2007-03-13 12:28:20 · 11 answers · asked by jann 1 in Society & Culture ➔ Etiquette
Yes..take elocution lessons and practice practice practice!!!
2007-03-13 12:32:34 · answer #1 · answered by Sight 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
remember, most of an accent is in the way the vowels are pronounced. concentrate on those first. for the consonants that often vary (like l, r, ch, sh) experiment with different tongue placements (ask someone else without an accent where there tongue is when they pronounce certain sounds). If your native language is foreign, I would suggest not speaking it for a while (I'm talking about months, not days) as your tongue gets retrained. It's up to you to lose an accent if you want. It doesn't necessarily happen automatically. I had a college professor from Korea who lived in the US for 30 years who you could barely understand. On the otherhand, I tend to start copying regional accents after only a couple of weeks.
Also, in case of necessity, exagerration can be useful. I had a boss who had a very strong Irish accent that was barely understood, but when he spoke with what he perceived as an Western American accent (very exaggerated) he was clear as a bell.
2007-03-13 13:13:10 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
It's important, first of all, to remember that you're not trying to "lose" an accent, but acquire a new one. With that in mind, choose a person whose accent you want to imitate, and make recordings of his voice. While listening to them, don't think about the meaning of the words, but concentrate exclusively on the sound. Notice how those sounds are different from similar sounds in your own speech. Pay special attention to the intonation (the rise and fall in pitch) because that can give you away even when nothing else does.
Good luck.
2007-03-13 13:36:36 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Of course, all you're really doing is changing one accent-- a set of learned or habitual inflections-- for another.
2007-03-13 12:37:17 · answer #4 · answered by ExSarge 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
yes, i lost my chinese accent when i was younger. it's just a matter of learning and practicing
2007-03-13 12:32:31 · answer #5 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They is a way, it takes lots of practice and effort! Why would you want to lose it?
2007-03-13 16:30:31 · answer #6 · answered by vcurness 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
well you could start trying to speak the way you want your voice to sound and always use it, and eventually you might just naturally speak that way
2007-03-13 13:01:11 · answer #7 · answered by Bouken SocratiCat 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes. I would recommend a course in phonetics.
2007-03-13 12:35:14 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Rent and watch "My Fair Lady." That's as fair an answer as any.
2007-03-13 12:32:39 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
yes...practice with marbles in your mouth,when i was in speech theropy thats what they had me do cuz i rolled my r's to much.read outloud.practice
2007-03-13 12:37:38 · answer #10 · answered by lil pit cat 71 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