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English Pronounciation

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16 messages over 2 pages: 1
KimG
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 Message 9 of 16
05 February 2012 at 4:11pm | IP Logged 
his CV say he's both. Dual citizenship. But I really don't know the Hull accent well enough to know how much he speak an north brittish dialect, or how much he mixes in Austrian accent...
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schoenewaelder
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 Message 10 of 16
05 February 2012 at 7:45pm | IP Logged 
He does sound a little odd, but maybe he's just trying to speak very clearly for the benefit of the interviewer.

I thought his "of course" sounded particularly German.

Edited by schoenewaelder on 05 February 2012 at 7:46pm

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mrwarper
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 Message 11 of 16
06 February 2012 at 8:07am | IP Logged 
@OP, I'd take Michael Swan's "Learner English" (quick link to Amazon) and thoroughly study the part devoted to German speakers for starters, and have another go at it after that.

Edited by mrwarper on 06 February 2012 at 8:13am

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Teango
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 Message 12 of 16
06 February 2012 at 10:30am | IP Logged 
I think Tim Skern's pronunciation is exceptionaly good in most places and he clearly sounds like he's either lived in the north of England for many years or has at least been around people from that area for a good while. However it's still not quite native sounding and definitely not a Hull accent (to my ears, he immediately sounds Germanic). I think this may be in part due to mirroring the girl's strong accent (which is so easily done...for instance, I know I start to sound much more Irish when surrounded by my Irish family), as well as down to the somewhat contrived and deliberate nature of the dialogue (native speech has flow and fusion and is rarely so punctuated, in which case I notice he improves a lot by the end of the talk and looks a little more comfortable). The main issue that really stands out for me here is his unusual intonation. Even when someone makes zero grammar mistakes and pronounces every word almost perfectly, it's intonation that's the dead giveaway! So on that note, I think that the best way for the OP to improve his accent and fluency would be to focus on getting English intonation right first.

Edited by Teango on 06 February 2012 at 4:27pm

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jeff_lindqvist
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 Message 13 of 16
06 February 2012 at 11:47am | IP Logged 
Exactly. Intonation is more important than the individual sounds.
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Tim Skern
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Austria
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 Message 14 of 16
06 February 2012 at 3:06pm | IP Logged 
I am fascinated to hear these disparate views on how my English sounds these days. I am a indeed native speaker, born in Hull, raised in East Yorkshire, studied in Liverpool and London. Aged 25, I moved to Vienna where I found I had to lose my Yorkshire accent because no-one understood my English. So I tried to speak what I thought was a neutral accent. However, as I speak English mostly with non-native speakers, I didn't receive any feedback how it sounds, explaining the strange intonation. Learning Austrian German and speaking it for 30 years was proabably also a contributing factor in raising the bizareness. The Yorkshire accent is still there though, you just have to listen to our little daughter say "toast, soap, stone and money"!
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jeff_lindqvist
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 Message 15 of 16
06 February 2012 at 5:01pm | IP Logged 
This is interesting! If I had placed a bet on your native language two days ago, I would have been a poor man today...
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Starik
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Germany
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 Message 16 of 16
07 February 2012 at 9:26pm | IP Logged 
Thanks for your answers. I will have a look at Conversation Exchange, as one of you has suggested.


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