How to Learn a Foreign Language (2 page)

Y
ou think you know how to talk? Sure you do, but only in a limited way. You know
one
way to talk, but there are dozens of different ways to make sounds that you never thought of. Remember when you were a child how you used to imitate the sound of trucks, airplanes, machine-guns, horses, or escapees from the local zoo? These sounds weren't English sounds and your mouth had to do some pretty strange things. Well, your mouth will have to do some pretty strange things now if you want it to produce an authentic foreign sound.

You're going to have to set aside your normal sense of reserve and self-consciousness and, like a child, make all sorts of strange noises. Your teacher is going to drill you in saying simple syllables over and over again:
dada, tu-tu, oeuf-ouef,
rrrr-rrrr
—until you get it. You may have to start by standing in front of the mirror, watching your mouth as you struggle to make some new sound. You are going to have to learn how to
imitate
—how to use your mouth, your throat, your entire speech mechanism, in a new way.

We take it for granted that we know our alphabet and how each letter is pronounced. But the way we pronounce the letter is
our
way, the English-speaking way, or, more accurately, the American-speaking way. There are many other ways as well, and you will need to learn the one that matches the language you are studying.

You know how it sometimes sounds when a foreigner speaks English. Even when we understand what he says it may all sound a bit “off.” That's because he is using our
words,
but is making each
sound
the way he was taught to make it in his own language.

In fact, there are many different ways of pronouncing seemingly familiar sounds:

What you've just learned is that foreign sounds which seem close to American English in fact are rarely the same. They are all slightly different, depending on the language. You've got to learn exactly how
your
new language makes that sound if you ever want to sound authentic.

By the way, you've just learned how to imitate a
foreign accent in English.
Actors sit down and learn how a Russian or a Chinese or an Indian pronounce various sounds of English and go from there. And they also listen a lot and imitate. So as you start learning your foreign language, remember that you are going to have to learn to be something of an
actor.
To really learn to pronounce the language well you have to ham it up a little to get into the habit of using your mouth in a whole new way. This can be fun. Just let yourself go and pretend you're starring as an exotic foreigner in a movie; you'll be on the way to getting it right.

It's a little embarrassing at first. Here you are, feeling like a child, learning to talk all over again, endlessly repeating a certain noise until the teacher thinks you're starting to get it right. But if you're in a class you are among friends. You can take your turn laughing at them, too. Once you get over the initial shock of the whole experience you'll probably find yourself enjoying the process.

For English-speakers, some languages are easier than others to learn to pronounce. Remember that few languages are
inherently
much easier or harder to pronounce than any other. It all depends on the language
you
were born with and how close the sounds of that language are to the new one you are learning.

So be prepared for new sounds. Take them as a challenge. Don't forget to ham it up and
exaggerate.
That's the key to success in pronunciation.
Don't hang back and do the minimum with your mouth
—
let it all hang out and do the maximum.
That just makes it more fun—and can only contribute to your having a more authentic accent.

Another feature about foreign pronunciation: it isn't only the way each individual letter or word is spoken, but also the way it's all put together—the
intonation,
the “lilt” of the language. Mark Twain—who had a
reputation for terrible profanity—once unloaded a torrent of curses in front of his long-suffering wife as he cut himself while shaving. To teach him a lesson his wife decided to calmly repeat each and every oath that Twain had uttered. Unfazed at hearing this recitation, Twain turned to his wife and said, “You've got the words right, my dear, but you don't have the tune.”

The “tune” is also important over the long run if you want to develop a convincing accent. The intonations of languages differ considerably. One of the tell-tale signs by which to recognize various languages is the particular lilt used.

If this sounds hard or confusing, don't worry too much. You can learn to speak and understand the language without mastering these fine points. If you ignore them too much—that is, insist on using American sound patterns instead of the patterns of your new language—you will simply be heard to have a very distinct American accent. If you make almost no effort at all to learn these new patterns, however, you'll make it very difficult for foreigners who are struggling to understand
their
language through
your
thick American accent.

Have you ever heard a foreigner speak English with such a thick accent that we say “you could cut it with a knife”? Or even worse, have you ever heard a foreigner speaking what you thought was a foreign language, only to realize a few moments later that he was speaking English all along? That's because he was making no effort to learn the particular pronunciation of
English sounds, or English intonation patterns—even though his words were English. That's how you could sound to a foreigner if you don't make much effort to accommodate yourself to the demands of his language.

Sometimes when you are struggling to express yourself in a foreign language, you can see people straining to understand what you are saying. Watch out for this. It's a sign that you need to start putting more effort into your pronunciation. Remember, when you're overseas and off the beaten track, the people you'll meet have had little experience in understanding a foreign accent. And the less educated a person is, the less likely he is to have had much exposure to foreigners speaking his language; so the lower his tolerance will be for understanding foreign accents. Only your language teacher will be long-suffering and experienced enough to be able to understand almost anything that you say—regardless of how you butcher it.

