A Bad accent makes you sound, look, smell, and feel like a jackass
In The Flow Series Courses, I teach foreign language songs syllable-by-syllable. After working through the song-training materials for a lyric, Flow students record themselves singing/rapping the lyric and submit it to my Soundcloud Dropbox for feedback on their pronunciation. Using Soundcloud's timed-comment feature, I then pinpoint each pronunciation error, explain what the error is, then provide step-by-step instructions for fixing it.
After providing feedback on over 1,000 submissions to students singing/rapping in Spanish, Portuguese, French and Mandarin, I have identified four errors that account for 80% of the accent Native-English speakers have when speaking other languages.
My arch nemesis - Dr. No-Flow - insists on speaking, singing and rapping foreign languages with a horrendous American accent. He recently attempted to jack my swag (as always) and do his own rendition of the Colombian rap song"Somos Pacifico" after watching my video of me rapping the same song.
As irritating as this man's tracks are, they do actually make for great Flow case studies. This track is rife with examples of all four of the errors that I cover in this post.
After providing feedback on over 1,000 submissions to students singing/rapping in Spanish, Portuguese, French and Mandarin, I have identified four errors that account for 80% of the accent Native-English speakers have when speaking other languages.
My arch nemesis - Dr. No-Flow - insists on speaking, singing and rapping foreign languages with a horrendous American accent. He recently attempted to jack my swag (as always) and do his own rendition of the Colombian rap song"Somos Pacifico" after watching my video of me rapping the same song.
As irritating as this man's tracks are, they do actually make for great Flow case studies. This track is rife with examples of all four of the errors that I cover in this post.
The four errors that so characterize Señor No-Flow's Flow (or lack thereof) can be traced back to four features of "The Flow of English" that are so ingrained in the speech organ motor memory of native-English speakers that most are completely oblivious to their existence.
As deeply ingrained as these habits are, however, they're not hard to fix; it's just a question of awareness. Develop a physical awareness of your errors, and you will eventually phase them out.
In this post, I will review these four errors and provide tips for developing your awareness of them so that you may avoid the fate of No-Flow.
As deeply ingrained as these habits are, however, they're not hard to fix; it's just a question of awareness. Develop a physical awareness of your errors, and you will eventually phase them out.
In this post, I will review these four errors and provide tips for developing your awareness of them so that you may avoid the fate of No-Flow.
There are three general types of pronunciation errors, differentiated by the cause of the error:
I bypass the first error in my courses by relying exclusively on phonetic notation to spell out the song lyric syllables. I address the second error in my courses by creating "Bootcamps" for building the muscle memory needed to articulate any sounds that are completely foreign to English. The third error is what we will address in this post.
To summarize, the four errors are as follows:
Let's look at each one in detail.
- The sound does NOT exist in your native-language, i.e. you lack the motor coordination to articulate the sound properly.
- The sound does exist in your native-language; you are just saying the wrong sound. This is very common for anyone who learns language through reading and writing, as I explain in my post about The Virtues of Illiteracy.
- The sound exists but the pronunciation is altered due to native-language interference.
I bypass the first error in my courses by relying exclusively on phonetic notation to spell out the song lyric syllables. I address the second error in my courses by creating "Bootcamps" for building the muscle memory needed to articulate any sounds that are completely foreign to English. The third error is what we will address in this post.
To summarize, the four errors are as follows:
- Rounding on the /u/ vowel
- Diphthongizing the /e/ and /o/ vowels
- Reducing vowels on unstressed syllables.
- R-coloring and L-coloring
Let's look at each one in detail.
Rounding the /u/ vowel
Rounding is when you purse your lips as if to whistle while pronouncing a vowel sound. Say the English word "few" in front of a mirror and notice how your lips curl in like in the photo below:
As slight as this difference may seem physically, rounding makes a significant acoustic difference. In English, we typically round our lips when a word ends with a /u/ sound, such as "who, two, knew, hue, chew, etc." Because we round so often, the tendency carries over to other languages and causes us to mispronounce words.
