So.. Today I would like to talk with you about languages... Most of you probably know what it is like to learn a new language and to hear the difference between a native and a foreign accent... And many of us would love to have that native accent.. First of all I want to tell you, it is not bad to have a foreign accent, not at all actually! It shows that you are doing an effort to learn another language, one that is not your mother language. It is something beautiful.. However, I am one of those people who would LOVE to speak like it was my mother language, and I mainly have this with French..
So what did I do to learn this language? What do I still do to perfect my vocabulary, grammar and not to forget my accent? I will tell you that in this blog and I hope these tips will help you further.
1. Watching television.
This is a tip I got from my French teacher, put the series on for example French audio and if your French is not that good yet put in on English subtitles, this way you can link the French (or other language words) with the English words, so basically you will be growing your vocabulary. Next to that you also hear the sounds, so you will learn their accents.
2. Practicing
Go to the country of the language that you would like to learn and talk! There is no better way to learn a language then to actually talk. Don't be afraid to make mistakes. People will like it that you are doing effort to learn their language and there is no better way to learn than to make mistakes!
3. If you are practicing ask people to correct you when you make a mistake
At first this can make you shy or awkward but it is such a good way to learn, otherwise you don't know how you should really say it. As said before people will like that you are making the effort to learn their language!
4. Differentiate the sounds
Watch Youtube tutorials or just movies and try to learn the difference between certain sounds. And above all, try to understand them, if you know and understand the difference it will be easier to learn the accent.
5. Tongue Twisters
Tongue Twisters are these weird sentences that you have in every language, maybe you got them when you were young. For example in Dutch 'Lieselotje leerde lopen langs de Lange lindebaan' or in English 'She sells sea shells by the sea shore' or in French 'As-tu vu le vert ver allant vers le verre en verre vert ?' These are sentences are sentences that are made up from simple words but that are difficult to say. Not only for you as a foreign but also for native speakers. What they do is they force you to speak unfamiliar sounds in a sentence in stead of being isolated. You'll get a better understanding of what it is like to speak full sentences and they help a lot with the accent!
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