Accent

Anyone here knows anyone that can assess your accent? I mean they can give you some advice on how to get an american accent *besides watching tv, exposing to the american world*.

I am a person who can help people to get an American accent.

My first piece of advice is to get an American dictionary which gives American phonetic transcription.

You don't say what language is your starting point, but Pimsleur produce some very good courses which teach correct American English pronunciation, starting from a number of different languages. These teach a "standard educated American English accent".

If you use material such as TV and film, you must note that there is great variation of accents across the USA.

When you are learning English, try to use predominantly American English teachers and resources.

I would love to assess your accent!! I would love to speak to you more about teaching prononciation of Standard American English. I spent the past 5 years working as a speech therapist for the largest accent reduction/modification company in the USA-located in NYC. I have recently moved and started my own company providing services in the US and overseas.


Sincerely,
Matthew Dunning, MS CCC-SLP, Director
Cedar Valley Speech and Voice Services

Here is a recent news article of mine:


Cedar Falls- While springtime streams through the office windows, Matthew Dunning, speech therapist, sits behind his New York City desk coaching one of his clients: an average looking British chap wearing khakis, loafers and a faded sweatshirt. He has come to swap his thick Derbyshire, British accent for a Standard American Accent.

This average chap happens to be Alan Bates, a powerful British Broadway/film actor who came to prominence in the 1960s and gained acclaim for his major screen roles in The Entertainer , Zorba the Greek, Georgy Girl, Hamlet (with Mel Gibson) and Gosford Park.

Script in hand, Bates works with Dunning to learn his character’s (Alexander Leek) American accent for the upcoming feature film with Richard Gere: “The Mothman Prophecies.”

Originally from Omaha, Dunning recently made the move back to his Midwest roots to raise his family in Cedar Falls. During his five years in NYC, Dunning worked for the nation's largest company of licensed speech-language therapists specializing in accent elimination, and speech and voice improvement for the professional speaker, actor and average foreign and native folks looking to be more easily understood.

According to Dunning, 250 clients per week came to the NYC office. Celebrities such as Robert De Niro, Julia Roberts and Leonardo DeCaprio came to work with Sam Chwat the director, to shake bad habits or master new dialects for acting roles. The remaining 80% were upwardly mobile clients looking to shed a foreign accent or regional dialect, or business executives looking to expand their public speaking abilities.

In Dunning’s line of work, people come to him concerned because their listeners don’t understand them and that they sound less intelligent than they actually are. "If they don't learn the unique American sounds of this language, even if their grammar is flawless," Dunning said, "they might be unintelligible because they apply the sound rules of their native language to the grammar and vocabulary of English.”

Dunning works both acoustically and visually. When working on an accent, for instance, he begins with a rigid individual analysis of a person's speech patterns. The differences between those patterns and the desired ones are analyzed acoustically and then Dunning designs speech, voice, diction and accent classes for each client individually. In the one-on-one personalized instruction sessions, each client is guided in a step-by-step program to change undesirable aspects of speech and voice.

Dunning teaches what most of his clients come looking for, "Standard American English” which is a sound pattern of 44 consonants and vowels. The average person attending the one-on-one sessions has 10 to 12 sounds that differ from standard American. Usually each new sound requires 2 sessions, one to learn it and one to drill it in. With a recommended 2 sessions a week, most people are done in 3 months. People whose communication is impaired because of foreign or regional accents, which make them difficult to understand, can hear a change in their speech after a single session.

Dunning’s technique is based on the fact that sounds contained in some languages and accents do not exist in others. Once a client's speech pattern, or accent has been mapped out, a conscious substitution is begun of new sounds for old.

According to Dunning, "To get the most out of speech and accent training you must have normal hearing, good instruction from a competent professional, and the ability to imitate particular sounds and inflectional patterns.” Dunning’s fees vary widely. Correcting a lisp or a nasal twang for example, would cost around 40 to 50 dollars and accent modification could cost a couple hundred depending on the level of work involved as well as the client’s diligence and aptitude.

“It was interesting working with actors and politicians in NY,” says Dunning, “but the bulk of my work, and the most rewarding, was working with just average individuals who want to be better understood. These are the clients who are most motivated to achieve the lasting accent changes, and that’s exciting to experience.”

Dunning has opened Cedar Valley Speech and Voice Services (319-266-1900) in Cedar Falls and is offering free consultations.

Imagine a variaty of English where the 'r' is not pronounced after a, i, or, o but indicaned a naselation of the vowl as in the French 'bon vin blanc' - 'Great white whine.' It would be almost incomperhensible.

What is the "accent" called - when one syllable in a word is emphasized more than the others. I know there is a word for that...

"Word stress" or "stress" are the technical names that Nancy has asked for.

No, I'm actually looking for the word, a synonym to syllabilation... I think it begins with s...

I had a small chit chat with a native speaker, He has been teaching for the last 12 years in NY. He used to design English courses. He just simply declined the facts no one can get rid of their native accent. It's quite impossible. He gave me an example of his father!

His father came from Romania. He used to live 80 years in NY. So sad, he wasn't able to get rid of his native accent. Living 80 years is such a long time. According to him,

' Start speaking slow & pronounce correct words! is the most important step to speak good English.

Any comments?

I agree: At first learners should speak slowly and clearly. (This of course requires a knowledge of phonetics.)
Many learners speak quickly and unclearly (maybe they're trying to emulate native speakers), and the results are often very unsatisfactory.

FIRST learn to speak clearly. THEN you can try to emulate native speakers' speed and fluency.

Dear sir,
Thanks for your very usefule & intersting site.I would like to freely download self-learning programs in ameican accent to improve my English speaking ability,but unfortunatelly I don't know. would you pls. help me?
Best Rgds.

Sometimes American regional accents are in the ear of the beholder. Born and raised in North Texas, I had a terrible Southern/Texan accent until I entered the broadcast industry at age 18. After 36 years, I am a network radio news anchor, and do voiceover work. When I was based in Miami (definitely not the South), some people said they could hear my regional accent, while others said I had absolutely none. Most regional accents are very subtle and it's been my observation that regional accents in America have been diminishing over the past 30 years or so. It's probably due to more mass communication and a more transient American society. Example: Listen to your local CBS radio affiliate. Occasionally in the on-the-hour newscasts you'll hear a report from Florida by a reporter named Michael Hibblin. He has a perfect "standard American" accent. Who'd believe he was raised in rural Arkansas! He is about 30 years old and says he never had much of an accent. I'll bet someone from the same area as Michael about 50 to 60 years old probably has a thick Arkansas/Southern accent.

Watch a lot of movies with American actors, and memorize a good American-sung song on the radio. When you sing or quote parts of the movie or song, you will notice what you say is in an American accent. I am American, and I can sing all the songs from The Sound Of Music in the same accent as them, since I've heard it so many times.

you can listen to different accents, here`s the address.
http://www.fonetiks.org/index.php