Speaking with an accent 也談口音

When we speak a language, it is almost certain that we have an accent. If English is not our first language, it is likely that we speak English with an accent of our first language.

In my case, it is always Cantonese-accented English. Wherever I go, when I strike up a conversation with English native speakers, they always ask me if I come from Hong Kong. I would then explain that I am a Malaysian and speak Cantonese as my first language.

When I teach English conversation to Chinese-speaking learners, I can tell that many of them speak a Mandarin-accented English. Does that really matter? The answer is no. Not at all. And Japanese speak with Nihongo-accented English. Does it matter? Certainly not.

Thais speak Thai-accented English, and Koreans speak Korean-accented English. This is very natural and I am glad to have them practise English speaking with me because I know they come from a culture and I enjoyed guiding them so that they tell me the stories of their culture in English.

I pay more attention to the flair of speaking English. Always speak and express yourself naturally. We are who we are. Yes we can improve pronunciation, but we are still who we are. So long as our expression is understandable, such as speaking in received pronunciation (RP), having an accent doesn’t matter at all.

我們說一個語言的時候必然有一個口音。若英語不是第一語言，大概我們說英語的時候也會帶有第一語言的口音。

我通常是粵語腔調的英文。通常我出國碰到英語母語人士，大家開始聊天起來他們常常問我是不是香港人。我解釋說我是以粵語為第一語言的馬來西亞人。

若是華語母語人士，從他們的英語會話我聽得出來那是有華語腔調的英語。我們需要介意這事情嗎？其實不需要。根本沒必要介意。日本人通常說著日語腔調的英語。需要介意嗎？當然不需要。

泰國人說著泰語腔調的英語，韓國人說著韓語腔調的英語。這本來就是很自然的事。我也歡心欣賞他們的英語會話，因為我清楚知道他們的文化背景，而我也蠻喜歡引導他們以英語跟我分享更多關於他們文化的故事。

我比較注重說英語的流暢度。時時自然而然地表達想法，我們就是我們自己。我們當然可以改善發音，但我們依舊是我們自己。祇要我們的口語表達容易讓人明白，例如緊跟標準英音　received pronunciation (RP)，有口音其實不是問題。