand every word, and the more one listens the more one builds vocabulary and grammar. Switching on subtitles in the same language is useful as one learns quickly to read in that language too, and how the written words are pronounced. Then there is the YT comments section to pore over, reading in that language arguments which interest one. Not always perfectly written, but when one can spot the illiterate comments one is really progressing.
😮You are absolutely correct! I'm a 75-year-old Brazilian, and I've been teaching English for 44 years. I just hate it when I see most Americans saying: "Speak like a native!" I've already commented on their videos, and pretending not to understand what they said, I would reply: "Like an Indian?!" Besides, your American accent is really loving! I could spend a long time listening to you! Please go on spreading this true information: we must have one personality. Mine is Brazilian and I'm not embarrassed to show a little Brasilian Portuguese accent when I speak English, and I have never had any trouble with that when I teach English, although I'm not a "native"!
I was the same as i was learning german,your video brought all the memories back to my mind:the anxiety and the frustration after getting caught,i felt so horrible....now i am learning English but i don't want to feel so bad on my learning journey i don't aim for that anymore. Greetings from Slovakia
Far more important than "native accent" in English are linguistic characteristics such as elision, reduction, resyllabification and intonation. Accent itself, once you have basic consistency and comprehensibility, is just not that important for communication. It's more about group identity (ie tribalism).
I was once in the Northeast of Brazil; a female friend and I, and two Portuguese lasses; and we were able to communicate perfectly. Their mates arrived, two Portuguese men; we immediately stopped understanding whatever they were saying. I'll never forget this experience; it's supposed to be the same language, For Crying Out Loud!
It reminds me of the old joke - he speaks a perfect accent without a trace of English. I’m French and my English is near native. My ENGLISH is near native, and my accent is what it is. I keep bumping into people (often Germans or Scandinavians) who think they’re bilingual bc they sound American - but their English is mediocre at best. They can’t read Dickens, they can’t express complex thoughts without tripping up, they don’t know enough idioms; they have no technical vocab or only in their field, they only master one speech register, and so on.
There are so many different criteria for deciding whether someone has a good level of English or not. For example if you have an American accent and use loads of idioms it might sound good but if you can't make or even understand jokes then I wouldn't consider as good as someone who has mastered humour but has a strong accent.
I’m your mirror image. I’m a native speaker of English but speak near native French. I even teach Semiology in French and I see the students sometimes smirk at my pronunciation, then I get to correct their spelling or explain French vocabulary to them 😂 I do struggle sometimes with the idea that my accent, quite good but definitely not native, makes me appear less competent, at the same time I feel fake and exhausted when I put all my focus on speaking like I am a native French speaker.
I needed this video. I always worry about making mistakes and my need to sound like a native speaker stems from the desire to not make mistakes anymore. I realize that this is a thought that is hurtful to my progress. At the moment, I try to let go. Because my biggest wish is to talk freely and carefree (in terms of mistakes). I improved so much in the past 3-5 years and I am very proud. Thank you for sharing your stories to help others. (Your voice is very soothing, listening to you while writing an e-mail was so relaxing.)
In my opinion, the longer you immerse yourself in the environment of native speakers, the more you become like them yourself, and that's a good thing. Sooner or later, everyone will find their own style of speaking, the way to sound authentic, original.
I agree. First and foremost, one should feel comfortable with one’s own accent as long as it is intelligible though achieving a native English accent would be a great achievement.
What I sincerely mention is that going to be your honesty. I see myself inside of you and your unique videos not only help us to learn English but also truly understand pure pretty of communicating. Thank you for being honest with us.
I have the same talent as you do. I'm a cuban 18 y/o, still living in cuba, but I've had the opportunity to share with a whole variety of native speakers, people who were born in different parts of the country. I'm still going through the process of realizing the same thing you came up to. I actually overthink it a lot when speaking to others in English, like the exact same situation. Maybe one day I'll be free of it 😂. Thanks for the video, very inspiring. God bless you
this is so helpful to me. Why do i shame myself for all the things that i respect and admire so much in others that it was actually those very things that INSPIRED me to LEARN another language in the first place?!! Thank you for helping me to think differently.
This is such a healing message. Fortunately i already found out on my own, but im sure many people will benefit from hearing this. I was the girl in highschool English (ESL) class who was always watching English content online and bringing weird sounds into class like the glottal stop. Not necessarily because i was trying so hard, but because I'm a total accent sponge. As I grew older and English became a necessity for communication rather than a hobby, i started to let it flow whichever way and i like my accent no matter what. Okay, thats a lie, sometimes i watch too many US shows and have to switch to a British one to fix my accent. But as long as the people around me understand what im saying, everything's fine
Thank you for sharing this video! Since I started interacting with people in English, which is my 2nd language, I realized that I had no idea what I wanted to talk about with others. Yes learning a language is an amazing job but what's the purpose of that is to express my authentic thinking using the same language in a conversation without a translator. In my case, if I know new vocabulary or expressions, I can expand my thinking by those things! It is also a fun fact of learning a language.
Lots of great ideas here. I get rather tongue-tied in my native English, so my acquired language expectations have always been low. Probably too low to make reasonable progress. With my traveling days mostly behind me, I haven't had to worry about not sounding local, and I'm a reader/listener more than a talker anyway. If my meager language skills ever do find an outlet it will probably be in making more welcome those that don't 'sound local'.
I found really hard at the beggining trying to sound as much as possible like a Native. After some years of practice I had realized that it wasn`t my goal anymore that I was aiming to the wrong direction. I totally agree with you in a way that we should enjoy our journey and even if we don`t know a word or expression we might have consider to ask and be vulnerable to know the meaning of unknown words.
One shift that came for me on this topic was when I was studying Italian. I was at a C1 level, studying at a school in Rome. I had already achieved all my goals for learning italian when I started out, and beyond, I was perfectly fluent in all the situations that I could have desired for, everything I wanted to talk about, I could talk about. But the perfectionist in me said "There are still things I don't understand" so I was considering taking even more classes, and reach for a C2 level, even if I had absoluetely no need either in my private or professional life to reach such a level. I ended up being satisfied with the level I had reach. It was a few years later that it hit me. First, why did I want to reach that level? Because I had just been blinded by the thought that "the best is the best". But it is not. The money I time I spend on learning italian is time and money that I don't spend learning other languages, or doing other things. My resources are valuable, and I should spend them wisely on things that matter to me, not to reach some riddiculous standard. Second point, and probably the most important one. Why should I be ashamed of speaking with a forreign accent in a forreign language? Why is it so important to come out as an italian when in reality I come from Sweden? I was so obsessed with cultural immersion, with learning about italian culture and perfecting the italian language, and everything else, but at the end of the day, why would it be important to fool an italian that I was an italian? You are in a sense downplaying your own culture and putting the other culture on a piedistal. Besides, it's not like there are many italians who speak perfect swedish themselves, or try to make themselves pass of as swedes, why should I pretend to be italian then?
OMG YESSSSSSS I couldn't agree more and totally get everything you are saying. And too be honest, sometimes even I get this idea that I should "work on my Spanish" because it can improve... and while, yes, it can absolutely improve, the reality is I have the level I need for the life I live. I would have to TRULY be passionate about the language in order to pursue increasing my level... and I just don't FEEL like working on it haha. I have so many other EXCITING things going on in my life right now. This doesn't mean I won't ever work on it... it just means right now I'm not interested and I have other things going on, so improving my Spanish will take a back seat until it either becomes necessary or something I deeply desire. Right now I like the idea of having better Spanish, but I'm not willing to put in the work because that would mean sacrificing something else I'm currently dedicated to. And accepting this and being OK with it is so liberating :D
During my trip to Japan I really felt how english was just a tool of comminication. I'm not native english speaker, japanese are not native speakers, both of you don't mind how wrong your pronounce is while you still can somehow understand what the other one wants to say. That was fun and make me feel comfort :3
I had the same problem with learning English. I understand what you are talking about. Te entiendo perfectamente lo que estás contando. Me pasó lo mismo con inglés. Aprendí inglés en Irlanda. Cuando dejo que la ansiedad me controle mi inglés is crap. Pero si yo no dejo que interfiera y estoy más relajada y estoy disfrutando. Todo sale mejor. Estoy totalmente de acuerdo con los sentimientos que levanta. Y lo importante que es ser uno mismo. Me ha encantado y te agradezco que lo hayas mencionado. Un fuerte abrazo desde Madrid
Thank you so, so much for this video! Everything you said resonated with me. I'm also fluent in Spanish and lately have been become kind of obsessed with sounding like a Mexican. My boyfriend is from Mexico and I've also been there several times. I TOTALLY feel the thing you said about anxiety and how it even sometimes makes your language ability worse. One time for example my boyfriend and I went to buy some vegetables (just like you haha) in his barrio and my boyfriend was looking for a parking lot for the car. He asked me to already get out of the car so that I could already go to the small shop and buy the vegetables we needed. When I entered the shop, I again had the high expectation of myself that no one should notice that I wasn't a native speaker. We already had been to the shop before and the shop owner recognized me and said hello in a very friendly tone to me and "Como ha estado?" and I somehow didn't really understand him in that very moment (even though retrospectively) because I only felt this high pressure of "performing" well 😅 And instead, I only said "Buenos dias, también tiene champiñones?". I think due to my anxiety I even added unintentionally an "s" to the "tiene", so I basically said "tienes" which could be interpreted as disrespectful, as you surely know. So I kind of ruined this little moment which could have become a cool conversation with this friendly shop owner. I just hope that he didn't consider it disrespectful. 😔 Another thing that I realized is that my expectation to sound like a native kind of also disturbs the connection I have with my boyfriend. We only communicate in Spanish and I realized that I really should stop caring if I'm pronuncing things perfectly in mexican Spanish when I'm with him as it totally doesn't matter and what actually matters is that we can communicate well and create a connection and express ourselves AUTHENTICALLY. So again, thank you for this video. Next time when I feel this pressure, I'll remind myself of the valuable things you said here. :)
You are so welcome!!! I’ve been in situations like what you described probably hundreds of times 😩 so I get it. And the freedom you feel when you let it go is amazing…. Literally like a caterpillar turning into a butterfly 🤣 you got this!
