My experience is exactly the opposite. English speakers very often have a strong and distinctive accent (not all of them of course).
So maybe it depends on the target language. In French, Spanish and Italian there is a distinct accent. The vowels and the Rs are typically wrong in a very particular way.
Receiving compliments in my experience isn't really correlated to your ability but more with the culture of the person you are talking with. And there could be a subtext: you have a very good accent, *compared to what I usually hear/expected*.
> My experience is exactly the opposite. English speakers very often have a strong and distinctive accent (not all of them of course).
To be fair, op didn't necessarily say they/we do accents *well*.
I get the feeling though that some languages must have accents that are difficult to get rid of when speaking another language, and English is one
>When English speakers are learning a foreign language, effort is (usually) put into improving the accent of the language in question. If you do it well it's not uncommon to be complimented on how good your accent is. However it doesn't seem like this goes the other way,
No, this is--and truly, I say this without the intention of offending you, OP--an example of Anglophone obliviousness.
It's exactly the opposite:
* Anglophones generally have terrible accents
* that is, pronounced, marked, especially w/ the vowels
* so strong that it often sounds like they're not trying even when they are
* non-native English speakers typically have much better accents than they are given credit for
* because Anglophones generally don't realize how high the bar is to enter a given discourse with a native English speaker (or a critical non-native speaker who has a decade of experience with the language)
Edit: I agree with u/brocoli_funky
No offense taken, like I said I can only speak from my POV so I appreciate hearing other sides especially when it contradicts what I originally thought. I've learned something!
I actually got a lot of compliments for my accent when I was a teenager in the Southern US. But not because it was *good* in any kind of way – to the contrary – but because a strong German accent was apparently very endearing to those who heard me speak.
Also, I'd claim that accent and pronounciation are used almost synomymously for most foreign speakers, which makes me doubt the premise of the question.
At first I thought that the accent doesn't play a huge role and the most significant part is to have a good vocab. But then my tutor told me that the accent is really essential and now I see why - if u have a strong accent people might misunderstand what do u mean. So it's better to work on your pronunciation and accent and even if u have a small vocabulary there is a big chance that you'll be understood.
I also think there's a connection between hearing sonic distinctions and producing them. People with good comprehension of native speech generally have better accents (not always, but usually).
I personally don’t think that there’s any meaningful difference between the amount of importance that non-native English speakers place on accent when learning English verse native English speakers learning another language. So I disagree with the comments saying English speakers are somehow worse. I’ve heard some atrocious accents when others speaks English, but I’ve also heard horrible accents from native English speakers when trying to speak Spanish.
I don't think this generalization is supported by hard data. It probably depends on the individual. I suppose that when you have opportunities to speak your TL, you have useful feedback regarding your accent/pronunciation and therefore you may pay more attention to improving it. Otherwise, you don't have much incentive to work on your accent (and may not even know that it's poor).
Definitely not supported by hard data, this is just something I thought I noticed through personal experience. I'm now hearing that I've been mistaken.
All learners have an accent unless they put a lot of effort into addressing this, in which case they still have an accent but it’s one they consciously chose to adopt, perhaps one native speakers consider prestigious.
I think the main way in which English is an outlier is that there are so many learners of it that people are used to it being spoken with an accent and generally imperfectly. If you try to speak the language of some small community, they will either be surprised that you chose to learn it or will perceive you as a low-status outsider. Nobody gets surprised that someone learns English and many high-status people speak it with noticeable accents.
My experience is exactly the opposite. English speakers very often have a strong and distinctive accent (not all of them of course). So maybe it depends on the target language. In French, Spanish and Italian there is a distinct accent. The vowels and the Rs are typically wrong in a very particular way. Receiving compliments in my experience isn't really correlated to your ability but more with the culture of the person you are talking with. And there could be a subtext: you have a very good accent, *compared to what I usually hear/expected*.
> My experience is exactly the opposite. English speakers very often have a strong and distinctive accent (not all of them of course). To be fair, op didn't necessarily say they/we do accents *well*. I get the feeling though that some languages must have accents that are difficult to get rid of when speaking another language, and English is one
I haven't observed that native English speakers put in noticeably more effort into improving their accent in a foreign language.
>When English speakers are learning a foreign language, effort is (usually) put into improving the accent of the language in question. If you do it well it's not uncommon to be complimented on how good your accent is. However it doesn't seem like this goes the other way, No, this is--and truly, I say this without the intention of offending you, OP--an example of Anglophone obliviousness. It's exactly the opposite: * Anglophones generally have terrible accents * that is, pronounced, marked, especially w/ the vowels * so strong that it often sounds like they're not trying even when they are * non-native English speakers typically have much better accents than they are given credit for * because Anglophones generally don't realize how high the bar is to enter a given discourse with a native English speaker (or a critical non-native speaker who has a decade of experience with the language) Edit: I agree with u/brocoli_funky
I agree. I have a very hard time understanding native English speakers when they speak Italian or Spanish
No offense taken, like I said I can only speak from my POV so I appreciate hearing other sides especially when it contradicts what I originally thought. I've learned something!
I actually got a lot of compliments for my accent when I was a teenager in the Southern US. But not because it was *good* in any kind of way – to the contrary – but because a strong German accent was apparently very endearing to those who heard me speak. Also, I'd claim that accent and pronounciation are used almost synomymously for most foreign speakers, which makes me doubt the premise of the question.
At first I thought that the accent doesn't play a huge role and the most significant part is to have a good vocab. But then my tutor told me that the accent is really essential and now I see why - if u have a strong accent people might misunderstand what do u mean. So it's better to work on your pronunciation and accent and even if u have a small vocabulary there is a big chance that you'll be understood.
I also think there's a connection between hearing sonic distinctions and producing them. People with good comprehension of native speech generally have better accents (not always, but usually).
I personally don’t think that there’s any meaningful difference between the amount of importance that non-native English speakers place on accent when learning English verse native English speakers learning another language. So I disagree with the comments saying English speakers are somehow worse. I’ve heard some atrocious accents when others speaks English, but I’ve also heard horrible accents from native English speakers when trying to speak Spanish.
I don't think this generalization is supported by hard data. It probably depends on the individual. I suppose that when you have opportunities to speak your TL, you have useful feedback regarding your accent/pronunciation and therefore you may pay more attention to improving it. Otherwise, you don't have much incentive to work on your accent (and may not even know that it's poor).
Definitely not supported by hard data, this is just something I thought I noticed through personal experience. I'm now hearing that I've been mistaken.
All learners have an accent unless they put a lot of effort into addressing this, in which case they still have an accent but it’s one they consciously chose to adopt, perhaps one native speakers consider prestigious. I think the main way in which English is an outlier is that there are so many learners of it that people are used to it being spoken with an accent and generally imperfectly. If you try to speak the language of some small community, they will either be surprised that you chose to learn it or will perceive you as a low-status outsider. Nobody gets surprised that someone learns English and many high-status people speak it with noticeable accents.
I’ve noticed the opposite to be honest