Reducing a foreign accent

[Englishuser]

[Yankee]

[Tamara]

Hi

I can say that many of well-educated and intelligent Britons are not awed at all by ‘the very English’ pronunciation and rally on it - jokingly.

Also, people in their 50-60s told me that speaking manners of the very the elite (at least, in public places) are getting simpler and closer to more mundane English

If you compare Queen’s manner of speaking in 1957 and now, in 2006, you can clearly hear the difference – in tone, in style, in the words and phrases used. TV and radio affect even at royalties.

Or just watch and hear, how Tony Blair speaks and behaves - sometimes - when he takes off his coat and sits ON the table’s edge carelessly shaking his leg and demonstrating “I am a good guy, just one of you”.
Don’t you consider at such moments that he’s forgotten proper ‘good manners’ or left behind true Oxford’s English forever?

So... it depends.
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[Englishuser]

[Englishuser]

[Englishuser]

[Conchita]

[Sassiek]

Many people learn to speak a second or third language. But even so, they may have trouble communicating because they still have an accent from their first language. This is usually because they learned the later language as an adult. They may undergo special training or classes to focus only on pronouncing the new language more like a native. This is accent reduction for the purpose of better communication.

[Alan]

Hi,

Ooh - I really don't like the sound of this expression: 'accent reduction'. That sounds awfully like 'personality reduction' to me.

Alan
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English as a Second Language
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[Prezbucky]

Yeah.

Conform to the norm!

But what is the norm?

It's neat how there are, what, at least 20 distinct accents of those whose native tongue is this great language... but we can understand each other.

(if we keep the regional slang to a minimum, at least)
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[Prezbucky]

Regarding the issue of slang, how many of you would be able to decipher this?:

Yo, biatch, this was s'posed to be tight. But these peops be trippin', frontin' like they makin' it rain all up in here, tryin' to get with our bitches and makin' drama in da club. We be headin' to my crib to get crunk, my homies.
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[Jamie (K)]

[Torsten]

Hi Jamie,

I think it's all a question of balance. Of course your accent and pronunciation should be easy to understand and you shouldn't mispronounce any words as the person in your example clearly did. What Alan had in mind is that you shouldn't overdo your 'accent reduction' activities because you might end up spending your time and energy on rather minor things. It is very important that native speakers can easily follow what you are saying and it is pleasant to listen to you when you speak English as second language. This means you should try to keep a balance between 'sounding artificial' and 'sounding foreign'.

What is your take on the accent question?
Thanks,
Torsten
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Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[Jamie (K)]

What about when someone with a public contact position has an unusual accent that is common on TV but that most people seldom hear in real life? This person can unfortunately stand in front of a group and give their spiel, only to find people listening more to the accent than to the presentation. Then, when the person solicits questions from the audience, the first, and sometimes main question is, "Where are you from?" or, "Where did you get your accent?" A person with this problem needs to learn to turn that accent on and shut it off when appropriate, just as a German needs to do with dialect and Hochdeutsch.

People who have learned a foreign language that non-native speakers seldom learn have had a similar feeling to the one the person with that accent has. You talk perfectly intelligibly, but it's very clear that at the beginning the listener is not paying any attention to what you said, but is merely staring at the phenomenon of a foreigner speaking that language.

[Torsten]

Hi Jamie, did you experience many such situations when you worked in Czechoslovakia? I mean did people often stare at you and listen to your accent more than to what you were saying?
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Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary