But Is that Realistic?đ¤¨
When I talk to people about their accent learning progress and the time investment required, I need to do a better job in qualifying what needs to be accomplished and what expectations we can have based on our time commitment.
Let me explain.
When you learn anything, there are always levels of complexity. You have your complete novice or beginner, your intermediate and your expert levels.
The concepts you learn and build at the beginner level are familiarized and normalized in the intermediate level and by the expert level, those same skills are fine-tuned and critically analyzed to an even higher degree. As you gain competency, you learn of the even higher levels of perfection, the levels of fine tuning to the Nth degree.
Accent modification is no different.
When you take on the journey of accent modification, there are levels. Beginner, Intermediate, and Expert. And as you become more obsessed and interested in the subject, there is more inspiration, more capacity and more freedom to explore.
Itâs the case for everything.
Art with a simple canvas and colour becomes a piece with layers of paint or where anything can be the brush.
Snowboarding as a beginner is making it down the hill. Expert is maybe down a helicopter-flown mountain peak. Creativity can let you snowboard in a skatepark or off the side of a bridge.
Learning a North American English accent for example is more than just the sounds.
Itâs the inflection,
the mannerisms,
the rhythmic melody,
the slang and idioms,
the social behaviours,
the culture.
All of it.
So back to qualifying what needs to be accomplished and what expectations we can have in our accent learning journey based on our time commitment.
Now, if one practices for 30 minutes a day, will you make improvements and grow in your skills?
Absolutely.
Will you however notice the nuance, grasp the minutia, or be able to recognize the subtly of slight differences in mouth shape, resonance, or vowel duration.
Maybe not.
And thatâs totally fine. Weâre nitpicking and talking about different shades of grey at this point. Weâre beyond the black and white of pronouncing English words clearly.
In most cases, the minutia and the nitty gritty doesnât matter unless you are an actor.
For example, there was backlash for the movie The Man From Toronto because the actor playing a man from Toronto did not pronounce Toronto the way a native Torontonian would pronounce it.
Hence, the believability of the character was shaken.
In a scenario like acting, Iâd say 8 hours a day of practice would be necessary.
Because any mispronunciation or difference in mannerisms breaks the character, breaks from the world building, and subsequently, breaks story authenticity.
Because the audience is reminded that the character isnât real, but rather a role played by an actor - an actor who doesnât live in Toronto and therefore doesnât say Toronto the way a native Torontonian would.
So hereâs what I think are reasonable expectations based on how much you practice:
5 minute a day
You will correctly pronounce 1-2 words you previously mispronounced. With 5 minutes, in structured settings, you will correctly pronounce them but depending on how memorably you learned your error or how to fix it, you may or may not be able to use the correct pronunciation in random conversations. Maybe youâll mispronounce the word but then quickly correct yourself afterward.
15 minutes a day
You will correctly pronounce 3-10 words you previously mispronounced, With 15 minutes, you have enough time to run through a word list multiple times. This can then translate towards functional phrases or structured sentence practice.
30 minutes a day
You can generate a systematic practice session.
10 minutes of practicing your word list
10 minutes of adding and investigating new words
10 minutes of practicing structured phrases or role playing functional phrases
With a structured system, you start building the habit and ultimately this is what we want. A habit of learning new words, incorporating them into your everyday use and removing the officialness or formality that makes pronunciation practice and accent practice a daunting or overwhelming task. You want to get to a point where practice is no big deal, can be done on the bus ride home or when talking with low-risk people (like a waiter, commercial store employee, or customer service rep).
1 hour a day
You can generate a systematic practice session
You can focus on tweaking intentionality and the degree of effectiveness of communicative options
Beyond the pronunciation itself, there can be a meta-analysis of how effective different strategies of communication are. What if I exaggerated the length of a certain vowel? What if I exaggerated the pitch variation in this question? What if I increased my vocal loudness more for this key word? What emotions can I convey better if I communicate?
You may wish to consider practicing with a native English speaking communication partner. The additional feedback and meta-analysis would be extremely helpful, specifically addressing âHow could I have said this or communicated this better?â. Sometimes it isnât a matter of the pronunciation but the pauses, the intonation, or the word stress.
2 hours a day
You can generate a systematic practice session
You can practice with a communication partner
You can have daily challenges for yourself to accomplish. To push yourself out of your comfort zone. BEcause it is only by going beyond our comfort zone that we will practice new mouth shapes, new intonation patterns, new exaggerated ways of communication. If we didnât need to push past our comfort zones, we wouldnât be looking to change our communication style or our pronunciation habits.
2 hours a day will also allow you to learn the grammar and theoretical understanding of phonetics and phonology. If your goal is to âblend in with native English speakersâ, grammar is a huge part of that. No matter how clear your pronunciation is or how consistent it is with the local native speakers, if your grammar isnât strong, itâs a dead giveaway. Native English speakers make certain grammar errors (like their, there, theyâre and affect, effect) but they absolutely will not make others (For example, âDonât you thinkâŚâ is grammatical but the uncontracted version âDo not you thinkâ is not).
You will realize that formal sit-down sessions are not necessary. You can consciously and intentionally practice your English accent when you speak with coworkers, friends, and family. You can practice when you read to your kids, when you ask your professor a question, when you speak to the waiter, or when you need help from a customer service rep. You will always use English when living and interacting in a native-English speaking community - so every interaction in your community can be a practice session.
4 hours a day
1/6th of your day. About 1/4 of your waking day. You have enough time to practice intentionally on many aspects of English.
Pronunciation - you can work on the pronunciation of sounds you may not know such as the TH-sounds (voiced and voiceless), the rhotic R-sound, the TCH-sound or SH-sound.
Learning New Habits - you can unlearn native language habits that do not apply to English
Intonation - you can practice using a sing-song intonation to keep your sentences engaging and interesting
Role play specific situations like:
interviews, public speaking, presentations, negotiations
Introductions, jokes, typical topics of conversation, conversation conclusions
You can record yourself and listen to practice important phrases, words, and statements
It may seem contrived or inauthentic but you can practice these interactions with authentic feelings and responses. It helps you formulate your thoughts better, feel more prepared, and communicate what you actually want to say rather than what you may fumble through in the moment. And this goes the same for native speakers who have anxiety speaking in public, social awkwardness and anything in between. Itâs a practice that is supposed to let you competently reveal who you actually are and what you actually believe.
I think the main thing is making sure your goals align with your expectations and time investment.
If you invest 5 minutes a day and want to focus on 1-2 words, thatâs great and thatâs 100% okay.
But if you invest 5 minutes a day, and want to understand the mannerisms, the nuance and use it easily in spontaneous conversation, then your goals donât match your time investment.
The main job I need to do is make sure I am making realistic, motivational, and encouraging comments to acknowledge that need for alignment. Otherwise, you feel lied to or fed some false sense of hope and I feel discouraged by my lack of ability to support your progress to meet your expectations.
