without accent

from OH   Thu Feb 19, 2009 7:51 pm GMT
Robotto,

"This is simply not true. An accent is simply moving you tongue and vocal chords etc in a certain way"

This, theoretically is true, but in practice is way hard to do it. Don't tell me that reading how to move your tongue, you actually remember that when you speak. I see this impossible to do. For each sound you produce out of your mouth, you will remember where to put your tongue????

Some people are able to do a certain accent, but for a short period of time. An accent is not about just sounds , intonation is also important. A friend of mine ( American born ) can do the Hindu Accent, but I don't believe he could just speak like that whole time. He does it just for fun.
from OH   Thu Feb 19, 2009 7:54 pm GMT
"It is interesting to note that after several years of grueling speech instruction, Arnold Schwarzenegger still speaks with a noticable accent"

How do you know this is true?
from OH   Thu Feb 19, 2009 8:03 pm GMT
Uriel   Fri Feb 20, 2009 2:46 am GMT
Remember Walker, from way back when? He could do perfect American slang. I had to remind myself that he was Swedish, because you couldn't tell from his posts at all. No idea what he sounded like in real life, but he had the theory down on the page!
Jasper   Fri Feb 20, 2009 7:55 am GMT
From OH:

I don't remember where I read it, but this is how the story went:

Arnold had an impenetrable German accent when he first came to the US; in his early movies, his accent was so extreme that his voice had to be dubbed. So he hired a voice coach. After several years of grueling instruction (anyone who has been through this rigamarole will tell you it's pure torture), he has had a dramatic improvement, but still has an accent.

I read in another place—was it People magazine?—that the Puerto Rican actress who plays one of the leads on Without a Trace has had accent elimination classes for three years. She agonizes over the fact that she cannot rid herself of her accent completely, feeling that her accent stereotypes and typecasts her....
Jasper   Fri Feb 20, 2009 7:56 am GMT
↑ To come to think of it, the Puerto Rican actress was profiled in Vanity Fair, not People magazine.