My interview with a French accent coach
A couple of weeks ago I was interviewed by Gaëlle, an accent reduction coach for the French language. This was a fun experience for me and it was great talking to another one in my industry especially since I don’t have any coworkers!
In addition, since we’re all in the same industry I loved being able to see what it’s like for other language educators, especially accent coaches. We’re all here not to help our students achieve their linguistic goals so we should definitely get together and do this more often.
So if you have some time, you can take a look at my interview below. There are chapter breaks you can skip to in the YouTube video with the topic and questions discussed listed.
Some of these include:
How I got started teaching (15:56)
How does my coaching help students? (19:47)
How important are intonation and pitch, and what are they? (26:26)
How do I prepare my classes and course structure? (36:15)
Who should have accent training with me? (43:52)
How do I adapt to different students’ backgrounds? (50:09)
Transcript
(I got someone to help me transcribe this so some items might not be completely transcribed correctly. You have to start at 1:28 because it took me a while to join the video call.)
Gaëlle (0:02)
Okay, hello, everybody. Second try because we had some glitches, apparently. (Inaudible) I’m not sure how to pronounce it, maybe he’ll tell me, Adrian from the USA. I think he’s in Europe, Central Europe right now. And he’s a linguist, and an accent coach. So, let’s see if this time he manages to see my invitation. So, in the meantime, I’m going to tell you a little bit about what I do. I’m also an accent coach, but in French for French, and Adrian is an accent coach for English. So, that’s what we are going to talk about today. So, I think now he’s joining us. Okay, it has been a few times that he has been sending me requests, and I’ve been sending him requests, and then we are accepting each other’s requests. (Inaudible). Now you hear.
Adrian (1:28)
Yes, of course.
Gaëlle (1:28)
Hello. Nice, working great. How are you?
Adrian (1:33)
Good. Good. How are you? Are you better?
Gaëlle (1:37)
Yes. So, I was just telling in the first live, and we studied again that my voice is a little bit hoarse today, but I’m much better. Because I’m in video right now. And these this kind of flu going around. And so, everybody where I am, caught it. We all credit at the same time, and not much better. And where are you right now?
Adrian (1:58)
Right now? I’m in Zagreb, in Croatia. So, I’m in Central Europe actually,
Gaëlle (2:03)
Yes, yes. So it’s the same time as in Paris, actually.
Adrian (2:07)
Yeah.
Gaëlle (2:09)
Yes, yes. So can you tell us actually how you ended up there in Croatia?
Adrian (2:15)
So, well, I have been living in Central Europe for the past six months, actually. I like it here. I left. I was in Hong Kong during the pandemic I was, I went back from New York to Hong Kong to attend a wedding, which got canceled because of the pandemic. And then I got stuck there for a year and a half. And then I left Hong Kong and just ended up in Central Europe, just because I like the area. It’s a nice place. I’ve been in Poland, Hungary and in Croatia. So, I kind of moved back and forth between those three countries. Yeah.
Gaëlle (2:54)
Okay, and how did you hear the first time about this area of Europe that you end up liking?
Adrian (3:01)
So, it was actually a couple of years ago, I think. I just wanted to travel in Europe for a bit I actually just had quit my job as I was previously working as a designer, but I always had, like a background in linguistics. And we’ll get to that in a second on one of the questions. I think that it’s about how I got started. But, um, how did I hear about that part of Europe was just, I had been learning. I had always been interested in Slavic languages. And so I actually spent I decided to spend some time in Poland and then Croatian is also started language and now I’m learning Croatian, and yeah, I’m learning Croatian polish, and Russian right now. So, I kind of things where I have interested in language.
Gaëlle (3:52)
I was actually in Poland in November or October. In October, I was in Poland. I was there many times and especially in the south in Katowice.
Adrian (4:06)
Okay, Katowice. Okay. I lived in Cracow for like, now about eight months, actually, until.
Gaëlle (4:11)
Yes, it’s a very beautiful city.
Adrian (4:14)
Yeah. What are you doing in Katowice?
Gaëlle (4:16)
Yes. I’m actually also a Brazilian teacher. And that’s why I’m in Leo, because I came here for the dance the first time. And actually, they have an amazing scene in Poland, and I think in Eastern Europe in general, they are really amazing at Brazilians. They are very good dancers in general.
Adrian (4:39)
I didn’t know about that actually.
Gaëlle (4:41)
Some people say that they are better than Western countries.
Adrian (4:47)
Interesting. I’ve actually never heard of Brazilian Zouk. I’ve heard of Zumba and like other like, Bachata and those are popular. Bachata seems very popular in Croatia and it’s also quite popular in Poland, I think.
Gaëlle (5:00)
Yeah.
Adrian (5:00)
A lot of these latin dances are popular.
Gaëlle (5:03)
Assassin Bachata in general, they tend to be more well known, but actually the Bachata you see nowadays is really, it’s really been transformed from what it used to be. And actually, they’ve been very inspired by Brazilians. So, a lot of things that you’ll see nine Bachata or Bachata essential as they call it is actually from Brazilian Zouk. All the body waves, all the body movements. It’s all from Zouk, Brazilian Zouk.
Adrian (5:30)
Okay, is that Z-O-U-K?
Gaëlle (5:33)
That’s it. Yes.
Adrian (5:34)
Okay.
Gaëlle (5:35)
Actually.
Adrian (5:36)
I’ve seen it written before. Yeah.
Gaëlle (5:38)
Some people, especially in France, confuse it with like Creole Zouk, or like the zouk that they have in some French speaking islands. But it’s actually not the same thing at all. The only thing they have in common, at least that they used to have in common was the music because actually, it’s the Lambada as you know, Lambada.
Adrian (6:02)
Yes, I know that song. I just, I’m not very familiar with dance, actually. Although some types of dances but like, I’m not I wouldn’t call myself a dancer.
