tailieunhanh - 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 I got lazy and the whole thing became further warned that this little treatise won't help you a | 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