Please Judge My Accent

[question771118]

Hi everyone!

I have been learning English for years. I think it's time to get some feedback on how I am doing Here is my voice recording for you to assess.

https://vocaroo.com/eXCfykOZs2o

I would really appreciate it if you can point out what I can improve on to sound more natural or correct. And also....what kind of accent do I have? Can you tell what my native language is? Any advice would be appreciated!

Thanks guys!

Below is the text I was reading, a news article from SFGATE "California jobless rate 16.3% in May, down a bit from April"

"California's job losses were even higher in April than previously thought, state figures released Friday showed, producing a staggering unemployment rate not seen since the Great Depression as businesses struggled under a stay-at-home order meant to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

The Employment Development Department now says April's unemployment rate was 16.4%, not 15.5%. The revised number represents nearly 170,000 more people out of work in April than initially reported.

May's unemployment rate was slightly better at 16.3% as the state added 141,600 payroll jobs. But it was a blip compared to the 2.4 million payroll jobs the state lost in April, more than all the jobs shed in California during the Great Recession a decade ago."

https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.sfgate.com/news/amp/More-economic-gloom-California-jobless-rate-hits-15352171.php

 

[emsr2d2]

I don't have time to listen at the moment but I'd like to make a comment. Listening to you reading a piece that someone else wrote isn't going to help us assess how you're getting on with learning English. We'll only be able to comment on how well you can read aloud and on your pronunciation. If that's all you want to know about, that's fine, but you should have said that you've been working on your pronunciation for years, rather than that you've been learning English for years.

I can read out a piece in Italian perfectly well because I know how to pronounce the words, but that doesn't mean I understand it, nor that I would be able to produce the words myself if asked to translate from English to Italian.

 

[question771118]

I don't have time to listen at the moment but I'd like to make a comment. Listening to you reading a piece that someone else wrote isn't going to help us assess how you're getting on with learning English. We'll only be able to comment on how well you can read aloud and on your pronunciation. If that's all you want to know about, that's fine, but you should have said that you've been working on your pronunciation for years, rather than that you've been learning English for years.

I can read out a piece in Italian perfectly well because I know how to pronounce the words, but that doesn't mean I understand it, nor that I would be able to produce the words myself if asked to translate from English to Italian.

Hello,

Thank you for your comment. As the title "Judge My Accent" indicates, I am actually looking for feedback on my pronunciation only. Also, I think working on pronunciation is part of learning the language, and with that title I thought I didn't need to make it any clearer. So it is not about being able to understand or translate. It's only about the pronunciation.

Thanks!

 

[teechar]

feedback ------------> sounds like fee back
unemployment ------------> sounds like un emp loyment …. don’t break it up like that
virus ------------> stress should be on the first syllable, not the second
April ------------> sounds like ip ril . That’s wrong see below. Also the stress is on the first syllable, not the second.
Out of work ------------> Note that “of” should be “əv” and in that phrase it would be only “ə” with linking.
Hundred ------------> don’t drop the final “d”

 

[Tdol]

When you are speaking naturally at the start, your accent is good. When you start reading, the intonation becomes less natural, which is common when reading. However, the first twenty seconds suggest that your pronunciation is good.

 

[englishlearner1111]

hi @question771118 I am a student but if you allow me here are my comments:
(1)Well done and thank you for sharing your audio. I would feel embarrassed to upload my voice so I really admire your courage and determination to improve your pronunciation.
(2)To be honest I would be happy if I could read aloud these words like you do. If possible, I would like to ask you what kind of exercises or training have you done to reach this level. Do you have any recommendation to fellow students?
(3)If possible, I would also like to ask your native tongue. I would like to know how you removed the accent. Is your native language a stress-timed language or syllabus-timed language?