Gaëlle (6:11)
Yeah, yeah. So, usually people know this song. Yeah, and it’s Lambada. And actually, Brazilian’s look is Lambada, except that the music at some point was boycotted. And they had to use some other music, they started using zouk music, like picking the radio waves from the islands. And that’s how it all started.
Adrian (6:31)
Okay.
Gaëlle (6:32)
Yes. So let’s see. We start with a couple of questions, the one we had planned, and then we have some questions that people already asked on my profile. So, let’s get started with the main questions. Just in general, can you tell us a little bit more about your activity, so as a linguist or an accent coach.
Adrian (6:58)
Okay. Well, as a linguist, that just means I studied language, and not just languages, all that another meaning of linguist. I like to, for example, in linguistics, you got things like phonetics, where you say sounds, phonology where it’s also about sounds, but like how they interact, morphology, how words are put together, and syntax. So, I do that sort of stuff. My main focus is on sounds, phonology, phonetics, and also Dialectology. So like, how different dialects are different from each other. And I also just like, learning about the sound systems of different languages, which helps me teach my students as with regards to what I like my business, which is excellent coaching, I have two main types of things that teach which are pronunciation and accent reduction. And they’re kind of related but not exactly the same. I would say the pronunciation is kind of like, getting the basic sounds right to a degree, such that other people understand you, and you don’t have miscommunication, misunderstanding. So, getting it good enough that you can be understood. And then accent reduction is where you can already pronounce things quite well. But you want to sound more native and less foreign people will. You want people to not immediately tell that you’re not a native speaker. So, those are my two main things that I teach pronunciation, and then accent reduction. And with accent reduction is kind of like more of a something that comes after the pronunciation lessons. You have to have good enough pronunciation to go to accent reduction.
Gaëlle (8:41)
And that’s a very interesting distinction you just made actually, because so many people confuse the two. And I’ve seen sometimes on groups, people talking and saying that you shouldn’t have to change your accent, you should be accepted as you are. But it’s not about that. And also, there is a difference between being accepted for who you are, and still being able to communicate so pronunciation. And then people who want for various reasons to have a better accent, either for their personal fulfillment, or for work purposes or other reasons.
Adrian (9:15)
Yeah, I’ve actually had some, like, I know some people that are quite against, like this thing called accent reduction. You can also call it accent neutralization or accent modification. And I’m like, they’re like, it’s a part of me. You shouldn’t have to change it. I’m not and I don’t tell people like you have to change your accent. But there are people who do want to. They want to blend in or maybe it’s better for their work and they want to not, you know, like, present lots of English teachers that are not native speakers want to sound more native in order to like to be more respected, which is kind of unfortunate because like, actually nonnative speakers of English might actually teach English better. Like they have to learn the grammar. They had to go through the same thing. as other people that they teach, but yeah, I’m not like telling people oh, you need to fix your accents. I’m just helping them because they for whatever reason they want to do that. Yeah.
Gaëlle (10:13)
Yes, yes. And actually, I was just telling someone about that not long ago. Some people at least come to me, you’ve probably had people like that as well, sometimes, because for professional reasons they want to be you said more respected, there’s a bit of that, but just like taking more seriously. I’ve had also some parents who, and you’ve made a video about that parents, parents or parents. But who wanted to pass on, I guess, or transmit some of their fresh knowledge, but they still had a pretty basic level of French, but they wanted to get whatever basic level they could transmit? They wanted to get that, you know, to transmit that in a way that would sound natural. So, they wanted to get the sounds right, because they knew it was important for their children. So, I’ve had this kind of people as well. And then some people just for the fun of it. They love languages. I love languages. I know I love getting my pronunciation right. If I can in the languages I’m learning, sometimes it’s just for fun as well.
Adrian (11:21)
Yeah. Yeah, definitely. I love this thing as well. I was reading a book on Polish phonology over the like, last year. And it helped me like create lessons for my Polish, like students or Polish background. But I just like improving my Polish accent when I speak Polish as well. And things like, I think I also read a few articles on Russian pronunciation. And it’s just, it’s really interesting. These things are not taught in school, and you don’t need them at all like to be understood. But like, I want to sound more native, but one of these like little things, I can actually tell my Polish friends. I’m like, did you know that? Like, can you say this word can say this word? Did you notice that these sounds are like slightly different in these different contexts? And then they’re like, oh my god, I never noticed this. And it’s fun. I like it.
Gaëlle (12:15)
Yeah, I haven’t studied much of those languages. But I remember learning something about Russian and how they had this shhh sound, where for me, there’s only one shhh sound. For them, there was one song was a bit more the front and one was a bit more the back maybe like a shhh and shh or something like this?
Adrian (12:35)
Sh probably syh. but actually in Russian, like they have what’s called like, soft and hard sounds. And basically, every sound can be hard or soft. It’s like you got mm and mmyh, and bbb and bbyy. And they’re all like, what’s what’s called palatalized.
Gaëlle (12:53)
/You will tell me of course, it’s probably not that but it sounds like the only difference is adding some kind of like, y consonant like /j/
Adrian (13:01)
Yeah it’s palatalized. It’s palatalized. So, it’s not. I think it’s co-articulated, which means it’s pronounced at the same time. So, it’s not like vvvy. It’s like vy. You know, it’s like said the same time. So, your tongue goes up. as opposed to saying vj. And so, that’s kind of like, what I’ve noticed. I’m not exactly sure about this, because I haven’t read about it in the literature. But there’s a difference between Polish words for like, to me or me like mine and Russian, which is like меня, it’s the Yes, sound is at the same time. Whereas in Polish, it’s like it comes after. mnie versus меня. And so, yes, these little things I like to know this and like, this is how it helped. It helps me teach my students when I noticed (Inaudible) their languages and how it differs from English. Yeah.
