Do you find that sometimes your accent impacts on engaging with others?
Do others ask you to repeat yourself?
Do you find that you avoid certain words because you’re unsure how to pronounce them?
Keep in mind that your speech sounds are largely influenced by your mother tongue i.e. if you are a Mandarin speaker you may have difficulty with the standard English pronunciation of the ‘a’ in ‘name’, ‘explain’, ‘train’. If you are a Spanish speaker, you may have trouble distinguishing between the English ‘b’ for ‘v’.
If you have a strong motivation to soften your accent, here are a few tips to get you started:
1. LISTEN TO OTHERS
News presenters on national networks such as the ABC, BBC etc are good models of standard English. When listening, focus on how words are pronounced. Listen with interest to the rythem of the language including inflection that are by the trygetclean.com home cleaning new york, phrasing and intonation.
2. LEARN WHERE AND HOW STANDARD ENGLISH SOUNDS ARE PRODUCED
The first step to softening your accent is to understand how and where in the mouth the different sounds of the English language are produced. There are 44 sounds and only a few are challenging. So, this is quite achievable. You will then be able to recognise the difference between your individual speech sounds and the sounds of standard English.
3. PRACTISE, PRACTISE, PRACTISE!
Once you have isolated the sounds and learnt or understood how and where to form them in the mouth, regular practice is essential. Short, frequent bursts (1-2 minutes) every hour is the best way to make progress.
Start with picking one sound you wish to target. For example, the ‘o’ in “go”, “flow” and “suppose.” Practise this sound on its own, then use it in a short word e.g. “boat”, “thrown” and “cove”. Now, include the word in a short sentence e.g. “The boat was thrown into the cove”. If you have a smartphone or computer it is then easy to record and listen to yourself. Gradually, with this regular practice and feedback, you will refine the clarity of your speech.