In the audio file below, I say the following, non-English words:
In the audio file below, I say the following, non-English words:
- tú - Spanish for "you"
- nous - French for "us"
- rua - Portuguese for "street"
- shu (书) - Mandarin for "book"
Now I will repeat these exact same words with a rounded pronunciation. Anyone who is familiar with any of these languages will instantly recognize this as an English-speaker accent
How to fix It
The first step is to build a physical awareness of vowel rounding. Say the words "few" and "knew" in front of a mirror and watch how your lips move. Now always remember this: your lips should be completely relaxed and motionless when saying the /u/ vowel.
Practice alternating between a rounded and unrounded /u/ as I do in the track below, and you will start to appreciate both the physical and acoustic difference between the two sounds.
Practice alternating between a rounded and unrounded /u/ as I do in the track below, and you will start to appreciate both the physical and acoustic difference between the two sounds.
Ingrain this difference deep in your brain so that the next time you feel your lips wanting to quiver on a Spanish or French /u/, you will stifle the urge and keep your lips completely inactive as they should be:
Diphthongizing the /e/ and /o/ vowels
To review a few phonetic concepts, a vowel sound (as opposed to a vowel script) is defined as a speech sounded created when you let voiced air flow out from your mouth (or mouth and nose) completely unobstructed.
The main thing that distinguishes one vowel sound from the next is the position of your tongue within your mouth. If you alternate between the sounds "oooo" and "aaahhh", you will notice that the only thing moving is your tongue, and perhaps the jaw as well to aid the tongue.
A Diphthong is when you transition quickly and smoothly from one vowel to the next. In other words, a diphthong is defined by tongue movement.
For whatever reason, we always move our tongues upwards in English when saying the /e/ vowel, as in the word "say!", and when saying the /o/ vowel, as in the word "no".
So even though we think of it as one vowel sound, we are actually making two sounds. To demonstrate this, I take the words "say" and "no" and look at them in slow motion. Follow along with the Soundcloud comments
The main thing that distinguishes one vowel sound from the next is the position of your tongue within your mouth. If you alternate between the sounds "oooo" and "aaahhh", you will notice that the only thing moving is your tongue, and perhaps the jaw as well to aid the tongue.
A Diphthong is when you transition quickly and smoothly from one vowel to the next. In other words, a diphthong is defined by tongue movement.
For whatever reason, we always move our tongues upwards in English when saying the /e/ vowel, as in the word "say!", and when saying the /o/ vowel, as in the word "no".
So even though we think of it as one vowel sound, we are actually making two sounds. To demonstrate this, I take the words "say" and "no" and look at them in slow motion. Follow along with the Soundcloud comments
In other languages, the /e/ and /o/ are not necessarily diphthongized. Listen to the following Spanish and French words and notice how you hear ONLY one vowel sound, i.e. it's NOT diphthongized:
- sais (French for "know")
- no (Spanish for "no")
How to fix it
The trick here is to build awareness of tongue movement. For the Spanish and French words above, the tongue remained absolutely still during the articulation of the vowel. In contrast, the English words involved extra tongue movement.
Alternate between diphthongized and single vowel word vowel pronunciations as I do in the audio below to develop an awareness of this tongue movement. Once you figure it out physically and acoustically, focus on not making this mistake when speaking your foreign language.
The trick here is to build awareness of tongue movement. For the Spanish and French words above, the tongue remained absolutely still during the articulation of the vowel. In contrast, the English words involved extra tongue movement.
Alternate between diphthongized and single vowel word vowel pronunciations as I do in the audio below to develop an awareness of this tongue movement. Once you figure it out physically and acoustically, focus on not making this mistake when speaking your foreign language.
Also, note how the /o/ not only diphthongizes but rounds at the end as well. This is because, when diphthongizing the /o/, we are approaching the /u/, which as explained above, we have a tendency to round.