Gaëlle (13:55)
Yeah, actually, that makes sense, why, especially Russian speakers when they come to me, for example, for French lessons, they really had a hard time to like, undo those two sounds and break them down, and they usually always add the year sound and a lot of vowel sounds. I guess you’ve noticed that as well in English then.
Adrian (14:16)
Yeah, actually, I’ve noticed this myself when I was learning to pronounce certain sounds in Croatian. And then my Croatian friend was like, why do you say like, it’s two sounds. It’s one sound. I was like, lijubiti. She was like, No, it’s ljubiti. And it’s like, oh, really, it’s one sound I didn’t notice that. And then that helped me understand how it functions like how it’s pronounced in the Croatian speaker’s mouth, and also relates that is one of my Russian accent students or accent students who speaks Russian, she sent me a video about like, how, like, this Russian YouTuber talking about how English speakers Do this. And that’s why you should do this as well, if you want to improve your accent, so it wasn’t that it was like a Russian YouTuber who teaches English accent. And like, they showed how the English speakers would kind of break apart the sounds and say them in sequence rather than together as it is in Russian. And so, these like, you take these different sources from different places, and it really tells you like how the sounds are created. It’s kind of like archaeology, I guess. Like you take like clues, and it helps understand the how things functioned in your subject matter, you know.
Gaëlle (15:39)
Yeah, yeah. Okay, very good. Can you tell me? So, I asked you this already a little bit at the beginning. But how did it all start? Actually, what made you want to start teaching, especially accent coaching?
Adrian (15:56)
Okay, so this is an interesting story. Well, I’ll start briefly at like, really beginning. So since I was a kid, I was always interested in languages. I grew up in the household. I was actually from Hong Kong, but my parents are both American. My dad is from actually, was born and grew up in the US. My mother, lived in Canada, some time and in the US as well, sometime. But her parents who also lived with us are from like Mainland China. And so actually at home, we spoke four languages. So we spoke English, we spoke Mandarin, Cantonese, and Shanghainese. So then those are three related Chinese languages. And they are, you know, they’re kind of, you know, the kind of similar to like, I guess, standard French and Occitan, I guess, and maybe like, like, to certain degree like Portuguese and Spanish, they’re all like really similar, but also quite different. And you can see the patterns. And so I was always interested in these sounds. And so then I decided, like I learned lots of languages was growing up as well, because I like languages, I learned French as my first foreign language, it was only one offered in school. And I learned Spanish and then I studied Japanese, and then I went to university for linguistics. And there, I studied phonetics and phonology as my main focus. And then after that, I graduated, but then I was like, okay, well, I don’t want to teach, like, I don’t want to teach linguistics. You know, I don’t want to, like, do research in the library all the time and stuff. And so I did design for a couple of years. And then, it wasn’t that fulfilling. And then I quit. And then I traveled Europe for a bit. And then I decided, okay, what should I do after that, and I decided to teach English for a bit, because a bunch of my friends have been doing that. And I’d like language. So, I did that. Originally, I was teaching just grammar and words, normal things like that. But then, as I was doing that, people saw on my profile, that I had a degree in linguistics, and they were like, you have a degree in linguistics. Can you help me with my accent? And I’m like, yeah, I can. And so, I helped the students with their accents. I wrote materials for that. And then that, like students started coming to me just for that. They told their friends, their friends told their friends, and they started, like coming to me. And pretty soon, like, basically all my classes, like right now, 95% of my classes are all accent introduction classes. And so that’s how it basically started. I actually had no idea that people wanted to pay me to help improve their accent. And I thought it was okay, why people don’t care about accent. I didn’t know about this. But I can do it. Because I love doing this stuff. And I know how to do it. I just didn’t know people cared. And so that’s how I asked to two three. Yeah, I think three years, I’ve been expanding this. I’ve been writing materials, making syllabi, specific classes for students of different linguistic backgrounds. I’m coming out with a video course as well next year. And so it’s quite exciting. I love this stuff. I just, it kind of was an accident, though. Yeah.
Gaëlle (19:16)
That’s amazing. Actually, it shows how much demand there is yet. And not enough people may be supplying yet.
Adrian (19:22)
Yeah. Yeah, I think it’s good for me because I love this stuff. So like, even in my free time I’m reading about this stuff. I’m trying to. I talk to people; I’m talking to my friends. And then they say something and I’m like, wait a second. This is useful for a class, I take my phone, and I typed it (Inaudible). It’s all in Google. Like I keep my stuff on Google Drive. So it’s easy to access. But yeah, I just love this stuff. So yeah.
Gaëlle (19:47)
Oh, yeah. Oh, great. And so Okay, next question. How does your coaching, you’ve done you a little bit already, but how does your coaching help your students to speak better and maybe get some better results?
