Does your accent matter?
嗨 from sunny Taiwan!
Quick update.
For the past couple of months, I’ve been helping a small group of learners improve their speaking and it’s given me so many new insights and ideas on how to help you.
I don’t want to keep them a secret so I thought I could start sending you a daily email insight so that you can get conversational in Chinese faster.
You don’t need to do anything. Just a heads-up if you see more emails from me :).
Back to our regular scheduled program.
The other day I was having lunch at a local restaurant in Taiwan and when I went to pay the bill the waiter asked me: “Are you a foreigner?”
I used to get offended by this question.
I just wanted to sound like a native speaker.
But then I realized this is the wrong way to think about it.
Accents are normal.
I’ve been speaking English for over 2 decades. Of course it’s going to influence my accent in Chinese!
It would be weird if I magically had a native Chinese accent after all those years of speaking English.
Unfortunately, there is often a desire to sound perfectly “native” amongst language learners.
And if you sound extra “perfect”, perhaps you can “shock” native speakers like so many popular YouTube videos depict.
But this is a dangerous illusion.
Because curated YouTube reactions are precisely that, curated…for entertainment.
Let’s not confuse entertainment with reality.
These videos don’t capture what happens in many interactions.
No shocking expressions.
No loud compliments.
It’s often a simple exchange or normal conversation.
That’s interesting enough for me.
The problem with having lofty expectations of having perfect accents is this: if and when it doesn’t happen (most of the time), you will feel like sh*t.
You feel like there’s something wrong with you.
You feel like you’re not good enough and you lose motivation to continue.
It’s happened to me too many times.
I don’t want to play that game.
I’m not a native Chinese speaker and I don’t want to pretend to be.
That’s a false goal.
"Do you know what a foreign accent is? It's a sign of bravery."
Amy Chua, Yale Law Professor
Now take pride in my foreign accent. Because it’s uniquely mine.
This is why I focus on being conversational and building meaningful relationships. It’s way more fun and rewarding.
In June I'll help 9 learners get conversational so you can talk to Chinese speakers about what you like.
I’ll help you develop your study plan 1-on-1 so you get conversational faster as a bonus for the first 9 people that join Chinese Speakers, the new community I'll launch.
I’ve made it easy to start for just $100/week.
I can only handle 9 learners.
Doors open on June 3rd.
(Doors close at 9 spots or June 3rd. Whichever comes first.)
But if you don't want to risk your spot, reply "spot" and I'll ping you on June 1.
加油，
Danyo