|
 |
Accent reduction course for Spanish | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| vuisminebitz Triglot Groupie United States Joined 6573 days ago 86 posts - 108 votes  Speaks: Yiddish, English*, Spanish Studies: Swahili | Message 1 of 8 17 July 2007 at 7:43pm | IP Logged | ||
|
Watching the evening news in the US today, there was a report on accent
reduction courses for people trying to master English pronunciation. Are there such courses for speakers of foreign languages (IE for me English) to lose their foreign accents in Spanish? Can anyone recomend one of these if they do exist? Also out of curiosity, do accent reduction courses exist for many languages and countries or is it only an American English occurence. (Based on sterotypes I'd imagine France and England would have equivalents as well but I have no idea). A side note about the accent culture in America: My Mom's first language is English and she grew up in New York having a thick Brooklyn accent. She took audio courses and later accent reduction courses to get rid of the New York accent while in college after she first heard it recorded. Relatives tell me to get rid of my Philly accent (very distinctive and rarely on TV, very different from supposed Philly Accents like Rocky), but I don't want to mess with it. I would like to get rid of any possible trace of a gringo accent in Spanish however. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| dmg Diglot Senior Member Canada dgryski.blogspot.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 7010 days ago 555 posts - 605 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Dutch, Esperanto | Message 2 of 8 17 July 2007 at 11:10pm | IP Logged | ||
|
In my random surfing, I've found an overabundance of accent reduction courses primarily for American English.
(Listed for convenience -- go google them yourself if interested) - "Improve your American English Accent" - "American Accent Program" - "American Accent Training" - "English Pronunciation in Use" (British) For French (the language I study), most of the courses I've found have been much more academic, like university textbooks focusing on phonetics: - "Savoir Dire" (Dansereau) - "À L'Écoute du Français" (Languagewise) - "Bien Entendu" (Valdman) Thus, I'd suggest trying to find something similar for Spanish. A quick run through google found me: Spanish phonetics bookmarks on delicious a Spanish phonetics textbook another Spanish accent reduction course and another Spanish pronunciation course and not to mention the first part of the programmatic Spanish FSI course is all about phonetics and word stress. Edited by dmg on 17 July 2007 at 11:13pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| FSI Senior Member United States Joined 6358 days ago 550 posts - 590 votes Speaks: English* | Message 3 of 8 17 July 2007 at 11:16pm | IP Logged | ||
|
I find I learn accents best by listening to native speakers, and shadowing them whenever possible.
Children develop accents simply by speaking like those who surround them. But to speak, they have to listen. I believe this is essentially the same with adults. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tenseconds Diglot Newbie United States Joined 6368 days ago 18 posts - 18 votes Speaks: English, Spanish* Studies: Arabic (Written) | Message 4 of 8 18 July 2007 at 2:12am | IP Logged | ||
|
Here is a website that shows somebody pronouncing all the sounds and
explains how they are produced (click on Spanish): http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/ And an online course in pronunciation: http://www.webSpanishtutor.com/pron/default_pron.asp I don't know how good it is, I just found it on google. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| awake Senior Member United States Joined 6635 days ago 406 posts - 438 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Esperanto, Spanish | Message 5 of 8 18 July 2007 at 9:45pm | IP Logged | ||
|
These courses are expensive, and involve travel to the countries of interest
(Spain, France, etc...) but they seem to have special courses geared towards accent reduction. I have no knowledge of their efficacy, but the site looks nice and they promise a lot. immersion_courses/01menu.html">http://www.dialogue-languages .com/ languages/Spanish/immersion_courses/01menu.html 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| IronFist Senior Member United States Joined 6436 days ago 663 posts - 941 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Korean | Message 6 of 8 22 July 2007 at 12:04pm | IP Logged | ||
|
There's a series called "Pronounce it Perfectly In..." for a bunch of different languages. I know for sure they have Japanese, German, and French, and I'm sure they make a Spanish, too.
It basically takes you sound-by-sound through the language, comes with a tape, has a book that shows you a diagram of where to put your tongue, and then sample sentences that feature the target sound over and over, like tongue-twisters almost. I think they're like $15. US$16. They're worth checking out. Wait, look how nice I am :) Here it is on at Amazon.com. Looks like it's on CD now (back in the day when I bought the Japanese and German ones they were still on cassette, lol). http://www.amazon.com/Pronounce-Perfectly-Spanish-Audio-CDs/ dp/0764177729/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-1886329-0364755?ie=UTF8&s= books&qid=1185122784&sr=8-1 Since that one appears to be new and has no ratings, here's an older one with ratings: http://www.amazon.com/Pronounce-Perfectly-Spanish-Jean-Yates /dp/0764129252/ref=sr_1_2/104-1886329-0364755?ie=UTF8&s=book s&qid=1185122784&sr=8-2 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| marto Triglot Newbie Argentina Joined 6276 days ago 13 posts - 14 votes Speaks: Spanish*, EnglishC1, GermanC2 | Message 7 of 8 23 December 2007 at 1:13pm | IP Logged | ||
|
Hi,
I teach Spanish Pronunciation, but only in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In order to promote my classes, I created a blog, where a post useful tips that may help you shake that gringo accent off. Fell free to drop by, it´s Spanishpronunciation101.blogspot.com Anyway, instead of buying a book, if you want to improve your pronunciation, I´d recommend you start listening to the language. The key to change your pronunciation is to become aware of the differences and similarities between sounds. Reading a bit of theory will help, but practice makes perfect. Of course, if you play some musical instrument or just have a well trained ear, it´s going to be much easier! Hope my blog helps you! Saludos, Marto Spanishpronunciation101.blogspot.com 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Julien71 Tetraglot Groupie United States Joined 5371 days ago 42 posts - 52 votes Speaks: French*, English, German, Spanish Studies: Portuguese, Hungarian | Message 8 of 8 14 March 2010 at 4:14pm | IP Logged | ||
Has anybody used "Pronounce it Perfectly In Spanish" and could give his opinion on the book and CDs? Thanks. 1 person has voted this message useful |
If you wish to post a reply to this topic you must first login. If you are not already registered you must first register
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