Adrian (20:03)
Okay. So, I’ll answer this in two parts. The first part is with success stories and suppose. So, a lot of students come because of their job. For example, English teachers, I’ve got a lot of English teachers. I’ve got one of my very long-term students, I guess, over 10 months actually is a Ukrainian who teaches English, and she speaks very good English, her English is very good, but she wants to sound more native and she’s, she’s perfectionist. And also, she knows she teaches English, so it’s important for her as well. And so, at the beginning, you know, she had certain, like, she was very good, but you could tell Sure, she was, you know, Russian and Ukrainian speaker, non-native speaker, but I think women’s, like, she was already very advanced, but like six months in, she was telling me, people are starting to think that she’s actually like she has been, she told me she had been mis taken for like, for a native English speaker, like an American, maybe not from the same part of America as that American thought was from but she, she that that guy thought she was from, like, another part of America. And then, uh, you know, now more and more people think that she’s American. And she’s happy about that. She’s still taking classes because she really, She’s a perfectionist. I’ve got another student who’s a teacher who’s like, I think she’s got a Thai English teacher and another Singaporean English teacher, they’re the Singaporean English teacher. She’s a native speaker, but she speaks with a Singaporean accent, which is not a standard type of international type of English, but she’s native. So, um, she wants to sound. She wants to be able to switch to something more, like internationally recognized. And so, I helped her with that with her accent, and now she’s teaching. She’s, yeah, I think she’s still she’s still teaching from what I know, I think. And I have a tour guide from Japan. And beginning, it was hard to understand him for his, his customers, since he does tours. And it was because of his rhythm. The Japanese language has a rhythm that’s very different from English. And so, I helped him about and now like people aren’t like, fewer people are going like, Sorry, what did you say? I don’t understand you, and that sort of stuff. So that’s really like, it’s really rewarding to see all these results. Some of the professors and just people in general, like I have a lot of German speakers who have actually told me, I don’t want people to immediately ask me, Are you German? And that’s happened like a couple of times. And so I help them with that as well. It’s very interesting. But yeah, so that’s, those are success stories. And then I’m, I can start talking about how, like, how I go about helping students like how I teach them, if I’m not sure if that’s part of the question, or if that’s a different question, though.
Gaëlle (23:14)
How do you go about it? Maybe that should be another question. Yeah.
Adrian (23:22)
Okay. Okay. Well, those are some success stories. So that’s how (Inaudible).
Gaëlle (23:27)
Yeah, and that sounded great. And I think even in my own experience, when I learned Portuguese, and that’s when I got a little bit like you, I didn’t know that. Well, that people were interested in axiom coaching and that even existed, actually. And I studied learning with a company that’s called the Mimic method. Have you heard about it?
Adrian (23:51)
I haven’t heard about it. No, I’ll check it.
Gaëlle (23:52)
It’s an American, I guess, company now. It was one guy at the beginning. And then it evolved a little bit more. And I did the Portuguese course for Brazilian Portuguese. And while I started realizing that I could really get better with my pronunciation. And then after a while, same thing, like you said earlier, like Brazil, and people started asking me Are you from the south of Brazil, and they were maybe starting to mistaken me for someone from another region. And that’s super rewarding, I guess for any speaker. Yeah.
Adrian (24:24)
Yeah it really is.
Gaëlle (24:26)
Yeah, we actually have a live question. So that’s why we had to go to that one before we continue. Someone Hugo is asking, which is more important when learning a language, accent or vocabulary, or both. What would you say?
Adrian (24:45)
I would say vocabulary is more important. Like I mean, most people learn language to be able to communicate. I mean accent, as I said, it’s kind of like the, it’s more advanced. It’s like.
Gaëlle (24:57)
The cherry on the cake.
Adrian (24:59)
Oh, yeah, exactly, or just gravy, you know. Pronunciation is important. But then again, pronunciation and accent are different. I would say they’re related the difference. But you know, if you don’t have vocabulary, how do you speak? I mean, for me actually, I actually know how to pronounce German. I just don’t know what I’m saying, like I know how to pronounce Hungarian. But I don’t know what I’m saying. It’s kind of not that useful. I can read all the signs. It’s actually, you know, I take that back, it is a little bit useful. Because when I order things, I’m like, can I have this kurtoskalacs? Kurtoskalacs. And like, I can say it quite well. But I don’t know how to say that. So, like, as a sentence, I just know how to say those things. But vocabulary is the building block of communication. You need pronunciation to actually be understood with those vocabulary. And then accent is just saying it well, but you don’t need to say like that. Well, you just need it well enough to be able to communicate and most people just want (Inaudible).
Gaëlle (26:02)
Okay, so now you are going back to that distinction you made earlier. So accent will not be the same as pronunciation. So in case that person was confusing both, you are saying that knowing how to pronounce of course is necessary. It’s how you pronounce the vocabulary you’re learning, but then making it perfect. The accent thing, its gravy, like you said.
Adrian (26:24)
Yeah, exactly.
Gaëlle (26:26)
Great. Yes. Okay. In some of your videos, you talked about intonation and pitch. Could you tell me a bit more about this? What’s the difference between both? And how important are they?
Adrian (26:39)
Okay, I don’t remember which one, which videos, I’ve talked about it but, pitch and intonation are related. But I think of it as similar to notes and melody and music, right. So pitch is kind of the building block. Pitch is just like how high or low your voices or this sound is. So, for example, if I go, la, la, la, la, la is a higher pitch and la is a lower pitch. And then intonation is when you like, how the pitch changes when you’re speaking. So, for example, when I’m saying when I’m asking a yes, no questions, like, do you like it? It goes up, do you like it? And if I am telling you don’t do that, don’t do that. It goes down. And so that’s intonation, like, that’s a rising intonation and the falling intonation. And that’s intonation, whereas pitches just might be individual syllable or unit, right. Pitch can also create things like lexical tone, like in Chinese languages, where you say, ma, ma, ma, they are different words. It completely changes the meaning. But that’s pitch being used to create tone. That’s not intonation, but pitches like a building block. It’s like a Lego. Okay. So, how important are they? I would say pitch is important in English, with regards to stress, because English stress, stress is a big part of the English. It’s kind of unpredictable. And it can change meaning of words. And so for example, if you say, like record, that is a noun and you say, record, that’s a verb. So, if you say, I want to record the show, you will confuse people. You might confuse people because they’re expecting record. Record is a noun, then they’re expecting that bird and say, I want to record the show. And you’re like, sorry, what? So it can change the meaning of words. Also, you can say some words that don’t exist, for example, company, but you said company, you might confuse people as well. So strip, like pitch is important for stress in that sense. And then finally, with intonation, how important is that? I would say it’s important, but it’s also not super important for most people, just because, yes, intonation can tell you if it’s a question or it’s, like a statement or its list. But for most languages, it’s actually kind of similar a lot of languages Do. Re, like raise their intonation when they’re asking a yes, no question. And a lot of them do drop the intonation when it’s a statement.
