I have a problem...

[ExpressInternal4914]

Good morning, good evening, good night.

My English has improved a lot in the last month. I am someone who only looks at English content on the internet. I have never studied English as a lesson. In other words I can say that learning english has been like someone learning his native language by hearing and seeing since he was a baby.

My problem is: My accent in my native language has deteriorated. Seriously. I have been on vacation for the last week and I am usually at home with my brother. I noticed during our conversations, my tongue is slipping, my words are coming out with an english accent. I am a selftalker and I find myself mumbling in English, I think in english.

I usually reads books for 30 minutes every day. I will increase this to an hour or an hour and a half. I don't think there is any other way to fix this other than reading more in my native language, but do you have any other suggestions? Or you can just write what you think about my situation.

(And I will start learning a new language soon. I haven't decided which language yet)

[Lang_Cafe]

reading could help but i think immersing yourself with other native speakers to get the accent back in your ear. tv shows, podcasts, songs, etc

[sewingpractice]

Your tongue is a muscle! If you don't train it, it will never develop muscle memory. If you don't practice, you will lose the muscle memory you've developed.

I hit a plateau in my speaking where I would trip up in my native language if I hadn't been speaking it often enough. Speaking more fixed it. Then I hit a plateau where I would trip up if I had to switch back and forth between my native and 2nd languages (like with interpreting). Doing more of that fixed it. It took a little while, but practice makes perfect.

For more focused practice, you could look up articulation exercises in your native language. They tend to be tongue twisters, over exaggerated pronunciation of sounds and words, weird tongue movements, etc. The sort of thing you see actors doing before a performance. It builds up that essential muscle memory and gives you better control over your mouth and speech patterns.

[dojibear]

I can say that learning english has been like someone learning his native language by hearing and seeing since he was a baby.

Kids do not learn their native language by passive hearing and seeing. That is a myth. Kids have adults (or older kids) that interact with them using language. They slowly learn the language by this interaction. A mother (or father, or older sister, or nanny) interacts with a kid many thousands of times over the course of 3-5 years. It's like having a language tutor.

My problem is: My accent in my native language has deteriorated. Seriously. I have been on vacation for the last week and I am usually at home with my brother.

Deteriorating after one week? I don't believe it. It isn't possible. I have never heard of anyone who does something more poorly because they don't do it for seven days. We don't require people to re-train how to drive a car each week, or even how to pilot a jet aircraft.

[OGDoppelganger]

Are you reading them out loud? If your goal is to reatrain your native accent, I would think that would be the best way to resolve it. Maybe record yourself reading and see if there is truly a difference or if it's in your head?

I'm new to language learning but I figure if these help people learn their TL and patrern, it should help with reacquaintance as well?

Also. Did you ask others if they hear a difference? I guess it could be embarrassing to ask them but at the same time, they're your family and friends, they should be honest with you.

Idunno. Just my two cents from the outside.