Some universities and schools offer accent reduction classes, for example Stanford’s ‘ Accent Reduction for Non-Native Speakers of English’, which is available as a remote class for anyone.
Any English school or coach can also help.
Ask HN: How to Do Accent Reduction?
41–44 of 44 posts
Re: Ask HN: How to Do Accent Reduction?
#42I know a speech pathologist (think speech therapy for kids) who also does accent reduction for adults. It's a lot of the same type of thing: learn to make this sound with a different part of your mouth, then practice until you can do it without thinking, and since adults tend to be less cooerced and more engaged, it can go quite quickly. Without trying to be mean, your writing could use work too. Practice writing mor…
Without trying to be mean, I find it ironic that you suggest using spell checking,
yet spell the word "sentence" as "sentance" (as easy enough mistake for a non-native speaker).
Sorry I don't mean to pick on you, I just found this amusing.
Re: Ask HN: How to Do Accent Reduction?
#43I know a speech pathologist (think speech therapy for kids) who also does accent reduction for adults. It's a lot of the same type of thing: learn to make this sound with a different part of your mouth, then practice until you can do it without thinking, and since adults tend to be less cooerced and more engaged, it can go quite quickly. Without trying to be mean, your writing could use work too. Practice writing mor…
Without trying to be mean, I find it ironic that you suggest using spell checking, yet spell the word "sentence" as "sentance" (as easy enough mistake for a non-native speaker). Sorry I don't mean to pick on you, I just found this amusing.
Ugh. A poor craftsman blames his tools, but my typing quality has gone way down since my phone stopped doing auto-spellcheck for me. Especially since auto-spell check everywhere else untrained my look twice for tricky words before pressing enter skill. :(
Also, it's apparently an easy enough mistake for a native speaker, too. :) English spelling is hard!
Re: Ask HN: How to Do Accent Reduction?
#44I would reframe the problem so you can solve it. You can’t just ditch an accent. Communicate with simpler sentences and better body language (nodding etc). If you need clarification during a conversation, wait until it’s over and shoot over a message in Chat. Use this sparingly so you don’t seem annoying. Watch more American movies.
You can 'just ditch an accent' if you can mimic someone else's accent.
Yes, but that can certainly be overdone.
That's how you end up intending to say "Than you very much" in French, but actually saying "Thanks, nice ass!"
Not that I know from personal experience or anything.
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