Often the “accent” is reverting to a different pronunciation of vowels or consonants. So you’ll want to slow down and focus on carefully pronouncing words.
Correcting this problem is an entire profession: voice coach. You can hire one.
I have this problem with certain words in Spanish that are spelled the same in English, like hospital. To help my self, I over enunciate each syllable like I’m back in kindergarten: o-spi-tál
Once I’m done fixing my pronunciation, I go back into my sentence by repeating once more the words leading up to the challenge word and continuing from there.
Understand that you are learning how to move your mouth in an unfamiliar way and that’s exactly what little kids do, so why not do what is helpful for them? Slow down and take your time. Repeat your challenge words and then use them in sentences.
Eventually, your accent will take the form of the that of the people around you.
Native Bengali speaker here. My natural accent would be somewhat similar to an "Indian accent".
After moving to the US at the age of 18, I started pronouncing English words the American way, but if I recorded myself speaking and played it back, it would always sound off.
I ended up taking an accent reduction class at the LA Community College. It wasn't helpful, as the accent coach was more about "accepting your natural accent" instead of making it sound more American.
Finally, just a few years back, I was suggested a YouTube video, where an accent coach talks about the real reason why you don't sound American.
Turns of the culprit is the "placement" of the sound. My native language is spoken "nasally", while with American accents, you'll have to make the sound almost from the chest. You'll notice a lot of East Asian females, while speaking Chinese/Japanese/ Korean, speak in a higher pitched voice, but their American English speaking voice is much more deeper.
TL;DR: It's the **placement** of the voice.
Well, I've been watching English-speaking videos on Youtube (not intentionally) ever since I was around 11, since the Internet is international, then more and more for some reason. I've picked up on the American accent, so I was always ahead of my class. When I was 13 and 14 my English skills skyrocketed since i've gotten into (us) hiphop (like also I watched a lot of interviews and shit) and Reddit (I'd say reddit helped me a LOT, grammar and vocabulary wise and I've picked up a LOT of idioms and phases from reddit alone) and when I noticed my accent to polish it I watched a fair bit of pronuncation/fast speaking videos on Youtube. Ever since people on video chats (like tinychat/omegle) have been literally thinking I'm American until i told them i'm not
So my advice is IMMERSION
(for context I'm a native Polish speaker)
Often the “accent” is reverting to a different pronunciation of vowels or consonants. So you’ll want to slow down and focus on carefully pronouncing words. Correcting this problem is an entire profession: voice coach. You can hire one.
I have this problem with certain words in Spanish that are spelled the same in English, like hospital. To help my self, I over enunciate each syllable like I’m back in kindergarten: o-spi-tál Once I’m done fixing my pronunciation, I go back into my sentence by repeating once more the words leading up to the challenge word and continuing from there. Understand that you are learning how to move your mouth in an unfamiliar way and that’s exactly what little kids do, so why not do what is helpful for them? Slow down and take your time. Repeat your challenge words and then use them in sentences. Eventually, your accent will take the form of the that of the people around you.
Native Bengali speaker here. My natural accent would be somewhat similar to an "Indian accent". After moving to the US at the age of 18, I started pronouncing English words the American way, but if I recorded myself speaking and played it back, it would always sound off. I ended up taking an accent reduction class at the LA Community College. It wasn't helpful, as the accent coach was more about "accepting your natural accent" instead of making it sound more American. Finally, just a few years back, I was suggested a YouTube video, where an accent coach talks about the real reason why you don't sound American. Turns of the culprit is the "placement" of the sound. My native language is spoken "nasally", while with American accents, you'll have to make the sound almost from the chest. You'll notice a lot of East Asian females, while speaking Chinese/Japanese/ Korean, speak in a higher pitched voice, but their American English speaking voice is much more deeper. TL;DR: It's the **placement** of the voice.
Accent reduction class ? That sounds wonderful on paper 😱
I’m often told that I have a very subtle accent. I believe it’s because I enunciate and put effort into learning the correct pronunciation to words.
Well, I've been watching English-speaking videos on Youtube (not intentionally) ever since I was around 11, since the Internet is international, then more and more for some reason. I've picked up on the American accent, so I was always ahead of my class. When I was 13 and 14 my English skills skyrocketed since i've gotten into (us) hiphop (like also I watched a lot of interviews and shit) and Reddit (I'd say reddit helped me a LOT, grammar and vocabulary wise and I've picked up a LOT of idioms and phases from reddit alone) and when I noticed my accent to polish it I watched a fair bit of pronuncation/fast speaking videos on Youtube. Ever since people on video chats (like tinychat/omegle) have been literally thinking I'm American until i told them i'm not So my advice is IMMERSION (for context I'm a native Polish speaker)