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Turn pseudo-USaccent into an English one? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Questions About Your Target Languages |  | |
| fairyfountain Senior Member Zimbabwe Joined 6136 days ago 254 posts - 248 votes  5 sounds | Message 9 of 22 06 July 2009 at 3:52pm | IP Logged |
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anamsc, thank you very much for your answer - you do have a point. I don't think forcing it was a good idea - I did get some negative reactions, which doesn't exactly surprise me. Moreover, if I voice chat with someone and put on an English accent, Brits tell me I sound American anyway. I do think that I could potentially offend some of my British friends, as my imitation is as ridiculous and exaggerated as you can get.
Your advice is really good, I'll comment on it. 1. Most of the input I got over the last 3 years was BBC English. Yet, I never managed to sound more than midatlantic. An American friend told me that I may be more prone to American accents for some mysterious reason, and I concur. I tried shadowing an English book for some 10 hours last year, and I didn't get good results. I believe that it helped me with intonation patterns somehow, but that's it. 2. I do have some English friends who helped me this week. They all gently told me that they liked my American accent and that my English accent wasn't very good. British people tend to be diplomatic when it comes to making comments, so it slightly worries me! Moreover, how I could pronounce words like "Wales" or "two" with an American accent is beyond me. They hear it, I don't! I also have a French-English tutor, but even when we talk for hours, I don't copy her. 3. I only studied British phonetics, so that's the easy part. I actually had to learn the features of the American accent later on, not the other way round. Now, I'm pretty sure I'm okay with individual sounds, but putting on an English accent is hard for me. I'm not complaining about it, I'm just saying that I thought that since I had somewhat master the sounds, I could read something. All the best for your accent work with Spanish - it's an honorable endeavor, but a grueling one! I picked Mexican Spanish, and I do believe that the pronunciation is easier to some extent, so learning Spanish Spanish prolly is harder. I'd love to go to the US, but it's a little bit complicated right now. I'd have to sort out a lot of things first, and sometimes I just think that choosing the UK instead would be easier. That said, you're right - I'd be a little bit bitter if I had to go to the UK. I love this country, but it wouldn't be the same. Anyway, my post does sound a little bit negative, and I didn't want it to come across that way. I think that my greatest fear is to end up sounding stupid in both accents. I don't know what I'll do - gambling is not really my thing, even when it comes to languages. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| fairyfountain Senior Member Zimbabwe Joined 6136 days ago 254 posts - 248 votes 5 sounds | Message 11 of 22 06 July 2009 at 5:54pm | IP Logged |
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I downloaded the first Harry Potter book read by Stephen Fry a while ago. He sounds real nice, that's for sure. That said, I listened to the first few chapters just because I felt like it, not because I was trying to pick up an English accent. I think I could shadow people off Eastenders and sound posh!
Thank you for your advice, I'll see whether Stephen Fry can save me or not. I may actually know why putting on a British accent is so difficult for me. Some people think that British guys sound a little bit effeminate - that's got to do with the high frequencies you find in the English accent. However, American English shares frequencies with the French accent, and Americans tend to use a deeper voice. My voice is quite deep in French, so I have to strain it somehow if I want to sound English. I feel like I'm forced to hit a high note or something. Now, some Cali girls can sound really high-pitched, but I don't talk like that, and I don't have the required voice to talk like that anyway! Anyway, I may have another go at the English accent, but this whole pitch problem is there, and I can't change my voice, so yeah. That's just conjecture, but I do think it plays a part. I know that most of the people in my class who have deeper voices go for the American accent, whereas most of the girls who have "girly" voices pick British instead. Edited by fairyfountain on 07 July 2009 at 7:04pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| ExtraLean Triglot Senior Member France languagelearners.myf Joined 6002 days ago 897 posts - 880 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish Studies: German | Message 13 of 22 07 July 2009 at 4:20pm | IP Logged |
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Buttons, I too have found speaking French slightly higher than I do in English facilitates things.
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| fairyfountain Senior Member Zimbabwe Joined 6136 days ago 254 posts - 248 votes 5 sounds | Message 14 of 22 07 July 2009 at 8:08pm | IP Logged |
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Well, speaking slightly higher in French does make sense for Americans, but i don't know about Brits. I just voice chatted with a Brit for an hour, and her French accent is really good because her mom taught her some French when she was younger, but it seemed like her voice was deeper in French (and she almost nailed the French accent at times, so yeah).
I did say one word the English way, and she called me out on it, which was quite funny. I do believe that I'm becoming more aware of the English sounds, but still sound off. Anyway, I ordered some software for pronunciation and there's British English in it. I did also take the American version tho. Ya never know :-p 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| alunap Newbie Scotland Joined 5731 days ago 15 posts - 15 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Latin, French | Message 15 of 22 20 July 2009 at 9:24pm | IP Logged |
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Not sure exactly what to suggest, other than listening to good models. However, I did want to say that to many
British ears, English spoken with a French accent is preferable to English spoken with an American accent, so I wouldn't worry too much about that. When you said 'Southern English' and 'London', accents came to mind that I wouldn't bother acquiring; but it is so variable within quite a small geographical area. You then mentioned BBC, and I agree, there are a number of people (I think of women - but then I always do ;^) ) who do have georgeous accents on the BBC. It isn't really RP, though, which does sound artificial to my ears. If I were you, I would just relax, go there, and you'll end up picking it up subconsciously, I'm sure. Edited by alunap on 20 July 2009 at 9:25pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| fairyfountain Senior Member Zimbabwe Joined 6136 days ago 254 posts - 248 votes 5 sounds | Message 16 of 22 20 July 2009 at 10:44pm | IP Logged |
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Well, I sort of give up on the English accent, because I was struggling too much. I'm working on my American accent instead. I know that some (most) British people don't like my accent in English, but I'd rather sound American anyway. I've been calling my Americans friends daily, so I guess this is better that way.
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