One of my favourite things about speaking to my French friends is hearing their sexy accents and the adorable French-isms working their way into English. My favourite thing about learning French is having those “aha!” moments where I realised “that’s why they phrased it that way”. It’s so much fun discovering and comparing the weird quirks or each of our languages.
Thanks! I needed to listen for real a pro advise about this topic. I am a native spanish speaker that wanted to pass as a native english speaker when it came about pronunciation or accent, but I was totally wrong. Thanks for uploading helpful content and new sub for the channel. ❤
Wow thank you so much!!!!! Currenrtly I am learning spanish, improving my greek and english I dont wanna fall in this trap constantly trying to sound like natives. I remember when I was trying to sound like them and coudn't it made me feel bad and dissapointed speccially when I coudn't understand them sometimes😂 Thank you, it was really helpfull for me 🫶 I will focus on that to speak more clearly and understandable to gain solid vocabulary and to enjoy it 😊
Hi Stefanie and thank you for this video. I needed to hear it. I'm from Russia, and in our language learning tradition (especially in linguistic universities) you MUST sound as close to a native as possible. If you don't, you are a considered to be a bad (english/french/german etc) speaker. I think it's quite difficult to find a balance between respecting the existing rules and features of the language you learn and being yourself...
Thank you for this! As a German who lives in the UK for the better part of each year I see your point, and your video really makes me think about my attitude towards my own accent and that feeling of "failure" when being "caught out" rather than being satisfied because people say they love my accent and admire my fluency in a language that isn't my first language. Your video also encourages me to look into my Spanish more - Spanish being my third language after German and English. And last but not least I'm on my way to speak more than three languages as I have a daily practice of acquiring ever more bits and bobs of many other languages. It's an interesting hobby which I'm enjoying greatly, and I'm thrilled to see how far I can get.
I'm so glad my video resonated with you! I think the best part of all this is once you allow yourself the freedom to just ENJOY the process without being a perfectionist about it... everything gets so much easier and so much more fun. You still learn and improve, but you go much faster because you aren't being blocked by any kind of anxiety. Anyhow, I wish you all the best in your language studies! It's an amazing journey :D
I’m British and I have a German friend. We became friends when she just started learning English. I would help her all the time with grammar, spelling or pronunciation. I love the way she spoke English with her German accent. We fell out of touch for about a year then reconnected. I didn’t recognise her voice at first. She sounds completely like a native American speaker now and I don’t know why…but it made me a little sad.
True. Russian is hard enough to learn as a native English speaker and I've been letting people's comments on my accent be too much of a marker of my proficiency. It just makes it harder to actually speak more fluently and articulate when worrying about mimicing a native speaker. I'll keep all that in mind, thanks!
Trying to be a native speaker changed my personality drastically so that I bacame introverted basically always thinking what I was going to say and never listening to other person, while I'm naturally an extravert. I put all my focus on me and how I sound, I became obsessed. Not to mention, I went to a high school at this time which meant not being great at the language made me into an outsider among my peers. I developed anxiety and of course, people commenting on my accent made my anxiety even worse.
I came to the States in my 30s having grown up in both the Philippines and Okinawa. I am 65 yo now. My accent in English sometimes comes out but most of the times, people think I grew up in the States. I like pronouncing words the right way but if I make mistakes, it doesn’t bother me bc it’s a part of my identity. I will continue learning English for the rest of my life. As for my Japanese, people think I have a weird accent bc they couldn’t figure out where I came from. I pronounce words the right way but my intonation is a jumble of Okinawan and Mainland Japan. I don’t mind it either bc it’s the sum total of who I am. I will continue learning languages bc it’s fun and nobody can take that away fr me. Thank you for creating this video.
Dear Madam Teacher,thank you so incredibly much for your amazing job and great effort during this year! Warm greetings from the Central Europe.For example - I think (my humble opinion),that for me (my native language is slavic : Czech) is little bit a more better AmE than BrE. Have a nice,peaceful,beautiful time! I wish you,your family,your friends - Merry Christmas! Take care.
@theenglishcoach this is what I needed to hear!! I don’t know how you just jumped into my head but this is how I’ve felt forever! The imposter syndrome is so real!
Many expressions in American Spanish varieties wouldn't be understood in Spain and vice versa depending on who you end up talking with. I also wanted to look like a native (Spaniard learning English) but your video has make me rethink that goal. Thank you! ☺️
I’m an English speaking Canadian who teaches French and Spanish in public school in the US. I am not fluent in Spanish (a second certification) but am constantly consuming content in Spanish to improve my speaking skills. My accent is better than my vocabulary and I would like to be able to say the opposite one day soon. Always a student - even after two decades of teaching.
It just comes to me naturally, I don't even mean to do it. I did get a comment from a cuban coworker who said she noticed I spoke with the accent a little bit. She didn't speak much English, but I enjoy learning new things so I guess I subconsciously tried to learn. It's definitely far from perfect, and it doesn't bother me. I didn't realize people were struggling with these thoughts and being so hard on themselves.
I'm learning Spanish right now.. Focusing on Spanish from Mexico Colombia and Argentina... I don't have to sound like a native.. My goal is to understand the language first and then make my speaking so that they can understand me just sounding like myself 😅 thks for the video miss 🙌🏾✌🏾
This was a great video. In the past (and even now every once in a while) I’d worry about my accent when speaking Spanish. I was born to bilingual parents and grandparents who only spoke Spanish but after their deaths and then after moving to areas where Spanish wasn’t spoken as often as English, I began losing my ability to speak Spanish in my later teens and throughout my twenties. Fast forward to my thirties and now at 40 I married a Colombian woman so my accent is all over the place. Even my wife laughs sometimes when my “Mexican accent” comes out then suddenly shifts a bit to a rolo accent followed by maybe one of a few words that still come out with a slight English accent when I’m tired or not concentrating. I’ve even sometimes mixed in English words without noticing until I see my wife’s look of confusion. My main thing now is improving my grammar in Spanish and being able to carry out very technical conversations related to my field without using English. That and as long as I don’t sound like an English speaker speaking Spanish haha. The mix of Spanish accents I no longer care about.
This is a whole other side to the conversation that I didn't even cover! But I know all about it because I've seen it in my family (eldest sister born in Argentina and Spanish was her first language, but she lost so much of it and now speaks with a super neutral accent) and I've watched friends go through it as well.... and it sucks cause you feel like your language skills should be better. But language is honestly a product of our environment... and when our environment gets dominated by a new language, so does our brain... and that's OK. So, we have to learn to be OK with an identity that's a mix of many things... we don't fit perfectly into any category, and that's OK. Once I started basing my identity on my character (which I can grow, change, and control) and NOT facts about my life like where I was born and what my native language is (which I can't change or control)... it became a whole lot easier to be and accept myself without feeling like I needed to change something I couldn't. Now, if I want to change something, like a bad habit... I absolutely can :D and the languages I speak are just circumstantial results of my life, nothing to be proud or ashamed of, but I CAN be proud of my hard work in learning new languages. This is kind of rambly, but I hope you get my points haha
I wish I had watched this video years ago. I live since almost 5 years in Germany and I remember my first 2years with sadness I didnt talk openly just not to be looked or treated as the foreigner… Now I just dont care I am the coolest Spainier in town!! Haha xd. Such an interesting topic! Have a great year!
