Japanese Accent

[jazzbeans]

Hello!


I was given advice on how to improve my Japanese accent (I'm far from sounding great though, I think I should very British personally). My friend said that I should speak in monotone a lot more in order for it to sound more natural. But...

What does a monotone voice sound like?

When I think of monotone voices (how people use the term, at least), I think of Eeyore from Winnie The Pooh or someone with a boring/tired-sounding voice. So I was wondering if anyone could come up with an example of how to sound or perhaps provide any advice for how you improved your accent. I shadow already and do try and pay attention to the way Japanese people (females, in particular) speak. But I don't think I'm getting the hang of it very well..

Thanks, x.

[mieth]

I think about all you can do is listen to lots and lots and lots and lots of japanese and do shadowing after what you hear. Your accent is extremely difficult to control especially while you are a beginner and trying to think about what words to use and in what order and to add accent on top of it is too much to think about when you are trying to talk. Dont worry about just let the accent come naturally.

[jazzbeans]

Yeah, I suppose so! Thank you, Mieth.

I'll do my best for now =D

I'm trying to take on -ょ　-ゃ　-ゅ pronounciations at the moment (e.g. じゃ　じゅ　じょ). It just sounds like I'm saying よ　や　ゆ or ろ(りょうしん), る (りゅうせい), etc.

Although, I think the じ and し ones are coming along nicely!

Harder than I thought, I have to say...

[Psy]

I totally agree with mieth on this one, but if I add my 2 cents, pay close attention to how you pronounce vowels, particularly e and o. They're both very dry, constant sounds and your lips should not shift as you produce them. This is a common mistake, particularly with speakers of American English. Another thing I've noticed is people pronouncing onegaishimasu as onigaishimasu, something that, if you listen closely, is never done by Japanese natives even in rapid speech.

Still, in spite of all that, communication is priority one. Don't stress out too much.

[Jessi]

What your friend means by monotone (maybe not the best word choice?) is give all of the syllables equal stress and don't put unnecessary stress on certain syllables (we have this in English so that's why it's a hard habit for people to break when learning Japanese). If you look at how Japanese names are said with a foreign accent that should give you an idea of what not to do: Osaka is not O-SAH-kuh, Tokyo is not TOH-kee-oh. Definitely listen to a LOT of Japanese, like mieth said. Copy what you hear. But like the others also said, don't worry TOO much about it

[Laver2k]

One thing somebody said to be which I thought was a great idea and funny too, is to secretly adopt a mentor. Find a Japanese guy/girl and speak like them, use the same expressions and stuff. I dont have anyone I can do that with, but it sounds like a great idea!

[MagicToaster]

watch loads of japanese tv

[Jessi]

watch loads of japanese tv

This is very true
Something else that helps pronunciation that you would never think of is doing karaoke in Japanese - singing Japanese songs! This is probably one of the best things you could do for your pronunciation

[MagicToaster]

Something else that helps pronunciation that you would never think of is doing karaoke in Japanese - singing Japanese songs!

I find slow songs easier to sing and they usually say each letter indevidually
yay I'm doing something useful without knowing it !
kat-tun bokura no machide < easy to keep up with...nice to look at

[untmdsprt]

Hello!
I shadow already and do try and pay attention to the way Japanese people (females, in particular) speak. But I don't think I'm getting the hang of it very well..

Thanks, x.

I hope you're female if you're going to do this!

I've had to relearn how to pronounce everything again after learning the American English way for words that are now part of the English language. For example, Honda.

I always try to model after Naomi-sensei, Sakura-san, or Natsuko-san.

[Belton]

Not so much accent but pronunciation of individual words.
Wordchamp has an on-line application where you match an audio waveform you make to a waveform of a native speaker.

It's a bit hidden however. Go to an individual card in a vocab list. If there is a little waveform symbol beside the entry by clicking on it you can practise pronunciation.

[jazzbeans]

Thanks for all the help you offered guys, I think I've improved.


Only thing is... りゅ　りょ　りゃ
I am sure I'm pronouncing these oddly. I've no idea how to move my mouth when saying them. I feel I can hear the pronounciation better (although りゅうせい and りょうこう both got me recently). It's just saying it.. I either feel like I emphasis the R-ish sound or I emphasis the -YO, etc, sound to the point of it sounding like よ, etc. =(

I'm going to keep trying but I don't feel as if I'm making progress with this one...
It could just be in my head. I suppose I should ask a native what they think actually.

[untmdsprt]

Not so much accent but pronunciation of individual words.
Wordchamp has an on-line application where you match an audio waveform you make to a waveform of a native speaker.

It's a bit hidden however. Go to an individual card in a vocab list. If there is a little waveform symbol beside the entry by clicking on it you can practise pronunciation.

Thanks Belton, I've been wanting something like this! This was the best feature of the Japanese Now! software, and have never seen it again.

Word of warning though, it crashed Firefox, but works great on Safari.

[Psy]

Only thing is... りゅ　りょ　りゃ
I am sure I'm pronouncing these oddly. I've no idea how to move my mouth when saying them. I feel I can hear the pronounciation better (although りゅうせい and りょうこう both got me recently). It's just saying it.. I either feel like I emphasis the R-ish sound or I emphasis the -YO, etc, sound to the point of it sounding like よ, etc. =(

I'm going to keep trying but I don't feel as if I'm making progress with this one...
It could just be in my head. I suppose I should ask a native what they think actually.

These are tricky sounds. It's hard to explain the proper mouth movements, but to take a stab at it:

As you probably know already, anything in the ラ行 is pronounced with a flick of the tongue to the roof of your mouth. For りゃ、りゅ、りょ, you'll start with a り sound, and shift seamlessly into a や／ゆ／よ, the only difference between や／ゆ／よ being (as these are vowels) the resulting shape of your lips at the end of the syllable. The difference between りよ and りょ is that the former pronounces two distinct syllables, and the latter you switch into the や／ゆ／ゆ the instant your tongue hits the roof of your mouth. Try pronouncing り、よ、り、よ、noticing how you hold the 'I' sound when you prolong the sound of り, and paying particular attention to how your mouth takes two distinct positions when going from り to よ. Your goal is to almost totally cut out the 'I' sound and to slur them together into one quick and smooth motion. So try it as follows: り、よ、り、よ、りょ。り、や、り、や、りゃ。り、ゆ、り、ゆ、りゅ。

Hope that helps. It might feel awkward at first but you can do it!