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Accent reduction courses for English | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
| Volte Tetraglot Senior Member Switzerland Joined 6235 days ago 4474 posts - 6726 votes  Speaks: English*, Esperanto, German, Italian Studies: French, Finnish, Mandarin, Japanese | Message 9 of 16 17 July 2010 at 5:37am | IP Logged | |||||
No. Google does suggest that both forms are acceptable, and that in is somewhat more common, but I have a strong preference for using 'of' after partake, although 'in' can sound acceptable to me in some phrases. The preferred form appears to be regional, and your question has made me aware that I was incorrect in correcting the use of 'in'; thank you. Edited by Volte on 17 July 2010 at 5:44am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| PL Newbie United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6058 days ago 33 posts - 34 votes Speaks: Spanish | Message 10 of 16 17 July 2010 at 4:06pm | IP Logged | |||||
Yes, that sounds much better. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| mrhenrik Triglot Moderator Norway Joined 5875 days ago 482 posts - 658 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, French Personal Language Map | Message 11 of 16 17 July 2010 at 4:15pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Has anyone attempted acquiring a native accent through shadowing? I would like to get a British accent on my English, but I don't quite know where to start and I'm a bit worried about buying snake oil when looking through the accent "packs" online.
1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
 jeff_lindqvist Diglot Moderator SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6705 days ago 4250 posts - 5710 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French Personal Language Map | Message 12 of 16 17 July 2010 at 8:06pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Not yet - I hear so many varieties of spoken English (live, media, audiobooks) and speak relatively little (although daily), so unless I make a serious decision which accent to emulate it's going to be a mish-mash if whatever I've heard and learned.
As long as you have good ears and use suitable material, I think it would be quite effective for acquiring another accent, but I have no idea of how many hours of "new" material you need. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| cordelia0507 Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5634 days ago 1473 posts - 2176 votes Speaks: Swedish* Studies: German, Russian | Message 13 of 16 17 July 2010 at 9:11pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I pass for a native regularly here in the UK, even though I am not.
It works partly because there are so many accents within the UK and of English.. But I never took any accent reduction course. I made an effort for a while though: chiefly I just imitated my (then) fiancee and speech on radio.. I am helped by having a mother tongue from the same part of the world as English... It must be MUCH harder for Indians, speakers of Slavic languages and other very characteristic accents. I think it's more important to increase your vocabulary and grammar. You can probably never get rid of the accent fully, but you can probably tone it down to a level where it just sounds a bit chic and different instead of distracting. I wouldn't waste money on it though. Just decide what accent you want and watch lots of films and listen to lots of audio books in that accent (US or British). I'd recommend anyone from Europe to choose British accent; it sounds better for Europeans. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| slucido Bilingual Diglot Senior Member Spain https://goo.gl/126Yv Joined 6471 days ago 1296 posts - 1781 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Spanish*, Catalan* Studies: English | Message 14 of 16 17 July 2010 at 10:23pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I have a typical Spanish accent, but I live in Spain and I don't mind. As long as English people understand me, I think I don't need to improve much more. On the other hand, I am exposed to many different English dialects and it's very difficult to choose one.
If I was living in an English speaking country, I would try to speak like a native and my first goal would be to master the basics. Regarding my accent, I would try to work as an impersonator. I would choose ONLY ONE person with this accent and I would work with his audios. This person could be a newsreader, actor or whoever. I think we have three key points: 1-Choose a dialect. 2-Choose a person who speaks that dialect. 3-Listen audios or videos of that person and imagine you are an impersonator. Try to be that person. I think the shadowing technique, as prof Argüelles explains it, is very useful. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Volte Tetraglot Senior Member Switzerland Joined 6235 days ago 4474 posts - 6726 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto, German, Italian Studies: French, Finnish, Mandarin, Japanese | Message 15 of 16 17 July 2010 at 11:03pm | IP Logged | |||||
Depends on what you mean by 'fully', I suppose. Getting rid of it to the extent that people don't register it as foreign is possible (easy version: people who speak a different regional variant of your target language; hard version: people who speak the same regional variant); at the extreme, it can be somewhat amusing to watch native speakers of language A spend several minutes accusing foreigners of lying about not being native speakers of language A. Getting rid of it to the extent that a professional phonetician carefully watching for differences can't spot anything is another matter. For a learner, dedicated material can be useful. I have a good ear but am absolutely horrible at mimicry, and a phonetic explanation of sounds has occasionally tipped the balance from 'totally wrong and unrecognizable' to merely 'very foreign' for sounds I'm trying to produce. I've seen others reproduce new sounds nearly perfectly on the first try, and even repeat phrases quite correctly in new languages on their first exposure - that's the other extreme. Just listening and trying isn't enough for everybody - it certainly isn't for me. Unfortunately, I don't have any recommendations for English pronunciation material. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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