That is so true, Stef! If you happen to still remember how I sounded like back then (years ago when we hung out in Davis), that time I was taking a class on "accent reduction" to sound like Americans. I don't know if I did it or not back then, but what I know is after that, my English was a disaster because I got everything mixed up. To get through normal days I would sound like my self but when awareness kicked in (that I didn't exactly sound like an American) I got anxiety and everything was a mess. Fortunately I got through it already, it was years ago anyway. Now I sound like myself (not the same one like back then). Miss you girl!
@@helleneki6071 ahhhhh so nice to hear from you! Of course I remember you!! And I’m so glad you made it out to the other side and know exactly what I’m talking about haha. Hanging out with you in Davis was unforgettable!!!
I am mexican, spanish is my language, but I grew up reading and listening to english, but talking very little with actual people, so my english accent comes from old B&W movies my family used to watch 😀
What she says makes a lot of sense. The more progress you make in learning a language, the more you tend to stop trying harder and make further progress. Furthermore, it must be said that when you set the bar too high you often forget that a native was born in their language and has been exposed to it all his life. This is something you can hardly replicate. Well, You could if you moved to a given country and lived there for, say, 20 years time. Yet, you need to factor in exposure, education, experiences, so on and so forth. The truth is you never cease to learn, no matter how hard you try. You can become really good at something, but yet you will never be perfect. Perfection is an idea that helps us keep focused on something and makes us want to push further ahead. You can get close to perfection, but achieving it is quite another thing!
To be honest, I think I BARELY scratched the surface here with everything I COULD say on this topic. I didn't even talk about the marketing tactics used to prey on students who "want to sound like a native". I also didn't talk about where this desire originates: does the industry push this idea to sound like a native because it's what students want? Or do students want to sound like a native because the industry somehow sets up native speakers as some sort of ideal standard? I also didn't mention much about how my views on this topic (as a teacher/coach) have shifted over the years as I went through my own personal journey of "discovering my voice."
Like I said, there is SO MUCH we could discuss on this topic. But for now I'd love to hear YOUR thoughts since I've already had the chance to share some of mine. Let me know what you think!
@TheEnglishCoach Correct me if I'm wrong, you were born and lived on the East coast, probably in NY or about that?
Please make the second part talking about your personal journey and how you found your own unique voice, I love your stories ❤
I would absolutely love a second part where you share your take on these points as well! Hits close to home 🙌
Hey Stefanie, you did great as always! Y'know, you got used to jump into the habit hole, and this is not the shorter path but this is the highest rewording one. If l change the characters names of your story, I could tell my story, although my English skills is even close to your Spanish skills. But for me, as your example shows, when we get less attached form the outside aspect of this process we find room to work inside, and then the results are inevitable. I'm happy to see you again, my Big Hi from São Paulo Brazil... take care and peace!!!
Thanks for sharing your experience, every single aspect of it resonated with my own experience. Please, do a Part 2 with the thoughts you shared in this comment.
Whenever someone tells you that your English is so good, you'll know they've recognised you don't sound like a native speaker, because if you did, they'd never make any comment about it. And, the more you sound like a non native, the more compliments you'll get on your language skills. But there's a certain uncanny valley just before being a fully native speaker when people might think you're probably a native but a clumsy one or too thick to get a joke. Which really is a terrible feeling 😂
hahahaha omg there is so much wisdom in this comment it's incredible! Thank you for sharing!!
Not necessarily. Where do you come from? is simple small talk. So recognizing an accent is not the only way to detect non-native speakers. Normally, people will just tell you and then the compliment and surprise might be genuine. It is rare however for a non-native to sound completely native.
@@ramonek9109If you're intelligent enough, you'll take it as an offence cause the compliment signals that you're sticking out, you don't belong there. 😌
Not necessarily true. I’m told this all the time. I’m a native English speaker born and raised in Canada, and people say this to me. 😂 I think it’s because of my ethnicity. I guess I look like English isn’t my first language. 😂
I would say I might think they're native when I've only heard a little bit. When I hear more, there will be a word choice natives won't use or a minor grammatical error that's not a native mistake. Then it's like "ok, this is not their first language, but so good!"
For me, what’s much more important than sounding like a “native” speaker is to be able to articulate my thoughts like a native speaker with great communication skills. The fluency and eloquence is much more important than the accent for me. There is no such thing as a “native” accent. I have also resigned to the fact that there are certain sounds that I won’t be able to accurately reproduce since they are not sounds I grew up hearing and making. Wherever I go, people around me have absolutely no problem with my accent as long as I speak clearly. But when I get nervous and lose the fluency or use the wrong words, that definitely a communication obstacle.
In Europe these days nobody cares if you have an accent. In fact it's useful, it warns your audience not to take your English for granted, there may be gaps and abstruse euphemisms should be avoided.
Nop, there are native accents lol
100% couldn’t care less for an accent, in a good way - not dismissive of different accents rather very much appreciative of the diversity
@@cookiejarseattle Totally true (except your claim that there is no such thing as a native accent, of course there is. In fact most large languages tend to have several native accents + the sociolects. I clock it immediately if I hear in my native language and even in other languages because I have an exceptional ear for languages
But your point stands, and is the same I was making in my own comment to this video.)
Absolutely! I also want to be able to express my thoughts smoothly, consistently, logically, and for that vocabulary and grammar are top priorities. I know people who sound native but only when they read or repeat after somebody, or construct simple phrases without much sense in them, however when it comes to discussing, debating, being assertive and persuasive in communication, all their great pronunciation is of no use, it is simply not functional, and they cannot achieve the goals of communication while focusing on a perfect accent.
I love hearing different accents because it shows that you’re from somewhere cool and you learned a language just to communicate with native people, which is really sweet. As long as I understand you, your accent only makes you unique and shows where you’re from. Of course it’s nice to sound like a native, but I definitely wouldn’t stress over it!
I didn't learn English to communicate wit foreigners I had to learn it to make a living
I needed to read this honestly.
Yup! As a native English speaker talking with someone with a noticeable accent is more enjoyable than speaking with someone with a native accent. Not sure why you would want to get rid of such a beautiful feature of your English. Some accents are just amazing sounding in English! Better even than our plain English accent.
It's actually freaking annoying when you do your best to speak properly only for a native speaker to ask, "Where is your accent from?". Just to remind you that your efforts are in vain, in case you forgot 🫣
@@oldskoolmusicnostalgia well said
As I get older, my focus has shifted from being ashamed of not speaking like a native English speaker to embracing my own unique identity. Having said that, I don't neglect to learn correct pronunciations and sound natural. I learned that people pay attention to individuals who are unique, knowledgeable, and focused on their dreams.
Love this!
Thanks for talking about this, I feel most polyglots need to hear this. The hardest thing in language learning is finding your identity and being comfortable in it
As a Spanish native speaker I'm glad you brought this up because there are people obsessed about sounding like a native and I felt frustrated but when I traveled to the USA when I was 22 everyone there understood me quite well and even praised my English so now I'm not obsessed about the accent anymore, and sadly, it's more common that people from your own country criticize your English because you don't sound like a native but those people aren't aware that there are so many accents in the world haha and it's fascinating to hear all those different blends of accents like you said
I’m glad I found this video, because I’m learning Spanish and I do want to speak as well as a native speaker, but to me it’s never been about the accent. As someone who grew up in the USA, in a Hispanic household but not speaking Spanish, my goal was more rooted in learning an extensive vocabulary and how to use it in order to maintain conversations with natives, eliminating more and more “learner’s mistakes” as I go along. But I’m not going to lie, recently… now that lots of Spanish speakers around me has noticed the vast improvement I’ve made in my Spanish, I was starting to fall into the trap about worrying about my accent… and sure, I want to pronounce words clearly and correctly, but this video is showing me that I don’t have to stress sounding exactly like a Mexican. I should instead worry about finding my voice in Spanish, saying things with more confidence, and continuing to correct the few mistakes that can come along. Because there is so many accents, even within one’s own country (the Boston accent and an accent from an English speaker from Houston, Texas for example are WAY different) can be so different, it doesn’t make as much sense to worry about the accent and it makes more sense to worry about good pronunciation.
there are tons of native English accents, people should just educate themselves and stop associating native English just with the standard American or the RP British accent for example...so, so tired of the ignorance on this topic....the same people have no idea that English is an official language in more than 60 countries or that Britain has over 30 different native accents depending on the part of the country, plus dialects........
also English is a LINGUA FRANCA and there are more non-native speakers then there are "native".....
also idk if it happened to you but the more you immerse yourself and use it, the better your accent gets because you're like a sponge adopting sounds and whatnot, but that requires time and it doesnt happen overnight, years have to go by
@@justpassingby3409 Yes, that’s true. Although one thing that can speed up your progress immensely is if you are fortunate enough to have people who speak your target language in your daily life. For example in the USA, there are LOTS of Spanish speakers… so I naturally get tons of opportunities to practice from where live naturally. But if that’s not the case, finding content like podcast which can help teach you is immensely helpful and can even get you thinking of different topics and exposed to different accents (which has helped me understand a coworker I once had who was from Argentina… now that accent makes Spanish sound WAY different than what I was used to with Mexican Americans)
While copying or imitating native speakers' pronunciations for listening, I believe myself becoming a good English speaker with my own voice.
