What is an accent? An accent is the carryover of sounds from
the speaker’s original language to the second language. When we are infants, we
literally have the ability to speak any language in the world. We are all born
with the necessary speech mechanisms and the capability to learn any language.
We end up speaking the language that we do solely by reinforcement. The sounds
a baby hears and the speech patterns he is exposed to are the ones that she
develops. Soon the baby gains the fine motor skill and control she needs to
create sounds herself. The infant will begin by babbling and playing with
sounds. Soon she is able to produce simple vowel/consonant combinations which may
be why mama and dada are often their first words, they can make the combination
and the big reaction it elicits reinforces their efforts. By 18 months she will
be able to produce about 20 words that have meaning and understand around 50
words. Now babies, of course, have the ultimate immersion experience. In order to
obtain any control over their environment, they must learn the language and they
are surrounded by the language almost 24 hours a day.
Of course, the second language learner does not have these
advantages. Even if you are now living in an English speaking country, and
attending classes to learn English you will still have an opportunity to speak and
hear your first language with friends and family, this is especially true in
America a county of immigrants where finding a community of people with the
same language background is possible.
Another challenge is the expectation factor. For many years
you have heard a speech pattern and there is an expectation of what you will
hear when others speak. You are predicting what sounds will come next based on
your subconscious knowledge of the language. I call this listening with an accent.
It is necessary to break through this barrier, to really hear how others are
speaking, to actively listen.
To listen is to learn, and I don’t mean that in an
existential way. I really mean that if you can’t hear the way the sounds are
produced you cannot learn how to produce the sound. Maybe that is why ETS added
speaking and listening sections to the TOEFL. The two skills are so closely
linked.
Once you can hear the sounds you must add them to your own
phonetic library. This means that you have in your mind the knowledge and
understanding of how to produce every sound or phoneme in your original
language. Now you must add on some sounds that are in the American sound system
that is not in your original language sounds system. Record your self-reading a
brief paragraph. Only 2-3 sentences in English. Then listen to the recording.
Write down exactly what you hear on the recording. Not what you meant to say
but what you really did say. How is it different from what was written? Did you
say th, when it was written or did you say d? I would suggest sticking with the
consonants at first because the differences are easier to pinpoint.
If you would like to get help in improving your
pronunciation it would be best to go to a speech therapist rather than an ESL
teacher. Speech therapists are trained in physiology of the speech mechanisms
and musculature. They understand what is involved in producing each sound and
are trained to identify and work with articulation problems. Though an accent
is not the same as an articulation problem they have similar characteristics.
When a client has difficulty articulating specific sounds the speech therapist
can hear and see what they are doing differently and describe and show how to
do it correctly. When a client has an accent the speech therapist can see what
the person is doing differently and show and describe how to make the sound so
it more closely approximates the standard.
The most important advice I can give you is to keep
practicing. At first, it may feel like you are exaggerating when you “speak with
an American accent” but I am sure that the native American speakers around you
will not even notice. They will merely be impressed with your great diction!
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