Cantonese Speakers
English Accent: 3 Tips for Native Cantonese Speakers
Mastery of a clear English accent for a Cantonese speaker, is often a long and arduous task. So what can make your English sound better if you are a Cantonese native speaker? If you are a Mandarin Speaker, be sure to check out this article tailored for your needs here: MANDARIN SPEAKERS
1. Meet your new Bestfriends- the Tricky Consonants!
Cantonese has a total of 20 consonants. Australian English, in comparison has up to 28. Many of the consonants needed for English are not found in Cantonese. This means that if you are trying to perfect your English accent, there are a few sounds specific to English that you are going to really need. Speaking of English consonants alone there is at least 12 sounds that may not be present in your sound system. And these sounds are going to need to become your new best friends if you want to master that Australian accent:
- b (as in ball),
- d (as in doll),
- g (as in girl),
- ch (asin chocolate),
- j (as in judge),
- v (as in video)
- th (as in the)
- th (as in three)- this is different from the “th” in “the”
- z (as in zoo)
- sh (as in she)
- zh (as in measure)
- r (as in race)
THE FIX:
This is going to take some time to get right, so prepare to work hard! Start practicing each sound just by itself, one at a time. Then add different vowels to it and maybe you can even make some flashcards to run through for the sound you are targeting. As a native speaking friend to say the sound for you, listen out for the sound in the speech of native speakers. Most importantly, it’s going to take daily, methodical practice to get it right, so work hard! Try sounding the sounds you know you have difficulty with on their own. For many sounds you can use a mirror to see if you are making the sound correctly (for example, when you say “th”, does your tongue come between your teeth? If not, it’s probably wrong!).
2. Be careful with word endings
All those years of speaking Cantonese and being surrounded by Cantonese and eating awesome Cantonese custard pies and cuisine has invested you with the gift of a wonderful language and the knowledge of intricate characters. But these years have also set you up to speak with certain habits that you are going to have to dump to master great English pronunciation. One of the characteristics of Cantonese speech that is likely to impact on your pronunciation majorly is what you may be inclined to do at the end of words! After struggling to say your “ch” sound maybe at the start of a word, don’t lose focus and throw away all your efforts by what you do once you end the word! Listen carefully, in English, unlike Cantonese, you MUST NOT add an extra vowel at the end. This is tricky to explain and I would love to just outline for you face to face in an accent therapy session as you would know EXACTLY what I mean. Here instead are a few examples of typical errors made by Cantonese speakers when ending an English word;
- kissed becomes kissta: see the added “a” at the end? Don’t do it!
- finished becomes finishedu: see the added “u” at the end? Finish the word with a consonant and just leave it at that!
THE FIX: Listen carefully to the ends of words of native speakers. Record yourself reading short paragraphs from newspaper articles. Do you sound like a native? Listen and be careful that you are not adding vowels to the ends of words that don’t have vowels at the end of them!
3. Speech Intonation
What is intonation? In a nutshell, this refers to the music of your speech. Every accent and dialect follows parameters of rhythm, tone and pitch that match expression. When we learn a new language, we are all inclined to apply the intonation of our mother tongue to our target language. This can add charm but can result in listeners struggling to understand you, or even, at worst, becoming distracted by your accent instead of absorbing the content of what you are saying. Since Cantonese is a tonal language and English is not, you are going to need to hear a lot of native spoken English to get it right.
THE FIX: Try to slow down and link your words together smoothly instead of rushing to sound more fluent. If you speak at a slower rate, listeners will understand you better and you may also feel more calm and confident while speaking. Use pauses to collect your thoughts and don’t be afraid to take more time when you need it.Watch English TV and try to mimic the native speakers. Try to keep your tone and voice colour even throughout as much as possible.
Accent neutralization takes alot of time. Many non-native speakers may still have strong accents even after decades of being immersed in an English speaking country. Sure, an accent is exotic and often very charming! With time and careful practice however, you can reduce it’s intensity and increase your speaking command and clarity while still retaining that element of difference, if you wish! Don’t give up. Work on your weaknesses and practice daily to improve your English proficiency.
Some non-native speakers choose to consult a Speech Pathologist for accent reduction /modification therapy.
We treat from Melbourne to Bogota, Hong Kong, Saigon, London, New York, Tel Aviv… anywhere you are based. Sessions are available face-to-face in our Melbourne Clinic or if you are worldwide Skype based services also can be tailored according to the accent you require for your region, career or academic purpose.
For further information on accent modification and reduction programs please do not hesitate to contact Sarah Geiger Speech Pathology.
Words: Sarah Lobegeiger (MA Speech Pathology, MA Opera, pending, BMus, BAEng, TESOL cert IV)
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