I’ve heard the theory that “talented musicians have an easier time acquiring languages, especially when it comes to pronunciation” many times. Sounds logical enough, but I’ve always been sceptical of it.
A couple of days ago, I came across this Indonesian rapper named Rich Brian. Rich is a 20-year-old native of Jakarta who gains fame for his home-made music videos.
I don’t really listen to his genre of music. But I did watch an interview with him, and what struck me is how American he sounds. His pronunciation, intonation, rhythm — everything sounds 100% natural. And his grammar and vocabulary are both impeccable to boot. I could have totally mistaken him for a native American speaker.
This is the interview that I saw:
That got me curious — isn’t this guy supposed to be Indonesian?
So I did some more research. Apparently, he said that he learned English through watching YouTube videos when he was 14?? He was home-schooled so he had a lot of free time at home, so he would watch countless YouTube on his topics of interest. He would also play American rap songs and repeat after the singer to get the rhythm and pronunciation right.
If that is true, then holy shit! In a span of 4 years, he managed to acquire a flawless American accent having never set foot on US soil, only through consuming American media!
I was ready to believe in the theory that musical talent equals language learning aptitude. I mean, this guy is the living evidence.
But then I dug some more into the topic… and well, it’s not so simple.
I watched some of his earlier videos in 2015 when he was 16. His English was already impeccable back then. No traces of an Indonesian accent at all. Now that seems pretty suspect. There’s no way he could have acquired such natural English in a mere 2 years.
Going through some more of his older videos, it appears that he’s from a very well-off background. I’m not sure if this is his house or his friend’s? Either way, he seems to be hanging in a gated neighbourhood full of mansions with luscious green lawns. In other scenes, he is seen sitting in a luxury car smoking weed. That is definitely a sign of wealth.
That got me thinking — his parents probably got him a private English teacher from when he was a kid. Because my understanding is that you can only naturally acquire a language from being consistently immersed from an extremely early age. After a certain window of time, you just have to go to class and study the grammatical rules and the basic vocabulary just like everybody else.
This is even more true with pronunciation: as an adult, it is even more difficult to physically change your speech pattern. And as such, considering how natural Rich sounds, there’s probably no way he acquired English merely through YouTube immersion when he was already 14.
What Science Says
I found an article on Psychology Today that goes fairly deep into the subject. The short version is that… no, there is no demonstrable correlation between musical talent and language acquisition abilities. They occupy different regions of the brain.
Further reading shows that if you begin learning a second language some time after puberty, it is practically impossible to lose your native accent. Various studies on both regular people and actors have concluded that those with a convincing native-like accent are, without fail, exposed to the language from a prepubescent stage. (This article explains it pretty thoroughly)
In a nutshell, the idea that some people have the aptitude for language learning has not yet been corroborated by science. Maybe these natural polyglots do exist, but it seems especially challenging to truly separate their innate abilities with external factors from their environment (e.g early exposure to language or motivation to study).
Final Thoughts
So there you have it. Maybe Rich Brian did intensely analyse American rap when he was 14, but that was no way the beginning of his English learning journey. That was more like a stage where he started to be seriously into hip-hop. I am 99% certain that he learned English as a young kid, and hence his native-like accent.
On the topic of having an accent, I’ve given quite a bit of thought about it on a personal level. I began learning English quite late, some time after my 7th grade. And that was the typical English curriculum in a public school which mostly focused on grammar. I had zero conception of English vowels and consonants, much less more advanced stuff like diphthongs. I’d just say “book” as in”búc”, “walk” as in “oắc”, “approach” as in “áp-prốtch”, and “year” as in gi-ia. Pretty embarrassing to think back now.
I didn’t seriously learn English pronunciation on my own until way late into my 20’s (hell, I wasn’t even aware of the IPA until 2017). This means I’ve always pronounced English in a rather… Vietnamese fashion. I generally just spoke according to what I picked up from listening to native speakers, but I wasn’t aware of the nuances.
In 2018 and 2019, I paid way more attention to familiarising myself with the IPA. I began to consciously look up the IPA version of words. It has paid off quite well; my pronunciation has improved quite a bit. I’ve spoken to several native speakers over the last couple of years (Irish, English, Australia, American) and they are all impressed with my English in general. But — anytime I ask them about my accent, the typical response is that there still is a slight tinge of Vietnamese in my accent — around 10%, they’d say. My pronunciation on the shorter words is fine, but the Vietnamese becomes extremely noticeable on the longer words.
I have never really tried to sound native, but it’s nice to finally know that it is pretty much humanly impossible to do so. Your brain shuts off the sound mapping system at around 10, which means after that age, it becomes impossible to pick up and reproduce sounds accurately. The best I can do now is to try to nail the pronunciation of as many words as possible. I still mispronounce a couple of words here and there 🙁
So if you have kids and you want them to speak another language, get them some cable TV or some YouTube subscriptions in that language as soon as possible. And if you’re a grownup who wants to “sound native”, just… don’t. You WILL be disappointed. Spend your time on some more practical goals.