Reducing Vowels in Unstressed Syllables
Speech (and music) can be broken down rhythmically into stressed and unstressed syllables. For example, if you say the word "America", the "me" syllable will be more stressed than the other three - a - ME - ri - ca.
Now alternate between the sounds "ah" and "uh" and notice how the "ah" just seems like more work. For "ah" you have to open your jaw and tongue, whereas for "uh," your tongue and jaw are already kind of there naturally when its in the rest position. Same deal with the "eee" sound and the short "i' sound in the word "bit". This "ih" vowel from "bit" is closer to the home base and thus takes less effort to say.
Now alternate between the sounds "ah" and "uh" and notice how the "ah" just seems like more work. For "ah" you have to open your jaw and tongue, whereas for "uh," your tongue and jaw are already kind of there naturally when its in the rest position. Same deal with the "eee" sound and the short "i' sound in the word "bit". This "ih" vowel from "bit" is closer to the home base and thus takes less effort to say.
In English, we have a tendency to go back to home base on unstressed syllables. Take the word "America" again, for example. What you're really saying is: uh - ME - rih - kuh. What would have otherwise been clear /a/ and /i/ vowels have been "reduced" to something easier.
It's cool being tongue-lazy in English, but that 'ish don't fly in other languages. This is a big problem for Native-English speakers learning Spanish. In Spanish, there are only five vowels, and these vowels are ALWAYS the exact same whether stressed or unstressed. Compare the difference between English "America" an Spanish "América".
It's cool being tongue-lazy in English, but that 'ish don't fly in other languages. This is a big problem for Native-English speakers learning Spanish. In Spanish, there are only five vowels, and these vowels are ALWAYS the exact same whether stressed or unstressed. Compare the difference between English "America" an Spanish "América".
Notice how the /a/ and /i/ in Spanish "América" are nice and clear, despite the word having the same stress pattern as it does in English.
How to Fix It
Know your vowels in your target language and focus on hitting them clearly ALL the time. It helps to exaggerate your pronunciation and enunciate as much as possible when starting off.
Because reducing is more comfortable, NOT reducing is actually going to be physically tiring at the beginning. Imagine having a conversation in which you must enunciate every single syllable with exaggerated mouth movements. After some time, your mouth will get fatigued because it's doing more movement than it's used to.
This is how it should always feel when starting off in a new language. Indeed, the reason I teach songs is so students can build the muscular strength and comfort faster by singing al the time.
Know your vowels in your target language and focus on hitting them clearly ALL the time. It helps to exaggerate your pronunciation and enunciate as much as possible when starting off.
Because reducing is more comfortable, NOT reducing is actually going to be physically tiring at the beginning. Imagine having a conversation in which you must enunciate every single syllable with exaggerated mouth movements. After some time, your mouth will get fatigued because it's doing more movement than it's used to.
This is how it should always feel when starting off in a new language. Indeed, the reason I teach songs is so students can build the muscular strength and comfort faster by singing al the time.
R-Coloring and L-Coloring
In North-American English, vowels are sometimes altered when followed by an "r" or "l". The alteration is caused by the scrunching up of the back of the tongue. Listen to it's effect on the following vowels:
- /a/ - "ma" "mar" and "mall"
- /e/ - "hey" "hair" and "hail"
- /i/ - "he", "hear" and "heal"
- /o/ - "no" "nor" and "knoll"
- /u/ - "too" "tour" and "tool"
This effect on the vowel is called "coloring," and with a few exceptions, coloring not exist in other languages, so color vowels in you target language and your foreignness will be painfully obvious to anyone listening.
How to Fix It
For the "r", you will typically do this when the other language has a different "rhotic" sound. If you are doing this, it's probably because you have yet to learn how to articulate the proper rhotic sound of that language.
Of course, the final solution is just to learn that language's "r" sound, but if you have yet to master the new sound, just drop the "r" all together in the meantime.
