To speak English with native accents, is it hard?

Hi roman_king,
 
I got ur point. As I can see, your writing skill is very good, and your willing to learn is high. So, it wonâ?Tt be a big obstacle for you to make your accent become better.
 
My way to train my accent and my pronunciation is watching film DVDs, listening to the music, reading some magazines like Sunflower, Readerâ?Ts Digest ( Readerâ?Ts Digest is a very nice one but rather expensive and quite difficult, maybe because my vocabulary hasnâ?Tt been good enough ). Watching DVDs may be a useful tool, especially when the actor/actress comes from British or American. However, I still have to turn on the English subtitle because I canâ?Tt listen to all things they say. But this helps.
 
Well, itâ?Ts good for you to pay attention to the accent.
 
When you have wide knowledge, you know how to express your ideas, you can adjust your speech to being more attractive and you have a good accent, itâ?Tll be really great!
 
Keep on trying, roman_king. Accent is not really a thing that we can give you much help, but whenever you come up with a new problem in this interesting field, please share with us.
 
Maybe you should come to SEC meetings, â?~cuz in those meetings we use English to communicate with each others, which could give you a chance to practice more!
 
Have fun! ^_^
PS: if you wanna find Reader''s Digest ( maybe the old ones), you can find them on NTMK street, where sells many old good books and magazines.

I''ve found that English Proficiency course in the school of English 2000 in HCM City is a fantastic course for any one who wanna speak English well.
I think that people from the North of Vietnam can speak any kind of languge better than those from the South, this is because they have ability to pronounce more clearly and correctly. Howerver, currently, English studying in the N is less popular than in the South, regarding the number of high standard English center. Moreover, many lecturers in the S are very good ''cause they used to work for the US before 1975, my teacher is an example.
My own experience is that there is no vowel, consonant in English that exactly the same in VNese! much more to learn...

Actually I haven''t read all the posts reply cause I dont have much freetime so if I have the same idea with someone, please forgive me !
Speaking English, the more you want to speak fast, the more you get mistake. Therefore the most importance you should remember is speaking slowly but correctly. When you get used to using English, you will naturally speak faster, not probably as fast as native but in a normal speed Then, you will find that accent is not a problem because when you already get used to the language, it''s easy to catch the native accent. And also listening to native, paying attention to how they speak the words (they probably have a rule, like "Hello", they usually pronunciate it like "Helôe", also="alsoe"...) it''s a good way to improve your accent.
I heard someone said that British accent and American accent are different, that''s not exactly right, because, i myself think that they are the same. The difference is the way they pronunciate the words, and there are some words they use different. For example, British do not usually sound "r" at the end of the words which have "r" like "more", "door"... but American do. And in British, "băng keo cá nhân" called plaster and American call it band-aid. Accent is not the problem between American English and British English, because the fact that American is originally British
If you are in an oversea country speaking English, a good way to practice your English, especially speaking and comunicating is doing a drama class. It really helps. I am doing and my friends told me I had improved my English with Australian accent

What is the native accent of American English? There is none. People living in Brooklyn speak American English with a Brooklyn accent which is different than a New York accent. People living in the South speak with a Southern accent. What you are trying is you may want to learn a Standard American English accent if you are going to study or live in the USA ( or Received Pronunciation for British English in the United Kingdom). Phonetic scholars in the US agree that only people living in Ohio and its surrounding areas speak with a nearly perfect Standard American English accent. Majority of American people speak English with some accent and it''s referred as General American accent. Phonetically speaking, we have to learn the way to pronounce vowels and consonants, the phonological rules, the rhythm, stress, intonation, and the flow of sounds. Hard? Yes, very hard.
The easier way is to hear, to speak, and to correct as you communicate. Newscasters usually speak with a general American accent since they have to deliver the news to people of diverse accents and in a formal way. They have to learn to reduce their regional accent before being accepted to those kinds of jobs. Watching (not just listening) news will eventually help you improve your English speaking. Some voice recognition software(like IBM ViaVoice) which will type words as you are saying will help you identify your incorrect pronounciation and saying.
However don''t worry too much as long as people understand what you are saying. It takes time. My English speaking is not good but I can communicate somehow.

