“I Want to Speak Like a Native Speaker. Can You Help?“ – My Answer

Hey everyone, it's Hadar.

Thank you so much for joining me.

Recently, I've been getting a lot of questions from followers

about how they can acquire the American accent so they can start

feeling more confident in English.

They want to sound like native speakers.

Now, I'm listening to these students, these people, and to me, they sound clear,

they sound powerful, they sound engaging.

And at the same time, their individual experience is that

their English is not good enough.

And that compromises their confidence when communicating in English.

So, I wanna bring back this conversation about accent and 'sounding like a native'

versus 'owning your voice in English'.

Because I believe that these two things are not exactly the same.

Meaning: acquiring an American accent or speaking without a foreign accent

does not guarantee full confidence.

It does not guarantee ultimate limitless fluency.

And I can tell you that because I have been there myself.

I have trained as an actress.

And the first thing I worked on was my accent, was my pronunciation.

And even though I was able to acquire an American accent and speak like an

American, I did not feel confident.

In fact, I felt less confident in many of the cases because on the

outside it sounded like I'm a native speaker, but from the inside I wasn't.

And I knew that I'm still making mistakes or I still get stuck.

And that made me feel more like a fraud then someone who masters a language.

And I also felt that dealing with the nuances and always making sure that it

all sounds just right, really limited my experience when communicating in English.

I was focusing on how it sounds rather than what I wanted to express.

So, owning that accent did not provide me with that ultimate fluency that a

lot of my students are looking for.

And this is why it's important for me to speak about this.

Because limitless fluency, which means an experience where you speak

in English without second-guessing yourself, without thinking twice about

what to say, with feeling like you're speaking and you're not sure if it's

English or your native language, right?

That is what I call limitless fluency, where you actually

enjoy communicating in English.

And even you enjoy it more than communicating in your

native language, right?

That is limitless fluency.

Regardless of the result, limitless fluency is the experience of you speaking.

So, to reach that it requires a series of elements that you

need to take into consideration.

And yes, pronunciation is definitely one of them.

Actually, it's a big component of the work.

But it's not the end result - to sound like a native.

Because that will not guarantee you that experience that I'm talking about.

Without the internal work, working on the external features, will never

get you to where you want to be.

And this is why internal work and a very clear plan is what

you need to reach that limitless fluency, to reach a transformation,

to own your voice in English.

To not care about what people think, to not care about how you sound and more

about 'Did I get my point across?', right?

'Am I getting what I want when I'm speaking?' To understand that you

belong in English and you deserve to get stuck and to make mistakes, and

to have someone wait for you until you figure out what you want to say.

You deserve all that.

And you belong in that language, just like any other person who happened

to be born into that language.

This is so incredibly important for you to understand.

And I'm going to keep talking about it and keep repeating it over and over again.

Because I still get these questions and I want to change that paradigm, that

no accent means freedom and confidence.

Because I can tell you firsthand - this is not true.

I have trained my students in the first few years of teaching, when I also wanted

to have my students sound like a native, to get them to sound like a native.

And I realized how insecure they still were.

Whereas when we started doing additional work - internal work - a very specific

pronunciation work that is designed to free up the muscles and create more ease.

And of course, create clarity with awareness and giving students the

power to know if they're on the right track or not, right, taking

ownership over their English.

That has turned their experience around and that has given them a lot more

freedom than the right pronunciation.

- Before, I used to think my English was good, but not good enough.

And I used to feel so afraid and ashamed of using it.

But I started noticing a lot of changes, starting with gaining confidence.

And I have also noticed many other improvements, you know:

in my pronunciation, in my fluency, and many other aspects.

- I'm more confident now.

I feel free.

And now I don't think that my English is not enough.

- Now I just stand up in the middle of the circle and I just can speak.

And people give me positive reviews and people understand me.

- I feel more confident.

And now I talk, and I said what I thought.

I spread my feelings.

- I'm feeling confident enough to speak English to people.

And my life has improved a lot.

So, if I can offer you anything in this episode, is that mindset shift

around what it means to be fluent, what it means to have this free experience

communicating in a second language.

And while pronunciation work is a part of it, it is not the ultimate goal.

Sounding like a native is not the ultimate goal.

Now, I'm not a fool.

I know that people experience discrimination once they open their mouth.

I know that that's the case for many immigrants and many non-native

speakers around the world, working in global companies or trying to apply

for a job that requires English.

I know that.

But you cannot change how people perceive you.

You can only change how you interpret that situation and how it affects

your perception of your self worth.

Because if you let that situation be a confirmation to the negative thoughts that

you have about yourself and about your English, it is not going to serve you.

You are not going to reach your goals and you are not going to

break free from those barriers.

But if you choose to interpret it as not validation for your incompetence,

but as validation for their incompetence and their lack of understanding of

how the world works and what it means to speak a second language, right?

If you use that as validation that you are on the right track and you

know what's right, and you're not gonna let it deter you from where you

want to go - this is when you reach real freedom and real transformation.

Okay?

So, I want you to remember that.

And at the same time, I do believe that there are things that you can do

to help you own that voice in English.

In fact, in just a few days, I'm hosting a brand new masterclass that is totally

free, where I will be teaching you those five steps that are needed for

you to reach a real transformation in English and reach limitless fluency.

And yes, pronunciation is a big part of it, but I will be teaching you how to use

pronunciation work to find that freedom.

Rather than just the change how you sound and sound like an native.

Okay?

So, I'm gonna be sharing with you all of that there.

I promise that you're gonna learn new things and gain new insights as

to what needs to happen for you to finally see that change and feel free.

It's absolutely free.

Seats are limited, so I invite you to click the link below.

If you're watching this after we host the masterclass, then I still

invite you to click the link.

And I'm gonna be sharing with you some useful links to do this work on your own.

All right.

So, thank you so much for being here.

I hope this was helpful.

Please let me know in the comments how this lands and how this resonates.

And I can't wait to continue this conversation here or over on

Instagram at @hadar.accentsway.

Have a beautiful, beautiful rest of the day.

And I'll see you next week in the next video.

Bye.