Stick to the beat
People learn basic music theory when they start piano or violin lessons. Some just pick up the guitar, learn some basic chords and notes, and then fumble around until they copy songs and melodies they already know. In either case, music students have to keep to the rhythm of the music. Waltzes are slow. The cha-cha is fast.
Would you drum to choral music?
Would you waltz to cha-cha music?
Would you play a 2-2 beat in 3/4 bar?
No. Every music has its beat. If you play a sonata as rap music, you may have a cacophonous succession of notes or a "creative" piece. In most cases, musicians stay loyal to the tempo of the music.
The same goes for language. The reason people have strong accents in other languages is because they are playing the music of the foreign language in the tempo and rhythm of their mother tongue. It's like dancing the waltz to cha-cha music.
If you listen to language as music and pay attention to the rhythm, flow, accentuation, and timing of the words, you are more likely to easily learn the language and have a good accent.
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Stick to the Beat
People learn basic music theory when they start taking piano or violin lessons. Some just pick up the guitar, learn some basic chords and notes, and then fumble around until they copy songs and melodies they already know. In either case, music students have to stick keep to the rhythm of the music. Waltzes are slow and the cha-cha is fast.
Would you drum to choral music?
Would you waltz to cha-cha music?
Would you play a 2-2 beat in a 3/4 bar?
No. Every kind of music has its own beat. If you play a sonata as rap music, you may have a cacophonous succession of notes or a "creative" piece. In most cases, musicians stay loyal to the tempo of the music.
The same goes for language. The reason people have strong accents in other languages is because they are playing the music of the foreign language in the tempo and rhythm of their mother tongue. It's like dancing the waltz to cha-cha music.
If you listen to language as music and pay attention to the rhythm, flow, accentuation, and timing of the words, you are more likely to easily learn the language and have a good accent.
I like this description of how a strong accent from one's native language while speaking a foreign language is like playing a sonata rap style.
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You cannot reproduce a sound you cannot hear.
The reason people have accents in other languages and have trouble replicating sounds is that they simply don't hear the sounds of the other language correctly. Their ears have grown accustomed to processing sounds from their mother tongue.
Have you ever wondered why the French have trouble with diphthongs like the word "the" in English? It's because English has many more high pitch sounds than French and the "th" sound doesn't exist in French. If people don't hear sounds of a particular frequency, they can't recreate them no matter how hard they try. Just like a saxophone can make sounds that the piano can't, languages have different registers and frequencies. Sometimes, people can't hear their own accents in a foreign language even though they may have a strong one.
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