Gaëlle (29:25)
In Chinese, they don’t, right.
Adrian (29:27)
They don’t do that. Yeah, exactly. So in Chinese and Russian, for example, like it’s a bit different. But in my experience, it doesn’t really like these speakers don’t have problems with it anyway. So that’s why I say it’s not that important. Just for those who are interested, like in Chinese to ask question, you actually have a word that you add on to indicate as a question so it’s a question word.
Gaëlle (29:50)
Mark, right, with a neutral tone.
Adrian (29:53)
Yeah. Yeah.
Gaëlle (29:54)
Sometimes for yes or no question. In Mandarin. I studied a little bit of Mandarin.
Adrian (30:00)
Yeah, I have to think about this because like, I don’t think about tones because it’s kind of like but yeah, it’s a neutral tone.
Gaëlle (30:07)
I remember like always wanting to ask question. I’m doing like ma. And then my teacher was always saying, no, it’s not ma. It’s ma. And like what I said, Ma. Probably adding too much intonation or too much rising intonation on it. And she was telling me to really make it neutral. And that was super hard for me what is neutral? Because for me, everything is introvert. I’m French.
Adrian (30:32)
Yeah. So yeah, exactly. Stuffy. For a speaker of European language learning Chinese, for example, or a tonal language. It’s more important, like pitch and intonation is more important, because you got tones. But if you’re learning English, like you probably already do something very similar, you know, so it’s not that was not that important as well.
Gaëlle (30:58)
Yeah, yeah. But I had heard about what you said earlier about the difference between like, I’m not sure I pronounce it properly, but record and record or something like this.
Adrian (31:10)
Record and record.
Gaëlle (31:12)
Record. So, actually, the vowel sound changes as well, right.
Adrian (31:15)
Oh, yes. That’s another thing that’s about stress. So stress in English is super important. And it’s indicated by several things, the most important thing is that it’s longer, like you say, reCORD and you say Record and you say comPUter and you don’t say com-pu-ter. Second most important thing is pitch. And so it’s usually high pitch. This is also important for Russian speakers, because in Russian, this stress actually has lower pitch. And then the third most important thing is that sometimes the vowels change. Stressed vowels are different. I think, in French, you don’t have this like, reduced vowels in French. I mean, you don’t have reduced vowels in French, they’re always the same, I think, you know?
Gaëlle (31:59)
Sorry, the vowel length.
Adrian (32:03)
The vowel length. Sorry, what was the question?
Gaëlle (32:06)
What are you asking me these words in French?
Adrian (32:09)
I was asking if there’s any reduced vowels. So, for example, when I say REcord, it’s like a Kurd sound. And when I say reCORD, it’s like an O sound. So the vowel changes its sound.
Gaëlle (32:20)
No, we don’t have that.
Adrian (32:22)
Yeah. Actually, as soon as I said that I reckon I realized that French is quite different with this regard. Because in French, she got all the stresses basically, at the end, except for some words, like where it ends in -me, like nationalisme
Gaëlle (32:36)
And it’s not even on the words, it’s usually at the end of a group of words even. Yeah.
Adrian (32:43)
Yeah. And so that’s one thing that’s for my French students, that’s something that I work on with them, because they tend to move the stress at the end. So, they say (Inaudible). (In a French accent) “I’m going to the city center”, or something like that, and it should be (standard American accent) “I’m going to the city center”. And so yeah, when a lot of my students from languages where the stress is completely predictable, they have trouble with English stress, because it’s unpredictable. And you just got to learn it. Yeah.
Gaëlle (33:13)
Yes. Yeah. Yeah, that’s very interesting. So there is still a vowel change. I was wondering if there any words in English where really just changing or moving the stress over one or the other syllable would change the meaning, or does that always involve some vowel sound change as well?
Adrian (33:37)
But (if so, you asked: i) there a situation in English where just changing the stress will change the meaning instead of without changing the vowel. Let me say this, when you change, stress is indicated by three things in English, the length. Stress syllables are longer. They’re usually higher pitched, and they usually have a full vowel. And so basically, if you take the stress away. The vowel becomes if it’s unstressed vowel changes to reduce vowel.
Gaëlle (34:08)
Like a schwa.
Adrian (34:09)
Yeah, the schwa. So, usually there’s not that many, but there are some basically stressed vowels, so like when you say, hmm, wait, no, I’m trying to think of a word. Okay, I can’t think of another word. This is the word that my linguistics professor gave an example of because he couldn’t think of another word. And I remember this class, but he was like saying, for example, PERvert and perVERT. Okay, so it’s actually the same sounds, but it’s a different pitch, and what you have is Vert is like, both like the ER sound as the syllable nucleus, doesn’t reduce or it’s like a stressed schwa basically. PERvert is a noun the perVERT is a verb and so in that case, yeah, the vowel doesn’t change because it doesn’t have a full and reduced version difference, or the full version and reduced version are the same. But most vowels have a full version and a reduced version.
Gaëlle (35:14)
Yes.
Adrian (35:15)
Yeah.
Gaëlle (35:17)
Okay. It’s rare, but it exists almost like in Chinese when you have a change, except that you only have a dual change in English, just like in most languages, I guess. We don’t have anything like that in French that I can think of, and I’ve really thought about it for a while. But in Portuguese, for example, they have a couple of they have a few examples. For example, when people want to drink coconut water, they should say, COco, but usually they say coCO, or at least a lot of French people would say and that’s poo or shit.
Adrian (35:52)
Oh, yeah. Okay.
