Many parents wonder: Will my child speak with a native accent? Should they? Is it even possible? A bilingual accent is a often associated with success in learning a language or integrating in a new culture. Yet, not all bilingual children develop “perfect” pronunciation, but that doesn’t mean they understand less or don’t identify as bilingual. In this article, our bilingual French-English school in Paris takes a close and caring look at the “perfect” accent: which issues surround it, how to develop it, and best educational practices to adopt.
Accents and Bilingualism: What’s True?
There are both expectations and misunderstandings around acquiring a native accent. We need to distinguish the reality of language from social perception so that we can better support your children towards being bilingual.
A Good Accent Doesn’t Mean Balanced Bilingualism
A child can speak a language with a perfect accent without fully mastering cultural or grammatical registers. On the other hand, some bilingual children with very fluid pronunciation have a slight accent, which does not affect their comprehension or communication. A bilingual accent is only a partial indicator, not a means by which to measure mastery.
Myths Abound on Accents
Many parents think that mastering a foreign accent means success. But, as linguist François Grosjean reminds us, having an accent does not make you less bilingual. Many also think that just having a native accent guarantees social integration, or that children need to get rid of their accents to be credible. These beliefs can put unnecessary pressure on children.
Accents: Identity and Social Perception
An accent communicates a story, origin and individual musicality. It can be seen as a source of wealth, or sometimes evoke unconscious judgments. This discrepancy between actual competence and social perception needs to be addressed in order to maintain children’s linguistic confidence.
Why Do All Children Not Acquire a “Perfect Accent”?
While some bilingual children seem to naturally have a native accent, others speak with foreign pronunciation despite early exposure. This is due to a combination of cognitive, emotional and environmental factors specific to each student. The time required to become bilingual also plays a role, beyond progressing through levels.
Age of Exposure: a Clear Advantage, but not a Guarantee
Auditory plasticity is at its maximum between starting our bilingual preschool in Paris and before starting our bilingual middle school in Paris, i.e. before age 10. This is when the brain can identify and reproduce a wide variety of sounds. However, early exposure does not guarantee native pronunciation on its own. It’s a strong foundation, but not an end in itself.
Active Exposure: the Key to Pronunciation
Hearing a language is not enough. The child must use it actively, such as responding, singing, imitating and playing. Contextualised repetition of sounds forms articulation habits. And the more varied interactions the child has, the more pronunciation is assimilated fluidly.
Emotional Preference for a Language
A child sometimes develops a stronger emotional relationship with one of their languages, which influences their desire to use it and with it, the quality of their pronunciation. This factor is often overlooked, but it can perhaps explain why two children exposed to the same languages have very different accents.
Physiological and Contextual Factors
Fatigue, emotions, stress and cognitive load can temporarily alter an accent, even for a child at ease with the language. And some phonemes are more difficult to adopt, especially if they don’t exist in the child’s native language. Pronunciation development is an uneven process that takes time.
Accents and Bilingual Children: Correct, Encourage, or Let it Be?
Many parents ask how to approach their child’s accent: should they say something? correct the child? ignore it? It all depends on the approach, context, and age. One thing is certain: care, consistency and a love of learning must guide each interaction.
The Role of Non-Native Parents: Engagement
Speaking to your child in a language that isn’t your native one can be scary. But even with an accent, a parent is an excellent linguistic model. What counts is consistency, exposure, and confidence: the child will be able to distinguish between the accents they hear.
Correct without Pressure
An accent can improve with a few gentle corrections, by copying or reformulating. But corrections that are too frequent or rigid can make the child not want to speak. What works is natural feedback, part of the game or conversation, to encourage them without adding stress.
Choose Interactive Activities
Games are a great way to work on sound reproduction. Songs, stories to act out, pronunciation challenges and family games are all good options. These quality experiences create a strong connection with the language while strengthening phonological memory.
Confidence Before Perfection
The child must feel they are allowed to make mistakes, fumble, laugh at their accent without being ashamed of it. They perfect their pronunciation by speaking without fear of being judged. More than perfection, free communication builds a solid and sustainable foundation.
The Role of School in Pronunciation Acquisition
The school plays an important role in the quality of language exposure, diversity of accent examples and development of speaking confidence. The right school can make a considerable difference in the phonological ease and pronunciation of bilingual children.
Regular Exposure to Native Speakers
Schools that have native or fully bilingual teachers provide students with clear pronunciation examples. This daily immersion exposes the child to the intonations, rhythms and sounds specific to each language naturally.
The Importance of Speaking
Pedagogy that prioritizes speaking, including theatre, debates, presentations and role play, instils linguistic reflexes. The more a child speaks aloud in a safe environment, the more they naturally perfect their accent, without conscious effort.
Different Approaches for Different Students
All children don’t learn at the same pace and they all don’t have the same auditory sensitivity. A school attentive to these differences will offer specific activities (active listening, recording, phonetic coaching, etc.) to support each child as they progress.
Close Collaboration with Families
Finally, the relationship between school and parents is essential. When the school communicates on approaches to take at home, the resources available and the child’s progress, it supports development of both the accent and pronunciation.
Can You Really “Work On” Your Accent? Supporting Continuous Improvement
An accent is not the end of the world or a gift for a select few: it’s an oral skill, which changes and is shaped and adjusted over time. When you stop using it as a performance criterion, it becomes an area to improve instead of an obstacle.
The Accent Changes with Context and Age
From childhood to adulthood, the accent can change, be reshaped or even combined with others. Long-term exposure, a change in linguistic context and targeted pronunciation work can make significant differences, even later on.
Specific Tools for Improving at Any Age
Resources abound for practicing: pronunciation applications, repeating dialogues from series, comparing recordings and voice coaching. It’s hard work, but it can quickly become a fun activity to share with your family.
Uplifting the Linguistic Identity of Each Child
Each accent tells a story. The goal isn’t to make all voices the same, but to give the child the means to be understood with ease and confidence. Encouraging their effort, without obsessing over “no accent”, is also a way to recognise the richness of their bilingual experience.
Acquiring a bilingual accent isn’t an obstacle or an absolute criterion for success. It reflects individual experience, musicality and a unique relationship to language. At our international bilingual school in Paris, we value each voice and we support children with rigor and confidence, so that they can speak freely, in all languages, and with pride.