17 Apr Can I Lose My Accent?

Is it possible to lose your accent?

As a speech coach, this is one of the most common questions I’m asked. While it’s difficult to completely lose your accent, especially as an adult learner, it’s not impossible. Children’s brains and ears are more flexible. They listen to those around them and parrot what they hear over and over until they cement a unique accent. As humans age, speech patterns solidify. It becomes difficult to produce and hear sounds that are not in a native language. The good news is that the human brain is incredibly adaptable, even in adults.

How do you lose/change your accent?

The first step to lose your accent is to recognize the difference between your natural speech patterns and the target patterns. This can be difficult, but many people are able to independently pinpoint at least some sounds they’re mispronouncing. Having a professional assess your accent can help you better understand exactly what factors are contributing to your accent. Becoming  aware of your speech patterns may be the most important step in changing your accent. From there, it’s all about consistent, deliberate practice and reinforcement to train your ears, mouth, and brain to hear and produce sounds in a new way.

Six Factors for Accent Reduction Success

1. Age and Time Spent Learning the New Language

If you grew up in a bilingual household from birth, it’s likely that you sound mostly fluent in both languages. However, if you’re only exposed to the sounds of 1 language and start learning a new language later, it may be difficult to sound like a native speaker. The input you received before puberty, i.e. the “critical period”, determines how much more difficult it will be to acquire a new language fluently. It’s difficult, but not impossible.

2. Your “Ear”

Musicians and singers tend to do really well with accent training. Why? First, they’re used to rigorous practice. But also because they’ve trained their ears to discriminate between sounds and pitch. If you have this foundation, you can automatically identify the subtleties between sounds. This is not to say that you need to be a Mozart to change your speech.

3. How Often You are Speaking English

Many students admit that they are more comfortable writing emails than speaking on the phone. Language classes typically focus on the grammar and rule-systems, but don’t provide enough opportunity to practice speaking. Speech training is much like going to the gym: you need to put in the time and effort in to train the muscles.

4. Language Environment

If you live in NYC and work for a French-based investment firm where you speak French for 90% of the day, your spoken English will probably not improve by much. You can offset this is by broadening your language environment. Expose yourself to podcasts, audiobooks, movies, TV shows that feature that accent you are seeking to acquire. Attend events where you can easily interact with native English speakers. Even if you’re too shy to talk, take a baby step and immerse yourself in such an environment.

5. Individual Variation

Needless to say, we are all unique and have different skill sets. Just like when learning any new skill, there will always be individual variation and “talent.”

6. PRACTICE!

Learning a new song on the piano? Training for a marathon? You need to practice! Of all the factors, this seems to have the clearest correlation for my students. Those who put in the most hours of deliberate practice improve the most. It’s just that simple. Specific practice material (like that assigned by a coach) focused on target sounds is, in my experience, the most effective. After just a few weeks of deliberate practice, you should start to notice a change in your accent.