I have accent

[sawadee]

Another thing is the forming of the mouth and tongue and everything to make the sounds of the words. Once I coached my wife on a few things it improved.

 

One of the first things I learned is making sure I stuck my tongue out when pronouncing "th".

 

 

Yes, this is a habit of mine: my tongue is never in the right position for 'th', I think that is due to my habits of speaking Shanghai Dialect.

 

My husband likes my European-Asian accent, he thinks it is cute. The reason I brought it up here is I want people other than my husband can understand me better. My husband told me I have to speak slowly to people who are not farmiliar with my accent.

 

BTW, I appreciate all the replys, it helps me a lot. I will start reading to my husband everyday pretty soon. Thank folks.

Edited April 23, 2007 by sawadee (see edit history)

[Tony_onrock]

Fuss, that's probably the way to go for now. As long as he is willing to help. I think many of us guys enjoy the little mispronounciations. Personally, I like to tease Xiahong with the word "bird".

 

As some others have suggested, speaking slower will help people you don't know well to understand what you are saying. After they have spoken with you for a while, they will get used to your accent. For example, Americans from the north and west have trouble understanding other Americans from the south.....or Texas.

 

If having an accent really troubles you, the only way to really get rid of it is to go to a speech pathologist. They aren't cheap, but will be very helpfull if you really think it is worth it.

Agree. It is worth the money. I used one initially and it really helped. Then I used my son and he corrects me every time if I pronounced something wrong.

The reality is that people equate accent, esp. Euro-Asian type of accent with lack of education, incompetence etc. Depending on your profession, this perception can be very costly.

[pkfops]

I heard Connie Chung would practice speaking with

pebbles in her mouth.

[AmericanRooster]

If having an accent really troubles you, the only way to really get rid of it is to go to a speech pathologist. They aren't cheap, but will be very helpfull if you really think it is worth it.

Definitely not cheap... For certain job functions, my former employeer would sponsor speech therapy sessions for foreign nationals... IIRC, it came out to about $12000/year.

Edited April 26, 2007 by AmericanRooster (see edit history)

[tywy_99]

 

Just get your husband to sit down with you for 30 minutes every day and read out loud to him and let him correct you on the words he has the most trouble understanding.

 

That's good advice. Some words are very easy to understand no matter how heavy your accent. Others are harder to distinguish from another word that sounds similar, unless the pronunciation is exact.

 

Let your husband help you there.

Example: 'horse' and 'house'.

That's the one my wife always talks about.

I never really thought about it but I guess they do sound something alike.

[Randy W]

 

Example: 'horse' and 'house'.

That's the one my wife always talks about.

I never really thought about it but I guess they do sound something alike.

 

 

. . . and "Randy" and "Wendy" sound exactly the same, right, Tony (aclassic)?

[SheLikesME?]

Example: 'horse' and 'house'.

That's the one my wife always talks about.

I never really thought about it but I guess they do sound something alike.

HAhahaha, depends on if your really from NC instead of VA right????

[SheLikesME?]

I am frustrated for my English accent. In university, when I was studing English, I picked the British accent, it was more than 10 years ago. After I started to talk to my husband, I was more and less influenced by American accent, mixed with some Asian accent sometimes.

So my accent is a good mixture of British, Asian and American accent, and not alway in a correct way.

I am not satisfied with my accent cause sometimes I have difficulty to pronounce a word correctly to make people understand well.

 

I dont know how to solve this problem, I have been thinking a solution very hard. I am wondering if anyone can give me some suggestions?

Don't forget to ask people to slow down for you so you understand what they are saying. You will gain face. Loosing face is listening and not understanding. If they learn of this they may think less of you for not asking them to speak slower and plainer. Americans will want to help you generally I feel. If you understand them, they will also try harder to listen to you. Speed will come in time.

[zhen]

I have my accent too but I do not worry about it bcos my husband fully understand what I said.

