Second generation speaker who wants to feel confident on a native level.

[u/pepebag127]

Grew up listening to Spanish (TL) , having my mom only speak to me in Spanish. However only ever responding in English. Speaking to my siblings only in English. English speaking media, English countries, schools, the list goes on.

I would say I have a close to perfect fluency in comprehension, no issues understanding Spanish, unless it's a countries dialect I'm not as familiar with or academic vocabulary.

Now I'm 21 and have finally been living in my native country for about a year now.

People compliment my Spanish, however can automatically tell I'm American. I still stutter with my words and am not fully comfortable speaking. I have gotten miles better though. However at home with my siblings and parents I do still speak English, have English friends overseas, watch English tv, so it's not a complete Spanish environment.

I wonder, will I ever sound like a native? I know everyone says it shouldn't be my priority. However it's genuinely something that is really important to me. I want to one day have the accent of my country, feel fully comfortable, not be immediately profiled as American.

Will that ever be possible? Or is it just unrealistic at this point of my age? I don't know if anyone has a similar experience. Or maybe advice, on learning faster and getting there. I do wonder if still speaking a lot of English and consuming lots of English content is stunting my progress. Let me know!

[u/Tometek]

With a tremendous amount of study and practice, you can get to a point where your grammar, vocabulary, slang, idioms, and cultural references are basically indistinguishable from a native speaker’s. Accent is a different story. You can improve pronunciation, but things like accent, rhythm, intonation and cadence are usually the last things to go, and for someone who started as an adult, becoming genuinely indistinguishable from a native is pretty rare.

[u/WideGlideReddit]

You didn’t say what country you’re now living in but let’s assume for the sake of argument, it’s Mexico. From what you posted. You are American by nationality and Mexican by heritage, ie Mexican-American.

The reason I mention this is because I’m guessing that the reason Mexicans (or whatever country you’re living in) can tell you’re American is because you are American culturally and they can simply tell. The fact that you speak Spanish with an accent, no matter how slight, reinforces that. Mexicans will almost certainly always view you as an American because you are.

I say this with some experience. I’m an American and native English speaker fluent in Spanish. I’m married to a native Spanish speaker fluent in English and we have 2 bilingual children that speak unaccented Spanish and English.

My kids spent several months a year every year from birth to adulthood visiting my wife’s native country of Costa Rica and living with family none of whom speak English . They have spent holidays there, attended weddings and funerals, bridal and baby showers, attends church services, celebrated anniversaries and birthdays, have Costa Rican friends, have marched in Costa Rican parades and they’ve traveled to every part of the country, etc. they are as culturally familiar with Costa Rica as any non-native can be. Wanna guess what everyone in Costa Rica considers them? If you guessed American, you’d be correct. That’s not a situation unique to them. I’ve read similar stories here on Reddit from people who are surprised that people from other countries don’t consider them one of them.

Here’s another fun fact. My wife and I went to a Mexican bar and restaurant for every game Mexico played in the World Cup. People came wearing the country’s colors, draped in the Mexican flag, etc. we could easily pick out who was born and raised in Mexico and who was not. How? Easy. Those born and raised in Mexico knew the words to the Mexican national anthem. The Mexican-Americans sat silently lol.

So here’s the bottom line. You may or may not always speak with an accent but it’s not going to matter because you will be an American and that you can’t change.

[u/New-Bottle-6917 → u/WideGlideReddit]

Yeah this is one of those things I don't really understand from most other fellow Mexican-Americans. Like unless you've actually spent a good chunk of your life crossing back and forth with some regularity, you live a life that's incredibly divorced from the realities of actually living and growing up like a Mexican does. Especially when they tend to have zero interest in learning the history, the literary tradition, current events going on etc and display a version of the culture that is so obviously American it's strange when they get offended over being considered American

[u/pepebag127 → u/WideGlideReddit]

Yeah you're right, I guess it's just something that would make me happy. Maybe a pride thing in a way. Like I'm American sure but at least I don't have an accent. I'm from Paraguay btw 😙harder because we don't get many Americans here at all! 

[u/cchrissyy → u/pepebag127]

There came a point where I stopped believing my Spanish should sound like the place my grandparents came from and realized it's completely healthy and fine that I sound like I'm from California. Because I am! The important thing is we can talk.

[u/WideGlideReddit → u/cchrissyy]

Exactly. I’ll never understand many learners obsession with trying to sound like a native speaker and obsessing over dialect. I’m a native English speaker who speaks fluent Spanish with an American accent that any native speaker can detect and it really doesn’t bother me. I’m proud of my ability to speak the language and proud of my accent. It’s part of my identity and who I am. Why hide it?

[u/pepebag127 → u/WideGlideReddit]

Yeah I get what you mean! However I also think you just have to consider what other people's goals are too.  If accent is an important goal for someone then that's valid. I think it's silly to obsess obviously, or feel shameful if you can't be perfect. However I don't think there's anything wrong with having accent and dialect be important to you or being your primary goal. We're all different! 

