What Is Mother-Tongue Influence and Can It Be Improved with Training?

Understanding MTI

Can anyone explain what MTI is, what the characteristic traits of MTI are, and whether MTI can be corrected through training?

Thanks

MTI: The Three Dimensions of Accent

The three dimensions of accent are articulation, pronunciation, and intonation. Articulation is how we produce speech sounds—vowels and consonants. For example, a person might say "joo" instead of "zoo" or "another" instead of "unother" (phonetically).

Pronunciation involves stressing the correct part of the word (syllable). A person may say "CommunicaTION" instead of "CommuniCAtion."

Intonation is the music of the language, the ups and downs in a sentence.

MTI (Mother Tongue Influence) could be any aspect of articulation, pronunciation, or intonation that is reflected from the mother tongue in speech. Listen to this speaker (<link no longer exists - removed>) and you shall notice the MTI in the speaker's accent.

Typical Characteristics of MTI

1. Incorrect Articulation: Either the wrong consonant sound or vowel sound. Elongation or clipping of vowel sounds.

2. Wrong Pronunciation: Stressing the wrong syllable.

3. Incorrect Intonation: Not using the correct word stress and rise and fall of pitch and tone while speaking.

Yes, MTI can be worked upon with training and practice.

Mr. Atul has well explained the important aspects of accent, and Mr. Simhan's citation of the anecdote of Birbal further explains how indelible MTI is. Another citation, from a different angle, is from a Tamil movie "Naan Avanillai," directed by K. Balachander, casting Gemini Ganesan as an impostor. Upon his arrest, the police try to find out his true identity and nativity as he cheated different ladies in their own languages using his multilingual skill. They decide to give him a shock treatment, and one officer suddenly slaps him on his cheek. He responds by crying "mushe," holding his cheek in pain. The interrogators, in their utter confusion, refer to dictionaries of various languages and discover the word to be Chinese, further complicating their confusion. Therefore, if we are conscious of the language we speak, MTI can be significantly reduced. To the maximum extent, it can be corrected by continuous training and close observation of native speakers.

MTI - Mother Tongue Influence

It refers to a specific influence observed in the English language in spoken form. It occurs in the spoken accent of an individual while speaking the English language, owing to the spoken practice of one's mother tongue. It can be eliminated only by practicing the right pronunciation of the English language. For example, North Indians have the accent of pronouncing "SH" as "IS." This is known as Mother Tongue Influence. While pronouncing "S," it is pronounced as "J." For example, the word "position" is pronounced as "bojision."

It can be corrected by understanding the right pronunciation with the CD available in the dictionary known as "CAMBRIDGE ENGLISH PRONOUNCING DICTIONARY-CD-ROM USER'S GUIDE." The price is approximately Rs. 400. Of course, the CD provides both American and British accents, but you may choose the neutral accent, i.e., our Indian accent, which eliminates MTI.

Best wishes

Though in the Indian context, we think of MTI in relation to spoken English, the MTI can be found in the use of any second language. For example, please read and digest the content at http://Michael Swan | The influence ...sition and use.

Our children were born in the UK; though we spoke to them in both Tamil (our mother tongue) and Kannada (the regional language of my birthplace), they can speak those languages with an "English" accent. Incidentally, my wife and I can't read or write in Tamil. Our Tamil is labeled as "Kannadiga Tamil" by Tamilians from Tamil Nadu.

So, we may have to coin a new word "Primary Language Influence," as our children's mother tongue is not English, but that's their primary language.

MTI - Mother Tongue Influence

...but you may choose the neutral accent, i.e., our Indian accent, which eliminates MTI. Good answers to your question of reducing MTI. However, I definitely don't think the 'Indian accent' is neutral! All of us, irrespective of our country or state of origin, have some sort of an accent. One can at best pronounce many words the way native speakers of English do. Again, this depends on whether one is imitating the Brits or Americans. This is mainly done to facilitate communication, especially if one's working in a BPO industry.

However, it's not only completely taxing but also ridiculous to make it our life's mission to perfectly imitate their accent. At best, people sound like good mimics; at worst, completely fake and obnoxious. I personally love a natural Indian accent. This doesn't have the guttural articulation like some native speakers do. So be proud of your natural accent and not try to kill it completely.

It's not just MTI that causes problems; regional variations do as well. For example, please see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Region...nts_of_English.

Reducing MTI Through Training

MTI can be diluted to a large extent with proper training and practice. As far as I know, a "Global Accent" can be gradually acquired after reducing the MTI effects. Very few Asian people "have" this.

Regards.

