I was still in the early stages of my American Pronunciation mission, and I had to make conscious effort in order not to go back to my normal accent which is a mix of East-European, Irish, British and American ways of pronouncing English words.
One fine day, however, I realized that I don’t have to do it anymore!
And which is even more surprising, I’d started speaking with an American accent at work with my Irish workmates! You see – normally when I speak with them, I tend to mimic their Irish pronunciation and so far I’ve been finding it somewhat unnatural to speak with an Irish person in an American accent.
It turns out, however, that my Irish work colleagues don’t really mind in what accent I speak. I guess all they care about is that my English is clear enough for them to understand – that’s all! 😉
In this blog post you’ll find out the following things:
Why you may find yourself speaking slower than normal when trying to sound American (British, Aussie etc.)
How to fill in those awkward moments when you’re trying to think of what to say next during your accent learning practice
Why you can speak English more fluently when you speak with your foreign accent (ever seen Antonio Banderas in a film?)
If you watch this video which is the first one in my General American Pronunciation series, you’ll definitely notice that my speech is slower than normal (for a good comparison, watch this video where I’m speaking with my native East-European accent).
Here’s the thing – accent learning or the so-called accent reduction (which is a term I hate – read here why!) isn’t something you can just learn and then apply that skill when you’re speaking in English ❗
Accent learning requires you to be MINDFUL of HOW you pronounce certain sounds and words in English, and quite naturally you can’t speak as fast as you normally would while doing two things simultaneously – focusing on WHAT to say and HOW to say it.
At this moment in time I feel that I’ve become comfortable enough to speak fluently without FOCUSING on certain sounds
Of course, I am paying attention to the way I speak, but what I meant by the lack of focus is the following.
In the very beginning of my accent acquisition I used to repeat single words, sentences and make effort to pronounce the basic sounds correctly. Yet I couldn’t speak in English fluently and pronounce the same sounds consistently in all words! I would have to pause a lot to think about how this or that particular word would have to be pronounced.
A few weeks into the American Pronunciation mission my long hours of repeating, mimicking and self-practicing has finally paid off because one fine day I realized I could maintain fluent speech, sound like an American (meaning – getting similar sounds correctly in most words), and focus on the actual conversation rather than focusing on HOW this or that particular word is pronounced!
It’s a great feeling, and while I realize there’s an awful lot more work to be done before I’m finished with this accent mission, I’m quite pleased with my results so far.
What do you think?
Do I sound like an American in the video above?
I would love to hear your opinion on it as well as any constructive criticism! 😀
‘To hold water’ is an English idiom meaning that a statement in question is true, and in this case I meant that the statement of American English sounding like holding something in mouth actually has a certain degree of truth to it ❗
To prove my point, I’m going to take this idiom literally and see if the American English can indeed hold water (as you may have guessed by the headline, I’m going to speak while holding water in my mouth)!
At the same time, I’m going to show you the EASIEST way of getting the feel of the American accent if you’ve found it difficult in the past.
Just WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE to see how I do it and read the rest of this article to get even more information on the whole General American Pronunciation thing! 😉
Quite a few foreigners have told me that American English is the easiest to understand, and I can see why it might be the case (I’m not talking about regional accents, of course, but the language you can hear on TV news broadcasts, for example).
First of all, when Americans speak, they pronounce all sounds very distinctly, especially the consonants ‘r’ and ‘l’ so they don’t blend with other sounds.
Secondly, when Americans speak, their whole mouth literally resonates the sounds because the range of their tongue and cheek movement is much bigger than that of speakers of other English speaking nationalities.
And finally, Americans stretch the words a little bit (especially the first syllable) thus making them easier to understand.
Of course, American English speakers are capable of speaking a lot faster than your average news broadcaster whose primary goal is to be understood by the audience (hence the slower speech). Also, you wouldn’t have to push your comprehension to its limits when listening to Sky (British) or RTE (Irish) news broadcasts because they also have to adhere to the same guidelines.
Yet I don’t think it is disputable that the average American speaks slower because of the aforementioned 3 reasons, so read the rest of the article to find out how it can benefit you ❗
Today is July 4, and it’s a good day to start the General American Pronunciation mission, is it not?
You can watch the video above and see how good (or should I say – bad?) I am at speaking like an American, and I would definitely love to receive a few comments pointing out what sounds I should pronounce differently, which words I’m not getting right etc.
And even if you think I’m terrible at speaking like an American and that there’s a long, long way for me to get there… At least it’s a start, is it not? 😉
Here’s what I’m doing to sound like an American speaker:
pronouncing the ‘r’ sound clearly;
pronouncing the ‘l’ sound distinctly;
getting my ‘th’s right;
emphasizing the first syllables of certain words – such as ‘possible’, ‘probably’, ‘a lot of’ and others;
above all – I’m trying to speak in a way that makes the whole mouth resonate; basically I’m keeping my cheeks a little bit inflated.
I’ll say it once more – I know I’m not getting everything right, but it’s a start nonetheless!
I also know that I probably won’t be able to pass as an American at the end of this mission anyway, but I’d like to think that I can realistically aim for 70 – 80% resemblance to a native-like American pronunciation.
So please don’t hesitate to leave your comments below if you have anything to point out regarding the way I:
pronounce certain sounds;
pronounce certain words;
maintain the rhythm of my speech
Thanks for watching this video and see you soon again!
Hello, my name is Robby, and I’m a foreign English speaker – as you can definitely tell by my foreign accent in the video above!
Are you a foreign English speaker as well? If so, you’ll definitely find this blog very entertaining because I’m going to attempt to learn various English language accents from all around the world ❗
You see, my personal belief is that as far as you speak clearly and people understand you, accent and pronunciation play a secondary role. My own English pronunciation is made up of American, Irish and East-European accents, but I couldn’t care less because I can speak English fluently and that’s what matters most.
The reason why I’m going to learn American, British, Irish, Australian and other English accents is to prove that accent learning is just another acquired skill and that in order to sound like a native English speaker you don’t have to focus on reducing your own native accent.
I don’t advise my fellow foreigners to use their native-language-based dictionaries when learning English.
And I also don’t think it’s of the utmost importance to speak with a perfect American or British pronunciation as far as you’ve gotten the basics right.
But if you’ve made the decision to reduce your foreign accent – here’s another hard-to-believe statement for your consideration:
YOU DON’T HAVE TO REDUCE YOUR ACCENT TO… SPEAK WITH A NATIVE ACCENT ❗
While at first it may seem like a total non-sense, it is actually true, and here’s why…
In this blog post you’ll find out the following things:
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