I learned Korean before I learned Japanese so I tend to use a Korean way of speaking when I use Japanese and listening to natives speaking Japanese makes me realize how differently I speak. So how do I fix this?
I think it might be possible to not have an accent. Although you’d have to practice ALOT if I had to assume
My brief suggestion (I’ll think of more later) is to pronounce ウ as 으. So く would be like 크. With consonants, keep in mind that Japanese consonants are differentiated between voiced/unvoiced (like English), whereas Korean consonants are differentiated between aspirated/unaspirated and tense. Leverage your English consonants, but leverage that Korean 으 and you’ll be pretty close to being there, imho.
Btw, just like how 아이스크림 uses 으, Japanese uses ウ: アイスクリーム is kind of like 아이스크리ー므. (Vowel length is important in Japanese in a way that it’s not in Korean, so keep that in mind.)
Listen more and try shadowing with a focus on accent.
Shadowing, recording yourself and having someone correct your pronunciation.
u/mandrosa has a good comment to address mispronunciation.
I also spoke Korean before learning Japanese, my main issue was that all my intonation was based on Korean. It’s also common in Korean learners of Japanese. There’s no easy fix for that I’m afraid, just have to pay attention when listening to native speakers and imitating their tone.
Read something on Japanese phonology, like not whatever is given in a textbook, where they don’t even explain how “t” in English is different from “t” in Japanese, but an actual book, or at the very least in Wikipedia. Also would be great to know your native language’s phonology, as in understanding what sounds exist in your language and their properties.
Then compare what sounds are different and practice them.
That’s the fast but tedious method. The easy method would be shadowing or even just listening and immersing at all, but it could take a long while for you to get substantial results that way.
6 comments
I think it might be possible to not have an accent. Although you’d have to practice ALOT if I had to assume
My brief suggestion (I’ll think of more later) is to pronounce ウ as 으. So く would be like 크. With consonants, keep in mind that Japanese consonants are differentiated between voiced/unvoiced (like English), whereas Korean consonants are differentiated between aspirated/unaspirated and tense. Leverage your English consonants, but leverage that Korean 으 and you’ll be pretty close to being there, imho.
Btw, just like how 아이스크림 uses 으, Japanese uses ウ: アイスクリーム is kind of like 아이스크리ー므. (Vowel length is important in Japanese in a way that it’s not in Korean, so keep that in mind.)
Edit: Lastly, take a look at this: https://youtu.be/c9OArpr2A78
Listen more and try shadowing with a focus on accent.
Shadowing, recording yourself and having someone correct your pronunciation.
u/mandrosa has a good comment to address mispronunciation.
I also spoke Korean before learning Japanese, my main issue was that all my intonation was based on Korean. It’s also common in Korean learners of Japanese. There’s no easy fix for that I’m afraid, just have to pay attention when listening to native speakers and imitating their tone.
Read something on Japanese phonology, like not whatever is given in a textbook, where they don’t even explain how “t” in English is different from “t” in Japanese, but an actual book, or at the very least in Wikipedia. Also would be great to know your native language’s phonology, as in understanding what sounds exist in your language and their properties.
Then compare what sounds are different and practice them.
That’s the fast but tedious method. The easy method would be shadowing or even just listening and immersing at all, but it could take a long while for you to get substantial results that way.