Compare the difference in sound when you simply abstain for r-coloring. In the audio files below, I first say the foreign language word, then an r-colored version, than a dropped r version. Notice how the dropped r version sounds infinitely less accented:
How to Fix It
For the "r", you will typically do this when the other language has a different "rhotic" sound. If you are doing this, it's probably because you have yet to learn how to articulate the proper rhotic sound of that language.
Of course, the final solution is just to learn that language's "r" sound, but if you have yet to master the new sound, just drop the "r" all together in the meantime.
Compare the difference in sound when you simply abstain for r-coloring. In the audio files below, I first say the foreign language word, then an r-colored version, than a dropped r version. Notice how the dropped r version sounds infinitely less accented:
- hablar (spanish for "speak")
- gostar (Portuguese for "gostar")
- pour (French for "by")
For L-coloring, be aware that there are two "l" sounds in English. There's the real /l/ sound, as in the word "love", which is created by placing the tip of your tongue against the point where your gums meet your teeth and letting air pass around the sides of your tongue.
Then there is this fake, coloring "l" that happens at the end of words, like in "ball" and "call". Notice how you can say "ball" and "call" without using the tip of your tongue at all.
This second /l/ doesn't exist in many other languages, whereas the first one - the /l/ - is very common. So whether it's at the beginning of a word or end, always make this, tongue against the teeth /l/ sound.
Then there is this fake, coloring "l" that happens at the end of words, like in "ball" and "call". Notice how you can say "ball" and "call" without using the tip of your tongue at all.
This second /l/ doesn't exist in many other languages, whereas the first one - the /l/ - is very common. So whether it's at the beginning of a word or end, always make this, tongue against the teeth /l/ sound.
Habit-Building
Now that you have a basic awareness of your biggest English-speaker tendencies, your next task is to build a habit of NOT committing them.
The only way to build habits is through lots of repetition, especially when you're talking about reversing a previous habit. In my Flow Series courses, you learn song lyrics with a perfect accent. Each time you sing any of the song lyrics you learn, you actively build the motor habits needed to speak your target language effortlessly.
If you already have a habit of singing songs all the time, you can easily get your reps in by adding these Flow songs to your repertoire. Then you can sing your way to an 80% improvement in your accent!
The only way to build habits is through lots of repetition, especially when you're talking about reversing a previous habit. In my Flow Series courses, you learn song lyrics with a perfect accent. Each time you sing any of the song lyrics you learn, you actively build the motor habits needed to speak your target language effortlessly.
If you already have a habit of singing songs all the time, you can easily get your reps in by adding these Flow songs to your repertoire. Then you can sing your way to an 80% improvement in your accent!
Extra Practice
I suspect that Senor No-Flow is going to be submitting a lot more garbage tracks to the "The Flow Forum", but it's an open space so I can't really do anything about it. All I can recommend is to focus on the positive aspects of Señor No Flow's whackness by using tracks for practice building your accent awareness.
Here's his "Somos Pacifico" track again. Listen close and see if you can pinpoint a few instances where he makes one of the errors mentioned above. Just click on the point in the waveform to make the comment. If you don't have an account, sign in with your facebook.
Here's his "Somos Pacifico" track again. Listen close and see if you can pinpoint a few instances where he makes one of the errors mentioned above. Just click on the point in the waveform to make the comment. If you don't have an account, sign in with your facebook.
These kind of activities are great for developing your hearing sensitivity, so make sure you check out The Flow Forum often to give feedback on your fellow language-learners.
You feelin' the flow? If so, I recommend do any (but preferably all) of the following:
Til' next time, Keep on Flowin'!
- Trying out a course in The Flow Series
- Submitting your language-learning sounds to "The Flow Forum" on Soundcloud.
- Liking The Mimic Method on Facebook.
- Following me on Twitter!
Til' next time, Keep on Flowin'!
