Accent samples - Tom part 2

I've recorded two more samples. I'd be interested to know how you feel about them.

http://www.antimoon.com/temp/tom2.mp3
http://www.antimoon.com/temp/tom3.mp3

Thanks!

Once again, Tom. If I heard this recordings on some other site and the identity of the speaker was unknown to me, I'd definitely think you were a fellow American. Your accent is damn good.

*If I heard these recordings.....(sorry)

Your accent really confuses me. Where are you from? you sound american to me although Im no expert seeing as ive never spoke to any american.

Thanks, mjd. You're making me blush again. For extra credit, can you name the two books these recordings are from?

Yeah, that's a great accent. The "R" still doesn't quite sound American in some parts, but it is good enough that most people would think it is just an ideolect idiosyncracy if they were talking to you. You have perfect American sentence rhythm and pronounce all the vowels correctly. I'm pretty impressed.

Ryan

That's interesting. Which of my r's didn't sound American?

Wow Tom! you really sound like an american, it sounded to me like sortta Oklahoma accent.

Now give us some samples in british... hehe.

Actually, I am kind of jealous.

Tom, please forgive my previous email. Other things happened to me.

You should be stuck in Poland.
Go to Asia and earn some real money and respect!!!

I meant to say "you should not be stuck in Poland or Eastern Europe."

With your linguisic talent, you can learn an Asian language easily (I suggest Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean or Japanese) and come to Asia to earn some serious money.

To Asian, you are a white man. Take advantage of your skin color! You are worth more than you expect.

Go to Asia? And walk away from all the wealth and social status that goes with having a website on the Internet? No way! :-)

On a more serious note, how could I earn money teaching English pronunciation in Asia? Who would pay me? A school? Individuals?

Tom, when I tried to imitate your accent, it sounds like you are moving the tip of your tongue upwards when you make the R sound. The R's sound similar to Michal's, but his are much stronger. He claims that you trill the R's in Polish, and I wonder if this is the origin of your particular R sound, as most of the time trilling is done by moving the tongue up to the roof of the mouth.

What it sounds to me like you are doing is trying to make the sound of the American retroflex R while keeping your tongue in the same "trilled R" position. I don't think you do it as much as Michal, but it does make your R's sound slightly different than most Americans. When you imitate our R sound, you must make sure to keep your tongue flat while making the same "R" sound at the back of your throat. If you practice this I think you will sound even better.

Ryan

I don't think maintaining a website in Eastern Europe would give you much wealth or status. I know the GDP of Poland and I think you are worth definitely more than you can imagine.

You are much more talented than me. But I can earn US$70 an hour teaching English. (My grammar is quite good) And I am just a Chinese. You are different, because you are white. If you teach in Asia, you have a potential to be a millionaire. But of course you must have the courage and network.

Besides being cool, I think the most important reason, or motivation, to learn English (It took you a lot of time and effort) is to use it to improve the living standard of you and your family.

I suggest paying a visit to Asia and try to teach a few lessons to get a feeling first.

Hong Kong Government pays native English speakers US$5000-6000 a month plus a decent apartment and return tickets for all family. They can publish books and teach in tutorial school (real cash) too.

Maybe I overestimated you...

So being "white" makes you better in the eyes of Asians?