I have no Accent, but I need One.

eldora   Tue Jan 22, 2008 12:39 am GMT
I've been in the U.S for a year now I recently landed a Job. But I have faced some problems because my coworkers have some difficulties trying to understand me. I come from Mexico, and since I came to U.S I have made every effort to improve my Spoken English, and it was not until I got this job that I found out that I do not have a well recognizable accent. People around me is not familiar with my accent , a customer even asked me if I were from some part of Europe , go figure !!!!. I live in L.A area in California and I do not like the Accent of the LatinPeople here. So now I do not know neither which accent should try to adopt nor the way to do it. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

thanks

eldora
Guest   Tue Jan 22, 2008 12:47 am GMT
Jasta talka lika disa, anda da peepil wil tinka data u italian e! Mamma mia!
Guest   Tue Jan 22, 2008 1:10 am GMT
Hi eldora, I answered you in the wrong thread. This is my suggestion:

I recommend you to acquire German accent, it's beautiful. You can watch Hollywood movies about the II WW and see how German accent is. When you master it you'll be able to give commands to your job partners with such an accent that they will obey you blindly and you'll climb up many positions in you job.


88
Guest   Tue Jan 22, 2008 2:03 am GMT
Wow! We have many comedians here. In general, I would recommend Jasper's suggestion and that of a certain polyglot: Get recordings of someone whose voice and accent you admire and "shadow" them. Talk at the same time as they talk, then repeat. Also record yourself. Do you LIKE what you hear? Record until it sounds "right" to you. Ask someone to criticize you in a constructive way.

This is advice for any serious student from any country, any language.

I know that shadowing works. It works in English and it works in other languages. Some people are, let's say gifted or blessed with a good ear, others have a pretty good ear and just have to tune it up a bit.
Guest   Tue Jan 22, 2008 2:59 am GMT
If people don't understand you when you speak and ask you were you are from then you most certainly have an accent. (and a strong one at that)
Guest   Tue Jan 22, 2008 3:03 am GMT
I wouldn't go THAT far. Some people are just curious. The slightest little difference in a vowel, intonation and human nature gets the best of some people and it's "Wher'ya from?"

In other words, even those with the tiniest accents may get questioned over the phone (where it is most noticeable) or in person where gestures can be extremely telling.
meez   Tue Jan 22, 2008 9:06 am GMT
Here choose one: http://web.ku.edu/idea/

Wouldn't go for an American accent though ;-)
Guest   Tue Jan 22, 2008 9:12 am GMT
<<Wouldn't go for an American accent though ;-)>>

Why not? If they're living in the US, it would be pretty stupid to a acquire a non-US accent.
Guest   Tue Jan 22, 2008 10:42 am GMT
I strongly suggest Russian accent. It is very sexy (on a personal note) and also goos for bussiness (ppl will take you more seriously).
Jasper   Tue Jan 22, 2008 6:56 pm GMT
<<In general, I would recommend Jasper's suggestion and that of a certain polyglot: Get recordings of someone whose voice and accent you admire and "shadow" them.>>

Thank you guest.

Eldora, I "shadowed" for a short time, and let me tell you, it really does work. You can hear the tiniest variations. Expect to be surprised at how bad your accent really is.

You may not be able to COMPLETELY get rid of your accent, being a non-native, but you can get pretty damned close.
Jasper   Tue Jan 22, 2008 7:28 pm GMT
Eldora, once, I tried to shadow some Spanish sentences, just for fun. I already knew how to pronounce the words, I just wanted to hear how bad my accent was.

Boy, oh, boy! Mama mia! Shadowing those sentences allowed me to hear differences you'd never learn in a Spanish class!

For example, Spanish speakers speak their "p"s different from we; it's a sharper sound, without the brief "h" we Americans use. There's a whole lot less gap between the syllables. That is, the period of time between "pap" in the word "papas" is a whole lot shorter. The rhythm of the language is completely different. Spanish is spoken at a higher syllable-per-minute rate than English.

These are the kinds of differences you'll hear if you shadow English. You'll never learn this in an English class.

Try it, and see. Good luck. I have a whole lot of confidence in the system.