A question for native English speakers?

Question

I'd like to ask (particularly native, regardless of where they live) English speakers a question - Regarding the complexities of the English pronunciation, accent, rhythm, intonation, fluency, and the incredibly rich English vocabularly (including idioms and slang), have you ever met and spoken to a person, a non-native English speaker, that actually speaks so well, that you couldn't tell at the moment that he/she is not a native speaker, unless told so? (People who moved to an English speaking country early in their childhood don't count). Or has it been, regardless of the level and excellence, always noticable to you after several minutes conversation?The reason I'm asking is that I am an advanced English speaker who is currently working very hard at accent reduction, and I find it a hard and slow process. Something will give you away, no matter how focused you are. Only foreign spies and agents in movies always speak perfectly :) Your thoughts?

Answer 1

It is possible-but why would you not want any accent at all? Us native speakers find that pretty sexy ;). The best way to get rid of an accent might be to try on a different one-an English accent or a Southern one would make people think you're from there.

Answer 2

In my entire life I believe that I may have encountered this only a few times at most. To get rid of an accent usually requires a vocal coach - something a professional actor might have to do. Also, sometimes it is not the way a person sounds, but the way a person looks that "gives them away". Most people from the midwest do not look like they came from India, for example. And the USA being the "melting pot" that it is, even that no longer necessarily holds true. You can lose your accent, but it takes training because your accent is something that is second nature to you so you don't normally even think of it as an accent. If an American goes to England, they have an "American" accent. If an English person goes to the USA, they have an "English" accent. Even though they are both speaking the same language they both have accents, and there are even accents within the USA - a southern accent sound different than a New England or Midwestern accent, although the Midwestern accent is usually considered the most "neutral".

Answer 3

When you say no matter where you're from, you should note that English speakers, in America for example, all have accents. Most north easterners like Maine, Brooklyn, etc sound a lot different in the same language as those from Texas, and they have a different accent than those from West Texas. Georgia and Alabama are different still. In England, there are the cockneys and the proper English as well. An accent should not be a handicap if your English is sound and you use and understand the language well. Your Question was well written and worded and I detected no accent whatsoever. Foreign spies and agents in movies always speak perfect English to avoid elimination but it is after all, just a movie.

Answer 4

Having worked with a lot of foreign people, I have only ever met one person that was a non-native english speaker that I genuinely did not realise was English. The person has no accent, speaks perfect English, and even knows the silly little slangs etc.

Answer 5

It is extremely difficult to lose an accent. Each English speaking country and even regions in a country has different accents. Being born in Hong Kong. migrating to Australia when young and now living in Malaysia, I find that regardless of how I speak, I just don't speak English like the local Malaysian.

I also don't speak like an Australian either since I've been in Malaysia for the last 10 years. My change in accent has been due to necessity as noone could understand me when I spoke with my original accent.

Unless one tries very hard and "actively" acknowledges every word spoken, their original accents will pull through. Just watch any US tv shows featuring actors from other countries. Try as they may in speaking with an "US accent", their original accents always pulls through every know and again.

Answer 6

First of all don't compare yourself with anyone in a movie. Second, If you speak English, why is it important to you to become indiscernible from a native tongued individual? Even people who are born in the US have nuances that give away the region from which they live. It can be a challenge to understand people who have a Texas twang, New England, or Southern hint to their speech patterns. I speak 6 different languages, and i cannot fool any natural born speaker in any of them, only by written word. The challenge then is with slang expressions. Bottom line, if you can communicate, you are 99.9% there don't beat yourself up because of little things.

Answer 7

I also would've liked to get rid of my accent. However, I doubt you can fully suppress it. Luckily, my English is better than Mika Häkkinen's or Matti Vanhanen's, though perhaps I sound somewhat like them...

But it is impossible to hear your own accent.

When I lived abroad for a few years, I met with any number of foreign people speaking fluent English, however, accents were apparent even on second generation immigrants that knew no other language but English.
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I feel for you. I know how annoying it is to have people exclaim "Ohmigawd, you have an accent! That is SO cute!"

Answer 8

One of my former professors was originally from Iraq, and he sounded exactly like Jeremy Irons. Great voice, but he was too shy to do voice-overs. As for me, I went through accent elimination, as did everyone in my radio classes, to eliminate any accent whatsoever and speak in "American Standard English." So no, if you do well, nothing can give you away. Some people just don't learn as fast or as well as others, and they're the ones who retain that little hint that gives them away.

I also consider it VERY rude for people to comment on an accent unless it's for a voice-over. Other than that, it's rude.

Answer 9

I haven't met anyone who's totally lost their accent. Even friends I had that were born in this country had accents, probably b/c their parents had accents while speaking english, so they picked up on that. I think it would be very hard for you to totally drop your accent unless you totally surround yourself with native english speakers.

Answer 10

There are 300 million people here, about 100 million of them don't even speak English, let alone English with some weird accent.