Should You Try and Get A Japanese Accent?

If you are learning Japanese you have probably wondered if you should try and focus on trying to sound more Japanese, and even if you should try and get a Japanese accent.

The truth is that it extremely hard to achieve this, but you should try and make some effort to sound more “natural” when speaking Japanese, which does mean you will need work on some things, which I will go through below.

You Will Never Reach Native Level

For 99% of us, we are never going to reach a native level accent in any new language we try to learn after we our own native language.

If you were not born in Japan and grew up speaking Japanese …you are always going to sound a little foreign. There is also going to be little traces of your own accent and your native language intertwined into how you speak and this is okay, but you can still have a slight accent in the language.

There are some theories that you need to learn a language by a certain age if you want to sound fully native, and usually this age is quite young, usually under 10 years old. My guess is that you started learning Japanese a lot older than this, so you are never going to sound fully native.

However, this doesn’t mean it is impossible; it’s just that most people don’t reach this level …but many people can get an accent and while you may not be perfect, a lot of people might say something like “oh you sound like you have spent a lot of time in Kyoto” for example.  

Think About How Any English Second Language Speakers

It is probably easier to understand how things can work by looking at how people speak English as a second language.

You have probably heard the spectrum of ability, some people you can barely understand and others are excellent at English, but think about their accent.

You can have someone who is still great at English, but their own accent is still very strong, then you have those who sound really good …but not quite native, but pretty close.

I have spoken to people before and they sound very American, but something was off, I thought maybe they were from one of the “middle of nowhere” states, or maybe even Canadian …then you ask them and they turn out to be from Iran and have never been to north America, they just focused on trying to sound like they are.

I also know there is a woman who makes language videos on youtube, she is Polish, but sounds very British …but not quite right. Although her comments are full of “oh I thought you were actually British” type statements from non-UK based people.

If they can do this in English, you can do similar in Japanese. You might not sound 100% natural, but you can get pretty close and you might be able to fool some people, or at least make them question you are from.

It Will Take A Lot Of Work

If you want to reach the level where your accent sounds pretty close to a native, it will take a lot of work, and really this is what stops most people.

Most people just want to be able to communicate and to be understood, which really just means learning the language to a decent level. This in itself is a mountain of work and when most people get here, they are content.

Once you know the language and can get by …you can just enjoy things, you have reached your goal as such and this is where most people stop. If you want to sound more natural, or native and have any sort of decent accent …you need to keep working on things.

This added layer really takes a lot of extra work and most people just don’t do it, which is fair enough. I also seem to have noticed that those who do reach this extra level of getting an accent have usually spent time living in a country that speaks the target language.

This really means if you want to sound more Japanese, you need to move to Japan and spend all day talking to Japanese people. Of course you can reach a high level of understanding at home, but if you want that local accent, you need to be really surrounded by other speakers and interacting with them a lot and really working on perfecting how you sound.

Why An Accent Will Help You

A good question to ask is just if any of this is going to help you. Is there any benefit to having a Japanese accent and the short answer is yes.

If we go back to the English speakers, which ones do you have an easier time speaking to …those who sound pretty similar to you …or the ones with a thick accent from their home country?

An accent is just going to help you be understood more easily. Your rhythm and intonation are just going to sound more natural to a Japanese person and they won’t have to strain too hard to understand you.

You will find Japanese people don’t really expect you to speak Japanese (if you don’t look Japanese) and even if you can speak quite well, they will be confused and struggle to understand, so really the closer to native sounding you can get, the better.

Why Accents Are Not Important

While a Japanese accent will help you, don’t panic about it. So long as you can speak the language properly, this will be enough.

Again think of the English speakers, it is maybe a little harder to understand some people …but your ears adjust very quickly to the different accent, especially when you realise they are actually fluent and it is just an accent that makes them sound a bit different.

The fact that you can never full conquer an accent is something I always think about, I think it can be worth trying, but at the end of the day, your ability to actually communicate and understand the language is more important than trying to sound 100% perfect.

Using Japanese Sounds Are Important

Really you need to focus on using the proper Japanese sounds when you speak which is going to change how you sound and is something you should be focusing on before trying to improve you accent.

The sound system used in Japanese is different than English, so if you can get this right, you are going to sound more Japanese automatically. Is this an accent? Probably not, but it will make a huge difference and will make you sound a lot more natural when you speak.

A very easy example is the R letters in Japanese. They don’t quite sound the same as the English R, they are maybe a little more towards an L sound …but not quite,  it’s almost somewhere in between.

If you can get this right, you will sound a lot better, regardless of your accent.

(You can read more about – How To Sound More Japanese)

Focus On Proper Pronunciation

If you can get the sounds right, then you can get the words right and this again is more important than trying to improve you accent.

Japanese pronunciation is important and I am sure you have heard of “pitch accent” which really dictates how certain words should be pronounced. This along with the general pace and rhythm of the words is what you need to focus on first. If you can get this right it will make a huge difference to how you sound.

This again isn’t really an “accent” but it will ultimately help you sound much more natural and the Japanese people will find it much easier to understand you, even if you native accent is still leaking into your Japanese.   

(You can read more about – Why Is Japanese Pronunciation Difficult)

Focus On Using Filler Words

Another easy way to sound more Japanese, even without an accent is to simply use filler words when you are thinking.

In English we tend to say “umm” when we are thinking, but in Japanese it much more likely to be “あの” (ano) and while this seems like such a small thing, it can make a difference. You will just sound more Japanese and even if you accent isn’t great, it is still an improvement.

Leave The Accent Until Last

I would honestly say that you should not bother about your Japanese accent until you have done everything else first.

If you are a beginner or even intermediate, I would focus more on the pronunciation and the sounds and just your overall general understanding of Japanese first.

This is what is going to give you the best return on your investment. This is what is going to get you 90 something percent of the way there and allow you to feel accomplished.

It is then at this point, that if you want to focus on your accent …go for it.

Conclusion

Hopefully now you can see that focusing on an accent isn’t too important, It can have its benefits, but really you should focus on just getting really good at the language and you will sort of automatically sound more natural as you progress.

You are never going to reach that level of perfection that you might want, so don’t worry about it and instead just focus on getting really good at the language and you find that this is more than enough to make you happy and will allow you to do anything and everything you want with Japanese.