Understanding MTI and Its Impact on Interviews

MTI is a major drawback that can lead to rejection in interviews, especially in corporate or MNC firms. However, it's really very hard to get rid of this problem. Firm determination and proper training will surely help in this case.

Regards

MTI can certainly be reduced by the above-mentioned thoughts. There are distinct variants, as mentioned, in the way a person from North India communicates versus a person from South India. Again, the people from the Eastern parts of India tend to elongate their vowel sounds and use intonation more. This can be seen in stark contrast to the flatter tones of, say, someone from the South.

When we train corporates, we first work on their existing MTI to make them more comprehensible to us, then take them to the next level, for want of a better term, 'Global English.'

Imitation is certainly one way to learn, as mentioned by the above user. I'd like to point out, though, that unless someone is raised in a particular country or has resided there for many years, or is especially gifted with languages, it's possible to distinguish that the particular person is not a native speaker. I've heard this often from many people, 'His/her English is so good. He sounds almost British but isn't.' The same can be applied to American accents. The simple reason is this: no matter how much we learn and imitate and reduce our MTI, there are certain nuances that will distinguish a native speaker from a person who learns it out of passion or requirement.

This is not to disappoint anyone, but rather to own it. One can reduce MTI, one can sound different, global, international (insert any adjective). However, one cannot sound completely like a pure Brit or American, unless, again, we belong to the above-mentioned categories.

The purpose of reducing MTI or acquiring an accent is not to sound British or American. It is a process to reach a stage where others can understand us without much effort and where we can also comprehend others.

Having said that, I would also like to share from my own experience (working as a Trainer in a BPO) that there are some people I know who reached a stage where even native Americans were not able to tell that those individuals were from India. I remember handling an escalated call once, and the moment I greeted the customer (an American lady), she said, "Thank God, I am talking to someone from my country."

Accent as a Number Line

Accent is like a number line. The negative side depicts the Mother Tongue Influence (MTI), and the positive side depicts the degree of an acquired accent. The zero denotes the Global Accent.

Communication has various aspects, and accent is just one of them. We should focus on speaking clearly and fluently. Acquiring an accent is a personal choice and also depends on our professional requirements.

First of all, I want to express that this has become a slightly contentious issue. It's not that I'm particularly argumentative by nature, but I certainly like to get to the root of things.

[QUOTE=learningnovo] The purpose of reducing MTI or acquiring an accent is not to sound Brit or American. It is a process to acquire a stage where others can understand us without much effort, and we can also comprehend others. Thank you for bringing this out. In effect, we reduce MTI, acquire an accent so that others can comprehend us. Who are the others that are being mentioned here? We're not trying to sound Brit or American, but hey, we want to be understood by them. This is exactly my point! When one deals with MNC's, we know we have to sound comprehensible to our Clients. It makes perfect business sense. However, when you're trying to teach a person to communicate effectively in English, which parameters are highlighted??

[QUOTE=learningnovo] Accent is like a number line. The negative side depicts the MTI, and the positive side depicts the degree of acquired accent. The zero denotes the Global Accent. I like your utilization of math as symbolization here. I have a question though. Why is the negative side of 'accent' (number line) the MTI? I know from experience that certain idiosyncrasies with natural MTI are actually found to be quite adorable among corporate clients and non-natives. By nullifying our natural individual accents, does anyone think they're losing anything?

I personally subscribe to your closing comments. Thank you so much. Kudos on being appreciated and mistaken to be a native speaker. Being a Trainer is no joke, and it's indeed rewarding to know where you stand. When I indulge in Corporate Training, I try to be inclusive of the trainee's natural styles of communication. Let's just say it adds more flavor or flavour? :)

The Influence of Mother Tongue

One who is born and brought up in their respective country or place usually can speak their native language. In the world, there are several countries, languages, and civilizations. However, English is the universal language, of course. When speaking in our native language with someone, we can easily express our feelings compared to using another language. In India, there are several languages and state provinces, each with its linguistic background. Despite the variety of languages, Hindi (the national language) unites them. When communicating with someone who knows our mother tongue, we are more comfortable expressing ourselves freely. Therefore, Mother Tongue Influence (MTI) always plays a significant role in expressing our views.

My own experience - while working on the ROLLS-ROYCE project, there was an English person (name forgotten, possibly Mr. Dodson) who could speak a little Hindi and our local language, Telugu. He could easily communicate with taxi drivers, auto drivers, and rickshaw pullers wherever he went. Everyone was amazed by how quickly he learned the local languages. This is just one example of how MTI influences our lives.

Regards,
PBS KUMAR