[toolman]

i can relate some to your situation,,,i have a southern redneck accent,,,when i went to guangzhou to visit in march....my s.o kept telling me to speak more plainly...she has taken english classes for 6 years...but understanding me was challenge for her...i try to think before talking...now she understands be more,,,still a ways to go...maybe love can overcome..hang in there,,,

[SheLikesME?]

i can relate some to your situation,,,i have a southern redneck accent,,,when i went to guangzhou to visit in march....my s.o kept telling me to speak more plainly...she has taken english classes for 6 years...but understanding me was challenge for her...i try to think before talking...now she understands be more,,,still a ways to go...maybe love can overcome..hang in there,,,

Ahh yes, my wife knows english rules much better than me. Therefore sometimes she has doubted my training of her pronunciation.

 

Besides my wife is a Northern girl and speaks fast. She moves in jerks too. I have to work at slowing her down so Texan's understand her.

[The Jeff]

I agree with what another poster said. Take a theater or speech class at your local Community College. It will help you with your speaking ability and confidence. Keep the accent though.

 

I think it's really crapo that some accents are considered ok, yet others are not. Would you want to change your accent if, say, it were French or German? Many college professors have accents and and they don't seem to have any problems. My college German teacher had a Texan Mexican accent (he was from southern Texas) and I had a speech instructor who had a very thick Indian accent.

 

This is the United States, a nation of immigrants. Just because someone has an accent doesn't mean that they should look down on themselves or try to change who they are.

[SirLancelot]

 

This is the United States, a nation of immigrants. Just because someone has an accent doesn't mean that they should look down on themselves or try to change who they are.

 

Ah, but the practical reality is that the general population indeed looks down and discriminates against people with accents. The current trend is to diss Asian-Indian accents. I can partly empathize due to the large amount of American call center jobs being outsourced to India, but the outlandish excuses--all stemming from racist/prejudice thinking--I read all the time on various forums is that they can't understand the Indian accent and that the Indian call center reps are incompetent idiots.

 

Pure BS! I've talked to more than my share of native Americans who speak with a heavy, heavy southern drawl where I can't understand a word they say. I've also spoken to more than my fair share of native African American CS reps with their think, think ebonics accent where I couldn't comprehend half of what they're saying. Additionally, I've spoken with more than my share of naturalized USC or legally present workers with heavy incomprehensible European or Spanish/Mexican accents. All of them annoyed me as it was a job in itself just trying to understand what they were saying, let alone trying to help me resolve a problem I had. And lastly, of course there are heavy Asian accents which makes it impossible to understand what they're saying. Koreans, Japanese and, yes, Chinese. So it applies to all accents.

 

So this BS excuse about incomprehensible Asian Indians is purely an excuse with regards to outsourcing. Plenty of Americans or legal workers in the US have thicker accents which I can't comprehend at all. And there's plenty of incompetent Americans who're complete idiots over the phone. They can't do crap to resolve a problem and have not the slightest idea of what "taking the initiative" means.

 

Of course I don't like all the jobs being outsourced. Of course I'd like all Americans to have a job--or at least have the opportunity to have jobs if they so desire. But to use the excuse of not understanding the Indian English accent is really a very lame ass cop-out.

 

Having said all that, I do think it's important to learn to speak American English properly while in the US so that Americans can better understand you. Pragmatically, it is to the immigrant's advantage and I think both Sawadee and Stone very much appreciate this fact, even if they would ideally prefer it was not the case.

 

Sawadee, my advice to you is to practice with a digital tape recorder. Buy any English pronunciation tape or CD. Listen to the announcer speak. Repeat out loud what the announcer said--directing your speech into the recorder--and play back what you recorded. If you hear any differences between what you said and what the announcer said, repeat the process. You keep doing it until what you said and what the announcer said is exactly the same. It takes time and it takes a tremendous amount of effort but it does work. I guarantee it.

 

You can't rely on your husband or any kind American friend as they'll be too generous with grading your accent improvement. As you can see from this thread, too many "friendly" folks will tell you that your accent isn't so bad or that you're doing great at improving your accent. But in reality, you know you need more improvement, so you must work on this yourself. Use the digital recorder. You'll get immediate feedback of the difference between how you pronounce and what the proper pronunciation of the announcer from those tapes or CDs.

 

To truly improve your accent, you must be a perfectionist and demand perfection. You must repeat what the announcer says over and over and over until you get it perfectly. Don't accept getting it right 80% or 90% of the time. You want to emulate 100% of his or her native American speech pattern. Everything has to sound exactly the same, then you'll be on the road to having a truly neutral and standard American accent--like you hear from news broadcasters, even from Alabama or Kentucky news broadcasters.

