|
|
Hello, im 15 year old and i live in england for 2.5 years. I used to live in Poland. I daresay my english is perfect, but my prounancciation is really bad i think. I always keep my mouth shut at school and i got a reputation of a really quiet person. Because of that i havent got any friends. I wanted to look for advice on how i could get rid of my cursed polish accent and speak like other people, i try and read an english book every day outloud but i just sound horrible and i'm worried people will laugh when i say something at school. Its really intimidating and its limiting my capabilities :(
|
|
Maybe you're just shy.
People have their own unique ways of speaking, and you are not an exception. Just appreciate your unique pronunciation and feel free to speak out loud.
If you really don't like your accent then get a good English teacher who can guide you in obtaining a good pronunciation.
|
|
Have you tried modeling work? Get a tape of a speaker the same sex as you, and speak along with the speaker, sentence by sentence, until your speech matches. You'll be able to hear all kinds of nuances that you can't hear any other way.
This will take time; be patient.
|
|
|
Don't worry about your accent... If your friends don't think it's cool now, they will in a year or two. The girls love it! Well, at least American girls do... I don't know much about English ladies...
|
|
|
Shouldn't it be: Girls love it! (without "the")
|
|
Michael:
First and foremost - don't be embarassed. There is no reason for that, but I can imagine how difficult it is to overcome it for someone in your situation. You feel "different" for obvious reasons, but whatever you do, do not be ashamed of your natural Polish accent. And don't call it "cursed" - you only think it is because you're surrounded by the English accent, mostly anyway, I would reckon. I am in the UK, as you can see, and practically everybody in this country now (by that I mean British people mainly) is well used to hearing Polish accents and the Polish Language.
Is it pronunciation you're more concerned with, rather than the accent? Pronunciation of many English words can be a real pain for any learner because it's so variable and inconsistent. Thank goodness grammar is much easier than many other Languages. I did read somewhere that Polish is an extremely difficult Language to learn, so feel proud of that! Pronunciation of English will reach perfection with time and by learning by making mistakes.
Bullying is a major problem in British schools - kids have this horrible habit of picking on anyone they as "different" in anyway, and this may well include an unusual accent, but as I say, Polish accents, or any other accents, are now very common here. If you are being bullied then all schools have, or should have by law, means to counteract this problem, but it's not one which is easily solved or eradicated, sadly.
I assume you had a reasonable knowledge of English before you left Poland to come to Britain - England, in your case. You now describe your English as perfect, and from your post I would more or less agree with you, at least as far as your written English is concerned. I can't comment on your spoken English or your pronunciation (this is the correct spelling, by the way!) but I see no reason why it shouldn't differ all that much, if at all, from your written English.
Of course you have an accent! -we all have, and you could say that my own Scottish accent is probably just as "foreign" in your part of England as is your Polish accent.
Which part of England are you living in ,anyway? It wouldn't be Boston, Lincolnshire, would it by any chance??? :-)
At your age your accent is more open to change more naturally through association anyway, more so than if you were older, and it may well have changed already to some extent, seeing that you've been in this country now for 2.5 years. If you want to make a conscious decision to change your accent then you could be helped to do this by various means. Quite honestly, I don't think you really need to do so anyway - why not try and be proud of your Polish accent? Simply learn to use good and correct English, but still speak it in your native accent, which in my observational experience is anything but "horrible" as you described it. I don't believe your accent is horrible at all. Believe me, it can't be any worse than some of the English accents, and your standard of written English is superior to that of a fair number of naive Brits!
So don't beat yourself up about your accent. If you're really set on changing it, then my guess is that it will gradually change naturally anyway the longer you stay in England. I only hope you're not living in Liverpool or parts of Birmingham, though! Or Glasgow! - no it can't be Glasgow can it? You're down in England - I forgot for a moment.
|
|
|
That's because the English are the rudest people in the world, and they pass it on the their offspring. But what can you expect from a nation of shopkeepers?
|
|
|
So long as you can make yourself easily understood by others, there is really nothing to worry about the accent thing!
|
|
|
Why does English have to be so god damn hard!
|
|
|
I don't know. We didn't invent the language. Well, actually we did, but we didn't *design* the language. ;)
|
|
|
Micheal, record your voice clip and post it here on the forum for further evaluation of your accent. Damian is just being polite - not all people in the real world are polite people like Damian. If you think there is a problem with your accent, then you must work on it. Bad pronunciation or accent really hampers a good communication and it is a pain in the ass to repeat yourself after every other sentence. Jasper's advice is spot on. Have a look at it.
|
|
|
Jajajajajajajajajaja you must be a loser
|
|
|
Well, i think i made a mistake, i meant to say i dont like the way the words i say sound, i dont think that my accent is the problem. Unfortunately i dont have any means of recording my voice. Actually it all started because i recorded my voice on my mobile and it sounded so horrible compared to what i thought i sounded like. People always used to call me loud and confident, but here im just a quiet loner. Though i can see a difference everyday, I'm getting better and better, its just hard speaking when you constantly make mistakes and your tongue isnt trained to speak in english, with all the people staring at you, and I'm only 15..
|
|
|
Just hang in there, you will improve.
|
