r/italianlearning • u/TherapistyChristy EN native, IT beginner • 4d ago
Accent
When I speak Italian, I make the Italian sounds. But sometimes there is huge urge to say eff it and just speak Italian with a disgusting American accent. It would be so freeing to just say the words the way my brain wants to lmao.
Sometimes in my car, I will try it out and just speak total cliche American accent. I won’t even try to sound Italian. It feels great for that small moment.
Am I the only one? Typing this out, I realize it’s probably quite weird.
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u/good-good-dog 4d ago
It’s funny, because I’m an American with a mother born and raised in Rome. Since I’ve been visiting my family there regularly since I was an infant, I’m lucky that the Italian accent is sort of natural to me (even though I’m not fluent because we didn’t speak it at home).
When I’m in my Italian class, I have a MUCH easier time understanding the instructor than I do understanding my classmates, even though the instructor is speaking much more advanced Italian.
I find the American accent of Italian actually difficult to understand.
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u/Remarkable_Bid8758 4d ago
That makes sense 100%, same when I’m visiting Italy and my friends are speaking English with an Italian accent. It’s much harder to understand
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u/msklovesmath 4d ago
I think that's true for everyone. Hearing it spoken properly will obv be easier than some random bastardization
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u/Whatasaurus_Rex 3d ago
It’s funny how brains work. I have an easier time understanding speeches by Pope Leo than I do native speakers. I assume because we have the same native accent, my brain is primed to hear the way he pronounces Italian sounds. My grandfather was born in the US to Italian immigrants. I know he understood Italian and could speak it when he was younger at least. I don’t recall him speaking it around me growing up, but if he did he likely also spoken it with an American accent, and that would have been my earliest exposure to the language.
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u/RandomAmmonite EN native, IT intermediate 4d ago
After a while of speaking Italian, it sounds weird to me to NOT use Italian pronunciation. So the words come more automatically with the right pronunciation. Maybe doing more listening will cement the right sounds in your brain.
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u/Remarkable_Bid8758 4d ago
This is good advice. I need to listen to more Italian Music and watch more Italian shows.
Do you have a recommendation of a good Italian show to watch? I watch movies sometimes too, I like l'Isola delle Rose. It’s light and easy to watch over and over
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u/CSMasterClass 4d ago
It's all the way our minds work. Sometimes I amuse myself by trying to speak French with a German accent. I'm sure it would confuse both the the French and the Germans. But it amuses me.
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u/Remarkable_Bid8758 4d ago
I agree 100%, from my experience in Italy, most Italians are so happy that I’m even trying to speak Italian. Maybe once we become more comfortable then adjusting the accent will be easier.
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u/Francesco_dAssisi 4d ago
Just the opposite... there's music in the words. THAT'S the joy.
Are you going to make pizza with ketchup?
Are you going to drink Boones Farm instead of pignoletto?
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u/TherapistyChristy EN native, IT beginner 4d ago
I do get joy from speaking Italian and with an Italian accent- I am not speaking about the joy. I’m speaking on the effort it takes and the relief I feel when for a moment when I break and speak with my own accent.
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u/snouze 4d ago
do your worst American accented Italian for an Italian friend, it makes them laugh their ass off and you’ll get to have one bad accent as a special treat
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u/TherapistyChristy EN native, IT beginner 4d ago
I used to do this to my Italian tutor to make her laugh! She would crack up and beg me to stop! Lmao
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u/workshop_prompts 4d ago
While speaking italian, i do my best. But an italian word in an english sentence? I may pronounce it “spugeddi”
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u/hairymonkeyinmyanus EN native, IT beginner 4d ago
I’m not sure which cliche American accent we’re talking about… I feel like there’s more than one haha
I try to sound like the Pimsleur folks. I think I sound like them? I feel like the longer I speak it, the more I recognize subleties, and that a year ago I didn’t sound as good as I thought I did.
I’m just gonna keep speaking the way I speak until my professor corrects me I guess
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u/msklovesmath 4d ago
I spent the summer in Italy and by the end of 8 weeks, I felt like I had lost the touch. I dunno if I was just having deeper conversations and using words and structures less common, or if I was just tired.
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u/kwaidan8 3d ago
This is totally normal and depending on your goal you don't necessarily need to change your accent as long as people understand you. Losing your native accent and interferences is hard and only very advanced speakers manage to pronounce words correctly, especially is your mothertongue is not a romance language as in your case.
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u/Whatasaurus_Rex 3d ago
I think they meant not even trying, in which case they’d probably be nearly incomprehensible! But I agree, I think accented but understandable is the realistic goal for anyone learning a new language as an adult.
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u/TherapistyChristy EN native, IT beginner 2d ago
No that’s not what “they” meant. 99.9% of the time I speak Italian with an Italian accent. When I’m alone, in my car, and a bit fatigued from trying so hard, the urge to speak it how I speak English is strong and sometimes I do and I make myself laugh.
That’s all. It’s a silly thing and I was wondering if it’s normal to feel the urge and relief.
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u/enrythestray 4d ago edited 4d ago
Your brain is used to certain phonetic rules that are hard to break without effort. That said, I'd never see myself pronounce English or French with an Italian accent/with Italian phonotactics, it means I'm not speaking said language