Hi Stef, I'm from the north of Argentina, here people pronounce the "s" all the time, so don't worry, be yourself! Cheers!
haha thank you!!
Exactly! I’m British and I do not sound like someone from my particular city, and I’m more than ok with that.
This is a beautiful speech! I used to want to speak with a British accent and I was obsessed with it. I wanted to be praised by fellow Vietnamese. However, it was a tiring process cause my mouth got tired and exhausted, my brain couldnt work well cause my thought process is always faster than my mouth. Now I have switched to something in between American and British, but I feel so much better. I dont feel tired when I speak, and I dont even care what people think - eventually I’m Vietnamese and I’m proud of that.
Which British accent?
@@Kitiwake The one from the British islands...
''...eventually I'm Vietnamese...'' should be 'at the end of the day, I'm Vietnamese...'
@@Kitiwake The accent of an educated English person. Come on dude🤦♂
Love this! The tiredness often comes from the tension and anxiety. It's amazing how GOOD we feel when we finally relax! Plus, as I said in the video, your accent can naturally change and shift over time... you don't have to force it. Yes, we can work on pronunciation, but there has to be a balance... and when you enjoy the process EVERYTHING becomes easier :D
A lot of people have told me that my English is "good." When I was young, I felt that it meant that my English was "far from perfect." But I have stopped thinking that way. Now I simply have fun communicating with English, and I am confident that my English is "good" after studying it for many years.
Mate, I've been told my English is "good" too. I'm a native speaker, but I'm brown, so, you know, white people... This kind of comment is meaningless. It says more about the speaker than it does about you.
Listening to some foreigner talkng my language with their accent, but without struggling to understand them, is just charming.
«You are from the Netherlands?»
«Yes I am»
«Cool, love you’re speaking my language! It gives such a nice flavour and identity.»
Dutch and Icelandic people have near perfect American-like accents. It's really strange.
This is not just English lecture . It’s more than that ! It’s a philosophy of lots of deep insights ! It was a full of wisdom. Thanks for sharing this !
You're welcome! I'm so glad my experience resonated with so many people!!
I totally agree with you. Why should I sound like a native? What should I sound like like a native for? I do not need that. My unique purpose at speaking another language is to make myself understood. That is enough for me. Moreover, I’ve never been interested in denying my origins.
Absolutely. Plus, the vast majority of native speakers are neither good nor interesting speakers. It's a low bar.
then this vid is not for you 😒
You can never compete with the natives in their own language, and it would be somewhat presumptuous to try to do so, almost disrespectful, trying to gain membership to their tribe under false pretences. Language and accents are basically secret signals to our own fellow countrymen, they tell them all about who we are, our social status, our native local area, our level of education, etc. So a foreigner trying to play that game is absurd, you won't impress the natives, only confuse and irritate them, as they won't be able to pigeon-hole you efficiently.
@CharlesWhite-j4fWord for word, you hit the nail on the head.
Great video! I’ve gone through a similar journey with English. From the obsession to sounding like a native to realizing that it's much more fun to create my own blend.
It’s a different beast when you were actually meant to be a native Spanish speaker but your parents didn’t teach you Spanish. I was born in Costa Rica with a Latin American family but I only started learning late in life, so sometimes I feel kind of frustrated with my level of Spanish. I wonder if the language will ever flow off my tongue easily because sometimes I struggle with the r’s. Sometimes I feel inadequate for having a crappy level of Spanish when speaking to natives but anyway, I try not to be negative about it. But even I feel like an imposter sometimes lol, but Spanish is a big interest of mine so I keep at it for my own benefit. I can’t change the fact that I didn’t grow up speaking the language, so I should be proud of where I am now
That's exactly what happened to me! Born into a family with Spanish speaking parents, but I never learned the language as a child. I went through a good portion of my life feeling ANGRY, like the language "should have been mine"... but I finally let it go and now I realize the circumstances that surrounded my childhood, and I understand why the language wasn't passed on. These things can get really complex. But in my case... my mom was already a proficient English speaker, so she spoke to us in English because it came naturally to her. I was the 5th of 7 kids, so all my older siblings already spoke English because of immersion at school. So, their English had a big impact on me. And my dad was a Spanish speaker but Spanish wasn't his first language... it was his THIRD language. His Spanish wasn't as good as his English. Anyhow, all of this meant that we became and English speaking household by the time I came on the scene. I didn't understand this when I was younger. I understand it now, so I don't blame anyone. I learned Spanish and re-claimed that part of my culture/family/history. However, my story will never be "I learned Spanish because I grew up with it."... and that's OK :D
This is the first video of yours I've ever watched and I like it a lot. I'm Scottish so English is my native language but I am a fairly advanced Spanish speaker. I recognise the trap of chasing perfection so this video was very insightful for me. My wife and kids live in Spain and I have a wonderful teacher who is from near the area where my family live. Slowly but surely she's helping me iron out all the wrinkles.
You need to move to Argentina! Here people are amazing and all of them help you improve the best accent in spanish!
Ok... I speak Portuguese, English, and Spanish fluently. I'm able to communicate well enough in French and Haitian Creole. I never thought it sounded like a native person. The biggest goal is to communicate, period. I think a foreign accent has a kind of charming ❤❤❤❤
Definitely, your accent in Spanish is very good, if you travel to a country only the Spanish is massive it will be very interesting to you! ❤ Something hard to Americans in Spanish is the tendency to use vocal fry and the sound of the r. Besides that, everyone has particularly ways to learn. ❤
Totally! Everyone loves that person who speaks with a strong foreign accent. Think of those you know. It makes them seem very genuine, they are not pretending to be who they are not. And if their grammar and vocabulary are good, that's even better. That will really impress them, not that one should be concerned with wanting to do that
Thank you so much for sharing your story! The same thing happened to my English as I was learning it throughout the years. When I was a teenager, I wanted to sound American so bad. If a native speaker noticed that I was not, in fact, from the United States, I felt defeated, sad, embarrassed, and disappointed in myself. Realizing now that my journey is unique, my identity is mine to create and cherish is such a liberating feeling. I feel free to express myself however I want to.
It's such an amazing feeling, right!? Sometimes I wish someone could have told me all of this YEARS ago... but I also know myself and my stubbornness and my perfectionism and I probably would have ignored their advice and had to learn the hard way anyway haha. Oh well. At least I arrived! :D
It’s always interesting listening to you talking about language learning matters, not only for your useful tips and considerations, but also for your extremely clear and pleasant way of speaking, thanks to which I barely miss a single word.
As an English learner, I think that having the goal of speaking like a native is good not to achieve it thoroughly, but to keep alive the motivation to improve a little bit every day. After all, if we have a real passion for the language we are learning, it’s totally normal that we want to reach a high level of proficiency, so that the listener doesn’t need to put too much of an effort to understand us. So, perfection is definitely not the real goal, but consistent improvement is (and eventually reaching a high level).
I gotta say I'm proud of my self, i quite understood what you talked about, I'm a Spanish native speaker, thanks a bunch for being part of this exciting moment 🙏🏼
Stefanie, thank you so so so much 🙏 I'm so grateful to you because I was struggling for this anxiety for years. It was terrible because I didn't even realise that I have this fear of speaking and making mistakes. Your video literally made me cry from this huge insight of mine. Thank you so much again 😊💗
I felt the same, but some day I changed my mind. Making mistakes is ok and I try to speak without fear.
I love watching your videos cuz I can understand until 80% of what you're saying,even without subtitles. And that is a proof that I'm getting better day by day. Thank you so much coach. Love you everywhere, everytime 🤗. Be blessed🙏
That's very good. If I was at intermediate level of English, I think some of her speech is a bit fast and unclear. I can hear that she's trying to keep it slow and clear. (Sorry to the creator, I also speed up at times. No shade.)
Im American. She sounds native but she speaks a bit too fast for my comfort. Being understood is more important than being fast.
@user-ov4wr5yu4r she's not trying keep it slow. I'm American. Shes should slow down.
