Sample of my accent. How do I get rid of it?
Ben thanks for sharing these beautiful tapes with us. You really speak nicely. As I'm not an expert in the field I can't comment on it. You simply sound pleasant.
I’d like to make my own recording as well. But before that, can you explain the excerpt from that Charles Dickens’ passage which I find a bit hard to understand. Here it is:
“I thought her more like him than ever I had thought her; and I felt, rather than saw, that the resemblance was not lost on my companion.”
Is this -- It was when I was passing by her on the staircase that I realized the resemblance between her and him was now even more noticeable than ever. Is it the correct interpretation? And who is this companion? Is this person (on whom the resemblance was not lost) a female or male? Thanks in advance.
Roger, yeh that's basically how I'd interpret it aswell, but obviously you'd never hear that from a person in normal every day life - quite a lot of natives would have to think twice about what was being said. ;)
If anybody else has any other texts that they're having trouble pronouncing etc. then I'd be glad to help. I'll try to get any done before Friday because I'm going abroad early on Saturday morning.
Ben.
"When I passed her on the staircase, as I was going down to breakfast, I thought her more like him than ever I had thought her; and I felt, rather than saw, that the resemblance was not lost on my companion. Then, I dressed myself for the dinner party, and was off"
My humble comments, bro...
1. Word linking: very good work! Most people tend to pause a lot because they still think in their native language, or they're not used to speak frequently.
2. Intonation: it is very good as well, and it needs some refinement. Speaking English is a bit like singing, you follow "singing patterns" when speaking. That's why you can read two sentences that differ a lot in length in the same amount of time.
Have you ever noticed that English speakers tend to speak fast in some sections of a sentence and slow in other sections? That's the trick, bro! They usually don't notice this because it's their native language.
Based on these "singing" patterns, you usually stress certain words (like nouns). To give you a better idea, try to think how you would sound if you always stress the pronoun "I": sounds like "me, me, me, and always me!", very arrogant, hehe. So avoid that.
So, based on the paragraph you read, I would suggest you do not stress pronouns unless you need to emphasize who is performing the action.
Also, keep in mind that when you finish reading sentences your voice must go down (in volume, but mostly the musical note). That way listeners will realize you finished speaking and they won't expect you to continue.
3. Vowel sounds (from an American English point of view):
a. Staircase. The sound you make in the "ai" diphthong tends to sound like the schwa sound. Better make it like the "e" found in "get." Otherwise, it sounds like the "u" in "turkey" (you sound like saying "turkey" and I was like, "is that what he said?").
b. Breakfast. The "ea" diphthong sound like the "a" in "cat." Make it like the spanish sound "ei" (I don't know if that diphthong sounds the same in portuguese).
c. Thought. Sounds like you add an "l" sound before the final "t;" avoid that. "Thought her" sounds like "faltered" because of this.
d. More. Take more time to pronounce this word, cause it doesn't sound like it. Remember, singing patterns.
Overall you sound very good, but those little mistakes can mislead listeners. Go one step at a time and you will notice a big improvement in a fair amount of time.
I hope this helps.
Regards!
P.D.: By the way, which accent are you interested in: American or British?
Ben, many thanks for helping me with the interpretation. You are great. I read this Charles Dickens’ passage out loud for a couple of times. I mostly found the word-linking of some trouble to me. Especially, with such words as 'than' or 'the' when linked as in: 'than ever', 'rather than' or 'on the'.
When listening you, Ben, I was wondering if you pronounced the vowel in the word 'than' in the same way in phrases such as these: 'than ever' and 'rather than'?
I hope you don't mind helping me with the two other pieces I pronounce very poorly. Ben, honestly, I don’t mean to overuse your good intentions by asking you for another favor. So, I hope you don’t perceive this as such.
1/ This is my first passage:
So what is it that I can't help? It's a compelling question. I've MULLED IT OVER and I think I can't help most of what I do.
I’d love to learn how you link 'MULLED IT OVER' when pronouncing the whole sentence.
2/ Here is the second passage:
In the morning some men -- with some boys and girls -- RODE UP AND LOOKED AT THE BARN
Again, the word-linking in 'RODE UP AND LOOKED AT THE BARN'
As usual, many thanks in advance. Hope you will not be away too long. BTW, where are you flying to?
Roger, no problem. I like helping people ;)
I've put up the recording of me reading out the two passages you gave. It's in the same place, and the file name is 'Second one'.
By the way, are those sentences ones which you thought up? I personally wouldn't have phrased them that way, and to make them flow better I would have said:
1) So what is it that I can't help? It's a compelling question. I've mulled it over, and I don't think I can help most of what I do.
2) In the morning, some men, with some boys and girls, rode up and looked at the barn.
Whether this is just out of personal preference or not, or whether it's to do with it being more native, I have no idea. It just seems to me to flow better, and be more natural to say.
Hope that helps
Ben.
PS, I'm going to Ireland which is where my family are. I go about three or four times a year. I'll be visiting family, and hopefull improving my spoken Irish skills (Gaelic). - My family is from one of the Gaeltachtaí which are Irish speaking areas where Irish is still the first language in the community and in the home. I have family there, and try to make as much use of them as possible ;)
Ben.
Ben,
I wish I could listen to short recordings of different native speakers but there are not many who can give that extra bit help to all of us non-natives speakers.
If it is not too much for you, can you record 15-20 short recordings like the ones you have just recorded. Please record your most frequent spoken expressions(in English) and their meanings in those recordings.
any size of recording below 1 Mb is okay with me.
I have just download your recordings and I am going to listen to them.
have a nice trip!
>>b. Breakfast. The "ea" diphthong sound like the "a" in "cat." Make it like the spanish sound "ei" (I don't know if that diphthong sounds the same in portuguese).<<
Actually, this is a key exception case. Even though "break" is, for me /brek/ -> [br\ek], and in more conservative GAE /brek/ -> [br\eIk], which is what you're describing here, "breakfast" is more like, for me:
/"brEkfIst/ -> ["br\Ek.fIst] or ["br\Ek.fIs:]
for which the conservative GAE version would probably not differ much except that it would never realize /st/ as [s:] in syllable codas. Consequently, due to it using [E], it sounds closer to [{] than the diphthong [eI] used for /e/ in most positions in conservative GAE.
Ben,
Cool accent, mate! :) You can create your own e-books in mp3 format and sell them online. Your accent sounds to me perfect for storytelling.
Boy, thanks for the idea ;) but I'm not interested in making money! I just like helping people.
Ben.
<<Boy, thanks for the idea ;) but I'm not interested in making money! I just like helping people.
Ben.>>
Ben, I’m really impressed! I simply find no words in order to express myself properly as to how noble I think you. I can only tell you that I’ve had no idea such people like you may even exist, these days… Whenever, you happen to be leaving for Warsaw, Poland, please feel free to stay with me as my honorable guest. I’d be glad to see such person like you.
Again, many thanks for your latest recording. It is nice you’re trying to preserve the language of your Gaelic ancestors. I heard that all Irish people had used to speak the Gaelic language before the Englishmen arrived. Have a good trip and lots of fun in Ireland. Hope to see you on the Antimoon Forum soon.
Roger
Ben, the above poster was me. I didn't mean to be marked (titled)as 'Guest'
Roger
César,
Could you put your own recording up here? You've made interesting points about Brazilian. I've heard your tape about Daisy Hamilton. Nicely done. Your non-native experience in learning the language is interesting, as well.
Paul N.