Gaëlle (35:53)
Completely different.
Adrian (35:54)
Minimal pairs, right. Minimal pairs. So like, pairs differ by only one unit. Yeah. Yeah.
Gaëlle (36:01)
Yes. Yes.
Adrian (36:02)
They don’t always exist. But they’re very helpful in recognizing which sounds and which accent features are phonemic in those languages?
Gaëlle (36:15)
Yes, yes. Great. So another question for you. How do you prepare your accent lessons? And how do you decide what’s relevant? For example, for each student or class.
Adrian (36:29)
Okay, cool. So, let me first answer, how I decide what’s relevant for students and how I ordered the lessons. And then after that, I think I’ll answer, like how I teach. So, I think that’s what the question was. And so when I started off with a new student, I usually have the first lesson includes an accent diagnosis. And so what that is, is that will like we talked for a bit, I listened to the students, and then I write down things that I noticed like maybe the student can’t pronounce, like they can’t pronounce P T K. They say like, p t k, it’s kind of like softer. And I write down word examples. And then maybe they mispronounce, or they put the stress on where they shouldn’t put the stress. And I just write all these things down. And from that, I noticed patterns, you know, maybe their V is good when they said the beginning of the syllable, but when it goes to the end becomes f and this is very common for Slavic languages. They say, gif instead of give. But they can say, very with for, like, no problem. So write those things down. And then I take from my list of lessons, my index of lessons, and I kind of ordered them and how I ordered them for the student is that I try to think about how important the sound is and how easy it is those two factors. I want to teach the most important things, but not all of them are easy, and sometimes they build on previous, like concepts that we will need to learn. And so that’s how I decide what’s important. Also, usually students from similar backgrounds have similar problems, but sometimes they don’t, because some students have already worked on certain sound. Maybe they’ve worked with a previous accent coach or just worked by themselves on something and so I won’t teach those if they’re already doing well, or maybe they’re having difficulty with certain sounds like much more difficulty than the average student (Inaudible) as well. And then how do I go about teaching my students is that you know, like, I said, I like learning about languages. I like learning how their phonological systems are different between languages. And from this, it helps me to like to make specialized lessons for my students. So, for example, with French students often stressing things at the end, I will teach them more stress related things to talk about, or maybe you know, in French, you don’t really say P T K (aspiration) that much I think are these in law of romance languages. It’s not really like you don’t say P T K. You say like, p t k. So the stereotype of the English speaker learning Spanish, for example, is that they say (English accent) “Cómo te llamas?” it’s actually should be (Spanish accent) “Cómo the llamas?”, right. Actually, like got like /k/ not /kh/, and not (English accented Spanish), right. And so that if you think about the English and speaking those languages, then you’ll know about your own language, like (Inaudible). Besides that, I also like to, you know, since I have a background in linguistics, I’m trained in linguistics and like articulatory phonetics, like how you articulate the sounds. I know how the mouth is shaped and how to create those sounds. And so one example of how I teach and how I take these complex concepts and make it into something more practical for my students. It actually wasn’t from one of my classes, but from my university days when I was in a language club, language learning club, and I was helping an American classmate to pronounce the French /y/ sound. You know, in English, we don’t have /y/, we have /u/. And in French, you have /y/. And it’s really important, because if you say, “où es tou?”, it makes no sense. It’s like, “où es tu?”, like, “where are you?” But if you say “où es tou?” it’s like a completely different word.
Gaëlle (40:43)
Very good one that you can use for your students. And because I usually have also this issue, I’ve made the dialogue and one person says at the end “tu vas bien?”, and then at some point, the next person says “tout va bien?”.
Adrian (40:59)
Yeah.
Gaëlle (41:00)
So, a lot of people pronounce both the same, but one is “are you okay?” and the other one is, “is everything ok here?” so it’s a bit more general. Yeah.
Adrian (41:07)
Yeah. So that’s a phoneme, it means like the change the phoneme into another phoneme. It changes the meaning entirely. If you do that in English, like you say, I’m going to school. And if you say, I’m going to school, the second one’s kind of weird, but it still means the same thing. You just have an accent. But in any case, I taught this student to pronounce you by understanding how the mouth functions. And I told her, you know, just round your lips, like you’re sucking out of straw, and then keep it round. And while you’re doing that, try to say /i/ and so what happens is I tell her, you know, squeeze your lips round like this, and then tries to say /i/ and what do you get is /y/. And the reason is that both /i/ and /y/ are high front vowels, and the only difference between them is that one is round and one’s not. And so high vowels means that highest when your tongue is high in them up (demonstrates). So, /i/ is a higher vowel, and then it’s front. It’s like i and not /uuh/. And the only difference is the rounded lips. And so by translating this phonetic knowledge into like exercises, I can help students like control their mouth and feel how the mouth feels and like, where the tongue is and where the lips should go. And teach them to create these sounds. Yeah,
Gaëlle (42:29)
Yes, excellent. Yeah, roundedness is a very important concept in French.
Adrian (42:34)
Yeah. Yeah, you’ve got these vowels in Chinese as well. So, like, /y/ and (vowel) as well, like, (vowel) like (vowel) for example. But yeah, there are a lot of these rounded vowels in French. (Vowel) English. We have (vowel), and (vowel) I think, yeah.
Gaëlle (42:58)
And if I really take all the ones that are even just a little bit rounded, we have I think, at least seven in French. Because we have (vowels) that six already. I counted seven at some point. And the nasal vowel, so 2 nasal vowels, actually, (vowel). Even (vowel) is slightly rounded. Of course, you can sometimes say, (vowel) and it works. But when you really speak properly, you’re supposed to run your lips a bit. Also, it could actually be eight.
