Why Do We Have Accent?

Traveling abroad we become more conscious about different accents. But why do they exist? You can read it in my other blog, which is related to language learning.

Learning Languages with Elena

A very distinctive part of non-native speakers’ speech is accent. You probably heard a foreign person speaking your native language and struggling to pronounce some sounds correctly. The same occurs to us when we speak a foreign language.

Accent is something that distinguishes native-speakers from non-native. But why do we have an accent? We are born with the ability to pronounce any sound; however, our mother tongue ‘filters off’ the sounds which it doesn’t contain. This means that after 6 years old, our ability to learn other sounds (ones which are absent from the own language) is declining. Thus, we end up having accent in a foreign language in adulthood.

The accent is shaped by the peciliarities of the mother tongue, and the level of accent varies depending on the language we learn. What does this mean? Here is example: I am Russian, and I noticeably will have accent speaking…

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2 Language Learning Myths

Here is the start! Two contradictory misconceptions on language learning.

Learning Languages with Elena

Today I will discuss the 2 misconceptions on language learning that I hear frequently.

1. “Languages are not for me”. I met many people repeating this phrase over and over again. Wrong! Languages are for you, for me , and for anyone else. The “not for me” misconception is usually based on:

• Self-belief, which affects all our activities. “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t – you’re right.” -Henry Ford.
• Lack of desire to commit or simply lack of motivation.
• Unappropriated learning strategies. We have our unique way to learn, what works for one person, may not be suitable for another.

2. “There are magic tools, which will make me speak the language within a week”. There are definitely tools and practices, which assist our learning immensely. However, the main aspect is still COMMITMENT. You do need to make an effort to acquire vocabulary and understand the…

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New Blog

Hello! I have briefly introduced my career path in one of the posts. Now I am starting the second blog, which name is 'Learning Languages with Elena'. The blog is about foreign language learning, where I cope with stereotypes about the learning process and introduce practices, which can be useful for a language learner. I…

Back to Portugal! ❤

I am finally back to my favourite country! It took me so long to get here again, a lot or paper work, stress, and planning, but it is worth every second spent! This time I didn't come as a tourist, I organized the PhD exchange for 2 months. As my home university does not have…

The Portuguese Language

I decided to make a separate post on the Portuguese language. Being a linguist, I am very curious about any language I was exposed to in one way or another. Language is not only the way to communicate, language refrects the culture and how people think. Elaborating on the language is my favourite approach to…