Help me cover up accent

Guest   Tue Jun 26, 2007 3:51 pm GMT
I am going to visit a English speaking country this summer and I do not want them to know where I am from. I am trying to cover up my accent as much as possible. Have I done a good enough job or is it still possible to tell where I am from? I do not want to sound like I am "from" anywhere. Please suggest ways in which I can improve it and to increase inteligibility. Which features should I change? Also you can try to guess where I am from--but I hope you won't be able to.

http://ax6.org/freeupload/4407.wav
Guest   Tue Jun 26, 2007 9:36 pm GMT
Sounds very unusual.
Guest # 2   Tue Jun 26, 2007 10:53 pm GMT
I find it difficult to tell where you're from, not because your pronunciation is good, but because I can't understand what you're saying.

It sounds like you're reading a text in Old English.
Guest # 3   Tue Jun 26, 2007 11:59 pm GMT
I understood some parts.. "that in that country lived".... "on wednesday he.. schreef on a note.." .. "I shall in the morning komme".

Sounds like a mix of Dutch, German and English.
Guest   Wed Jun 27, 2007 12:52 am GMT
Well, I know Old English and it definitely is not Old English.
Guest   Wed Jun 27, 2007 12:57 am GMT
Definitely not Old English because of "country", "note", and other French loan words.
Original Poster   Wed Jun 27, 2007 1:57 am GMT
So the consensus is that it is totally unintelligible? On a scale of 1-100 how much of it is comprehensible? Can anyone transcribe it?
Guest # 2   Wed Jun 27, 2007 2:31 am GMT
Here's Guest # 2 again.
I can only get "in that city he lived", "his nama was lauer broom (?)", "On wednesday he".

Let me take a guess: You're from Southeast Asia. Vietnam?
Guest #3   Wed Jun 27, 2007 4:02 am GMT
I agree; the accents sounds Asian.
K. T.   Wed Jun 27, 2007 5:24 am GMT
I'm not an academic, but I understood about 75% of it. Why do you want to hide your origin?
Guest # 843684   Wed Jun 27, 2007 10:52 am GMT
<<So the consensus is that it is totally unintelligible? On a scale of 1-100 how much of it is comprehensible? Can anyone transcribe it?>>

20

Can you post the text you were reading or tell us where it comes from?
Original Poster   Wed Jun 27, 2007 4:19 pm GMT
>> I'm not an academic, but I understood about 75% of it <<

>> 20 <<

So, for some people it is quite comprehensible, and for others it is very incomprehensible?
Guest   Wed Jun 27, 2007 4:50 pm GMT
This is not modern English. Yes, you sound like an Asian. Read something easy. I understood only one percent.
from Asia   Wed Jun 27, 2007 8:20 pm GMT
You are somewhere from an Asian country.
You also sound a bit Startrekish.
Guest # 843684   Wed Jun 27, 2007 9:16 pm GMT
<<So, for some people it is quite comprehensible, and for others it is very incomprehensible?>>

Read something different. For example, how about this passage?

Please call Stella. Ask her to bring these things with her from the store: Six spoons of fresh snow peas, five thick slabs of blue cheese, and maybe a snack for her brother Bob. We also need a small plastic snake and a big toy frog for the kids. She can scoop these things into three red bags, and we will go meet her Wednesday at the train station.

If you are interested in other accents, listen to some samples here: http://accent.gmu.edu/

Post your new accent sample, because this one isn't really helping.