5 Stages of a Bilingual Accent

By Andrea Loaiza on April 17, 2017

If you have ever tried to learn another language, you have probably seen yourself in a situation where you are either highly proud or ashamed of your accent. Even though there’s nothing to be ashamed of, having an accent while speaking has been one of my biggest conflicts since I first learned English.

I live for perfectionism, and even if that is almost impossible, I always strive for the best. As everybody else, I loved feeling special, and knowing English somehow made me feel like a special kid while being in middle school and high school. English wasn’t an extracurricular activity in my classes, but they would just teach you the basic grammar and vocabulary in our regular classes. However, I loved the language so much that I would have classes on the weekends, or travel to English-speaking countries to practice my speaking skills.

At the end, I just wanted to be that kid who was so good at English that you wouldn’t even recognize her as being from anywhere else. More than I loved the language, I loved how it made me feel.

Before I got into an English-speaking university, I went to Canada for three months to practice my English. To be honest, for the last month I would even think in English as I didn’t have time to practice my native language. After I got back to Panama, where Spanish was our native language, I forgot to practice my skills — writing, listening, and speaking. I wasn’t fluent anymore, and I started noticing that no practice meant a heavier accent.

When I finally came to Tallahassee, I had to work really hard with myself. I would mostly hang out with Panamanians, making me feel more comfortable and confident when talking in English as not everybody would like to talk in another language if they didn’t need to. However, being in the real world, trying to make friends, or even participating in class was really frustrating at the beginning. Little by little, I ended up dominating my fear, but before that, I went through these few stages.

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“The Beginner”

This is a magical stage. You are just starting to learn the language, and you are just trying your best to be completely understandable. Your goal is to be as fluent as you can. This is when the grammar is really important. Having an accent is not even in your mind because you are purely enjoying the understanding and practice of a different language.

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“The Practice”

Now your focus is to practice what you’ve been learning throughout the time. You may want to search for people who want to practice with you. You start watching TV, listening to music, and you may even consider buying a book in this new language. Practice is everything, and you know it! Here, you are just excited about knowing this language. You are trying to get as involved as you can.

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“The First Incident”

I remember the first time someone asked me what my accent was from. I answered that I was Latina, and the person nodded his head and was just like “I kind of imagined.”

That made me question everything. “What does that mean?” “Did I say something wrong?” “Do I sound horrible to others?” While you are going through this stage, you will probably be going through the same stages of grief.

“Overwhelming Panic”

This is when you really feel that having an accent is the end of the world. I wouldn’t even talk, even if my participation grade needed me to because I was afraid I was going to sound weird. I would be so self-conscious on saying a word correctly that I would forget what my main point was. In this stage, you are just ashamed of talking or showing off your accent until …

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YOU REALIZE YOU ARE BILINGUAL/TRILINGUAL/MULTILINGUAL, AND THAT MAKES YOU A REALLY INCREDIBLE PERSON WITH THE ABILITY TO COMMUNICATE WITH PEOPLE FROM DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE WORLD.

“Accepting The Fact That You Are Awesome”

I realized that the only thing that was stopping me from improving my skills was my fear. If I didn’t want to have an accent, not that it bothers me now, I just had to keep practicing and talking with people. I was afraid of people laughing at me or of sounding ridiculous, that I would avoid talking rather than practice until becoming better.

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I used to think that having an accent was horrible and meant that I wasn’t intelligent enough (which it doesn’t!!!). People from all over the world have accents. Accents are normal, including “foreign” accents. The influence of the first language into a second language is completely ordinary, and it’s usually more noticeable if the second language has been learned later after. There has never been a relationship between intelligence and a strong accent, so never be ashamed of the way you speak. The content of your conversation is more important than how you sound.

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