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English pronunciation, feedback needed =) | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Questions About Your Target Languages |  | |
| fairyfountain Senior Member Zimbabwe Joined 5945 days ago 254 posts - 248 votes  5 sounds | Message 1 of 12 22 June 2009 at 2:18am | IP Logged | ||
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Hey guys!
I have an oral exam in a few days, and I really need some honest feedback on my pronunciation. I haven't posted a sound file in ages, so I thought it would be a good idea to record something short. As some of you probably know, I've been working pretty hard on my spoken English recently, but I'm mostly doing loads of listening. Anyway, here it is: (I'm reading one of the text on speech archives, nothing too fancy) Here's the file, you don't have anything to download: http://www.zshare.net/audio/616886556bffe027/ By the way, I welcome any feedback. Feel free to post your opinion, whether you're a native English speaker or not. Thank you! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| dmg Diglot Senior Member Canada dgryski.blogspot.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6828 days ago 555 posts - 605 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Dutch, Esperanto | Message 2 of 12 22 June 2009 at 4:53am | IP Logged | ||
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Excellent American English pronunciation. I think your 'a' in 'ask', 'slabs', 'snack', and 'bags' doesn't fit with the rest of the accent, though. Also, the 'e' in 'red' was too much of an 'a' sound too -- "three rad bags". Two other words that sounded slightly off to me were the vowel in "scoop" and the slight stutter in "Wednesday" -- it should sound more like "wenz-day". I played the sample for my wife who said it sounded American, but something was "off" about it, as if it was an American who was trying to shift their accent slightly. However, I think your accent overall is fantastic.
Because there are a wide range of American accents, I think your goal at this point should be to pick _one_ and stick with that. If you can find a podcast with an accent you like, just grab a ton and practice imitating that one presenter. Edited by dmg on 22 June 2009 at 5:11am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Spanky Senior Member Canada Joined 5773 days ago 1021 posts - 1714 votes Studies: French | Message 3 of 12 22 June 2009 at 6:43am | IP Logged | ||
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Hi fairyfountain,
I agree with dmg's comments - excellent job, definitely some sort of American-influenced accent (perhaps mid-western?). I could very easily understand all that you were saying, with the exception of "red" as pointed out by dmg. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 5828 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 4 of 12 22 June 2009 at 8:52pm | IP Logged | ||
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That's really good. One thing I'd point out is that when you say "for the kids", "for the" is too clear. You should stress words like "for" or "the", or pronounce them too clearly. That said, in other parts of the recording (eg "the station") you left them unstressed, as they should be.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| anamsc Triglot Senior Member Andorra Joined 6020 days ago 296 posts - 382 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Catalan Studies: Arabic (Levantine), Arabic (Written), French | Message 5 of 12 23 June 2009 at 4:48am | IP Logged | ||
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Great job! You sound almost native, and I definitely wouldn't be able to guess you were from France. Besides what the other posters said, I have a few things to add. The main thing to work on would be your "l"s, which sound a little bit off, especially in "Stella" and "plastic", and your intonation (this is probably the most noticeable part that gives you an accent). Also, "small" and "snack" sound a bit weird, almost like you're saying "zmall" and "znack", and your "r"s are slightly exaggerated. And this is being picky, but the way you pronounce "ae" as in "ask", "slab", "bag", etc. (and some other vowels in your recording, which I forget right now) makes you sound (at least to my Californian ears) like you're older than I think you actually are (unless you're middle-aged, in which case they're perfect! :p). I hope that makes sense, if not just ask.
But really, these are slight things and your accent sound incredible! I agree that you should just pick an accent to concentrate on and maybe practice intonation a bit more. Edited by anamsc on 23 June 2009 at 4:50am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Recht Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5618 days ago 241 posts - 270 votes Speaks: English*, GermanB1 | Message 6 of 12 23 June 2009 at 8:40pm | IP Logged | ||
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If you're interested to know, your pronunciation of "bags" etc would probably strike most
people as from the Michigan/upper midwest region. for instance, when you say "ask" don't have your face like a smile. Watch yourself in the mirror. It should look simply like a relaxed, open mouth. Your version of the "aehh" sound in "ask" probably looks like someone pinched you. Look forward to the "redo" video. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Recht Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5618 days ago 241 posts - 270 votes Speaks: English*, GermanB1 | Message 7 of 12 23 June 2009 at 8:54pm | IP Logged | ||
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I uploaded my example: http://www.zshare.net/video/61765775e4dbf6d0/
hope that helps Edited by Recht on 23 June 2009 at 8:55pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| fairyfountain Senior Member Zimbabwe Joined 5945 days ago 254 posts - 248 votes 5 sounds | Message 8 of 12 23 June 2009 at 10:37pm | IP Logged | ||
I had two conversation teachers, one was from Illinois, the other from Ohio, but she currently lives in Illinois. I get comments like "you have a Chicago accent" quite a lot. I'm not really surprised to get Michigan either, it's all in the same area after all. I mimicked my teacher, and she had a pretty strong accent - my new teacher had a more subtle version of the accent, but I can't seem to get rid of the stupid twang for some reason. I mean, it's not that I don't like the accent - I have it, so I'd better not hate it too much! - but my goal is to sound standard, and I know some people think it sounds plain weird, and I can see why. By the way, I quizzed a girl from California, but who moved out to Florida, and she backed you up "Your entire accent doees sound upper midwest ish.". Oh, and I also say impassible for impossible, adapt for adopt, and then tense my A for adapt. Apparently, it's called NCVS. I also just learned that saying baahxes for boxes is NOT standard. I'll listen to your file and see what I can do to sound more neutral, thanks! That said, I've been tensing my A's for 2 years now, and apparently my whole accent is non-standard (and this hasn't even got to do with the "I don't sound native" part), so I don't know whether I'll be able to fix myself before my exam. That said, my A's made my last teacher cringe. Edited by fairyfountain on 23 June 2009 at 11:02pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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