Have the two of you been to Asia? I hate to burst your bubbles but in India, they speak in what would best be described as an Indian accent. Japanese speak with a Japanese accent. The Chinese have Chinese accents.
This is the way it is and the way I hope it remains. Be yourself. Be proud of you accent. Sure, try improve you pronunciation but keep your accent. We don't all have to be Americans.
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The truth is
Japanese and Chinese English speakers speak in English in an accent very similiar to the American accent. People from Japan, and Singapore are American wannabe's my friend.
In India, they have more of their own accent than Chinese, Japanese, because they used to be a British colony. When they speak English they speak close to British English.
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Hong Kong is 'still' using British system, don't really understand why
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Maybe because Hong Kong was still a British colony until the late 1990s? Why do they have to change to America spellings and words when British Commonwealth countries 1.7 billion of the worlds population spell using British words.
I don't understand why it would be so important to speak with your own accent in English? After all, if you speak a FOREIGN language, it's simply logical to use the FOREIGN accent which comes with.
What's REALLY important is not to forget your own language beside English, in my opinion.
I have ordered Speech Works 3.0 Personal, will try to spend time on pronunication. Will let you know my progress.
I would never go for speaking english with an american accent. I have my brit one, and as far as I can tell, they are incompatible.
Besides, I´m not american so I don´t need to speak ´American´...
Do you speak with a British accent, Antonio, or "um sotaque Brasileiro?"
Where did you pick up your British accent ? In England ?
You guys are right who are saying, don't fake a foreign accent but improve your pronunciation of words. Keep this point away for awhile, I was watching an Indian movie on a cable channel. As you know, most movies are picturized abroad for example, England, the USA...etc
Some local people participate as a cameo. They learn some words from that language the film is making into. I watched the movie when some Americans or British spoke "Urdu" or "Hindhi" words but the thing is I got their words easily without any obstacle but their accents looked very funny to my ears.
As a native speaker of Urdu, I'll definitely work on their accents because I don't want to see them as funny to other native speakers.
What I'm trying to say is, If my native accent does not fit properly with the language of English, I'll definitely change my accent or imitate something near that is atleast pleasant to native speakers' ears.
According to a couple of native speakers right here at this forum, Indian and Pakistani accents are rushed and funny. I think maybe they're right to say that. They have to change them a little to some extent when their accents have to be called pleasant to the ears of native speakers.
Reducing your natural accent is really tough. I tried mine and I was miserably failed.
The only reason you should ever want to learn an American accent is if you want to become an actor. Other than that, if you speak well-pronounced but accented English, you should have no problem getting a job, making friends, or doing what else you want to do if you come to the US.
The British tend to be much more snobby with the whole accent thing, traditionally. Americans are much less conscious about how someone talks and seem to be more concerned with who makes a lot of money and who doesn't. Heck, our own president unabashedly tries to speak like a Texas cowboy and conservative midwesterners don't have a problem with that.
Ryan
to Boy
you said :
>>some Americans or British spoke "Urdu" or "Hindhi" words but the thing is I got their words easily without any obstacle but their accents looked very funny to my ears. <<
My husband is American and I have an accent. Mybe our accent as non-natives is funny to the natives. So what ? that's no problem for me.
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>>As a native speaker of Urdu, I'll definitely work on their accents because I don't want to see them as funny to other native speakers. <<
That's not always easy to catch the local accent, especially after a certain age. My nieces went to canada (English speaking) at the age of four and nine. Both caught the Canadian accent barely after six months. As for their parents, they do speak with a correct and pleasant accent but they will never speak like their children. They are happy though and found good jobs.
That's not because you don't work enough on your accent that you don't catch the right one.
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>>What I'm trying to say is, If my native accent does not fit properly with the language of English, I'll definitely change my accent or imitate something near that is atleast pleasant to native speakers' ears. <<
I wish I could speak like BBC English or American but it's not only my will that will determine this change. There are other factors like age or your native language : I put age on the top of list. If you go to an English speakign country at the age of 2 or three, you have at least 90 percent chance to pick up the local accent. Another one is your mother tongue as you said :
>>According to a couple of native speakers right here at this forum, Indian and Pakistani accents are rushed and funny. I think maybe they're right to say that.<<
Yes for some native langues it's harder to get rid of their accents. For instance, German, Dutch and Scandinavian pick up the right accent more easily than the French and maybe the French easier than some other languages.
The Cantonese English alphabet:
A, B, C, D, E, EFFU, G, H, I, J, K, ELLU, M, N, O, P, Q, ALLU, S, T, U, WEE, DUBYU, EKSEE, Y, EEZED.
Some of you are telling me that the most important for adjusting accent is 'pronunication', however Ann Cook says, " You will need to spend the most time on intonation. It is by far the most important of the three topics. (intonation, liaisons & promunication)
what you think?
I strongly disagree, unless by intonation she means "word stress".
Well-pronounced words spoken in a robot-like fashion are in fact easy to understand. Mispronounced words are NOT, even if they are spoken with the "right" intonation. To me, that's like writing with perfect punctuation, but spelling every second word wrong.
The reason is that words are what carries meaning. Intonation is more like punctuation. It enriches the meaning with certain nuances, sometimes even changes the meaning, but is rarely crucial to understanding the sentence.
hey don't you see the problem guys?we all write without paying enough attention.so if we do care about and pay attention to what we say and/or write we'll understand each other perfectly.and as foreign speakers of english we ,i think, should imitate and follow standard american or british dialects which are used on BBC,CNN, or other similar channels.thank you for reading.you all have a nice day,
Are you paying attention to how you write, Bulent? I don't agree that foreign speakers of English should necessarily imitate and follow "standard" American or British dialects as used on the BBC, CNN or other similar channels. What makes these so called "standard accents" better than any other accent? Absolutely nothing. Speak clearly, that's all you need to do.
There is a distinction to be made between speaking with clear pronunciation and faking someone else's accent. If Japanese and Corean people pronounce /v/ like /b/ and make no distinction between /l/ and /r/ then this is not accent but mispronunciation. If Chinese people tend to drop the consonant at the end of a syllable this, agian is not accent but mispronunciation.
Jim,
I'm Chinese, can you explain more about 'drop the consonant at the end of a syllable." I want to know more and exactly how it works.