The Argentina tie spoke to me - native English speaker, but been trying to become proficient in Spanish. The elderly couple who effectively took me in as their grandchild when I was 19 (and both passed away about 3 and 4 years ago, respectively) were from Argentina
I felt like I had to learn in an Argentinian accent, but found myself gravitating to the sing-songy nature of many Colombian accents. I decided it wasn’t dishonoring my “grandparents” legacy by adopting accents that aren’t Argentinian
@@notapersonbutachaosgoblin this is exactly what finding your voice is all about ❤️
Happy new year ;) When I hear you speak, I realize your accent is exactly the one I try to replicate and tend to achieve. I did not decide that : it is just the most familiar accent to me, also I understand every single word you say very easily. The thing is : it is not the one I prefer. I don't know why, I wish I could sound like martial artist Scott Adkins... there's very beautiful sounds in it, but it's really hard for me to grasp evreything he says ; so I guess I never will.
Thank you for this video, you said a bunch of things I never quite realized before. I studied English at University and speaking correctly has been one of the great purposes in my life.
Good points. The main thing to keep in mind is that a "native accent" is like striving for perfection. I think a good accent is important, but past that is personal desire and/or interest.
I really needed to hear this. It forced me to stop and ask myself the answers to some of the reasons I am so focused on my accent.
I work in a contact center and getting a “neutral” accent is an advantage. Those who have a near-native accent tend to have higher CSAT scores (yeah). But one thing that trips someone who has English as a second language is vocabulary - you tend to have a wider vocabulary but do not have a good sense of what words will be considered archaic or non-conventional/ conversational. And this will also readily mark you as a non-native speaker.
Thank you for the video! I cannot express how much I needed this to be brought to my attention. Appreciate it greatly!
Thanks for this very interesting video! Wanting to sound like a native speaker is a very ambitious goal and can be a real problem indeed. Some people just want to be understood and they see the language simply as a tool to communicate with others. They don't care about their accent and don't want to spend time or money to get rid of it. That's perfectly fine. But some people want to sound like a native speaker (or perhaps they even have to). It's really hard to get there, and in this case you have to learn to accept that others might still recognise you as a non-native speaker despite all your efforts. You have to learn that it's NOT a problem and that you can still do it. (I know it’s extremely difficult!) Language learning is always about frustration, but you can overcome these moments, whether it’s related to the accent, vocab, grammar, fluency, etc.
Hi Steph
Great I am an English teacher but I can speak some Spanish,I picked my Spanish from soccer teams that camp in my city Taif , Saudi Arabia I used to attend thier training sessions and contact with some players who were from Spanish-speaking countries
This video really resonated with me. Your points about the downsides of focusing too much on sounding like a native speaker are so important and eye-opening. It’s a powerful reminder to embrace the process of language learning as a journey, not a destination. Hopefully, more people will adopt this mindset and free themselves to enjoy learning and speaking foreign languages without the pressure of achieving some unrealistic ideal. It would be wonderful to hear more of your thoughts on this and related topics in the future. In particular, I’d love to hear your opinion about non-native English speakers teaching English. In my own experience, some of these non-native teachers can be excellent teachers who have put a lot of effort on their own professional development, but I feel that there is still a lot of discrimination in this area, not only from other professionals but sadly from many learners too.
Thank you for sharing these insights.☺
Thanks for your feedback! The topic of non-native teachers is an excellent one and I definitely have plenty of ideas I could share about it. But, in a nutshell, I think there is room for everyone when it comes to teaching and we shouldn't discriminate against any teacher solely on the basis of whether or not they are native.
However, I will say that I had some non-native Spanish teachers in high school and college, and it always frustrated me when they spoke Spanish as if they were speaking English... like they didn't even TRY to make their pronunciation sound more natural.
Students really want immersive language learning experiences and they want to be in touch with the language on a cultural level, not just to learn grammar and vocab... and that's why sometimes they seek teachers who are native speakers.
Anyhow, there is SO MUCH we could dig into here... and ultimately each person has to figure out how to navigate this situation according to their own desires and goals.
The most important thing is... if you feel like the cards are stacked against you, like if you are an English teacher who is a non-native English speaker, figure out the unique value you bring to your students and learn how to SELL that. There are ALL kinds of teachers who are successful, regardless of their background. It's all about knowing what YOU bring to the table and getting people to see the value in YOUR skills and experience.
For example... I have an ESL channel with 1 million subs and I have helped THOUSANDS of students in our private programs that I designed and built from the ground up... but I never did any kind of certification program for teaching English.
Don't focus on what you DON'T have. Focus on what you DO have and what you are capable of.
These are just a few of my ideas on this topic :D
I'm coming from the Accent freedom course which you've made a couple of years ago, I'm here to say thanks from all my heart stefanie for all your efforts, i wish you all success and happiness in your life💛
What course is this?
So glad you enjoyed the course!!
@@patrickdias4092 This one englishfulltime.com/waitlist-accent-freedom
This is so much more important than speech - but it's a fantastic option. This is a fundamental, foundational, core level human issue and I'm extremely happy it's being discussed.
You can improve yourself however you see fit; you cannot make yourself something you're not. Accepting that some things cannot be altered, and that's not a bad thing, is paramount.
I don’t have any natural talent in terms of language… it’s taken me so long for me to get any good at Spanish. Now I do want to speak Spanish at the level of a native speaker, but not to fool people into thinking I’m a native, but rather I wanted to have the vocabulary to keep up in conversation as well as a native and not commit so many noticeable “learner’s mistakes” of course, everyone will commit those mistakes when they first start so it’s maybe it’s not a good goal to have at the start. In any case, I’m going to keep the advice this video has in mind to make sure I’m keep learning languages fun and exciting because it’s easy to lose motivation when it feels like obligatory work rather than something one wants. Since there are so many different accents, I should remind myself to find my own voice in Spanish rather than force myself to sound like whatever Mexican accent I’m hearing at the time when learning Spanish.
This kinda snap me out of it omg. I used to have a "better" english pronunciation and after I picked up so many languages, it's gone. I wanted it back but I realized that my current accent just makes me me and a part of who I am
2:30 that's exactly what happened to me a few years ago, I was so perfectionist that I would overthink and feel bad about it, I was trying to reach a higher level that was not going according to my situation I was still a noobie but I put in the work and got better at it, it's just a matter of persistency, patience and constant learning
Wow. You really summed up my experience as a Kazakhstani immigrant who moved to the US as a teenager. Thank you so much for sharing this. ❤
Immigrating as a teenage must have been so hard! It's such a sensitive time in life where you are already trying to "figure out who you are"... and now you have to do it in a completely new culture and language. Talk about life hitting you with a ton of bricks! Anyhow, hopefully you have completely found your voice by now and are enjoying your freedom in English :D
Best english teacher in the world 🌎🌍🌍 really ma'am 🙏
this video opened my eyes, just realized i am doing the same thing you’re pointing out. im going to work on changing that from now on. Thank you for sharing your experience Stephanie 🙏
You are so welcome! I'm excited for you... English will NEVER be the same once you turn away from the things I talk about in this video. It's gonna be awesome!!
Hi Stephanie! Im Russian and also wanted to sound like a native English speaker. I started 13 years ago, got to the level where I’m being constantly mistaken for an American and for the last 6 years been coaching Russian speakers to speak in an American accent.
For some reason I’ve been only reaping the benefits of my striving to sound as native as possible and am enjoying it still 🤷♂️
Btw we once spoke on IG when you were doing a live stream 😃
It’s awesome that you never went through the “dark side” as many of us have. There are many benefits as long as you don’t struggle with the mindset stuff
It must be awful to try and speak English like a native, then be mistaken for an American.
@ you must’ve greatly misspelled the word ‘awesome’ 😃
Same here! Being native Hungarian I have been enjoying so much that I have taught myself (with looooots of practice) to speak and sound like natives both in English and Italian. I also love switching between different accents and have never stopped enjoying the never ending learning process. I just do it for myself, it is kind of a hobby for me. Great to know I am not the only "accent freak" out here 😅 Keep on enjoying your skillls! All the best, Barbara 🤸♀️
@ szia, Barbara! Azta! Orulok en is, hogy nem egyedul vagyok! Egyebkent, pont magyarul is tanultam sok ev elott 😆 Az akcentusom szerintem nem annyira jo, de meg elmkekszem valamit 😆 van egy MAGYAR VLOG a csotarnamon ahol beszelek haha.
The best advantage of taking care of pronunciation is that it educates our own ears, allowing them to take in the river of sounds of a foreign country. And the simplest way to disarm the dark side is to talk slowly, carefully and politely. Doing so elicits a genuine and well-earned respect for having made the effort to connect with others in their language. Alone I practice at speed, but out and about…Foreigners talk slowly 😉.
Has tenido la capacidad de expresar en palabras todos o al menos en gran parte los sentimienyos miedos preocupaciones que he sentido al estudiar idiomas.
Gracias muchas gracias no se lo habia escuchado a nadie.
Es de muchisima utilidad para quien desea aprender una nueva lengua.
In my opinion, you nailed your explanation. I felt many emotions you mention.
