Today we’re at my computer to watch a fake accent coach working with a student. This
is a hilarious scene from the movie “The Pink Panther”. Not really to be taken seriously
but what can we learn about accent coaching by watching this.
I would like to buy a hamburger
Okay. Right away I have a little bit of beef and that is she said it once, he repeated
it not very accurately and then she exaggerated.
I would like to buy a hamburger.
So that’s not actually natural English.
I can’t stand it when people are coaching students in a way that’s not natural. No
one wants to learn unnatural English. They want to learn natural conversational English. Let’s
keep going.
Let’s go over two phrases I used here. I said I had beef. What the heck does it mean
to have beef? Beef is the meat that comes from a cow. But we also use it idiomatically
to say “I have a complaint or a problem with someone or the way someone is doing something.”
Like here, the way the accent coach is working. I basically said this again in another way
when I said. “I can’t stand it.” It bothers me, I have a problem with it, I think
something is wrong with it. I have beef with it.
I would like to buy a hamburger.
No, no, no. Let’s break it down.
I
Uh
I
Ah
Okay now, I do love breaking it down. This is something I do with my students all the
time. Sometimes a full sentence is too much. There’s too much going on. Melody, rhythm,
sounds, linking, reductions. I actually love breaking up longer sentences into smaller
chunks.
I
Would
Okay, so she’s breaking it down and she’s just saying a single word having him repeat
it but she’s not giving him any feedback when he’s not doing it well and she’s also
not doing it enough times for him to repeat it back in a better way.
So I have an online school, Rachel’s English Academy where we do accent training with our
students and the transformation they make is incredible.
When my students use the Play it, say it method in the academy, they may play it and say it
fifteen times in a row. Now here’s what’s incredible about that. When you play it and
say it, play it and say it, their ear does something, the mind connection works and they
end up tweaking their mouth position to make a sound that’s usually completely accurate
by the end of their repetitions and they do that by themselves without me telling them
what to change or tweak, they figure it out as they go as their ear matches the sound
and I love watching this happen because it empowers the students. They realize with
this method and this material, they can improve all on their own without having an accent
coach there.
Would
You know what I’m going to say. Again, woooould. That’s not how anybody says that word. So
let’s not teach our students that that’s how we say a word.
Now, another thing that’s important that she’s not doing that I always do with my
students in the academy is also give information. It’s not just now about listening and repeating
with adult students. Adult students need some information, some insight into the anatomy
and how we would produce certain sounds. So if you’re studying with me in my academy,
you did a video that goes over the concepts so you get it intellectually with your head
then you move in to the audio for the training session.
Would
Like
To
Buy
(Laughing) I love everything about this. I love Steve Martin. Now, like we said, this
is a comedy. This woman isn’t actually trying to be an accent coach, it’s a spoof. What’s
a spoof? It’s an imitation of something generally in a way that exaggerates some of
the characteristics.
The other really important thing to talk about here is the character wants to sound completely
American to blend in for his job. He has a French accent and the one thing I want to
make sure I say explicitly is there’s nothing wrong having an accent. Sometimes as an accent
coach I feel like I got pigeonholed as somebody who thinks we all need to sound the same.
Totally not true. I feel like I exist from my students to help them meet their goals whatever
their goals are. Accents themselves are completely beautiful.
I used an interesting phrase here, pigeon hole. Have you heard this phrase before?
A pigeon is a common city bird. A pigeon hole did originally mean a small space for a pigeon.
Now it refers to a set of small compartments for sorting letters or papers. As a verb,
the way I used it, it means to assign a particular category or class to something especially
in a manner that’s too narrow. Let’s say you’re an aspiring chef. You worked in three
seafood restaurants. You’re looking for a new job and you’ve decided the restaurant
definitely won’t be a seafood restaurant because you don’t want to get pigeonholed.
You want to be known to excel at various cuisines not just seafood.
Or an actor. Wants to make sure he doesn’t get pigeonholed for playing the same kind
of part all the time. He wants to be hired for all different kinds of roles. I said as
an accent coach, don’t pigeonhole me as someone who thinks everyone should lose their
accent. Some of my students have that goal and I want to help them reach that. But other
students love their accent but want to have more ease with spoken communication. And I
think that’s great.
Buy
A
Hamburger
(Laughing) Oh my gosh, I love so much how he says this word.
Hamburger
So, one thing to know from my French students, the h in English is sometimes silent but usually
not like in the word “hamburger”, we have h,h, that little escape of air sound, hamburger.
Why is it pronounced in hamburger but silent in hour or honor? I don’t know but usually
it’s pronounced.
Ham
Bur
Ger
(laughing) Ham. Okay, another thing, I always try to make sure that my students become aware
they are bringing in a physical gesture. So for example with the word hamburger. Ham,
he says hem, hem . And I would want to make sure my students recognize if they were doing that
so that they could stop doing it. Sometimes students will bring in extra movement here
with the lips, a lot, whoo, that’s going to be more work and it’s going to be harder
to relax with that so I always try to get my students to notice these extra movements
and to take them out. It’s just going to lead to a more natural, comfortable English.
Ah
I would like to buy a hamburger
It’s not the hamburger, hamburger
I’m not saying demburger I said I would like the buy a damburger.
Okay, one other thing, In spoken English we often use contractions, that would be much more
natural in spoken English. I would like to buy a hamburger. Well, that phrase itself,
not very natural. I’d like to buy a hamburger, sure. But what’s even more common?
I’ll have a hamburger or I’d like a hamburger or I’ll take a hamburger.
All of these are a more natural way to say this phrase.
I would like to buy a hamburger!
Okay, so there’s come a certain point where the method isn’t working, at this point
I would always stop with a student and try a different approach. You can always find
something that’s going to get a little progress one way or another and if what you’re trying
to do isn’t working especially if it’s starting to lead to you shouting or some extra
tension, just drop it, forget it, leave it for a minute and then come back to it maybe
with a slightly different approach or start working on something totally different, a
different phrase.
In conclusion, if you want to reduce your accent, there are methods.
Listen and repeat and as an adult, being told the specifics of a certain topic like a mouth
position or the for reduction. Studying them and working repetitiously with audio.
And if you can get feedback from a teacher, great. Obviously that helps too. Actually,
all these things are available in my academy. I’m Rachel Smith. I’ve been teaching here
on Youtube for 13 years and I worked with many, many students who wanted to reduce their
accent. Through working with them, I have developed my method a little different from
what you saw here. And I put all of my best ideas in my academy, Rachel’s English Academy
so check it out if think you might want to work in your accent, as a side note, you’re
also improving your listening comprehension as you work through the materials in the academy.
If you want to know more, check out this video about the academy or go to rachelsenglishacademy.com.
You’ll get access to the method, the materials and teachers to help guide you. It’s a subscription
but you can cancel at any time and If you’re unhappy with it, just ask for a refund in
your first 30 days and we’ll give it to you and thank you for having giving us a chance.
If you have any questions, put them in the comments below and thank you so much for watching, you
can keep your learning going right now with this video and don’t forget to subscribe
with notifications, I make new videos on the English language every week and I’d love
to see you back here.
That’s it and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.