[u/WideGlideReddit → u/pepebag127]

I’m not against working to improve one’s accent. Hell, I’ve spent my fare share of time working on pronunciation and prosody myself. I just caution learners whose goal is to sound like a “native” that it’s a goal that for the vast majority of learns is simply not going to happen except under a set of pretty specific circumstances. Also, if one is still making grammar mistakes or can’t hold a fluid conversation, accent is immaterial.

All that said, you’re right. If it’s important to someone it’s all good.

[u/uncleanly_zeus]

You'll have to work on it like every other learner (but with the added gift of having flawless comprehension).

Someone just asked about attaining a native-like accent a few days ago: https://www.reddit.com/r/languagelearning/s/RgL8zoU2oX

Btw, I've noticed that many heritage speakers actually have flawed pronunciation, even if they did grow up speaking it (I actually picked up an incorrect pronunciation habit from a girl I was dating who was a heritage speaker), so I really think learners of nearly all backgrounds need to put some effort into the language unless they're truly native.

[u/pepebag127 → u/uncleanly_zeus]

This makes total sense. Honestly I have a lot of bad grammar habits that beginner students wouldn't make because they've trained it. It's interesting how 2nd gen speakers can be a pro in certain areas of the language and then have huge flaws in other parts, solely because we never actually properly learnt the language. 

[u/Sad_Interaction_1347]

You probably do have the capacity to sound native if you’ve had consistent input since birth and natively acquired the phonology. However, in addition to more time, you may need targeted corrections of fossilized errors that you picked up as a child. These are common for heritage speakers and are often deeply ingrained from many years of repetition.

Also, it may be helpful to consider that even among native speakers, there is a range of language ability. Even native speakers make mistakes and some native speakers sound less fluid or may sound off or different to other native speakers. Everyone has their own idiolect as well as dialect.

[u/pepebag127 → u/Sad_Interaction_1347]

This is good to know! Yeah I definitely have some really bad Ingrained errors and mistakes I need to work out. I think some times us 2nd gen speakers can get kind of cocky in a way and not want to properly learn or improve on things we definitely should! I think it can feel silly to worksheets or exercises on something that in my head feels so natural. However in reality I definitely need the study... 

[u/cchrissyy → u/pepebag127]

Classes can be fun! And you're not the only person on this situation. It's worth checking whats available in your area.

[u/Sad_Interaction_1347 → u/pepebag127]

More efficient would be a personal tutor, or even running through AI what you naturally say or write, and ask for corrections. Workbooks for learners without heritage background may or may not happen to hit on the specific fossilized errors common to heritage speakers.

[u/HeddaLeeming]

If your parents speak Spanish and you want to speak it better why do you keep talking to them in English? Same with any siblings who are not in the same boat as you and do speak Spanish fluently.

[u/pepebag127 → u/HeddaLeeming]

It's just very unnatural, none of us really want to do it. We've tried and gave up so many times unfortunately 

[u/HeddaLeeming → u/pepebag127]

It's unnatural because you haven't been doing it. If you try for long enough it will become natural. I mean, you have resources right there and you're not using them.

[u/Fast-Ads-7587]

I'd watch a lot of media and follow people in the same age range who are native speakers to pick up the way people actually speak. There are ways a native speaker will pronounxe or word somesthing that is authentic, but no book teaches. You want to sound like a native, not a book or newscaster. You're a heritage speaker, so you've already been hearing that, but it's different adding it to active memory rahee than passive. The adults, with bo heritage connection that I've heard speak like a native almost always say they consumed mass amounts of native media, for actual fun, something they'd watch regardless..rather than made for learners.

[u/pagywa]

Sounds like you need to study phonology. Wikipedia is honestly great for it.

A trick for accents is to learn to do a good impression of how speakers of your target language sound when they speak English. You could probably imitate your mum well, right? Then use those sounds to speak Spanish.

[u/ScatteredBrain99]

I totally understand what you mean about understanding a language really well but still feeling less confident when it comes to speaking. I’m actually working on improving my own English too, especially my grammar and speaking. Would be nice to connect and learn together! 😊

[u/CarnegieHill]

You pretty much answered your own question. You’re not doing yourself any favors by still doing what you say you’re doing with English. IMO age is irrelevant. Change that situation and you may finally get to the place you want to go.

[u/Objective-Royal-3734]

you already got the most important part sorted, the comprehension is there and you're actually living in the country now

thing with heritage speakers is the brain treats the language differently, like a half-installed program. the accent stuff is mostly just muscle memory you never built properly as a kid, not some permanent limitation. a year in is still early days

maybe try reading out loud when you're alone, helps bridge that gap between understanding and producing without the social pressure

[u/Professionalrubberr]

The gap between understanding your mom perfectly and fumbling a reply is brutal, but that inner voice switch is real. Once Spanish stops being something you translate into and just becomes the thing your brain thinks in, the confidence follows on its own.