How can you sound native?

Question

While listening and hearing many American as well as Canadian girls speaking, I've come to realize that most of them sound the same. When I compare myself to them, I sound so different from them.
My questions is. What do I need to do to sound like them? I just love the way they sound. I know it's not easy to get the accent right away but what would be one of the most fastest ways?

My mother tongue is Spanish, by the way.

Answer 1

I took a class in Spanish phonetics and I learned that the placement of your tongue to form certain sounds can be essential. Sometimes there is a sound in English that is not present in Spanish. That sound is harder for non English speakers to make because their mouths form the closest sound that they know how to make.
If you were to study phonetics and where the tongue must be to make certain sounds it may help.
One example of me learning to speak Spanish would the R or RR. We do not have that sound in English and I was not able to roll my R until after someone explained to me where to put my tongue on my teeth.
Another example would be the Chinese. You may notice that Chinese often pronounce the English R like an L. I think (and this is just a theory) that in the Chinese language there must not be a sound like an R. If however someone explained to them how to make an R sound... they may be able to do it with more of an English accent.
I do have a master's degree in Language Study and this idea or theory comes after many years of study.
Another example is "th". This is not used in Spanish. If you can talk to someone about how to make the sound and observe... then you can improve.
Start with sounds that you know you have a harder time saying like a native English speaker and work on those until you can put it all together.
Good luck.

Answer 2

Two things need to happen;
1 - You have to learn and practice changing the sound of your voice.
2 - You have to train your ears to hear the difference between the way you speak and the way those people you want to emulate speak.

for #1 Good way to practice changing your voice charactaristics; watch cartoons and try to make your voice sound like the characters. It'll give you a feel for the effort it takes to make those sounds. Also, get with a good friend that you like the way they sound and make a game of accents, have that person talk in different ways, with different accents and try to follow allong.

for #2; the best way is to tape yourself talking. reading english from a newspaper or maganize for example then listen to yourself. Unless you do this it is very easy not to hear your own accent pronunciation mistakes.

Either way, expect to take 6 months of working on a regular basis to moderate your accent and up to 2 years to elimiate it.

Specifically for spaniards there are many good casette and voice training tapes out there. Try the "sound and style of american english".

Answer 3

From a guy's perspective, most foreign accents are considered sexier than an American accent. However, if you still want to develop a more American accent I have bad news. The motor skills involved with accents are developed at a young age. Once you've reached your teens it is difficult to change that. The best you can do is hang out with people who speak the desired accent and have casual conversations with them. You'll slowly but surely begin to mimic their accents.

Answer 4

If one tries hard enough and watches alot of DVD in American or Canadian the chances are better than nothing! Best is maybe even try repeat the accent as the movie goes along. However people surrounding you might get bored and not approve of this
while they are busy with reading sub titles.

Answer 5

practice pronunciation a lot. Repeating after the tape, listening to native speakers of the language may defenately help. It also depends on your language abilities - some people have problems with getting rid of their native accent. Good luck!:)
By the way - I love British accent.

Answer 6

You should listen to them speaking and mimic the sounds. You can listen to the radio or tv and just practice over and over.