As a man who wants to get American accent, this content means a lot to me 👍 Thx 😊🙋♂️
@@clandestinoclandestino5093 you are welcome!!
😊🙏@@TheEnglishCoach
You can't have an American accent because there is no such thing. Americans have different accents based on the region they live in. There's no one American way of speaking aside from English
@@WeRNthisToGetHer but there's such a thing as "general american" and it's probably the thing they meant
@@WeRNthisToGetHersame as “The British Accent” Britain is made up of 4 countries lol
I totally agree with you. I used to want to speak like a native speaker, for pronunciation, words choice and the way native speakers talk. But it just made me stressed for a while. Then I gave up 😂 but it actually makes me feel more confident when I'm talking, yeah, I'm a foreigner and my level is good enough to communicate and express myself.
Your English is amazing. You almost sound like a native speaker.
Are you joking?? Lol
Say what? 😑
I wonder if she’ll take it as a compliment
😅
😂
I learned Spanish as an LDS missionary which was basically a short two month training and I was put into the middle of Guatemala. It was difficult to overcome the fear of sounding stupid but that went away after about a month. After about eight months in a new missionary companion chided me about how horrible my accent sounded. He agreed to work with me on it daily, as we were together 24/7. I read out loud in Spanish for a half an hour each morning and he corrected my pronunciation. During the day as we walked, he helped me understand the tenses and rid myself of a lot of bad habits carried over from speaking English. About sixteen months in, I was speaking to people on the phone and upon meeting them in person they laughed and revealed that they had thought I was a native speaker based on our phone conversations. Learning a language from books can be helpful, but speaking it daily and focusing on how the locals speak can really make a difference in conversational speaking. Over coming that initial fear of sounding stupid and being open to constructive criticism about your pronunciation is the key.
Totally agree with everything you mentioned at the end. And, from what I've seen, the LDS missionary organizations have some of the most effective language learning/teaching techniques. Full on immersion is SO POWERFUL. People often think the human brain can't learn languages well through immersion after childhood, but LDS missionaries who have done trips abroad have convinced me that this is not the case. You guys reach amazing fluency and native-like accents in just a couple years. It's pretty phenomenal.
Thanks for this video, Stephanie. It was really helpful. You set me free.
@@fernandocardoso8959 woo hoo!!! Glad to hear that!
Let me share a story with you. I have a cousin who's been living in North Carolina since 2011. Her kids are born in the USA, which makes them native English speakers. Recently they came to visit us and I was ashamed of talking to them in English. I was a afraid of making mistakes and embarrassed about not understanding something they say. So I missed this opportunity to talk to native speakers just because of this desire to sound like a native. Now I realize how silly I was!
@@fernandocardoso8959 it's OK because now you will be prepared for your next conversation with them! Just let loose and have fun :D And realize that they might also feel a level of embarrassment/sadness if they don't speak your language as fluently as you do. That happens when kids have mixed cultures. Sometimes they feel like they aren't "native enough" to be like all the other native English speakers, but they also don't feel native in the language and culture of their families. That's exactly what happened to me...
Hola Stephanie. Soy Argentino como tus padres y me encantó el primer video en que te presentas. Pienso escuchar muchos videos tuyos, pues tienes una hermosa presencia y una calida expresion personal. Si bien nos criamos acá mayormente estudiando British English, tu tienes un acento muy agradable y claro. Cariños desde Buenos Aires.
one of the problem for english learners is that they dont live where english isn't being the first language, and they dont have a english speaking partner as well in real life, so here's a problem for me especially who lives in the asian country, anyhow a lot of english applications provided on the phone to practice english, but i think the best aspect on copying faster to be like a native is move to another country that's english really everyday spoken (first language)
Yes, moving to an English speaking country can help, but there are so many people that come here, live their whole lives here, and NEVER learn English. And then there are people who have NEVER set foot in an English speaking country, and their English is amazing! So I think it comes down to exposure and communication... and thanks to the internet you can get exposure and communicate online (even with video chats!) from the comfort of your own home. It's amazing!
Stefanie, thanks for sharing this video and your true experience when trying to sound like a native speaker. As an English teacher from Argentina I always tell my students that the secret to communicate well is not to sound like a perfect British ( sadly in Argentina, most language teachers still think British accent is better than American) but to speak accuratly and keep it as simple as they can. To be efective speakers, we don't really need to sound like natives. Keeping our accent is part of our identity. New subscriber! Regards from Argentina!🇦🇷😊❤
The British accent (of an educated English person) is the true accent for the English language, is it not? So, yes, it should have a certain cachet. Every language has an optimal regional pronunciation, although in this era of "non-judgementalism" that's not a fashionable thing to assert.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us!! I once "audited" an English class in Argentina... I got permission to sit in the class and observe how it went... and it was actually really sad because the students were SO SHY and no one wanted to speak up. Teachers have a big job when teaching English as a second language because it's not just about the grammar, vocab, and pronunciation... you also have to help the students build confidence... and that's basically the work of a psychologist haha. Anyhow, I'm sure you are doing an amazing job! Your students are lucky to have you!!
@@TheEnglishCoach The students were only shy of speaking in front of their fellow students, which is probably why trying to learn a language in a classroom is a terrible idea, and totally obsolete.
There's no need nowadays with RUclips, all one needs to do is immerse oneself in videos spoken in that language, about topics which interest one, from wood-working to geopolitics. Avoid the "foreign language videos" unless you want to proceed at a snail's pace. Total immersion is the best method.
After about a month one can understand every word, and the more one listens the more one builds vocabulary and grammar. Switching on subtitles in the same language is useful as one learns quickly to read in that language too, and how the written words are pronounced.
Then there is the YT comments section to pore over, reading in that language arguments which interest one. Not always perfectly written, but when one can spot the illiterate comments one is really progressing.
😮You are absolutely correct! I'm a 75-year-old Brazilian, and I've been teaching English for 44 years. I just hate it when I see most Americans saying: "Speak like a native!" I've already commented on their videos, and pretending not to understand what they said, I would reply: "Like an Indian?!" Besides, your American accent is really loving! I could spend a long time listening to you! Please go on spreading this true information: we must have one personality. Mine is Brazilian and I'm not embarrassed to show a little Brasilian Portuguese accent when I speak English, and I have never had any trouble with that when I teach English, although I'm not a "native"!
There's no such thing as an American accent. There are various accents that change depending on the region you are in.
I was the same as i was learning german,your video brought all the memories back to my mind:the anxiety and the frustration after getting caught,i felt so horrible....now i am learning English but i don't want to feel so bad on my learning journey i don't aim for that anymore. Greetings from Slovakia
Far more important than "native accent" in English are linguistic characteristics such as elision, reduction, resyllabification and intonation. Accent itself, once you have basic consistency and comprehensibility, is just not that important for communication. It's more about group identity (ie tribalism).
Yes and those things you mentioned improve fluency! Accent truly is irrelevant
I was once in the Northeast of Brazil; a female friend and I, and two Portuguese lasses; and we were able to communicate perfectly. Their mates arrived, two Portuguese men; we immediately stopped understanding whatever they were saying. I'll never forget this experience; it's supposed to be the same language, For Crying Out Loud!
It reminds me of the old joke - he speaks a perfect accent without a trace of English.
I’m French and my English is near native. My ENGLISH is near native, and my accent is what it is. I keep bumping into people (often Germans or Scandinavians) who think they’re bilingual bc they sound American - but their English is mediocre at best. They can’t read Dickens, they can’t express complex thoughts without tripping up, they don’t know enough idioms; they have no technical vocab or only in their field, they only master one speech register, and so on.
Plus French accents are sexy as hell!
There are so many different criteria for deciding whether someone has a good level of English or not. For example if you have an American accent and use loads of idioms it might sound good but if you can't make or even understand jokes then I wouldn't consider as good as someone who has mastered humour but has a strong accent.
I’m your mirror image. I’m a native speaker of English but speak near native French. I even teach Semiology in French and I see the students sometimes smirk at my pronunciation, then I get to correct their spelling or explain French vocabulary to them 😂
I do struggle sometimes with the idea that my accent, quite good but definitely not native, makes me appear less competent, at the same time I feel fake and exhausted when I put all my focus on speaking like I am a native French speaker.
@@jdprettynails mine is, devastatingly.
@@MrLaulaulaulau oh no….the French accent powers are too strong?? I struggle with this as a British person. Americans flock to me 😅
I needed this video. I always worry about making mistakes and my need to sound like a native speaker stems from the desire to not make mistakes anymore. I realize that this is a thought that is hurtful to my progress. At the moment, I try to let go. Because my biggest wish is to talk freely and carefree (in terms of mistakes). I improved so much in the past 3-5 years and I am very proud. Thank you for sharing your stories to help others. (Your voice is very soothing, listening to you while writing an e-mail was so relaxing.)
