Here’s a short video I decided to record featuring all English accents I can currently speak, and here’s what accents I’ve featured in this video:
1. British accent (RP pronunciation). This is my current accent learning mission which is to be accomplished early next year, and I’m still working on the finer details of it as well as trying to make sure I can speak 100% fluently while putting on this particular accent.
2. General American Pronunciation.This was my first accent learning mission this year, but I’m planning to revisit it within the first few weeks into the New Year because there are a few things I have to improve upon, such as getting the [æ] sound right in certain words.
3. Russian accent. I’m not a native Russian speaker, however, considering that Russian is my second language I don’t have to work too hard trying to resemble a heavy Russian accent.
Accent learning isn’t as hard as some people make it out to be, and I’m a living proof that it is possible to learn to speak with a British accent in less than three months, for example (just watch the video above where I’m speaking with the British or so-called RP pronunciation).
Neither is it easy; if native-like accent acquisition were a walk in a park, all foreigners would be speaking just like Brits, or Americans or Aussies.
The truth is somewhere in between – it’s not mission impossible, but you still have to be prepared to spend long hours speaking, speaking, speaking and speaking some more, all the while trying to mimic native English speakers of your target accent – be it American, British, Australian or Irish.
After a while you will reach a state where you can speak in your target accent fluently and without being too focused on pronunciation of individual words; however, this state will not last forever.
Part of my native English accent learning routine is mimicking native English speakers. It’s a very effective method because it allows you to listen AND apply the newly acquired pronunciation immediately. Needless to say, listening alone wouldn’t be sufficient because listening to someone speak with a particular accent is one thing, but ability to speak with that accent yourself is a whole new ball-game ❗
But here’s a little-known fact that I use to my advantage during my accent learning missions:
If you repeat after a native English speaker in a slight, barely noticeable whisper, your own speech will sound exactly like that of the person you’re mimicking!
Do you find it hard to believe?
OK, I get your scepticism, and I totally understand that what I’m saying might border on the unbelievable.
I do hope, however, that you’re willing to give this crazy idea a try and see if it works for you! What have you go to lose after all? Three minutes of your time?
Then keep reading this article, and I’ll prove you that ANY foreigner has the potential of sounding just like a native English speaker!
In this video I’m discussing a particular YouTube video comment I received a short while ago saying that my British accent doesn’t have proper intonation.
Personally I have a slightly different opinion on it, and you may want to watch the entire video to find out what I think about:
My foreign background and how close to a native British accent I can get;
How I sound when I try really hard to sound like a REAL Englishman (please try not to laugh too hard!)
In this article we’ll focus on the British ‘O’ sound and its importance in the Received Pronunciation. The ‘O’ sound along with the ‘R’ sound are the most important sounds you should focus upon if you want to sound like a native British English speaker!
If you get the two sounds – ‘R’ and ‘O’ right, you’ve mastered about 80% of proper Received Pronunciation, and the rest is just a matter of practice! 😉
Of course, it’s easier said than done because you’ve got to invest plenty of time and effort into your accent practice before it becomes your second nature, but it doesn’t change the fact that if you get the ‘O’ sound right along with the ‘R’, you’ve done most of the hard work, so I’d say let’s get cracking and look into why the ‘O’ sound is so special!
Have you ever paid attention to how Brits pronounce the letter ‘R’?
I think it’s fair to say that more often than not, British English speakers don’t actually pronounce the letter ‘R’ at all!
Let’s take the following words, for example:
‘Master’
‘Proper’
‘Consider’
In the Received Pronunciation, you just drop the ‘R’s and pronounce those words as follows:
‘Masta’
‘Propa’
‘Consida’
Simple as that!
Of course, you don’t always drop the ‘R’ sound and there are plenty of words where the ‘R’ sound can’t be just dropped:
‘Primary’
‘Problem’
‘Script’
In the aforementioned words, you can’t drop the ‘R’s because it just won’t sound natural. If you try to drop ‘R’ in the word ‘problem’, the resulting ‘poblem’ just doesn’t sound right; it rather sounds like some newly coined word or indicates of some speech impediment of the person who’s trying to say ‘problem’ but can’t manage to pronounce the ‘R’ sound.
The most anticipated moment during my Accent Learning Missions is when the accent becomes my second nature, and that’s exactly what happened today!
No longer I need to pay close attention to HOW I pronounce words with the British accent.
