Native speakers, How can I get an American accent?

Dont' bother Most Amereicans will find an accent (any kind) charming an interesting. Unless you're from the suother parts of amaerica that is.

I like what Simon posted: "It is far better to speak excellent English with a bad accent than it is to speak bad English with an excellent accent of any kind" but what does TO SPEAK EXCELLENT ENGLISH mean to you?

How about something related to that guy's problem?

I don't think you should live in US to get an American accent you can learning by watching TV, movies or being exposed to any other kind of information in English

I think Dutch comes a close second.

it does not matter how bad you pronounce and torture the english language .It is what you say that is important .The content .

Are you kidding? If your pronunciation is very bad and you mutilate the English language, nobody will be able to understand you and will give up trying to make sense of what you have to say.

If you speak English with a non-native accent, that is fine, as long as you follow closely the rules of grammar and pronunciation. But if you don't make any attempt to be understood then why bother speaking English.

the person who opened this thread should know that for adults to pick up the right accent is almost impossible even after living in an English speaking country for ten years. Your first language accent is always with you and marks the way you speak Egnlish or any other language. It's not that easy to lose an accent and to get a new one. Of course, if you are only 13 or 14 you still have a chance. If you are 20 or more, I would say it's too late !!
You may catch the accent somehow but not the intonation or the music or the langage.

First of all, I do not know why you want to obtain an American accent. That can and will be totally up to you. Learner is correct on his basic age developments of languages. People can learn different languages in a month if you young enough. Around second grade or younger. But then again, he was speaking of accents.

Americans tend to speak a bit slower, have less guttural sounds, and less staccatto(short and choppy as in music). To learn it, you would probably have to watch many shows or friends speak and read sentences off repetitively. The longer the association the better. I wouldn't like to say that for people over 20, it's too late. That is a rather false statement, too. It does inevitably take longer though.

learner:
Comedians imitate all kinds of accents all the time (and they're usually more than 20 years old). If they can do it, why can't Ricardo learn to imitate an American accent?

"It's not that easy to lose an accent and to get a new one. Of course, if you are only 13 or 14 you still have a chance. If you are 20 or more, I would say it's too late !! "

Non-American actors like Nicole Kidman, Naomi Watts, Guy Pierce, Russell Crowe, Bob Hoskins, Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson, etc. have put on American accents for movie roles, and they've done excellent jobs of it. Granted, they spend a lot of time and money working with top vocal coaches, but they are prime examples that adopting accents after the age of 20 can be done.

It's probably a lot harder though if your native language isn't English, i.e. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who after 30 years of living in the US still sounds like he's fotb.

I'd reccomend singing along to american music, (preferably something where the lyircs ar eunderstandable). Though some vowell sounds are altered for vocal production, mimicking song is a great way to get a sense of an accent. I'd reccomend musical theatre recordings, because they're generally sung very clearly. Just be sure it's not a musical featuring a perticular regional dialect, (ie, don't use "Oklahoma"). Other than that, just innundate yourself with the sounds; go to american movies, watch american news, (just for the accents ;-), or listen to american books on tape. Good luck!

I started this thread believing that people can get an accent as long as they want to and I don't think it's impossible; well, it's not easy to start getting a different accent from the one your own nature has given you but even so, you can get it as all the actors you've mentioned before has done it, succesfully.
I speak Spanish and I can get the accents of people from Argentina, Colombia, Venezuela, Spain it's no big deal for me, I just wondered if I could do the same with English.....

hard work n determination...those r the key words....just try...if u fail..try again...keep tryin n u'll achieve watever u want..!!!

Keep your own accent,in my case, Latino accent ROCKS!