Ah... so I come up with a small question... In Vietnam, Ha Noi accent, in some way, can be considered "standard Vietnamese accent". So which area in USA is same same like that? Is that Washington D.C, the capital?

Guides to speak American English with the satndard accent are spelled in American English dictionaries for pronouncing sounds of words along with phonological rules (like neutral vowel sounds if not emphasized ...) and intonation , rhythm, stress, flow ... rules. Who knows how many people actually speak English with that standard accent. What they consider now as US accent is a "General American" accent (more or less a Mid-Western accent ironically at best) which is used over a wide geographical area.
To your "small but hard to explain" question, Washington DC accent is not the standard accent but close to the "General American" accent. Weird huh! The capital is the capital but does not control everything (actually nothing at all except politics)

To Satori and roman_king,
I have some different opinions about the accents of Vnese in the North and the South... Well, i dont think Southern people speak English with a better and more clear accent than Northen people. Please notice that Hue is not in the North but the Central of Vietnam, then it can not represent of Northern people accent. We even have difficulties in understanding Hue people even when they speak Vietnamese.
I am a person who came from the North. I have been here for 2 years. It''s not a long time, isnt it? However, I have had chances to speak in English with many Southern people, at different ages and different English levels. I also have had chances to listen to their comments and comparisons about English accents of Southern and Northen people. Most of them highly appreciate and comment on the Northern accent as a better and more clear accent. And I myself also have the same opinions.
Agree with all of you, I also think that it''s hard to have a real English or American accents. And I think no need to do that. We should have an English-Vietnamese accent rather trying to imitate English or American accents. I have an English-Vietnamese accent and I dont try to imitate anyone. I think my accent is OK as it''s not a real Vietnamese accent, English accent or American accent but my own accent. My accent could somewhat describe my characters and personality, I think . That''s not only important to me but also to everyone. Then, I think people should try to speak naturally with their own accents. That''s better than trying to imitate something or someone that we could never become...
thuymp

I agree with bro romance_king, that must be a good lesson for me to learn, speaking like native people no matter it''''s important or not. We love it and we do it then with passion, that is the most important thing. Beside that, it''''s very cool if we can speak like native people. How''''s about an american can speak in vietnam like a vietnamese We will admire him very much, right?
Được mes sửa chữa / chuyển vào 10:46 ngày 30/08/2004

i dont know what is the definition for accent in viet nam. Actually, we have the same intonation, we speak louder when asking, something like that....In the other hand, we can not say "ba" is "bà" all the words are fixed. I think the diffirent between Ha Noi and the others actually is the diffirent in pronunciation. For instance, Hà Nội say con giai instead of con trai, HCMC say xong gồi instead of xong rồi. Is it accent or pronunciation? personally, i just can say that Ha Noi speak more clearly than the others. However, it is not the standard accent.

Bro Hung, i''m on the same pace mostly ... Let me reiterate here :
1/ Should be proud to speak English with your "own" first tongue accent ! It just mean that , "hey, i know at least two languages" .
2/ Kids can tell the difference .
However, on your 2nd point, please don''t forget that kids learn how to speak from adults as well in some cases. Even from the adults who speaks with their first tongue accent . My 7-years-old nephew born in here in US and i''ve been keeping to correct him: "Oh my Goshhhh, not Oh my God !". And go on to explain to him, of course, "It''s not nice to say God for no reason . A well-thought and gentle one would try to avoid the pronounciation of God and add the sssh at the end, you know".
Btw, i can pick out the accent differences for some group of American by birth sometime . For instance, i can tell on the phone if one was born here (US) but have parents originally from South America or from Asia .
Guys and gals, although i came here since i''m a kid, i do not write and speak perfect English too ! I''m not fun with the languages . I''m .. hee hee just an engineer having fun with the computer languages instead of ... the Englishy languages !