How to Lose Your Accent in (American) English

Disclaimers: Before I begin, I must warn you that I'm about the least competent person to speak on this subject, because by now there's not a single. language I speak without an accent... including the ones I have spoken. since childhood. But in periods when I tried really hard, I've pretty much. managed to lose my accent in a few of them intermittently off and on...until I got lazy and the whole thing became mush.Be further warned that this little treatise won't help you a
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How to Lose Your Accent in (American) English How to Lose Your Accent in (American) English by Margaret Magnus copyright by Margaret Magnus all rights reserved My Web Site Margo's Magical Letter Page Disclaimers: Before I begin, I must warn you that I'm about the least competent person to speak on this subject, because by now there's not a single language I speak without an accent... including the ones I have spoken since childhood. But in periods when I tried really hard, I've pretty much managed to lose my accent in a few of them intermittently off and on... until I got lazy and the whole thing became mush. Be further warned that this little treatise won't help you at all with your grammar. This is for the legions of you naturalized Americans who actually speak English better than I do, but who have this irritating accent you'd like to be free of. And it's for all you others too... who soon will speak English better than I do. It's a good idea to get the accent right from the start, if that matters to you. First some general points: 1. Were you over 40 when you first learned to say 'hello' in English? Everybody has told you all your life that it's in principle impossible to lose or improve your accent? Wrong. Losing your accent does not require some kind of genius or magic. You do it like you do anything else... by understanding what is required and by practicing. It takes more practice after you're 40, but it's not impossible, and it's fairly easy in most cases to radically improve. 2. The basic principle is this. Slow down. Everyone can speak American English without any accent at all... Everyone! Right now! If they talk slowly enough.... by 'slowly enough', I mean in most cases saying just one word at a time - each word carefully considered and carefully pronounced. 3. Most people find that when it really gets down to pronouncing that one word just like we Americans do, it's not that they can't pronounce it that way... it's that they don't want to. It's just too embarrassing to actually say that word just the way we really say it. I openly confess that it's pretty ridiculous that a whole nation in all seriousness actually talks like this, but that's the way it is. The point of this whole Web site is that the sounds you pronounce in part define your personality. In order to talk like an American, you have to be American. There's no way around this. So before you go on, ask yourself honestly whether you are truly willing to incorporate the American psyche into yourself on the cellular level. If the answer is no, then sorry. Can't help you. If you feel more comfortable being British, then you could perhaps take that up instead. If you are willing to actually be a native English speaker of some continent, then imagine that you are American or Australian or whatever. It's reasonably safe to do this. You're not lying to anybody... just imagining. It's like acting in a play. After you've pretended for a few minutes, you can always go back and be yourself again... no permanent damage is done. 4. Now listen very carefully to that one word and say it just as you hear it, not as you think it should be pronounced. There are three barriers that adults must overcome in learning a language. One is that the neurons controlling their mouth movements have been programmed to speak another language. This barrier is overcome by repetition. Another barrier is the one just mentioned, that they aren't aware that what's required is to become American, and once they realize this, they don't want to do it... it threatens their self-definition too much. And a third barrier is that they already have notions about how things are pronounced, and they rely on their notions rather than on what they actually hear. So at this point, slow down to one word at a time, and say it over and over again without an accent. Every time you say the word the wrong way, you are programming your neurons the wrong way... so say it as often as you can the right (all-American, apple pie) way. Don't speed up until it's easy to do so without losing your accent. You'll notice that whatever you can't do fast, you can't do slowly either. You'll also notice if you pay attention that you're often simply mistaken about which vowel is actually used... you're thinking it's rounded at the lips like 'o', when it's actually a nice wide 'ah', as in 'hot'. American Specific: All the above advice is equally applicable to learning any language. However, in addition to this, there are a few handy tricks they teach you in linguistics school about the differences between English pronunciation and those of other languages. 1a. The vowels are usually the hardest for people. English has a lot of them compared to most languages, so the differences between them is likely to be more sub ...