Accent

Well, I've tried myself to improve it for a while, living in Ireland for almost 3 years. But I have attain a certain level and not improving as much as I would like to.

By mixing your a and b, I should acquire a mix of French and Irish accent pretty soon. May sound fun to an American.

That's probably the best thing to do. I enquired at local colleges/language institutes, but all they offer is "standard" English classes.

However, I still think a good book (with audio exercices) may be the next best thing. There are several books on amazon and I was wondering if anyone here knew any of those.

And I am interested in pronounciation in general. For instance, I would like to understand why the i in the noun diner is pronounced differently than in the verb to dine.

I think, you could also look and ask people in your area for a good teacher. In my life, I met only one, who really changed my accent, making it sound more British. We had special oral exercises for gaining the pronounciation of certain sound, something like:
beety bye bow... etc.
Now I don't feel any inconvenience due to the accent, I tend to imitate the accent of the person I'm speaking with, and it can change from European to Asian, from British to US. I see greater problem to speak not a rafinized language, but a regular language, that use native speakers, using the correct idioms instead of their translations from my language into English.

Hi Lumone,

As a non native english Speaker and Someone who has lived and travelled for work quite a lot, I only have one thing to say.

Dont try correcting your accent too much.Make sure whatever you say, say it slowly and clearly.As long as people understand you, thats what matters.

Thats my two cents anyway.If you wanna improve your pronunciation,I'd suggest you watch a few british shows.

Hope this helps.

QTe aptly said.... the contents and the clarity is more important than accent. But saying that I would not mind picking up the British or the Irish accent!

when i was learning french, i found that my fluency got in the way of my accent. i could speak so quickly that i never bothered to be careful with how it sounded. Later, i realized i needed to slow down and think about it. My accent isn't gone - and i'm fine with that - but it's light enough that most french speakers aren't quite sure where i'm from. i think that's a good goal.

The most important thing is to slow down. Be aware. Ask a friend to correct you when you're together. The easier parts to fix: rhythms, which syllable gets the stress, inflections (in non-tonal languages), specific word pronunciations. (Example: my acctg professor last term said "leases" as though it rhymed with "pleases," when it should rhyme with "pieces." If someone had told her that, she'd be able to do it.)

The trickiest part is the sounds that you don't have in your language: i had the worst time with "prune" in french. Both r and u are very different and puttting them together is like tongue gymnastics.

A book can get you started, and tapes too. They'll help you get more conscious. Singing is actually very helpful - when we treat language like music it gets in your ear better. Finally, you could pay a speech coach. At my old job we hired one for one of our staff. She was transitioning into a position that would deal with the public, and her accent was really bad.

Most standard foreign language classes won't do it. The teachers aren't really trained for the speech pathology aspects.

This is interesting. First of all, what is an American accent?

There are probably 15-20 different regional accents, if not more than that - e.g NY/NJ, MI, TX, WA and so on. Also, there are so many other types of accents related to ethnic background and family roots - Italian, Irish, PuertoRican/Dominican, Ghanian, Jamaican, Indian, Russian etc.

I'd say don't worry about picking up a specific accent. Listen to and emulate people around you. Your pronunciation will change over time but you will retain at least a little bit of your original articulation.

Also, imo, an accent is the product of two things - your ability to express yourself in English and your way of articulating words and phrases. If you become really fluent and able to express yourself in English as well as in your mother tongue, it is just a matter of time before your pronunciation improves. But again, if you move to the Northeast for example, you will pick up an accent specific to the Northeast which will sound funny to Texans or Georgians. Let alone Londoners :)

I will never try to lose my accent. It would be the saddest day in the life of my girlfriend, a native English speaker

Cause she will no longer be able to make fun of you?

No, man, because those funny talkers are H-O-T!

All the girls dig the accents...sometimes when we're into our cups, I will ask my friend Simeon to "talk british to me." He always complies.

People are always surprised when they hear me speak.
They don't expect an oriental person to speak with a strong Liverpudlian accent. (e.g, like John Lennon)

LOL aaudetat, I'll remember that. I can easily produce a "ukrainian mafia" accent And it complements the freaky looks.

The why of pronunciation in the English language is sufficiently befuddling that it has been addressed in every form from epigram to popular song. This has a shared genesis in both regionalisms and the convoluted origins of the language. However, here in Northern California (where by the way we have no, ahem, regional accent) the "the i in the noun diner" sounds pretty much the same the one in "dine"... i.e., pronounced like the word "eye".

Learning "rules" for the pronunciation of words in English (or spelling for that matter) seems to me to be something of a game designed to frustrate the player. All it takes is a rudimentary exposure to English to conclude that the exceptions equal the instances wherein the words play by the rules. This is of course exacerbated by regionalism. If, by dint of vigorous practice, you manage to prove the complete chameleon in one locale, a short trip leaves you sounding funny again.

An example: my father was born in a particular district in one of the main cities of the English speaking world - a place noted (even lampooned) for a strong local dialect. He moved as a child to another locale wherein the accent of the former was held in low regard leading to the sort of hazing that kids are wont to dole out to newcomers. However, as he was immersed in the phonic wonders of his new locality from childhood, his accent morphed as he grew to adulthood. Odd that, as when he moved back to his birth place after his military service he then encountered the sort of bigotry that the locals were apt to exhibit towards those who sounded like he now did. Then he moved to the US. (and of course since he moved to Northern California he has no regional accent...)

So really, short of moving to the land of no regional accent*, what you are doing is exchanging one accent for another. This may be helpful. People will make assumptions about you based on how you speak. If you are still improving your fluency the key is to immerse yourself in listening to and speaking with people who speak the English you aspire to. This may be difficult if the region you currently reside in is not the one you wish to sound like. The internet is however a great resource in this regard. You can find radio streams and podcasts representing any sort of English you wish. Download, listen, and regurgitate the content. Record yourself and listen to that, any progress (or lack thereof) will be pretty obvious. However, keep in mind that if your goal if your goal is to be an effective speaker in the US, clarity and fluency will be more important than accent. Unless you move to the sort of place where they address outsiders with a cheerful, "where ya from, boy?"... and then it won't matter how excellent your accent is, you will still be an outsider.

Help!

*just to be clear, I'm joking about the regional accent thing... my relations where you live think I sound quite funny and speak way to slowly