 

Good luck. If you persist hard enough, you can truly modify your accent. Movie actors and actresses do it all the time but they really spend a lot of time, effort and money with speech therapists. You can succeed without one but you'll have to worker harder to succeed. You can do it!

[mikepellicore]

I often think that "HOOKED ON PHONICS" would be very good for speech and spelling. My favorite 2 words; clothes and close. Mike & Zhen

[warpedbored]

I called my credit card company last night. The woman who answered had what sounded like an Asian Indian accent. I could barely understand her and had to ask her to repeat herself several times. I have nothing what so ever against Asian Indians. I do however have a problem with companies that outsource these jobs to people who have too strong of an accent to understand easily.

 

This is the United States, a nation of immigrants. Just because someone has an accent doesn't mean that they should look down on themselves or try to change who they are.

 

Ah, but the practical reality is that the general population indeed looks down and discriminates against people with accents. The current trend is to diss Asian-Indian accents. I can partly empathize due to the large amount of American call center jobs being outsourced to India, but the outlandish excuses--all stemming from racist/prejudice thinking--I read all the time on various forums is that they can't understand the Indian accent and that the Indian call center reps are incompetent idiots.

 

Pure BS! I've talked to more than my share of native Americans who speak with a heavy, heavy southern drawl where I can't understand a word they say. I've also spoken to more than my fair share of native African American CS reps with their think, think ebonics accent where I couldn't comprehend half of what they're saying. Additionally, I've spoken with more than my share of naturalized USC or legally present workers with heavy incomprehensible European or Spanish/Mexican accents. All of them annoyed me as it was a job in itself just trying to understand what they were saying, let alone trying to help me resolve a problem I had. And lastly, of course there are heavy Asian accents which makes it impossible to understand what they're saying. Koreans, Japanese and, yes, Chinese. So it applies to all accents.

 

So this BS excuse about incomprehensible Asian Indians is purely an excuse with regards to outsourcing. Plenty of Americans or legal workers in the US have thicker accents which I can't comprehend at all. And there's plenty of incompetent Americans who're complete idiots over the phone. They can't do crap to resolve a problem and have not the slightest idea of what "taking the initiative" means.

 

Of course I don't like all the jobs being outsourced. Of course I'd like all Americans to have a job--or at least have the opportunity to have jobs if they so desire. But to use the excuse of not understanding the Indian English accent is really a very lame ass cop-out.

 

Having said all that, I do think it's important to learn to speak American English properly while in the US so that Americans can better understand you. Pragmatically, it is to the immigrant's advantage and I think both Sawadee and Stone very much appreciate this fact, even if they would ideally prefer it was not the case.

 

Sawadee, my advice to you is to practice with a digital tape recorder. Buy any English pronunciation tape or CD. Listen to the announcer speak. Repeat out loud what the announcer said--directing your speech into the recorder--and play back what you recorded. If you hear any differences between what you said and what the announcer said, repeat the process. You keep doing it until what you said and what the announcer said is exactly the same. It takes time and it takes a tremendous amount of effort but it does work. I guarantee it.

 

You can't rely on your husband or any kind American friend as they'll be too generous with grading your accent improvement. As you can see from this thread, too many "friendly" folks will tell you that your accent isn't so bad or that you're doing great at improving your accent. But in reality, you know you need more improvement, so you must work on this yourself. Use the digital recorder. You'll get immediate feedback of the difference between how you pronounce and what the proper pronunciation of the announcer from those tapes or CDs.

 

To truly improve your accent, you must be a perfectionist and demand perfection. You must repeat what the announcer says over and over and over until you get it perfectly. Don't accept getting it right 80% or 90% of the time. You want to emulate 100% of his or her native American speech pattern. Everything has to sound exactly the same, then you'll be on the road to having a truly neutral and standard American accent--like you hear from news broadcasters, even from Alabama or Kentucky news broadcasters.

 

Good luck. If you persist hard enough, you can truly modify your accent. Movie actors and actresses do it all the time but they really spend a lot of time, effort and money with speech therapists. You can succeed without one but you'll have to worker harder to succeed. You can do it!