When you speak a language as a non-native speaker, are you worried about your accent?
Do you always hesitate to speak that language because you think you’ll sound weird?
I have some perspective for you, but let me share my story first. So, bear with me here.
I’ve worked as a Japanese-English translator and interpreter in an automotive Japanese company for six years. Due to the nature of my work, I used to observe how people from various countries, including Japanese people, speak in English and Japanese. Many years before that, I attended a Japanese language preparatory school for 14 months, studying intensively in groups with students from different countries. Even though Japanese was the only language permitted in the classes, we still communicated in English during our private time. So, taking all these experiences together, I’m pretty much familiar with accents other than those of Japanese and Indonesian, especially Malaysian/Singaporean, Indian, Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, and Italian. (Did I mention British accent? LOVE it.)
As an interpreter, I had to pay close attention to the speaker’s speech. Listening, taking notes, grasping the content/information, and rendering it to the target language is the main flow of my task, which I had to do within seconds. After years of doing this, here’s my conclusion/advice:
Accent indeed matters, BUT (!), your very basic English skills matter most.
And what do I mean by that?
Here’s an example:
There’s Jerry from Country A and Tom from Country B.
They speak English at work as their second language.
Jerry has quite good English pronunciation but not so well in basic grammar.
Tom, on the other hand, speaks English like a native.
Tom: Hi Jerry, can you email me last year’s sales report today?
Jerry1 (without accent): Oh sorry. I, no report. Tell Clara, she too, don’t know.
Now let’s stop here.
Imagine Jerry saying every single word perfectly and very clearly, with no accent of his first language whatsoever.
Now, let’s bring in another imaginary Jerry below who has quite a strong accent (choose your favorite accent).
Jerry2 (with accent): Oh, sorry. I don’t have it. I ask Clara. Yesterday. She don’t have. I will check again. I will email you.
Or this Jerry, still with an accent, AND this time, better grammar.
Jerry3 (with accent): Oh, I’m sorry, I don’t have it. Actually, I asked Clara yesterday, but she doesn’t have it either. Let me check with others and update you soon.
Remember. The basic purpose of speaking in a language is to communicate.
I hope the (exaggerated) examples above help you get the idea of why an accent isn’t important as long as the listener understands your speech. In fact, minor grammatical errors are fine too as long as they do not confuse the listener (or reader). Dare I say, losing your accent is NEVER the point.
If you still need proof, go watch and listen to TED talks or whatever speeches in English by non-English native speakers who have powerful impacts in our society. Notice their accents AND (this is crucial) notice too how well you understand the content of their speeches.
Having said that, I still encourage you to keep practicing your pronunciation because it will help people understand you, but first and foremost, focusing on building a solid grammar and vocabulary foundation will bring your language skills to a completely different level.
Now, do I have an accent?
Of course! If you hear me speaking in English, you’ll notice right away that I’m not a native speaker.
Do I still make mistakes?
Y-E-S. I’m a normal human being in the process of a lifelong language-learning journey.
(And so are you, if you haven’t noticed.)
My future post will be about the fear of making mistakes, but for now, take this:
take advantage of mistakes as they help you get better.
Thank you for staying with me this far!
Enjoy your day and see you around!
Astrid
TANPOPO 