In my opinion, the longer you immerse yourself in the environment of native speakers, the more you become like them yourself, and that's a good thing. Sooner or later, everyone will find their own style of speaking, the way to sound authentic, original.
Yes 💯💯 I agree with you that's happened with me
I agree. First and foremost, one should feel comfortable with one’s own accent as long as it is intelligible though achieving a native English accent would be a great achievement.
Yes, sometimes TIME solves everything :D
I just want to speak English in a way that is good enough to be understood.
Thanks for all your advice.
Me too ✋️
What I sincerely mention is that going to be your honesty. I see myself inside of you and your unique videos not only help us to learn English but also truly understand pure pretty of communicating. Thank you for being honest with us.
I have the same talent as you do. I'm a cuban 18 y/o, still living in cuba, but I've had the opportunity to share with a whole variety of native speakers, people who were born in different parts of the country. I'm still going through the process of realizing the same thing you came up to. I actually overthink it a lot when speaking to others in English, like the exact same situation. Maybe one day I'll be free of it 😂. Thanks for the video, very inspiring. God bless you
this is so helpful to me. Why do i shame myself for all the things that i respect and admire so much in others that it was actually those very things that INSPIRED me to LEARN another language in the first place?!! Thank you for helping me to think differently.
Yesssss!! Well said!
Wow...this is an eye-opening message!! Thank you!
This is such a healing message. Fortunately i already found out on my own, but im sure many people will benefit from hearing this.
I was the girl in highschool English (ESL) class who was always watching English content online and bringing weird sounds into class like the glottal stop. Not necessarily because i was trying so hard, but because I'm a total accent sponge. As I grew older and English became a necessity for communication rather than a hobby, i started to let it flow whichever way and i like my accent no matter what. Okay, thats a lie, sometimes i watch too many US shows and have to switch to a British one to fix my accent. But as long as the people around me understand what im saying, everything's fine
Thank you for sharing this video! Since I started interacting with people in English, which is my 2nd language, I realized that I had no idea what I wanted to talk about with others. Yes learning a language is an amazing job but what's the purpose of that is to express my authentic thinking using the same language in a conversation without a translator. In my case, if I know new vocabulary or expressions, I can expand my thinking by those things! It is also a fun fact of learning a language.
Lots of great ideas here. I get rather tongue-tied in my native English, so my acquired language expectations have always been low. Probably too low to make reasonable progress. With my traveling days mostly behind me, I haven't had to worry about not sounding local, and I'm a reader/listener more than a talker anyway. If my meager language skills ever do find an outlet it will probably be in making more welcome those that don't 'sound local'.
I found really hard at the beggining trying to sound as much as possible like a Native. After some years of practice I had realized that it wasn`t my goal anymore that I was aiming to the wrong direction. I totally agree with you in a way that we should enjoy our journey and even if we don`t know a word or expression we might have consider to ask and be vulnerable to know the meaning of unknown words.
One shift that came for me on this topic was when I was studying Italian. I was at a C1 level, studying at a school in Rome. I had already achieved all my goals for learning italian when I started out, and beyond, I was perfectly fluent in all the situations that I could have desired for, everything I wanted to talk about, I could talk about.
But the perfectionist in me said "There are still things I don't understand" so I was considering taking even more classes, and reach for a C2 level, even if I had absoluetely no need either in my private or professional life to reach such a level. I ended up being satisfied with the level I had reach.
It was a few years later that it hit me. First, why did I want to reach that level? Because I had just been blinded by the thought that "the best is the best". But it is not. The money I time I spend on learning italian is time and money that I don't spend learning other languages, or doing other things. My resources are valuable, and I should spend them wisely on things that matter to me, not to reach some riddiculous standard.
Second point, and probably the most important one. Why should I be ashamed of speaking with a forreign accent in a forreign language? Why is it so important to come out as an italian when in reality I come from Sweden? I was so obsessed with cultural immersion, with learning about italian culture and perfecting the italian language, and everything else, but at the end of the day, why would it be important to fool an italian that I was an italian? You are in a sense downplaying your own culture and putting the other culture on a piedistal. Besides, it's not like there are many italians who speak perfect swedish themselves, or try to make themselves pass of as swedes, why should I pretend to be italian then?
OMG YESSSSSSS I couldn't agree more and totally get everything you are saying. And too be honest, sometimes even I get this idea that I should "work on my Spanish" because it can improve... and while, yes, it can absolutely improve, the reality is I have the level I need for the life I live. I would have to TRULY be passionate about the language in order to pursue increasing my level... and I just don't FEEL like working on it haha. I have so many other EXCITING things going on in my life right now. This doesn't mean I won't ever work on it... it just means right now I'm not interested and I have other things going on, so improving my Spanish will take a back seat until it either becomes necessary or something I deeply desire. Right now I like the idea of having better Spanish, but I'm not willing to put in the work because that would mean sacrificing something else I'm currently dedicated to. And accepting this and being OK with it is so liberating :D
During my trip to Japan I really felt how english was just a tool of comminication. I'm not native english speaker, japanese are not native speakers, both of you don't mind how wrong your pronounce is while you still can somehow understand what the other one wants to say. That was fun and make me feel comfort :3
It's so liberating to experience communication that way, right? 🥰
Hello teacher, I really appreciate it! With love from Uzbekistan! 🇺🇿🫶🏻
I had the same problem with learning English. I understand what you are talking about.
Te entiendo perfectamente lo que estás contando. Me pasó lo mismo con inglés. Aprendí inglés en Irlanda. Cuando dejo que la ansiedad me controle mi inglés is crap. Pero si yo no dejo que interfiera y estoy más relajada y estoy disfrutando. Todo sale mejor. Estoy totalmente de acuerdo con los sentimientos que levanta. Y lo importante que es ser uno mismo. Me ha encantado y te agradezco que lo hayas mencionado. Un fuerte abrazo desde Madrid
Muchas gracias por leerme. :-)
Thank you so, so much for this video! Everything you said resonated with me. I'm also fluent in Spanish and lately have been become kind of obsessed with sounding like a Mexican. My boyfriend is from Mexico and I've also been there several times. I TOTALLY feel the thing you said about anxiety and how it even sometimes makes your language ability worse. One time for example my boyfriend and I went to buy some vegetables (just like you haha) in his barrio and my boyfriend was looking for a parking lot for the car. He asked me to already get out of the car so that I could already go to the small shop and buy the vegetables we needed. When I entered the shop, I again had the high expectation of myself that no one should notice that I wasn't a native speaker. We already had been to the shop before and the shop owner recognized me and said hello in a very friendly tone to me and "Como ha estado?" and I somehow didn't really understand him in that very moment (even though retrospectively) because I only felt this high pressure of "performing" well 😅 And instead, I only said "Buenos dias, también tiene champiñones?". I think due to my anxiety I even added unintentionally an "s" to the "tiene", so I basically said "tienes" which could be interpreted as disrespectful, as you surely know. So I kind of ruined this little moment which could have become a cool conversation with this friendly shop owner. I just hope that he didn't consider it disrespectful. 😔
Another thing that I realized is that my expectation to sound like a native kind of also disturbs the connection I have with my boyfriend. We only communicate in Spanish and I realized that I really should stop caring if I'm pronuncing things perfectly in mexican Spanish when I'm with him as it totally doesn't matter and what actually matters is that we can communicate well and create a connection and express ourselves AUTHENTICALLY.
So again, thank you for this video. Next time when I feel this pressure, I'll remind myself of the valuable things you said here. :)
You are so welcome!!! I’ve been in situations like what you described probably hundreds of times 😩 so I get it. And the freedom you feel when you let it go is amazing…. Literally like a caterpillar turning into a butterfly 🤣 you got this!
@@TheEnglishCoach Thank you so much 🥰
One of my favourite things about speaking to my French friends is hearing their sexy accents and the adorable French-isms working their way into English.
My favourite thing about learning French is having those “aha!” moments where I realised “that’s why they phrased it that way”. It’s so much fun discovering and comparing the weird quirks or each of our languages.
This is insanely useful! gracias por compartir ❤
I listen to english every day. You are awesome!
Thanks!
I needed to listen for real a pro advise about this topic. I am a native spanish speaker that wanted to pass as a native english speaker when it came about pronunciation or accent, but I was totally wrong.
