Setting Reasonable Pronunciation GoalsLearning a new language is a long and demanding process, but it can be made considerably easier by setting goals. Goals give learners direction and provide them with reasons to persevere. Set unreasonable ones, however, and discouragement is likely to follow. Many English learners set themselves difficult, even unreasonable, goals. The team at VOA Learning English regularly receives emails from learners declaring, “My goal is to sound like a native speaker…” or “My goal is to lose my accent.” The trouble with aiming to sound like a native speaker is that, for a great many people, it simply is not achievable. According to Eli Hinkel, a professor at Seattle Pacific University, those who begin studying English beyond a certain age are unable to sound exactly like native speakers. Before puberty, the period of life in which a child becomes an adult, people still have enough muscle and brain plasticity for the brain to control the muscles of the mouth. Once physical growth has stopped, the brain loses some of its capacity to change the way it controls those muscles, and the result, Hinkel explains, is an accent. Having one, in other words, is a natural part of the aging process of the brain. It does not follow, though, that learners should abandon their efforts to improve their pronunciation. Nor does an accent indicate poor language skills. Hinkel urges learners not to be too disheartened by their accents, stressing that “there is really no connection between the quality of one’s language and the accent.” Indeed, she argues that an accent can even be an advantage. Although Hinkel is a native Russian speaker, she works as a professor in a Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) program, and she believes her accent works in her favor in the classroom: “I teach MA TESL courses… So, my students think that I really, really know what I’m talking about… accent goes a great deal toward that.” Marla Yoshida, who teaches English as a Foreign Language at the University of California, Irvine, likewise regards native-like pronunciation as unnecessary. Improvement, she says, is entirely possible, provided that the goal is a reasonable one. In her view, that goal is to reach a stage where your pronunciation is easy for people to understand and never causes a problem: you walk into Starbucks, say your name and place your order, and you are understood. Sounding like a native speaker would be wonderful, she concedes, but it is not necessary. Yoshida compares the process to dieting, which is more likely to succeed when the targets are realistic. Rather than attempting to sound like a native speaker, adults should work consciously on specific areas that they can improve. A learner who has trouble with the “r” and “l” sounds, for instance, might tackle those first and, once comfortable with them, move on to another sound that causes problems. “It takes time,” she says, “but it is possible.” She is equally clear that improvement is not quick. After speaking their native language for years, people find the habits of how they move their mouths very hard to change. Learners should therefore be wary of advertisements for software or courses promising to “get rid of your accent in only five lessons.” As Yoshida puts it, “It’s not going to happen! There are no miracles.” What, then, should learners do? The answer is to begin with a reasonable goal: choose one or two sounds that you find difficult, work on improving them, and then move on to others. Progress may be slow, but it is no reason to give up.
