How to attain a native-like accent?

I know it's almost impossible for adults to learn a foreign language with a native-like accent.

There must be some ways and secrets to attain a native-like accent though. (Kids learn a new language without an accent!!)

I'm beginning to learn Japanese and what can I do to improve my accent?
Can you give me some tips?

Adults can acheive a native-like accent in Japanese. Japanese TV showcases foreigners (like "Amazing Pets") who speak Japanese quite frequently.

There is a book called "Pronouncing it Perfectly in Japanese" that may interest you. It comes with recordings. There is also a discussion of accent in "Japanese For Everyone" that is very good. If you have a decent library and you live in the US, you may be able to look at them for free.

Alibris.com sells used and new books, tapes and often at a discount. I think they will send things overseas as well, but check first.

If you learn Japanese, I recommend that you learn the standard Tokyo accent. This is usually what is taught by teachers-but not ALWAYS!

If you plan to come to Japan and live in Osaka, you should ask J.C. here about Osaka-ben (the Osaka dialect). Another dialect is the Kyoto dialect.

Tokyo=standard (good for men and women)
Osaka=said to be a manly dialect
Kyoto=said to be a feminine-sounding dialect

J.C. knows more about regional accents that I do. People in Hokkaido seem to speak standard Japanese.

Have fun! Tanoshinde, ne.

Thanks K. T. But my question was for foreign languages in general - not particularly for Japanese.
Let's say if I wanted to learn French or Russian, how should I practice to get a native-like accent?

P.S. I'm not a US resident and my first language is Korean. I'm not sure if that helps me learn Japanese accent-wise. (grammar-wise, it helps A LOT!)

"Adults can acheive a native-like accent in Japanese. Japanese TV showcases foreigners (like "Amazing Pets") who speak Japanese quite frequently."

Wow, you really watched TV in Japan!! The so called "tarento" (From English "Talent" foreigners are considered like that just because they are Japanese-speaking Pets so I would REFUSE to appear on TV just so that people laugh at my Japanese (actually people stopped laughing when I learned Osaka-ben ;)

I don't know the book that K.T. suggested but I believe that "Aural Comprehension in Japanese" is an excellent book for a student who wants to SOUND LIKE A JAPANESE and speak convincingly in Standard Japanese. Too bad I came to Osaka and forgot everything I learned with this book...

"If you learn Japanese, I recommend that you learn the standard Tokyo accent. This is usually what is taught by teachers-but not ALWAYS!"

This is a very good advice!!! Unless you can learn a local language WELL and, most importantly, switch back to STANDARD JAPANESE whenever necessary I wouldn't suggest trying to learn dialects because that will rule out any possibility of getting a job for using Japanese.



"If you plan to come to Japan and live in Osaka, you should ask J.C. here about Osaka-ben (the Osaka dialect). Another dialect is the Kyoto dialect."

Osakaben is the only thing I speak now :)
There are some good books for studying it:

Colloquial Kansai Japanese:
http://www.amazon.com/Colloquial-Kansai-Japanese-Dialects-Language/dp/0804837236

Kansai Japanese:
http://www.amazon.com/Kansai-Japanese-Language-Osaka-Western/dp/0804818681/ref=pd_sim_b_12

They are a good introduction to understand Kansai Japanese but deal rather with an older and more traditional Kansai Japanese. It's a little different from what young people study. But only learn it if you intend to live in Kansai. It's considered rude by people from other regions (I don't care!!!). It's like someone from New York talking in California...

"Tokyo=standard (good for men and women)
Osaka=said to be a manly dialect
Kyoto=said to be a feminine-sounding dialect"

Other than Standard Japanese I would learn either Osakaben or Kyotoben because these dialects are understood throughout Japan.

"J.C. knows more about regional accents that I do. People in Hokkaido seem to speak standard Japanese."

During my graduate studies I had the opportunity to partake in dialect research and helped describing dialects in Kyushu (Nagasaki and Kumamoto), Tokushima (Close to Kansai dialect) and Akita (Northeast dialect). Because of that I studied a little about the grammar and phonology of these dialects, which helped me improve the understanding of most dialects spoken in Japan (Okinawa has a different group of dialects from which I studied the language spoken in Shuri, former capital of the Ryukyu kingdom). However, I have no idea of what people are talking about when I hear Tsugaru-ben (津軽弁), spoken in Aomori and kagoshima-ben (鹿児島弁) from Kagoshima prefecture. The interesting thing is that Tsugaru-ben is spoken in the Northeast (tohoku) part of Japan but it totally different from the adjacent dialects. The same can be said about Kagoshima-ben since Kagoshima is located in Kyushu but doesn't sound like Kyushu dialects.

