On one hand, there are people who believe that for second/foreign language learners, it is necessary to have a native like accent, in order to sound correct and like a native. On the other hand, other people believe differently. What are your thought?
hi. it depends. many years ago, people were willing to learn English as a foreign language considering native speakers as the standard models of language. so, they did their best to be the best copy of the original version. nowadays, English is used as lingua franca of a huge number of people as the active members of global village. they need a common way of communication simple and available. as a lingua franca with some simplifications, the exact pronunciation is not vital. just comprehensibility is enough. views are changed just looking for English identity of learners. they should keep their language identity and add some thing more. best
hi. it depends. many years ago, people were willing to learn English as a foreign language considering native speakers as the standard models of language. so, they did their best to be the best copy of the original version. nowadays, English is used as lingua franca of a huge number of people as the active members of global village. they need a common way of communication simple and available. as a lingua franca with some simplifications, the exact pronunciation is not vital. just comprehensibility is enough. views are changed just looking for English identity of learners. they should keep their language identity and add some thing more. best
I do not think that a native-like accent is particularly important. What is important, in my opinion, is speaking well enough to be understood by people who speak with OTHER accents....and general fluency.
If spoken with fluency, a different accent can be charming.
Hello Abdullah,
It depends. First, native-like accent is not easy to acquire. If you live in a country since your childhood, you'll most probably acquire the native accent without any conscious efforts. But if you are an adult, it is much harder. I've noticed that people who have an ear for music and can play an instrument 'by ear', are very good at imitating sounds and they can perfectly acquire any foreign accent and languages, in general. If you live in a country for longer than 10 years, you'll also acquire the native accent really well, thanks to the length of exposure to the language in question. Is it important? Everybody decides for themselves. Certainly, it is better to speak a language with a native-like accent, rather than with a strong foreign accent, which sometimes may attract unnecessary attention, but as long as you are fluent and people understand you, the accent is not that important. By the way, intonation is something very few people can imitate and the first thing which reveals whether you are talking to a native speaker or not.
Thank you Dr. Shahidzade, Dr. Marek and Dr. Gotseva for your scholarly contributions.
As noted by the others above, a native accent will contribute to intelligibility. I would like to add on the other side of the issue, that the magnitude/degree of foreign accent will also contribute to intelligibility, as will the language that the foreign accent derives from. There is also more to "foreign accent" than how sounds are pronounced or intonation is rendered. Command of the foreign language's lexicon, grammar, and semantic rules also contribute. In addition, on occassion sadly, foreign accents, as well as some native dialects and speech registers may contribute to social perceptions of intelligence in certain environments and social contexts
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