Adrian (43:37)
Yeah, roundedness is important. It’s one of the easier things to teach as well, though, you can see it like the difficult ones are the when it’s at the back of the mouth, you can’t see it, but roundedness is easier to teach because you can see it actually.
Gaëlle (43:52)
Yeah. Okay, and who would you recommend then, to have accent training with you? For whom may be useful?
Adrian (44:03)
Okay, so, yeah, so I have to, I will soon have two different types of, like, teaching material like I’m coming out with a video course program, and I will continue to do like one-on-one coaching. And so right now, I don’t have that many spaces for coaching. It’s my, because, like, I got a lot of students for that. But and this is helpful for students who want more of like more focused attention, like when I listen to them, I can really pick out their individual problems and like, see the detail like, here are the details. I will probably have more spaces in sometime next year, like maybe early next year. And this is different, like personal coaching is different from a video course. In the video course you can like go at your own pace. It’s more general. But you know, you can go at your own pace and like, well, it’s cheaper as well, because it’s a video course. But it won’t have the same type of personalized attention. And usually I think more like, if you need more, if you really want to check a certain, like sound or a certain bunch of words, or like, maybe you have a presentation coming up, then personalized coaching can be more helpful. One more thing is that personalized coaching, like some of my students, like take my classes, just because they find it hard to practice on their own, and they want someone there. So, I’m kind of like a personal trainer, like when you go to the gym, They come to me to make sure that they do practice, which is you know, practice is one of the most important things, right. You got to build that muscle memory to get the accent, like into a habit. So, you don’t have to think about it. But yeah, that’s the main difference. Personalized coaching is, you know, you got more attention and more personalized materials and exercises and accountability. And then for the video course, it’s more of like, if you can handle your own study and just, it’s more general.
Gaëlle (46:23)
Okay, so, the kind of people you’d recommend having lessons with would be people, like you said earlier who wants to have presentations, or maybe people who work with tourists, these kind of people.
Adrian (46:39)
They can definitely benefit. Honestly, I think anyone can benefit but it’s more about your learning style. And your needs, rather than your professional. It’s more like, are you able to motivate yourself to practice on your own, and you are not, it’s not that urgent, then you can probably take the day of course. If it isn’t more, do you feel more comfortable when you know there’s someone there like listening really intended to how you are speaking, and someone who will make materials specifically for you, then you should go with personal coaching.
Gaëlle (47:22)
Okay, so when your program is out, you let me know. And I can post it in my stories
Adrian (47:29)
Yes, yes, definitely. And like if any of the followers want to keep up to date, they can also follow me on IG or like Instagram or Facebook. I also have an email list that I’m working on because apparently that’s the thing to do. I’m not that good with like marketing and stuff. But like, apparently, people sell or like inform people about the updates about video courses and stuff on email lists, and you can find that on . You’ll see all the relevant links there. And you can also just follow me for free, like, teaching material. I’m trying to do more social media stuff, but mostly I’ve been working on the video course. And I’ve been working on like, updating my exercises for my current students as well. But yeah, so that’s for (Inaudible). http://accentamazing.com/links
Gaëlle (48:24)
Great, and we’ll add it in the comments as well.
Adrian (48:27)
Cool. Alright.
Gaëlle (48:28)
Yes. One last question from the Carioca teacher. And he’s asking, how long is it necessary to spend time on the language to reach a B2 level more or less?
Adrian (48:47)
This one is difficult to answer, because that’s more about like grammar and words. It is actually not my specialty. And honestly, I would imagine it’s more like, it depends, like on how much study which is also, you know, I also give this sort of answer when people ask me, how long does it take to, to get rid of my accent and like, it really depends on your current level. It depends on how much you study and like, and how much you know about accent reduction, and you know, how diligent you are? So, it really is about, like, knowing how to do it, and then doing it, so that becomes muscle memory. And so, I imagine that’s the same with like reaching B2 level just in like general language learning. But yeah, then again, it’s not exactly, it’s not my specialty. I work with accent.
Gaëlle (49:44)
Yeah, I know. So, I guess it depends on the target language as well.
Adrian (49:48)
Yes, and your native language as well because like certain languages are harder, like someone learning, you know, a Russian speaker or learning Polish will have much less difficulty than like a Chinese speaker, for example. Yeah, I mean, it’s much more similar than, like in Chinese is to Polish, for example.
Gaëlle (50:09)
Yes. And one last question. I almost forgot that one. But in my story, someone had asked, and she’s a coach herself, not quite a language coach, but I think she’s asking as a coach, how do you adapt, for example, your style, depending on where people come from, depending on the origin.
Adrian (50:30)
Okay. So, I think I sort of touched upon this before. So, with regards to linguistic background, like if I know this speaker is from a Chinese background, then it’s likely that rhythm is very different. And so, I’ll teach more rhythm related stuff. You know, Russian speakers have stress, like in English, it’s a stress-timed language, but it doesn’t have secondary stress. So, I’ll focus more on secondary stress, lessons, and then like a lot of European languages, except for Germanic languages don’t have aspiration, which is the P T K sounds. And so, I have to teach those things. I usually have. I have, like syllabi with lessons or in them. And I kind of follow that to teach those students. And so that’s how I adapted for students of different linguistic backgrounds. If the coach was asking this question, was asking about cultural background, then that’s also something I’m interested in, but it’s not exactly like what I teach, but I know like, for example, some students are, like, they like to talk more. And they prefer lessons which are just more casual. And so, I’ll have more casual lessons, and more free speaking, and some students are more shy, and maybe they’re just like, they just, they don’t talk as much. So, we’ll have more structured lessons. And one interesting thing about this is actually something I learned actually was that, you know, like, Russian speakers don’t, often Russian speakers don’t like that much. Like, what’s it called, like, small talk, but I actually use small talk, one for my lessons, because it helps me like, hear their accent and two, also because I will, I think, I guess American culture, like small talk and English being healthy does like small talk. So, at first, I felt that the students of different backgrounds might feel like, what they’re different culturally, and I felt like, they’re mean, or something. But then I realized, it’s actually, it’s just a different way of doing things. So, with regards to culture, it’s like, you know, like read up about culture, see what people different places have, how they go about doing things, and then also, as you teach more, you get to feel kind of like an archetype, like different types of personality types of students, and then you kind of adapt in that way. I think hopefully that answers the question.
