How to have better accent!?

[leesinmisshisq]

How do foreigners improve their accent. I'm not a native english speak however I would day that my english is pretty strong. I could listen speak read etc. However when it come to speaking people do understand me but my accent is funny. I'm from southeast asia. When I speak I usually speak so fast which make me breath between words. Sometimes I can't pronunce words that start with R. How do I improve my accent and sound like a native?


PS. I'm junior(11 grade) right now and have been learning english since 3rd grade.
PS. My sentences does not flow(like I don't say um oh etc) while other say that my sentence kinda stop between each word.


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[Tdol]

Do you, like many in SE Asia, cut the final sounds off? This can make things hard to understand as the listener is often trying to reconstruct a word, by which time the speaker has moved on.

 

[leesinmisshisq]

Do you, like many in SE Asia, cut the final sounds off? This can make things hard to understand as the listener is often trying to reconstruct a word, by which time the speaker has moved on.

I'm not sure but it make me not confident.

 

[emsr2d2]

How [STRIKE]do[/STRIKE] can foreigners improve their accent? I'm not a native English speaker. However, I would [STRIKE]day[/STRIKE] say that my English is pretty strong. I [STRIKE]could[/STRIKE] can listen, speak, read etc. However, when it comes to speaking, people do understand me but my accent is funny. I'm from southeast Asia. When I speak I usually speak [STRIKE]so[/STRIKE] very fast which makes me breathe between words. Sometimes I can't pronounce words that start with R. How do I improve my accent and sound like a native?


PS. I'm a junior(11th grade) right now and have been learning English since 3rd grade.
PS. My sentences [STRIKE]does[/STRIKE] do not flow (like I don't say "um oh" etc) while others say that my sentences [STRIKE]kinda[/STRIKE] kind of stop between each word.


*Note* Feel free to leave your Skype ID so that we could talk!

I'm not sure but it makes me not confident.

See my corrections above. You need to concentrate on remembering that the third person singular (he/she/it) adds an "s" to the end of the verb form.

 

[Tdol]

I'm not sure but it make me not confident.

Could you post a sample of your speech? You can upload it to something like YouTube, etc- it will give us a chance to hear it. Thanks

 

[leesinmisshisq]

Could you post a sample of your speech? You can upload it to something like YouTube, etc- it will give us a chance to hear it. Thanks

Sure, i'll private message you.

 

[leesinmisshisq]

Could you post a sample of your speech? You can upload it to something like YouTube, etc- it will give us a chance to hear it. Thanks

Sure, I'll message you.

 

[Tdol]

You can't send private messages yet- there are restrictions to cut down on advertising. Post the recording publicly and you will have some experts on phonetics listening.

 

[leesinmisshisq]

You can't send private messages yet- there are restrictions to cut down on advertising. Post the recording publicly and you will have some experts on phonetics listening.

Oh alright, I'll record one when I get home then.

 

[manuforlyfe]

You can't send private messages yet- there are restrictions to cut down on advertising. Post the recording publicly and you will have some experts on phonetics listening.

I'm the original poster but I use this account because I cannot log in to my main account due to some problems. Here is my voice record http://vocaroo.com/i/s1rkna2NQ3X1

This is the passage that I read Once upon a time there was an old woman who loved baking gingerbread. She would bake gingerbread cookies, cakes, houses and gingerbread people, all decorated with chocolate and peppermint, caramel candies and colored frosting.

Feel free to comment.!

 

[Tdol]

One area that you could work in is syllable stress. You seem to be putting more or less equal stress on syllables- upon, for instance.

 

[leesinmisshisq]

One area that you could work in is syllable stress. You seem to be putting more or less equal stress on syllables- upon, for instance.

Is what I said understandable or is the accent to harsh. Also do I speak too fast/slow and what do you mean by syllable stress?

 

[Boris Tatarenko]

It was a little bit difficult for me to understand what you said. I'm not good at describing things but it sounds like you put too much stress on words. I'm not a teacher so I cannot help you to improve your accent. Try to listen to radio stations, English of course, and repeat after native speakers.

 

[Tdol]

Is what I said understandable or is the accent to harsh. Also do I speak too fast/slow and what do you mean by syllable stress?

You put more or less the same stress on both syllables of upon, while we put more on the second than the first. Not stressing the key syllable can make a word harder to understand.

 

[renard2]

Hi leeinmisshisq,

In addition to all the great advice above, I'd like to remind you of the importance of consonants in English. Consonants, with some exceptions, really need to be pronounced - even though we talk about vowels when stressing syllables.

For example, you said:
"once u-on a time, tha was", instead of "once upon_a_time, there was ("z" sound)"
(the italic letters are stressed, but the bolded consonants still need to be pronounced). Also, note the link between upon a time. When pronouncing these sounds together, they will also flow into each other. Just a note, but I'd focus on syllable stress first.

I wouldn't worry too much for now. Your pronunciation issues are clearly from your first language, and it will just take ongoing practice. Overall, for your age and living in a non-anglophone country, you're doing well. Keep working at it. Thanks for the audio clip, it really helps us.

 

[leesinmisshisq]

Thank you very much for the advice. Most of you say that I need to work on syllable stress so what does that mean. Do I emphasize my voice on some part of the word, also is my breathing good between each words in the sentence.

 

[GoesStation]

Thank you very much for the advice. Most of you say that I need to work on syllable stress so what does that mean. Do I emphasize my voice on some part of the word....

Yes. For example, the second syllable of "upon" is stressed. The non-stressed syllable is shortened, so the word comes out like (u)PON. The schwa sound of the u is very short.