Now I'm going to raise a point that I will be coming back to over and over again in this book. Unless you are lucky enough to be living in a foreign country already, or to have a tutor available to you for many hours a day, you are going to need a tape or cassette recorder.

Why? Because there is NO substitute for
hearing
the language—and listening and listening…and listening some more. The sounds must become completely familiar to you, so much so that you can hear them in your mind and, yes, even in your sleep.

So whenever you can, start listening to tape recordings of the lessons you are studying. Your school or language course should have them, or be able to get them. If not, be sure to ask your instructor or some native speaker to make some for you. Tapes really do make a difference.

In learning languages,
time is your friend.
The kind of sounds that you will be embarrassed or self-conscious about making in the beginning will gradually grow more familiar to you over time. Bit by bit you'll start
sounding more authentic. But you have to keep working at it.

If you have a tape recorder, one useful thing you can do is to listen to yourself on the tape, especially if you can compare yourself with a native speaker. Sometimes it's discouraging because it seems that no matter how hard you try, you still have that American twang. Don't worry about it, just keep on trying. Your accent will improve with time.

You may never be able to pass for a native speaker of French, Hindi, or Japanese. That's not the point. You just want people to be able to understand you. And they
will
understand if you make a consistent effort to replace your English sounds with the sounds of their language.

1. Every language has its own way of making sounds. Some letters and sounds we think we are familiar with are pronounced slightly differently—or very differently—from English.

2. Some sounds in foreign languages will be completely new to you. Listen very carefully to the way the teacher makes the sounds. Then
imitate
and imitate and imitate.

3.
Exaggerate
the sounds when you talk. You will probably be closer to being correct than if you don't. Don't worry about feeling embarrassed. Everybody does at first. The more you ham it up, the better.

4. Get a tape recorder and practice with it all the time.

5. I'm serious. Get a recorder—and use it often.

I
n the last chapter we talked about using your mouth in different ways. That was all about the
sounds
of a language. In this chapter we're going to talk about new ways to look at the
alphabet.

Remember spelling bees? Does that take you back to the old days of struggling, of trying to learn to spell thousands of different words? Even after leaving school we still often have problems remembering how to spell certain words. In fact, English is an awful language to learn how to spell. Why? Because the basic spelling of English words was established hundreds of years ago and has changed only slightly since then. We are forced to write words today the way they were pronounced several centuries earlier.

Even if that last example is a little ridiculous, it makes an important point: there is nothing especially “logical” about the way we spell in English.

Of course, you may be starting a language that uses a completely different alphabet, such as Russian, Greek, Arabic, Hindi or Korean. In one way that's almost easier, because then you don't have to learn new ways to pronounce old familiar letters. Don't ever trust familiar letters to sound like what you think they should sound like.

Dozens of foreign languages use the same alphabet as we do in English—but do so in very
different ways.
So your first task is to forget about our alphabet as we use it in English spelling and start learning how foreigners use it to represent the sounds of
their
language.

Confusing? Yes, it can be. But remember that you will only have to learn one new set of rules in your new language—and the chances are good that your new language will spell words in a much more logical and consistent phonetic system than English. Ask any foreigner. He'll tell you that English spelling is considered just about the most difficult, inconsistent, illogical spelling system in the world.

If you're going to study Spanish the news is very good indeed. Spanish uses one of the most regular and simple spelling systems anywhere. So does Turkish. German is also quite logical. French spelling is a little bit harder, but still simpler than English.

And don't forget what we learned in the last chapter about sounds of letters. Even a “t” may be pronounced roughly as it is in English, but it may still be
slightly
different in sound. Using a pure American “t” will be understood, but it's one of those things that gives you what a foreigner will call an “American accent.”

One final tip: when learning a new word, take it easy. Try sounding it out to yourself
slowly,
letter by letter, so that you can get it right. A lot of us have a tendency just to eyeball the new word and then blurt out the nearest thing that comes to mind. For instance, if we see a word like “patsa” in a foreign language, we might think we recognize it and pronounce it “pasta”. But it wasn't “pasta”. It was “p-a-t-s-a”—which is different. Watch out, take your time and don't let your eyes trick you. Say what's
written
and not what you think is written.

1. There is nothing “natural” at all about the way we spell English.

2. Various foreign languages use the English alphabet to write down sounds that don't sound like our sounds.

3. Be ready to pronounce familiar letters a little differently—sometimes very differently.

4. Don't leap at a guess about how a word is pronounced. Take it slowly, letter by letter.