Accent Reduction Classroom

How Long Will It Take To Reduce My Accent?

Most people born outside of the United States will never sound like a native born American English speaker, but you can make changes to your current speech that will enable Americans to understand you. Everyone is capable of learning new sounds and patterns that will make their speech more comprehensible. Using these new sounds patterns will make speaking English much more enjoyable for you and for your listeners! How long it takes to improve your accent depends on a few variables. These include:

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Accent Reduction for Indians, Part 1

Many South Indian speakers who work with Americans are puzzled to find that their colleagues have difficulty understanding their spoken English. The truth is that many people have problems understanding the spoken English of people from the Indian subcontinent. This can be very frustrating if you have been speaking English since your youth! If this sounds familiar you may find yourself wondering, “Why is my spoken English so difficult for American English speakers to understand?” One reason is because most Indian English speakers have not learned to use American English syllable stress correctly.

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Accent Reduction for Indians, Part 2

As I wrote in Accent Reduction for Indians, Part 1, one of the most significant features of spoken American English is its use of syllable stress. Syllable stress patterns create a speech rhythm that American listeners use to identify words and make meaning. When speakers stress each syllable equally, or consistently stress the first syllable, it makes their words sound very “accented” to American listeners and creates speech patterns that extremely difficult for us to understand! Here is another story that illustrates the importance of using the correct syllable stress.

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American English Pronunciation: The Sounds of C & S

Since English is not a phonetic language there is not always a one-on-one relationship between the letters in the English alphabet and spoken sounds. This can cause problems when you want to pronounce English words. The 26 letters in the English (Roman) alphabet make more than 26 spoken sounds.

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American English Pronunciation- Why Do You Have an Accent?

Most non-native English speakers have an accent when they speak English but they don’t understand why and they don’t know what steps they can take to change this. In this article I will tell you why you have a an accent when you speak English. Then I will explain four things you must do if you want to reduce your accent.

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Syllable Stress in American English Words

In this lesson I will explain why syllable stress in words is so critical to correct American English pronunciation and I will tell you the rules for using syllable stress correctly when you are speaking.

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Introduction to Sentence Stress and Intonation

In this lesson you will learn how content, function and focus words affect the rhythm of spoken English. You will also learn to use the two most common sentence intonation patterns in American English.

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Accent Reduction Classroom

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