Hey everyone, I’m Abbe, your English teacher here at MosaLingua.
I’m American, and today I’m here to help you sound like one, too!
I’m going to talk about 7 easy things you can do to reduce your foreign accent and sound
more convincing when you speak English.
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Now, if you would like to have a great American accent, the first thing you need to do is
to focus on your goal.
There are many dialects of English, but if you want to sound authentic, you should pick
one and stick to it.
Your English teachers in school probably did not all have the same accent, so it’s possible
that you pronounce some words the British way and other words the American way.
You may have to relearn some pronunciations.
Find someone with the accent that you’d like to have, for example a character in an
American TV show, a famous politician, or even a YouTuber (you can even use me, if you like!).
Now, practice shadowing them (or repeating everything that they say) and try to imitate the way they
speak as closely as you can.
Don’t forget to pay attention to their rhythm and intonation (the way that their voice moves up and down).
Really get into the character and make it fun.
And don’t be afraid to sound American!
As you can see, listening is a very important skill if you want to develop a better American accent.
There are most likely some English sounds that don’t even exist in your native language.
When this is the case, we tend to substitute these sounds with sounds that are similar in our native
language, but this leads to a poor accent. So practice listening and identifying similar sounds.
For example, can you hear the difference between the vowels sounds in the words “dip” and “deep”?
What about “luck” and “lock”?
Now, practice imitating what I just said.
This leads me to my next tip.
Most accent issues can be resolved by mastering just three things.
The ‘th’ sounds in words like “the” and “three.”
The hard American “r” in words like, well, “hard,” “American,” and “word.”
And the three different ways to pronounce an “-ed” ending.
It’s important to know when to pronounce this letter combination like a “t,” as in the word
“walked,” when to pronounce it like a “d,” as in the word “spelled,”
and when to pronounce it like a “ed,” as in the word “visited.”
Most non-native English speakers tend to pronounce it the third way every time, when
actually that the least common of the three pronunciations.
Here’s a tip: if the word already ends in a “d” or “t” sound, pronounce it “-ed.”
For any other word, it should be pronounced with a “d” or a “t” sound.
To help you master these sounds, you should practice in front of a camera.
Like I said before, you might not even be able
to tell that you are pronouncing them incorrectly.
So, record yourself with video and audio so that you can compare your tongue and mouth
position to a native speaker’s in addition to the sound you produce.
My next two tips will make your speech more fluid and natural.
First, adopt contractions.
Contractions are words like “I’m” instead of “I am,” “let’s” instead of “let
us,” and “you’ll” instead of “you will.”
Not only do they make you seem more comfortable with the language, but they're also generally
easier to say than if you were to pronounce each separate word back-to-back.
Finally, adopt liaisons into your speech.
When you first started learning English, it may have seemed as though Americans were
always mumbling.
That’s because we naturally create gliding liaisons between words to smooth out
transitions.
An example?
Have you ever seen the American TV show Law & Order?
We would naturally pronounce this title: [lawnordr].
See how many of the sounds just disappear?
This takes a lot of practice to get right, but once you do, you are sure to sound much
more American.
And if you’re really dedicated to improving your American pronunciation,
sign up for our Speak English with Confidence MasterClass
for tons more tips, in-depth lessons, and personalized accent coaching.
If you’d like to know more, there’s a link in the video description.
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