what can i do to improve my accent?

Question

i need to be heard when i speak , i have a deep southern african accent when i speak english. any teacher out there please help.

Answer 1

Listen to people who speak the way you want to speak. Record yourself and listen to it and then try to pronouce the words the way you want them to sound.

The more you hear english spoken the way you want to sound, the easier it will become.

Answer 2

Well I'd agree with the people that are questioning why you want to change your accent - you shouldn't be trying to live up to anyone else's ideals, but unfortunately people do make a lot of judgement based on accents, so I can understand it. The very best way to change an accent for most people is to be around people who speak differently (for example the way you would want to speak) but that isn't always possible. Some people can do it much more easily than other too - I find I pick up accents, dialects and ways of speaking really quickly, but I'm happy with my accent so I wish I didn't - I have to try really hard NOT to pick them up. Five minutes with Americans or Aussies and I sound different. Most voice-coaches will tell you that it's all about the vowel-sounds. Listen carefully to how the key vowels are pronounced during speech - it's usually these that make the quickest and most dramatic changes to the way a person sounds. Listen to how long they last, and whether they are accented up or down. Practice is also great, but again not easy unless you want to make you family and friends think you've got a screw loose!!

Answer 3

The best thing you can do is to meet real English people with a perfect accent but it's not always possible, so, you can record a text you've heard on the radio (the best texts are poems or short stories) and repeat each sentence again and again, then you record yourself on another cassette and you listen to hear if it looks like the original. Don't be afraid of saying each sentence very loud and of exaggerating with the English accent. Good luck !

Answer 4

Ok First of all you need to go to english classes and explain that you want to speak English more clearly. Type in your google search engine, english classes + (the name of the city you live in). Make friends with english speaking people and ask them to correct your speech, listen to people talking clearly all around you and take in the way they are speaking. Listen to english tv. You could advertise in a supermarket for an english teacher to come to your house and give you one to one lessons, then you could practise reading aloud. Good luck!

Answer 5

Record yourself on a tape to have an idea about how you really speak.
Then, listen to people, to the radio and TV and try to repeat the words you ear the same they're said.
And talk with people who have the kind of accent you wanna have, that's the best way to succeed...

Answer 6

I like South African Accent. It is pleasing to the ears, much like Brittish accent. I say you keep it the way it is!

Answer 7

i personally wouldnt worry bout ur accent. if a person is gonna like u they will like u 4 who u r an not 4 ur accent plus they`ll understand u just give them time. i hope this answers ur ?? good luck.

Answer 8

try and pronounce your 'O's, your 'R's and your 'E's properly in words when speaking. If you have difficulty pronouncing a certain word if you haven't already learn how to spell the word your having difficulty with and speak it aloud whilst reading it, do this over and over until your satisfied your pronunciation is up to scratch. Good luck. x

Answer 9

your accent will change on its own as time goes by so don't worry about it just try speaking louder and clearer in the meantime.

Answer 10

Don't beat yourself up over it.

Still try to improve, if it's what you want, but don't give yourself a hard time, there's nothing wrong with your accent.