American Accent...or perhaps not?

I guess there is no real way of telling wether I have one of those american accents when i speak japanese. What defines an american accent? Is it when one speaks or reads using rules of pronounciation of english?

Accents have never really stuck to me as far as English goes. I was born in raised in North Carolina most of my life, but i hardly had a southern accent. I speak a very moderate american english, not even region savy americans can pin a location on me. I think this may because of my tendency to speak "Written English", I speak as I would read it, I speak it as a book would say it were it able to speak. At least, thats what I think.

Being of of Puerto Rican and Japanese ancestry, one would think I would be lucky enough to aquire both langauges, but sadly this is not so, my parents are pretty much american by nature and culture. I taught myself both langauges out of interest, I live near a large hispanic community and I got the opinion on my spanish. My teacher, whom must speak a more proper form of Spanish to teach it, says I speak normally, without a very noticable american accent, but my younger friends say I speak very strangely, but that may be because I can't speak in a Puerto Rican spanish, or street spanish accent, thats just not how I read it.

I have no way of nowing if my American accent shines through in my Japanese, but i would like to hope that once again, my tendency to speak like a book pull through.

Does anyone feel similar? Does anyone feel that I may standout as an American in Japan? Or perhaps a short month or so in Japan will rid me of my accent?

Opinions? Or maybe help me figure out if I do have an accent?

P.s. Of course I apply japanese rules of pronounciation to written japanese as I read it, I find it funny when students in my spanish class read spanish using english rules of pronounciation though.

Joseph,

I always find it funny how so may people think that it is only other people that have accents, and that they themselves don't speak with an accent.
When speaking Japanese as a foreign language, some people are able to mimic Japanese pronunciation fairly readily, while some people just cannot seem to shake off their native (English or whatever) pronunciation however long they study.
In answer to your question, though, the only real way to find out is to ask a Japanese native to listen to your Japanese and point out areas where your pronunciation sounds unnatural.

Don't ask your Osaka friends to correct you or you might pick up the Osaka dialect. I once met a guy who spoke English with Osaka ben. I also met an Australian English teacher in Korea who was afraid he may be let go because of his heavy Australian accent. My home town junior high school had a Jamaican English JET teacher who spoke w/o Jamaican accent. If you speak written language, you may sound strange and may not make the opponent comfortable. Spoken language is a living thing. Japanese language has all different way of expressing depending on each different circumstance/social situation/senior/junior/friends/superior/male/female/etc. etc. Standard written language has a limitation.

Every one has an accent. There are many regional accents in each country. Often each different town within a region speak a different variation of the regional accent.

Besides all that, some people have an individual accent that is a mix of whatever regional accent they speak in their home town, mixed to whatever other language they speak on a regular basis. The way their palate and vocal cords are built also influence their accent. Often different members of one family will speak the same language with different accents.

People that hear us don't hear us all the same way. They compare our accent to the only accents they are familiar with. And we don't hear ourselves the way other hear us.

I have been told that I am from the Southern USA, Italy, Germany..you name it..I do know that my accent in English, French and other languages, have changed compared to years ago. Local people in my birthplace can't believe that I was born there.

Where does your Spanish teacher come from? South America, Spain? in Spain lots of people speak Castillan with a Catalan or Basque or Aragonese etc....accent. Even Castillan has dialects.

Ask a friend to record your with a good quality tape recorder WITHOUT telling you, then to play the recording a couple of hours later or another day, also without telling you. You likely will be very surprised.

Ummm... I am from Osaka:) Is Japanese with Osaka dialect that bad? Unless you try to learn the standart Japanese like NHK ancors use, you will pick up some dialect/accents no matter where you live. Language is like a living creature, it constantly changes as long as it lives.

So to Joseph, probably you should decide which Spanish, for instance, you want to master. I know some Spanish who claim Mexican Spanish is not real Spanish. I think it all depends on where you live and whom you ask.

It's very unlikely that anyone will pick you straight away as an American because of your accent when speaking Japanese- that would take a very good ear. They may pick you as an English speaker due to certain pronunciations, but remember that there are lots of countries where English is spoken, not only the US.

I wouldn't worry about your accent too much- unless you are of east Asian descent, which it seems you aren't, your face will make you stand out as foreign well before your accent does.

Because you also speak Spanish, it's likely that the influence of English on your Japanese is fairly mild. Focus more on fluency and listening comprehension- those skills are far more important than having a perfect accent in any language.

Just to answer the question about whether one month in Japan will rid you of your accent- no. Basically unless you learn a language as a child (up until about the age of 14), you will always have an accent in that language- whether it is mild or strong depends on your ear for languages.

I have been in Japan for 12 years and have a Japanese husband and I still have an accent when speaking Japanese- sometimes on the phone people don't realise I'm not Japanese for the first sentence or so, but they soon catch on.

You don't have to see this as a negative thing- a slight accent is not a major issue. As I said above, no-one is going to think you are Japanese anyway if they see you face to face.

It is impossible to get rid of the accent no matter how you stay long after certain age.

I do not know why you are interested in that point, but if you want to be "natural" then I think the most important factor is to use the proper grammar and expression.

If you are good in those two points people will respect you. The grammar can be self-taught, but the difficulty -in the same time the beauty- in Japanese is in the selection of the correct expression. Even if your grammar is perfect if you do not select the proper word, then people recognize that you do not know Japanese culture.

For example, there are almost 30 ways to express "myself" in Japanese: watashi, watakushi, wagahai, boku, ore, ore, etc, and one needs to select the correct expression according to the situation, and the position and the relationship in the group. Of course not all of those expressions are used in the daily life but I think you understand what I want to say.

Only the way to completely understand the proper expression is to stay in Japan for a certain period and learn it by carefully observing the others.

Good luck !

A couple of people have raised an interesting point. Speaking a language with a foreign accent is not always a bad thing.
Quite a few people ( well known singers, actors, politicians etc.) speak French or English with a definitely foreign accent yet they sound much nicer to native ears than some natives speakers. I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't the same with Japanese.

Yes, you have an accent. That is a given as Japanese is not your first language.

Some people have worse accents than others. I think honestly it just comes easier to some people. I had a friend who passed JLPT 2 within like 2 years of being in Japan, knew far more vocabulary and grammar than most, but still had a pretty heavy accent. People might disagree but I think some people just "get it" and to others its kind of a lost cause.

The biggest thing is to flatten out all those rises and drops that we have in English. Japanese is flatter.

I should have mentioned on my previous posts that quite a few singers record their own songs in foreign languages without speaking these languages, yet manage to get the accent quite right...
I have always believed that being able to sing helps someone get a foreign accent right..but then there is Jane Birkin. Born in the UK she has lived in France for a long time yet still sound foreign..

All the same the French absolutely love her, because she is such a wonderful person! simple, genuine, warm hearted...and she definitely get her point across, regardless of her accent..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Birkin