This is 
a subject that comes up from time to time. I recently had the following question:
Do you think people who didn’t get fluent just through listening can fix/”remove” their accent? Or will they have it forever?
Here is my answer:
I think we need a little perspective here.
American universities attract the best minds from all over the world to teach there. Nearly all of them, unless they came very young, speak English with an accent that indicates where they came from. Nobody cares about this or thinks any the less of them for it.
Speaking a language learned beyond infancy with no accent is unusual. It can be done, but the question to ask is: is there actually any good reason to do it, or would the effort be better spent on something more useful?
The answer is different in different cases. If you want to be a voice actor in Japan, for example, it is very important. If you want to impress people – well, it will certainly impress native speakers for a few days after you first meet them*. Non-native speakers mostly won’t be able to hear the difference.
But apart from certain occupations where it is critical, it really is little more than a party trick.
There are certain internet personalities who appear to regard learning Japanese as a kind of testosterone-driven spitting contest, who will say that you “suck” if you can’t talk without an accent.
Presumably they think Einstein “sucked” because his English was always accented.
You may find that your own priorities are a little more grown-up.
To my processor, Einstein had the ability to communicate what he wanted to communicate in English (and that was by no means simple). That is what language is for.
It is a means of communication, not a competitive sport.
Polish-born Josef Conrad, whose command of English was so good that he is considered to be one of the great novelists of English literary history, spoke with a strong Polish accent all his life. I don’t suppose the matter was of the smallest concern to him or to anyone he knew.
To be clear, if speaking without an accent is a challenge you want to undertake, I have no criticism whatever. Humans do all kinds of things – climb mountains, sail oceans in a tub. All of it is admirable and if that seems like a good use of your time absolutely go for it.
All I suggest is that you make your own assessment of whether this is in fact an important goal and not take too much notice of people who suggest that it is a necessary component of becoming proficient at Japanese. It isn’t.
However, to answer your question. Should you at any point decide to try to eliminate all trace of non-native accent, you can do so if 1) your ear is good enough and 2) you want to devote the time and effort to doing it.
Learning by pure listening would give you a head start. But without real (24/7) immersion that is not very easy unless you have a special talent for that kind of learning. Some people do. Most people don’t. It isn’t a sign of general intelligence, just a facility some people have – like being able to bend their pinky backwards.
PS – to clarify – obviously you want to be able to enunciate clearly and correctly enough to be easily understood. That is a very different matter from eliminating all accent.
Japanese people usually tell me that I am easy to understand – and prove it by understanding me the first time, despite the fact that I think I have a pretty strong accent (I suspect that my Japanese sounds notably weirder than my English). They also tell me that they have trouble understanding most foreigners.
Pronunciation is not unimportant and there are a number of things that are crucial. I think one of the commonest problems is failing to sufficiently distinguish single from double vowels and failing to pronounce the small っ break (or putting it in where it doesn’t exist). I have had trouble understanding foreigners myself for this kind of reason.
So please understand that I am not arguing against accurate pronunciation. I am suggesting that the much bigger task of eliminating all accent should be considered on its merits in each individual case, and in most cases is unnecessary.
_______
This article first appeared on my Patreon feed and patron Kamui-sama commented:
There is so much else I have to learn and understand first before I will worry about my accent. Besides, accents usually are charming and I like hearing them.
This I think is very true.
When I used to do language exchange I had more than one Japanese lady with the cutest accent saying (in English) “how do I lose my accent?” And privately I was thinking “What would you want to do that for? I hope you don’t lose it!”
This experience did influence me, as I realized that it was probably the same the other way around.
___
* It won’t impress strangers in Japan because they will probably assume that you were born there or lived there as a child – they will be more impressed by excellent but accented Japanese.
Very well said. I agree with you that having an accent should be of no real concern as long as you can make yourself understood.
So I’m also curious what your opinion is on the current obsession many Japanese learners have with pitch-accent. This was rarely mentioned years ago when I first started learning the language but now seems to be something that needs to be learned for every word (or at least I’ve read things who make it sound that way).
My own opinion is that it’s far less important to intelligibility than long/short vowels and っ being pronounced correctly. And in my experience even many Japanese people seem less sure of how to analyze pitch accent than English speakers would be on which syllable to emphasize in an English word. Which leads me to believe that it’s a relatively minor point in the grand scheme of mastering the language.
I would say that the emphasis (no pun intended) on pitch accent is a part of the same phenomenon as wanting to speak with no accent – since that is really the only value of learning it.
Pitch accent varies across Japan with different regions having different pitch patterns and even in some cases different generations having different pitch patterns (young people in Tokyo for example tend to have some pitch-accent variations from older people).
In practical terms this means that:
a) Japanese people can understand the same words with a variety of pitch patterns, so pitch accent has very little effect on intelligibility.
b) Since each region has its own pitch pattern, native Japanese speakers will be consistent in their use of them – i.e. few native speakers will use Tokyo pitch pattern for one sentence and Oosaka pitch pattern for the next.
This means that a non-native speaker who does not have a consistent pitch-pattern will sound like a non-native speaker (which in most cases she will in any case).
If one’s aim is to lose all trace of non-native accent then pitch accent is vital. Otherwise it serves very little purpose.
PS My apologies for the slow reply.
No apologies necessary. I’m sure even advanced androids need to recharge their batteries occasionally.
Very useful and interesting. Thank you
An interesting and positive take– We have had friends who have learnt English from teachers in Japan who had the same sort of thought process. And, of course, we don’t have a difficult time understanding them, at all, but they have said that many people in English speaking countries who don’t have any experience with Japanese accented English as transcribed from katakana have issues understanding them, rendering a lot of the English they learned useless, also leaving them unable to understand any native English accents. So, just always best to be careful out there~!
At the end of the day, it’s just lovely to see people interested in learning Japanese; and learning, expanding your mind, and communicating is most important, but… it seems a bit careless not to have at least some focus on trying ones best to learn pronunciation. Otherwise, it really can make understanding as well as communicating a bit difficult. Many English accented Japanese words come off as nonsense to Japanese speakers such as words like karate when pronounced ‘krr-ah-dee’. Japanese has so many important pronunciations that are important in both understanding and communicating, and again, it makes the whole language much easier as a whole when focusing on native pronunciation. Unless, you’re just looking to dabble in Japanese, in which case, no worries, it’s fine just to get enough to function if that’s your goal~! (^ω^)
Anyway! Reach for the stars, everyone! We wish the best of luck to anyone studying Japanese! For those looking to become fluent, it’s possible and worth it to start out learning proper pronunciation as well as working to improve it.
頑張ってね☆彡
♡Kiki+Koko
I agree with you 100%. That is why the article ends like this (did you read that far?):
Pronunciation is not unimportant and there are a number of things that are crucial. I think one of the commonest problems is failing to sufficiently distinguish single from double vowels and failing to pronounce the small っ break (or putting it in where it doesn’t exist). I have had trouble understanding foreigners myself for this kind of reason.
So please understand that I am not arguing against accurate pronunciation. I am suggesting that the much bigger task of eliminating all accent should be considered on its merits in each individual case, and in most cases is unnecessary.