English

Spanish

French

Swahili

Arabic

German

Albanian

Georgian

Turkish

Yoruba

Igbo

Wolof

Chinese

Greek

Malayalam

Persian

Bengali

Amharic

Russian

Italian

Portuguese

Somali

Serbian

Twi

Macedonian

Tagalog

Lithuanian

Lao

Kannada

Croatian

Sanskrit

Egyptian Arabic

Danish

Hindi

Tamil

Armenian

Filipino

Burmese

Vietnamese

Kikuyu

Pashto

Korean

Nepali

Malay

Bosnian

Kurdish

Telugu

Sinhala

Thai

Polish

Hungarian

Indonesian

Zulu

Jamaican Creole English

Urdu

Shona

Cebuano

Romanian

Fiji Hindi

Bulgarian

Ukrainian

Punjabi

Southern Sotho

Gujarati

Afrikaans

Moroccan Arabic

Japanese

Krio

Kinyarwanda

Oriya

Judeo-Arabic

Serbo-Croatian

Turkmen

Algerian Arabic

Slovak

Azerbaijani

Slovenian

Marathi

Akan

  • Apply to Teach
  • Log in
  • Sign up
Get Started
  • Find a Tutor
  • Apply to Teach
  • Sign up
  • Log in
  • English
  • Danish
  • Spanish
  • German
  • Japanese
  • Portuguese
  • Arabic
  • Italian
  • Russian
  • Polish
  • About
  • Press
  • Contact us

How to Speak a Language Without an Accent

justlearnj
Justlearn
5/8/2020
2 minute read

It is indeed every language learner's dream, be it explicit or a secret one. Speaking a foreign language just as those native speakers do is considered the hardest step in the process of acquisition. As if grammar and vocabulary were not enough, now you are faced with intonation structures, phonetic symbols, diphthongs and so much more. After enormous efforts, it seems impossible. But that is not quite the case.

First of all, why is it so hard to achieve accent-free speech? The human ear is very sensitive to the tiniest differences in pronunciation, and a native speaker will immediately sniff out a foreign accent. Even though making out the accent is very easy, mimicking how a native speaks gets increasingly difficult with age. Children, in fact, have the remarkable ability to copy their parents' speech and that is why children with parents with different native languages turn into such perfect bilinguals. They lose this ability later, though, and struggle just as monolinguals when faced with the task of removing their foreign accent.

There are, of course, people with extraordinary mimicking abilities who copy speech with incredible ease even later in life. But we will not look at that, because they are the exception.

So how can you do it? What is your best bet in this seemingly impossible task? I will introduce you to my experience.

Listen to natives as much as possible. Train your ear to distinguish the different sounds, even the tiniest ones. Try to focus not on words, but on the sounds which form them. You may need to cover some theoretic phonetics at first. You will find many details which you never even paid attention to. 

Do not mix the accents you hear. In the case of English, focus on either American or British accent, as they have some very distinctive features. If you mix them, you might create a phonetic Frankenstein.

Do not shut up! Talk your heart out on your favorite topics, and find a native who will honestly and positively point you in the right direction.

In time, you will notice how your accent fades away. For many people, the best result is only a string of speech without an accent, but if you are determined, you can go further.

Do not hesitate to do it. It always impresses native speakers!

Find your tutor

Get Started

19 Most Common And Useful Chinese Idioms (You Can Actually Use)

Do you know what Chengyu means? Well, if you aren't a Chinese learner, you probably don't know.

justlearnj
Justlearn
2/26/2021
6 minute read

Top 10 Translation Apps for iPhone in 2021

Do you carry your iPhone wherever you go? Sure you do. Just like all of us.

justlearnj
Justlearn
2/26/2021
7 minute read

What Languages Are Spoken in Asia? Your Guide to Asian Languages

The Mysterious East and Orient: What Languages Are Spoken in Asia? There are more than 7.000 different languages across the globe. Around 2.

justlearnj
Justlearn
2/26/2021
8 minute read

German-Speaking Countries in Europe

There are over 6,000 languages spoken in the world today. Of these languages, the most widely spoken are English, Spanish, Mandarin.

justlearnj
Justlearn
2/26/2021
3 minute read

11 Best Translation Apps for Android in 2021

If you are planning a trip to another country, whether it be for business or travel, one of the first things you need to do to prepare is to try to le

justlearnj
Justlearn
2/25/2021
9 minute read

50 English Words With Meanings and Sentences (+Free PDF)

One of the best and most efficient ways to learn new words quickly and build up your vocabulary is to see how they are used in a sentence.

justlearnj
Justlearn
2/25/2021
13 minute read
English Tutors
Spanish Tutors
German Tutors
  1. You are here
  2. Find Tutors
  3. Blog
  4. How to Speak a Language Without an Accent
  • Justlearn

  • About
  • Press
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Teach
  • Languages

  • English tutors
  • Spanish Tutors
  • French Tutors
  • German Tutors
  • All tutors
  • Learn

  • Learn English
  • Learn Spanish
  • Learn French
  • Learn German
  • Learn Italian
  • Social

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

© 2021 JustlearnSupportPrivacyTermsSitemaps

Notification
Message
Message
CloseReply