No longer I need to split my attention between WHAT I’m going to say and HOW I’m going to say it.
I can simply say whatever I want to say and it comes out of my mouth with the British accent ❗
The feeling is incredible, and I can attribute my success to regular spoken English practicing sessions more than anything else. No matter how well I could pronounce individual words in the early stages of the Received Pronunciation Accent Learning Mission, I couldn’t maintain fluent and coherent speech. I had to speak slowly to make sure I pronounce words according to the British accent guidelines – silent ‘r’s, rounded ‘o’s and so on.
Only after more than a month long constant speech drills I’ve finally made the transition into a fluent speech, and it just goes to show that accent acquisition doesn’t happen overnight.
You can’t expect to SPEAK with a particular accent just because you can pronounce individual words or a couple of phrases properly, there’s more to it than just that.
You have to PRACTICE regularly in order to make your target accent your second nature, and I’m guessing that many people think they’re no good at accents simply because they haven’t tried to speak with their chosen accent hard enough and long enough.
At this point in time I’m in the middle of my British accent learning mission, and here’s what I’ve been doing ever since I announced this mission a month ago:
I’ve been doing extensive research online in order to find out all the necessary information about how vowels, consonants and also words are pronounced by speakers of British English;
I’ve been engaging in a lot of active film and TV program watching. ‘Active’ means I’m not just watching and listening; I’m also imitating actors, TV hosts and documentary narrators so that my speech is constantly getting exercised;
And I’ve also been doing a lot of self-practice by verbalizing my thoughts and just saying random things to get used to the British accent.
Personally I feel quite confident about the progress of my Received Pronunciation and now I find it much easier to get into a British English speaker’s mind-set when I’m having my practice sessions.
There’s only one tiny little problem though, and it concerns my pitch of voice rather than the pronunciation itself.
As you can imagine, I’m doing extensive online research while learning the different accents of the English language.
One thing I’ve noticed while browsing the Net for accent related advice is that the two terms “accent” and “slang” are used interchangeably all over the place, and an obvious trend starts emerging:
A lot of people mistakenly assume that speaking with a certain accent irrevocably entails using specific slang expressions.
While there is a certain degree of truth to it, I think this approach misleads a lot of people into thinking that accent acquisition is a mammoth task comprised of ALL POSSIBLE LANGUAGE ASPECTS – vocabulary, phraseology, phonetics and so on.
Personally I find that if you learn one thing at a time, you stand a much better chance at succeeding!
Accent learning is no exception, and in order to speed up your learning curve your initial focus should be solely on your pronunciation. Sure, slang phrases and expressions don’t have to be totally ignored; however, you don’t NECESSARILY have to use them in order to blend into the local society, for example ❗
So basically what I’m saying is that there’s a general misconception out there that to speak with a particular accent means using a lot of slang words and phrases. Nothing could be further from the truth because if you speak with an American accent, for example, and don’t use any slang you’ll still sound like an American which can’t be said if you just use American slang and speak with a hard foreign accent!
Welcome back to my British Accent mission and here’s the second video where I’m speaking without having anything prepared prior to turning the camera on.
It’s 100% improvisation, and what makes it so special in terms of accent learning is the fact that it’s quite tricky to make sure I pronounce all words correctly while trying to think about WHAT I’m going to say at the same time!
That’s why you’ll notice me hesitating on certain occasions and it’s also the reason behind my sometimes chaotic speech.
But I’m not too worried about it anyway because I’m very well aware that while trying to get into a new accent speaking ‘mode’ you’ve got to be prepared to spend some time struggling.
It’s normal – no-one can realistically expect a foreign English speaker to start speaking FLUENTLY with a specific English language accent right from the start!
And here’s my typical day of learning the Received Pronunciation:
Watching some X-Factor USA and mimicking Simon Cowell;
Engaging in random monologues during the day (voicing my thoughts, narrating my actions and so on);
Reading a few online news articles out loud;
Before sleep – watching some nature documentary and mimicking the narrator.
It may sound that there’s an awful lot on my table, but it’s not as overwhelming as it may seem. I would have done some of those things ANYWAY (like engaging in spoken English self-practice and watching a little bit of National Geographic), and spending a few extra minutes a day trying to master the British Accent isn’t really such a high price to pay.
Thanks for watching this video, and I would really welcome your constructive criticism!
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