When I went to Hokkaido in 2000 I felt the language is totally different from Tohoku and quite standard. But I believe they have some tohoku-ben influence as far as vocabulary is concerned.

I found some interesting examples of tsugaru-ben and kagoshima-ben:

tsugaru-ben:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89NkrQnD7ZI

kagoshima-ben:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soePsr0JdCk

きばいやんせ！　（ganbatte in kagoshima-ben)

I don't agree when you say you "know" it's almost impossible for an adult to attain a native-like accent. It all depends on your learning ability. I myself (while a young adult) have been complimented on my Spanish accent. It's not the best in the world, but it's close to native.

You just have to have a lot of native speakers of the language you're learning to practice with. Here in the USA, it's not that difficult to find someone.

Accentless,

This may be of interest.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAmXcNhqH0w&feature=related


I don't have a perfect accent in every language I speak. I do have a "fool-the-natives" accent in some of the languages I speak which is enough for me. I always try to sound native and that's the way to study imo.

Hints:

A. Shadowing. Do you know about this already?
B. Ask for help. Since you are Korean, some people may be hesistant to correct you because of Korean culture, the concept of "face" etc. if you are an adult.
C. Pronounce it Perfectly Books. It doesn't matter that you speak Korean, the examples will be in your target language.

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Ganbatte or Kibaiyanse (from J.C) means "Do your best!" It's more appropriate than my "Have fun, you know!' Perhaps you have something similiar in Korean.

I was studying Korean, but got sidetracked early on. I noticed the grammar was similar to Japanese.

So what languages are you interested in learning besides Japanese?

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Interesting stuff from you always, J.C., thanks for sharing.
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Jake,
You are right. Some people can get a native-like accent? Is your accent
Mexican? Cuban?

K.T., Argentine. But then again, some of my friends are Argentines so that's helpful.

I say don't bother getting a perfect accent. It's a pointless goal. You're not even a native speaker so in some sense you aren't actually entitled to a native accent. It's like a man who changes sex; that is rather repugnant and that man should just get on with it and accept he is a man and is not actually entitled to be a woman. Getting a perfect accent is an affliction to the mind, it deadens your brain and makes you obsess over useless things. When I meet a foreigner with a perfect accent I am actually disgusted, in the same way I would be disgusted with someone whose hobby were collecting apple stickers. They're mindless tards with too much time on their hands.
You should use your spare time for doing something constructive like drinking and smoking. Constructive for society that is, people with mindless hobbies are superfluous and need to be extricated from society (myself included, so rebuttals in that vein are futile).

@ a demotivator
I believe it's always good to have a better accent.

@ K.T.
A. Could you tell me more about shadowing? I don't know what that is exactly.

B. Koreans are obssesed with native-like accents so people would be willing to help me, I guess.

C. You mean should I pronounce as the textbook suggests?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdheWK7u11w&feature=channel

The video above is about shadowing according to Alexander Arguelles.
He also has a website where he discusses this at length.

AA believes that with shadowing he sounds better in Mandarin.

You can also ask Jasper in the English language forum at Antimoon about shadowing. Jasper has used this in English.

I don't shadow like AA does and I don't shadow all the time.

I listen first. If I can't master the new phrase in another language on first or second hearing, I "shadow" it. I listen and I may mouth the words silently as I hear it. Then I will try to speak the new phrase at the same time as the speaker with the eventual goal of speaking the whole phrase at the same time and same speed as the speaker. This usually takes three or four times for me.

Important: Note intonation, pitch changes, accent, and pauses.

These are real secrets to sounding native if you are not quite a mimic. You NOTICE everything. You can shadow with recordings or videos using the pause function (internet TV).

Listening to the language that you want to learn in the background works for some people.

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K.T., Argentine. But then again, some of my friends are Argentines so that's helpful.

That's great. The Argentinian accent was the first one that I could understand well.
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Wow! The Demotivator in this thread. Not just for the English forumers anymore!
The Demotivator motivates me even more!
Let's all sing it!

The Demotivator
comes to our thread,
and he tells us
that we should drop dead,
or give up English
for smoking instead-
The demotivator. Da Da DA!

Learn Finnish!
What a fool!
Only Finns can learn it
and only at school!

A perfect accent?
Whadda you?
A spy?
Take up strong drink and early die!

The demotivator. Da Da DA!

This is a joke reply. Do not take up smoking and drinking. Whether you take up Finnish is up to you.