Imagine you're a British person.
Okay.
Asking an Indian to imagine He's British.
Easy.
Done.
Hi, everyone.
So, in this chat, we're going to learn
more about
how when learning a language,
you can sound more like a native speaker.
Hi, Claire.
Hi.
So, yeah, as presented.
What are you. What are your thoughts on this?
So, I think,
you know, many people think like,
oh, I need to have the skills and, like,
what I do
and how many times do
I need to listen to something
and hone my accent and work
with, like a pro
who's going to tutor me on the accent?
But, I don't think that's it.
I don't think it's
about your innate talent or your skills.
Like, I think that's a big myth.
I think it's really about
your personality
much more than your skills
or innate
talent and or,
you know, something you were given
or you weren't given.
We have some sort of an identity
about ourselves.
Okay.
And so, I think that's
one thing that helped me
to sound like a native in
foreign languages
is because I was never afraid
to, like, play a role.
Like when I was a kid I used to,
like, do theater and and, you know,
I kind of enjoyed it, like,
oh, like, I'm
going to be this crazy person
and scream on stage,
and I don't have an issue of that, right?
And so, I think there's like
this willingness
to become somebody else
and see how that goes.
And I'm not very fixed in my identity.
So, for example, like,
imagine you're a person from Britain,
and the way you speak is very calm
and very slow and very mannered.
And then you're trying to learn Italian.
And the way Italian spoken
is extremely different from the way
British English.
Is not as composed.
Right.
And it's like it goes like
Italian goes like in a regular
in regular speech,
it can go through three
octave, it's completely normal
Imagine you're a British person.
Okay.
Asking an Indian to imagine He's British.
Easy.
Done.
And the way you speak is very you know
like, within a range.
Yeah, exactly.
Thank you.
And you're trying to learn Italian.
And what's Italian like?
All over the place?
What does it sound to you like?
Nothing I can do will be not insulting.
I'd prefer someone who speaks Italian.
Okay, so, I'm going to do
the insulting part.
So, basically, right.
Like, it goes along three octave.
Okay.
And like a regular basis.
So, like
It goes like that. Yeah.
And so, is that something that, you know,
would sound natural for a British person?
Like what a very, like,
well-mannered, well-educated
British person
who speaks like a slow,
you know, like similar pitched.
If a British person spoke Italian
within their reserved range,
it would be butchering the language.
But, they're also afraid of kind of being
insulting to go in that.
So, it's a game, right, that sets
you just sort of like
try it and see
if it fits, if it you know,
if it sticks, if it doesn't,
how you feel about it.
And for sure, like or like,
you know, learning Mandarin
for me or for,
you know, anybody
who speaks the language,
which is not tonal,
it just sounds totally ridiculous,
you know, like
like what,
what the heck is that?
You know, it just is so strange. But,
you know, if you if you're
willing to go there
and you're willing to try.
Like, of course,
at first it's going to sound so strange.
It's going to feel strange.
You are going to feel like
you are faking something.
I think you nailed it on the head, though.
Like you made it very clear,
like you're playing a role.
And so, this idea of
authenticity is really
about how far
how deep you go into that role
and you have to go beyond
what you're normally doing.
When it comes to expression,
when it comes to
expressing yourself in a new language, right?
So, as long as you can get the message
across is a very common statement
made for those
who can't get the tones in Mandarin.
As long as they understand me,
as long as you understand me,
it's all good.
But, that's the thing.
Right. They actually won't understand you.
So, in Mandarin,
Mandarin is very particular in that,
like, if you don't go there
and you don't try.
You could be saying something
totally different.
Absolutely.
Instead of asking a question,
you've just insulted someone's mother.
So, how can you use
an app like Glossika
to sound more like a native speaker?
So, I think it's great
because, as I said,
immersing yourself is key.
And so, repetition.
Right. Is very important.
And so,
use it every day, use it every night.
And I think Glossika is great
because it has actually people
like with real accents
speaking real language,
which is not something
you should take for granted
because I've tried
pretty much every language
learning app there is.
So, yeah,
listening to
you know,
the language,
what it sounds like over and over
and over again so, that your brain
and your ear
can pick it up and get used to it.
So, you know,
the repetition is very important.
And I guess my follow up to
that would be like,
how important is it
to sound like a native speaker
when you're learning a new language?
That's a great question.
Thank you for that one.
Yeah,
You know,
why are we learning languages, right?
Like, what's the point?
We want to communicate.
Right.
And we want to be able to
express ourselves
and is it really important?
Like, sure, it does add something to it,
but, I don't think this is something
we should strive for.
We should strive
for being able
to communicate, interacting
with people, being understood
and understanding people. Holding on to more
meaning of the words
rather than how you sound expressing words, right?
Yeah.
Because you know, at the end,
you're just going to be yourself.
And if you really don't feel comfortable
with becoming somebody else
or faking something,
then what's the point?
Like, why are you in it to begin with?
Well, that's fair.
And I appreciate that.
I think that's really important
for a lot of people to take away.
Maybe a lot of the times
the challenge of sound
like a native speaker
can overwhelm someone.
Like, if I don't sound right,
I'm over it.
You know, I would just say
just don't be too hard on yourself, right?
Just, yeah.
Got it.
Thank you, as always.
Super motivating, really upbeat,
great energy to language learning.
So, thank you Claire.
Thank you, I enjoy talking to you.
And if you liked our chat today, please
remember to subscribe
and we look forward to more
Glossika chats.