So many students here in Brazil keep complaining about how fast English sounds. What does really happen?
Do you notice that some of your friends speak fast and other don't? That's it, and that's all. Really. There's no REAL difference between English/Portuguese speeds.
Now you gotta be wondering "Oh, this guy is nuts, OF COURSE English is faster!" If you're one os those, please take a quick note at this extract from a remarkable specialist:
Some Languages Are Spoken More Quickly Than Others
Peter Roach, now an emeritus professor of phonetics at Reading University in England, has been studying speech perception throughout his career. And what has he found out? That there's "no real difference between different languages in terms of sounds per second in normal speaking cycles."
But surely, you're saying, there's a rhythmical difference between English (which is classed as a "stress-timed" language) and, say, French or Spanish (classed as "syllable-timed"). Indeed, Roach says, "it usually seems that syllable-timed speech sounds faster than stress-timed to speakers of stress-timed languages. So Spanish, French, and Italian sound fast to English speakers, but Russian and Arabic don't."
However, different speech rhythms don't necessarily mean different speaking speeds. Studies suggest that "languages and dialects just sound faster or slower, without any physically measurable difference. The apparent speed of some languages might simply be an illusion."
English Language Myths: 30 Beliefs that Aren't Really True
That beig the case, it's actually a matter of acquaintance with the language. So please keep practicing and you'll succeed! It's awful to find everything fast. Please take notes of these 3 tips:
(1) Watch cartoons. Yes, Toy Story, Tarzan, The Little Mermaid, etc. Cartoons are extremely easy to understand as they try to make it sound perfectly. If you have a basic level, you can already try it without subtitles.
(2) Never watch movies with portuguese subtitles anymore. You have to live the language as much as you can. I know it takes some effort, but it's worth the try.
(3) Find opportunities to speak to a foreigner. If you have some speaking abilities, you should try those! You'll see that it's quite easier to talk for real and understanding [an American, for example] than simply watching movies. And you'll certaily "break the spell" of making you believe that speaking English is not an achievable task.
PS: Este artigo está um pouco mais focado àqueles que já tem habilidades de leitura no mínimo medianas. O próximo artigo será mais analphabet-friendly. Don't miss!