Gaëlle (53:19)
Yes, yes. Talking about Russians, yeah, some of them are very driven. And I think they’re just really focused on their mission. And that’s why I think they forget about the small talk. And it can feel like they are really like, not happy or something at some point. But after a while, after a few lessons, they usually start opening up a little bit more.
Adrian (53:40)
Yeah, yeah. So, it’s important to be flexible. And I like learning about different cultures as well. And like, after living in Central Europe, for like, in different countries here, like I got used to it, and I’ve lived in Asia, I’ve lived in the US, a bit in the UK. Now I’ve lived in Central Europe as well. And, you know, as you learn more about the world, you get to you know, you can, you can kind of adapt, and adapt your style and to what works for different people when you’re communicating with different people.
Gaëlle (54:19)
Yeah, I also answer that question, but on a different take, I guess, because I know this person is not a language coach. And I’m thinking more about the cultural side of things. Once I took myself a couple of lessons, myself, a couple of sessions with two accent coaches for English, and actually didn’t work out at all. And I was very surprised because I never usually have a problem with any of my students, and those two women were Americans. And the first one was from California, and it was maybe the stereotype of the very smiley Californian girl, you know, and but she just talked so much and so felt like she was just doing all the talking and she was all the time asking for, not asking a weird question, but asking, you know, to be sure that it was all okay and that I was happy with the lesson. And actually, that’s very frustrating. As the lesson went, I got more and more frustrated because I felt like all the time, like she just wanted me to. You have this word? Aquarius. Aquarius.
Adrian (55:39)
Acquiesce.
Gaëlle (55:40)
Acquiesce. Okay, acquiesce, do you just say yes, yes, I like it. And you know, it’s really not in the French culture. I mean, some people might think the French are so lovely. One, blah, blah, blah. But it’s not at all like that. I don’t know if you’ve been to Paris, but parisons can be actually very, on the go, very focused, not smiling at all. And I’m not like that. And I like to smile. But I have a limit. And I feel like it’s important to also show how you really feel. And it felt like it was just like, you know, she was forcing something that was not natural. And so, it really didn’t go well at all. And at the end, it went so that she didn’t want to continue lessons with me because she felt so bad. And she thought I was not smiling enough for her. And she got me to smile less than less, because I was very annoyed inside. And so that never happened with my students. And of course, when I’m the teacher, I give my best, but I don’t try to you know, force them to enter into some kind of attitude. I let them be so you know, if we talk about stereotypes, Russians will be Russians and Americans will be Americans. But as a student, I didn’t feel respected in my own maybe cultural attitude or whatever is that. And I think maybe for coach, that’s important. I know, when I teach students, I see first how they are I started with the kind of neutral but happy, confident attitude. And then I’ll see how it goes. I see they’re very focused, and they really want to get, you know, into the thing, like, you know, dive deep and up, or if they need to talk because they like some confidence, and they need to feel like it’s all okay. And depending on the personnel adapt. So I guess whether we’re talking about language coaching, or any type of coaching, that’s important. So like you said, see first where they come from, but then also see individually what the person is like, during the session.
Adrian (57:45)
Yeah, and maybe not just, I mean, yeah, it’s true, like, not just language coaching, but also in general coaching. But I would say actually, in life, I guess, you know, you’re, as you’re going through life, and you meet different people, it’s kind of like an, you know, you adapt, you adapt, and that’s the best way to. It’d be flexible, I think, you know, force people to do what you want. I mean, you can compromise and find like, a happy medium where it’s comfortable for both of you, or you can even step outside your comfort zone and like really learn something new. I like learning new things. That’s why I think I’m well suited to my job because I keep learning accents, and then stuff and like, sounds. And then I love learning about different people in different cultures as well, which is why I’m still living in New York. I’m still here, six months later.
Gaëlle (58:40)
Yeah. And it shows that you are well suited to your job when I would show videos you really like what you’re talking about. And we can see in your videos that you are doing research on the side because you like it and its fun for you. Yeah.
Adrian (58:54)
Yeah, I want to make more videos. I definitely need to learn about making more videos though. Like I have a lot of things I want to share. I just need to learn to make like the technical stuff, but yeah, yeah.
Gaëlle (59:06)
Yes. Yes. Great. So don’t forget if you want to see. So, is it Adrian?
Adrian (59:14)
Adrian. This is what I like about my name as well. It’s like pronounced differently in different places. And I don’t have to change the spelling maybe for French Yeah, but like Adrian in English, Adrian in Polish, and then Adrián in Spanish and like in French Adrien, I guess. So, I like my name because you can pronounce it whatever way. Yeah, but Adrian is the English pronunciation.
Gaëlle (59:39)
Adrian, yeah. So if you want to see Adrian’s link and see a bit more about his lessons and so on. You’ll check his link which we post in the comments down below when we will repost the live. So thank you very much for having accepted to do this live and the interviewed. That was really great.
Adrian (1:00:02)
Thank you for interviewing me. Thank you for inviting me to it. I had a lot of fun and it I great to talk about this stuff.
Gaëlle (1:00:09)
Yeah, it was really fun. Yes, I love talking about it. So, have a good day, have a good Sunday and see you soon.
Adrian (1:00:17)
You, too.
Gaëlle (1:00:19)
Ciao ciao