Thanks for uploading helpful content and new sub for the channel. ❤
So glad you found this helpful! ❤️
Thank you so much for sharing! I didn’t know I needed this so much! Blessings! 💛
Você é um professora de alto nível boa aula
Wow thank you so much!!!!! Currenrtly I am learning spanish, improving my greek and english I dont wanna fall in this trap constantly trying to sound like natives. I remember when I was trying to sound like them and coudn't it made me feel bad and dissapointed speccially when I coudn't understand them sometimes😂 Thank you, it was really helpfull for me 🫶 I will focus on that to speak more clearly and understandable to gain solid vocabulary and to enjoy it 😊
Hi Stefanie and thank you for this video. I needed to hear it. I'm from Russia, and in our language learning tradition (especially in linguistic universities) you MUST sound as close to a native as possible. If you don't, you are a considered to be a bad (english/french/german etc) speaker. I think it's quite difficult to find a balance between respecting the existing rules and features of the language you learn and being yourself...
Thank you for this!
As a German who lives in the UK for the better part of each year I see your point, and your video really makes me think about my attitude towards my own accent and that feeling of "failure" when being "caught out" rather than being satisfied because people say they love my accent and admire my fluency in a language that isn't my first language.
Your video also encourages me to look into my Spanish more - Spanish being my third language after German and English.
And last but not least I'm on my way to speak more than three languages as I have a daily practice of acquiring ever more bits and bobs of many other languages. It's an interesting hobby which I'm enjoying greatly, and I'm thrilled to see how far I can get.
I'm so glad my video resonated with you! I think the best part of all this is once you allow yourself the freedom to just ENJOY the process without being a perfectionist about it... everything gets so much easier and so much more fun. You still learn and improve, but you go much faster because you aren't being blocked by any kind of anxiety. Anyhow, I wish you all the best in your language studies! It's an amazing journey :D
I’m British and I have a German friend. We became friends when she just started learning English. I would help her all the time with grammar, spelling or pronunciation. I love the way she spoke English with her German accent.
We fell out of touch for about a year then reconnected. I didn’t recognise her voice at first. She sounds completely like a native American speaker now and I don’t know why…but it made me a little sad.
Stephanie, I'm so excited when I'm watching your video, good work keep it up.
Thank you for this introspection full of usefull thoughts. I learned some new aspects to myself learning languages.
True. Russian is hard enough to learn as a native English speaker and I've been letting people's comments on my accent be too much of a marker of my proficiency. It just makes it harder to actually speak more fluently and articulate when worrying about mimicing a native speaker. I'll keep all that in mind, thanks!
Trying to be a native speaker changed my personality drastically so that I bacame introverted basically always thinking what I was going to say and never listening to other person, while I'm naturally an extravert. I put all my focus on me and how I sound, I became obsessed. Not to mention, I went to a high school at this time which meant not being great at the language made me into an outsider among my peers. I developed anxiety and of course, people commenting on my accent made my anxiety even worse.
I came to the States in my 30s having grown up in both the Philippines and Okinawa. I am 65 yo now. My accent in English sometimes comes out but most of the times, people think I grew up in the States. I like pronouncing words the right way but if I make mistakes, it doesn’t bother me bc it’s a part of my identity. I will continue learning English for the rest of my life.
As for my Japanese, people think I have a weird accent bc they couldn’t figure out where I came from. I pronounce words the right way but my intonation is a jumble of Okinawan and Mainland Japan. I don’t mind it either bc it’s the sum total of who I am. I will continue learning languages bc it’s fun and nobody can take that away fr me.
Thank you for creating this video.
It's great that you own your unique way of speaking. 😄
Dear Madam Teacher,thank you so incredibly much for your amazing job and great effort during this year! Warm greetings from the Central Europe.For example - I think (my humble opinion),that for me (my native language is slavic : Czech) is little bit a more better AmE than BrE. Have a nice,peaceful,beautiful time! I wish you,your family,your friends - Merry Christmas! Take care.
Ahoj, jak se mate? Ja jsem anglican!
@@michaelmckelvey5122 Not bad,thanks a lot for your interest, I appreciate that. Have a nice day.
Stefanie, it’s such an important insight💡 I totally share all your thoughts. Thank you so much for the video🙏🏼
@theenglishcoach this is what I needed to hear!! I don’t know how you just jumped into my head but this is how I’ve felt forever! The imposter syndrome is so real!
Because I’ve been there ❤️
Many expressions in American Spanish varieties wouldn't be understood in Spain and vice versa depending on who you end up talking with. I also wanted to look like a native (Spaniard learning English) but your video has make me rethink that goal. Thank you! ☺️
I’m an English speaking Canadian who teaches French and Spanish in public school in the US. I am not fluent in Spanish (a second certification) but am constantly consuming content in Spanish to improve my speaking skills. My accent is better than my vocabulary and I would like to be able to say the opposite one day soon. Always a student - even after two decades of teaching.
It just comes to me naturally, I don't even mean to do it. I did get a comment from a cuban coworker who said she noticed I spoke with the accent a little bit. She didn't speak much English, but I enjoy learning new things so I guess I subconsciously tried to learn. It's definitely far from perfect, and it doesn't bother me. I didn't realize people were struggling with these thoughts and being so hard on themselves.
I'm learning Spanish right now.. Focusing on Spanish from Mexico Colombia and Argentina... I don't have to sound like a native.. My goal is to understand the language first and then make my speaking so that they can understand me just sounding like myself 😅 thks for the video miss 🙌🏾✌🏾
This was a great video. In the past (and even now every once in a while) I’d worry about my accent when speaking Spanish. I was born to bilingual parents and grandparents who only spoke Spanish but after their deaths and then after moving to areas where Spanish wasn’t spoken as often as English, I began losing my ability to speak Spanish in my later teens and throughout my twenties. Fast forward to my thirties and now at 40 I married a Colombian woman so my accent is all over the place. Even my wife laughs sometimes when my “Mexican accent” comes out then suddenly shifts a bit to a rolo accent followed by maybe one of a few words that still come out with a slight English accent when I’m tired or not concentrating. I’ve even sometimes mixed in English words without noticing until I see my wife’s look of confusion.
My main thing now is improving my grammar in Spanish and being able to carry out very technical conversations related to my field without using English. That and as long as I don’t sound like an English speaker speaking Spanish haha. The mix of Spanish accents I no longer care about.
This is a whole other side to the conversation that I didn't even cover! But I know all about it because I've seen it in my family (eldest sister born in Argentina and Spanish was her first language, but she lost so much of it and now speaks with a super neutral accent) and I've watched friends go through it as well.... and it sucks cause you feel like your language skills should be better. But language is honestly a product of our environment... and when our environment gets dominated by a new language, so does our brain... and that's OK. So, we have to learn to be OK with an identity that's a mix of many things... we don't fit perfectly into any category, and that's OK. Once I started basing my identity on my character (which I can grow, change, and control) and NOT facts about my life like where I was born and what my native language is (which I can't change or control)... it became a whole lot easier to be and accept myself without feeling like I needed to change something I couldn't. Now, if I want to change something, like a bad habit... I absolutely can :D and the languages I speak are just circumstantial results of my life, nothing to be proud or ashamed of, but I CAN be proud of my hard work in learning new languages. This is kind of rambly, but I hope you get my points haha
My god, this video is just what i needed to hear. Thank you.
I wish I had watched this video years ago. I live since almost 5 years in Germany and I remember my first 2years with sadness I didnt talk openly just not to be looked or treated as the foreigner… Now I just dont care I am the coolest Spainier in town!! Haha xd. Such an interesting topic! Have a great year!
Love that confidence!! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
That is so true, Stef! If you happen to still remember how I sounded like back then (years ago when we hung out in Davis), that time I was taking a class on "accent reduction" to sound like Americans. I don't know if I did it or not back then, but what I know is after that, my English was a disaster because I got everything mixed up. To get through normal days I would sound like my self but when awareness kicked in (that I didn't exactly sound like an American) I got anxiety and everything was a mess. Fortunately I got through it already, it was years ago anyway. Now I sound like myself (not the same one like back then). Miss you girl!
@@helleneki6071 ahhhhh so nice to hear from you! Of course I remember you!! And I’m so glad you made it out to the other side and know exactly what I’m talking about haha. Hanging out with you in Davis was unforgettable!!!
@TheEnglishCoach having that experience back then, I think I'm just a native speaker of my own English and that's ok. Nobody cares anyway. Haha
I am mexican, spanish is my language, but I grew up reading and listening to english, but talking very little with actual people, so my english accent comes from old B&W movies my family used to watch 😀
What she says makes a lot of sense. The more progress you make in learning a language, the more you tend to stop trying harder and make further progress.
Furthermore, it must be said that when you set the bar too high you often forget that a native was born in their language and has been exposed to it all his life. This is something you can hardly replicate. Well, You could if you moved to a given country and lived there for, say, 20 years time. Yet, you need to factor in exposure, education, experiences, so on and so forth. The truth is you never cease to learn, no matter how hard you try. You can become really good at something, but yet you will never be perfect. Perfection is an idea that helps us keep focused on something and makes us want to push further ahead. You can get close to perfection, but achieving it is quite another thing!