Speaking English with a strong accent can sometimes be a frustrating experience for even the most highly educated foreign language speakers. Being misunderstood, or perhaps not being able to get your point across can make you lose confidence and may even make you avoid speaking. So how can you lose your accent and improve your communication with other people?
Perhaps you have had to repeat yourself because others don’t understand you, even when you thought your message was clear. Often it is how you are pronouncing sounds and words that is making it difficult for others to understand. Learning more about English pronunciation and intonation, along with dedicated practice, can help to reduce your accent.
Before we look at ways you can lose your accent, let’s first think about how you feel about changing your accent. Having an accent reflects your unique background and may be a source of pride for you. When you reduce your accent, you are not losing your identity. It is very difficult to get rid of an accent altogether, but the main goal in learning how to reduce your accent is not to eliminate your accent, but to improve your communication skills in English.
If you learned English as a second language, there will likely be aspects of your English pronunciation that will rarely be completely like a native speaker. Your first language will always affect the way you pronounce sounds in English. You may find that it can be difficult to produce some English sounds which do not appear in your first language. For example Thai speakers often have trouble pronouncing a “th” sound and speakers of other languages will find similar problems with other sounds. An accent coach can help you to identify these particular sounds so you can work on improving them.
To begin learning how to lose your accent you must listen carefully to native English speakers. Pay attention to the way they pronounce the sounds within words. You will find that English speakers also place stress on certain parts within words. Stress is demonstrated by either saying the stressed syllable a little louder or holding it a bit longer.
English speakers also give more or less stress within sentences depending on what part of the sentence contains importance. This is what gives English its “music” or rhythm.
Listen to the tone of the language. If you listen carefully you will hear that English speakers often change their voice making it sometimes higher and sometimes lower. This also helps to get the meaning across to the listener.
Try to slow down your speech. You will find that if you speak too quickly, it can make it more difficult for native English speakers to understand you. If you slow down, even just a little, it will make it easier for other people to understand what you are saying.
If you are finding it difficult to understand other people, they may be also using their accent or often slang language. If you are speaking English in Australia, you will find that Australians tend to use a reasonable amount of slang or colloquial language. By listening to Australian speakers, you can learn the meaning of these terms as well as the context within which to use them.
Remember, if you want to reduce your accent, you will have to practice every day. With regular practice and guidance, you can reduce your accent and make it easier for other people to understand you.
To learn more about how you can reduce your accent, you may want to get professional help from an accent coach. A professional accent coach can guide you with strategies and techniques to help you to communicate more clearly and successfully in English.
