0

Are natives able to understand my accent?

Do I need to just tweak my accent or do I need a major shift?

What can I do to improve my accent?

My goal: I am trying to sound clear enough so that most people can understand me. I am not trying to approach any particular accent i.e British or American.

My recording: https://voca.ro/1oURFEycZybx

The excerpt from which I am reading: https://www.nku.edu/~ocallaghant/LingVariation/AccentParagraph.htm

​Thank you in advance

Crux
  • 7
  • 4
  • Hello, and welcome to the ELL. If you take a look at the tour of this site, you'll understand which questions are off-topic here. You can ask questions on a particular issue of pronunciation though. – fev Jun 26 '21 at 11:08
  • 2
    I'm not sure this kind of question is On Topic here (but I'm not sure it's Off Topic either). I personally don't find your vocal pattern very easy to latch on to, but I don't think it's necessarily an "accent" problem. It's that you speak the words too fast (as in my experience do many "Indian English" speakers). You should try to emulate the *pattern* of native Anglophone speech rhythms more accurately. – FumbleFingers Jun 26 '21 at 11:10
  • 1
    Changing an accent when adulthood has been reached is incredibly difficult. Perhaps you meant pronunciation? EDIT: agree with Fumblefingers it's not so much the accent but the delivery, it sounds like Indian speech and for Anglophone speakers that takes time to get used to hearing and understanding. – Mari-Lou A Jun 26 '21 at 11:11
  • Can you recommend some speaker whose pattern of speech I could follow for better delivery? It would be great if he has produced enough content on th internet. – Crux Jun 26 '21 at 11:21
  • Listen to a guy called Babish, he speaks very clearly and (quite) slowly. The story is an American classic children tale called the Velveteen Rabbit. https://soundcloud.com/bedtimewithbabish/the-velveteen-rabbit Imitate his stress patterns and pronunciation you'll improve. Babish also has a cookery program on YouTube, if you're into cooking you'll probably enjoy it. – Mari-Lou A Jun 26 '21 at 11:22
  • Babish has a quite strong American accent. – Michael Harvey Jun 26 '21 at 13:06
  • A well received answer: https://ell.stackexchange.com/a/245231/19179 Also consider https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/26113/how-to-improve-intonation/26119#26119 –  Jun 26 '21 at 13:13
  • @MichaelHarvey It's a standard American pronunciation and accent. It's not jarring at the slightest, in fact I find his accent quite mellow, rich and soothing (it's also thanks to a fancy microphone he uses). – Mari-Lou A Jun 26 '21 at 14:40
  • @Mari-LouA - I didn't say it was 'jarring', just that it was very much American. – Michael Harvey Jun 26 '21 at 15:25
  • Yes, eventually, but as others have said, your speed and intonation patterns clue people in that they have to use their "Indian filter". Some people can do this better than others; some will tune you out completely (sad, but true). There's a lot of good speakers out there -- if you look up motivational speakers, you'll find a lot of them that have content out there. – FeliniusRex - gone Jun 26 '21 at 23:38

0 Answers0