Something really magical happens when you train your ears to truly hear the sounds of a language;
Then, listen very carefully to all the ways those sounds combine in native speech;
And finally, open up your mouth to start imitating all those sounds you’re hearing.
When you’ve spent enough time grinding, really putting in the hours, concentration, and brainpower…
You’ll start speaking another language with a way better accent than most people ever develop, right away!
This is because you’re learning languages from the sounds up, the exact opposite of most other people.
The vast majority of adult language learners start by reading, writing, and studying things like grammar and vocabulary lists.
But you, on the other hand, started out listening to music you love, and talking to people you like.
You flipped the usual language learning paradigm on its head, and focused on the real most important thing first: the sounds.
You waited to read words in your target language until you’d heard it enough to become very familiar with how it sounds.
And this, my friends, makes all the difference.
Because now, instead of being confused by trying to read too soon, and discouraged that people talk too fast…
Now, you can hear what native speakers say to you a lot more clearly.
And your accent makes you sound like you speak the language way better than you actually do yet!
When you open your mouth to introduce yourself to a native speaker, and a carefully-honed native-like introduction just rolls off your tongue…
You best believe that they’re gonna think you’re already totally fluent in their language!
Because who ever heard of a beginner saying the equivalent of “Hey, what’s up, dude?” in a perfect accent?!
This can really throw people for a loop, because it’s just so unheard of.
Your conversation partners will often respond in extremely fast, native speech, thinking you’re at a way higher level than you actually are.
Which is a pretty great problem to have, right? I mean, way better than the usual slow, clunky, non-native introductions.
In our typical language learning experience, people can maintain heavy accents even after decades of living in another country.
But it doesn’t have to be that way! You really can train yourself to have this linguistic superpower.
I know you might be thinking that accents are hard, and that most people just can’t learn to speak with a great accent in another language as an adult.
And it may be true that some people have more of an innate talent for this kind of thing.
But it’s even more true that all of these skills are 100% learnable, and with the right practice and motivation, you can develop a great accent in any language you’re learning.
It’s all about training your ears and mouth to identify and reproduce the different sounds you’re hearing.
And like any body part, you can rewire and train how they work.
It’s just like building muscles at the gym – it’ll be really hard and painful at first, and you might feel like you’ll never get anywhere.
But if you put in the repetitions, and practice getting your tongue around these new sounds…
One day soon you’ll introduce yourself in your target language, and native speakers literally won’t believe that you didn’t learn from your parents.
And you’ll have the incredibly magical experience of feeling like a language learning superhero.