迷思五，你是外国人，因此一直会有外国口音
本文英语原文节选自 antimoon，略有删改并增加中文译文 Myth #5: "You are a foreigner, therefore you will always have a foreign accent"
This line is often used to discourage language learners from studying pronunciation seriously. You didn’t grow up in an English-speaking country, so why bother trying to get your English vowels right?
It is related to the Critical Period Hypothesis (see next myth).
这句话经常用来打消学外语者认真地学发音的念头。你又不是在英语国家长大，所以為何操心要把英语元音发得準呢？
这说法与关键期假说有关。（请看下一迷思）
事实Fact
The fact that most foreigners have a foreign accent does not mean that you have to be like them. Many comedians are able to perfectly imitate the speech of actors, politicians, etc. Hugh Laurie was able to do a perfect American accent in House M.D., even though he is British. I can also humbly offer my own example — on listening to my speech samples, a number of Americans said that if they met me on the street, they couldn’t tell I wasn’t an American. (By the way, I have lived in Poland all my life and started studying English pronunciation at 15.)
即使确实有绝大多数外国人说话带外国口音，你也不必和他们一样。不少喜剧演员能完美地模仿明星、政治家等人的腔调说话。Renee Zellweger在电影《BJ单身日记》(The Bridget Jones's Diary)中，能说出完美无暇的英国口音，即使她来自美国南方。我也谦虚地拿我自己為例——好些美国人听了我的说话样本后，都说如果在街上遇见我，他们不会发觉我不是美国人。（顺带一提，我一直在波兰生活，直到15岁才开始学习英语发音。）
There is no reason why you can’t speak a foreign language with a perfect, natural accent. You will need at least some talent for imitating sounds (if you can imitate people in your own language, that’s a very good sign). However, if you just don’t have the knack, you can largely make up for it with persistence and a little technology.
你没有理由不能用完美自然的口音说外语。你至少要一点模仿声音的能力（如果你可以模仿其他说你母语的人，这是个很好的徵兆。）不过，即使你没这个本事，也可以凭不懈努力和一些科技来弥补不足。
For example, you can record your voice with your computer and compare it with the proper pronunciation. This technique helps many learners see where their pronunciation is different from the original and lets them gradually make it more native-like.
譬如，你可以用电脑录下自己的声音，再和恰当的发音比较。（如果你在学美国英语，可以用PerfectPronunciation做到。）这技巧帮助很多学习者看到自己的发音和原来的有何差别，并逐步令自己发音更地道。
You will also need to study phonetics. First, find a resource which has recordings of all the sounds of the language you’re learning (like the table with English sounds we have for English). Then, discover which sounds are used in which words by listening to the language and by reading phonetic transcriptions in dictionaries.
你也需要学习语音学。首先，找一个囊括你学的外语全部声音的录音材料（就像我们製作的英语声音列表）。然后，通过聆听外语和阅读词典的音标转写，发现哪些声音会在哪些单词用到。
Perhaps you will not be indistinguishable from a native in the end, but you are likely to achieve clear, pleasant pronunciation that will give native speakers something to wonder about (for example, Michal Wojcik’s accent is confusing for some native speakers — they think he’s from an English-speaking country, but they can’t tell which one). 也许你最终不会和母语者毫无不同，但你很可能达到清晰动听的发音，好得让母语者也希奇。（例如，米哈乌·武伊齐克的口音使某些母语者困惑——他们以為他从英语国家来，却不晓得是哪一个。）