Japanese Accents

If Japanese is your first language, you may be using a Japanese “sound system” when you speak English. Japanese has fewer vowels with very regular lengths, but English vowels can be stretched or shortened anytime, depending on the need. English has some important vowel sounds not used in Japanese. They occur in stressed syllables, so it’s important that you learn to pronounce and control them. Other very important differences between the two languages are listed below.

You may not have learned much about our “sound systems” if you studied English as a foreign language. Most people learn English in school through textbooks, reading and writing. But speaking is physical, and any pronunciation and intonation practice must be done physically and often, so that your Japanese muscle movement habits can be physically changed and strengthened.

Like many Japanese adults, you may have been working on your accent for most of your life. You may get feedback that listeners find you difficult to follow, or that you speak too softly, or too staccato. These, and other problems, result from applying what you know and use successfully in Japanese, to English, where it works against your communication efforts. You are applying a set of Japanese “sound rules”, but English has its own sound rules that you must know and use.

Some common interference points between Japanese and English

• Our vowel system differences (English has many more vowels than Japanese and two of them, æ and /uh/, are critical for you to have
• Consonant system differences (especially r/l, s/z/sh/, h, and f/v/b, and their combinations in consonant clusters)
• Stress and vowel reductions play a pivotal role in word identification and rhythm in English, but not in Japanese
• Word endings are quite different; many English words end in consonant sounds that are difficult to pronounce in final position
• Use of pitch and energy–English uses a much wider pitch range; pitch movement is melodic and variable in English, but it is systematic and regular in Japanese
• Rhythm is an important part of English speech, caused by changes in duration, but Japanese duration changes have a completely different purpose

If you are unable to produce the sounds of English, you probably can’t hear them either, which means you’re also having difficulty understanding native speakers, especially when they speak between themselves.

Syllable stress, word stress and intonation are very important in English. If your vowels and consonants aren’t as they should be, your syllable and word stress will be affected also. Small sounds (vowels and consonants) are the ‘building materials’ of stress, rhythm and intonation. Without the ability to adjust and control these “raw materials”, your accent will persist.

Perhaps you want to improve your public presentation skills. Proficient public speakers use very specific tonal cues to help listeners know how their statements are related. We will make sure you are ready for public speaking engagements–learn a system for preparing your speeches that will help your audience follow your spoken message.

Interested in getting private lessons?

Working one-to-one, we will diagnose your current pronunciation and intonation habits and challenges, define your goals, determine your skills and needs, and create a plan that guides your accent reduction practice and leads you to a better sound in English. You will leave with a “toolkit” full of strategies you can use to continue your practice. Contact me for more information about a customized private English pronunciation course: peggy@AmericanPronunciationCoach.com

And…check out my digital edition pronunciation guide.

It’s available on Amazon websites for Japanese students of English and their teachers, tutors and coaches. Your purchase gains you access to a private webpage with lots of recordings for you to shadow and practice.