To speak English with native accents, is it hard?

Hi all, bros and sis,
I"ve just come back here after quite a long time. I"m very happy that you guys are interested in the topic in whatever way of yours. I"ve learned quite a lot from you through your own knowledge, experience, opinions, discussion, etc. . No doubt, I"ve gotta learn more .

Thank you for agreeing with me, mes. Yes, definitely, we would admire the one who can speak our language - Vietnamese with a very good accent. Several years ago, when I was at home, I saw on the telly a Swedish man (married to a Vietnamese woman) speaking Vietnamese as if he had been a Hanoian (I don"t know if it is acceptable , Hanoian = person from Hanoi). I was so exciting and thought: "gosh, hê?s so amiable, hê?s a Vietnamese! He regards our language so much that he can speak it very well. He must have studied it with passion, and even more, with love". So, this is just a naive thought, it would be very nice if we can speak a foreign language, in this case, English with a virtual native accent. Not only will we be understood better, and we will understand people speaking that language better, but we would also be regarded and admired. (Just a small note: if the Swedish man had spoken with a different accent, like that of Hue or HCMC people, I would have admired him equally well).

As you may have noticed, I raised this topic with the implication to the book "American Accent Training" by Ann Cook, 2nd Ed (Barron?s). (Copyright 2000 by Ann Cook, http://www.americanaccent.com ). In my opinion, this book is the most excellent one I?ve ever found. It?s far superior to other books that teach you how to pronounce English, e.g. ?oThe Sounds of English? or ?oPronounce It Perfectly?, etc. Without technical/theoretical terms, like those used in phonetics, the author just concentrates on how the readers can do to improve their accents in a very practical and convenient way. It can be bet that you don?t have to understand or resort to phonetics and its troublesome/complicated concepts/terms, but you can learn and acquire quite a lot of skills with the book. It is important that you can speak with a better and better accent, not to be a linguistician. So try it, this is my recommendation! This book can be found, e.g. at Xuan Thu bookstore or at no. 204 Pasteur (if you are in HCMC, but I don?t know how to find it in Hanoi or other places). For those of you who are living abroad, I would recommend that you buy it. I did the same thing: bought one copy for myself at Amazon.com (for about 20 USD. Well, this amount is quite a lot, but I love it then I decided to spend . (ìn fact, no other way for me since I''''''''m now in Italy). If you can?t find it and still want to try, I would be very glad to offer you one copy of it (1 photocopied book and 1 CD). Feel free to contact me.
Now, let me just introduce to you here the very first part of the book. It may also be my intention to provide you with some rough answers or explanation to some of the questions that you raised before (by Satori or mes?). And this is the introduction of the book.
American Accent Training by Ann Cook.
Welcome to American Accent Training. This book and CD set is designed to get you started on your American accent. We?ll follow the book and go through the 13 lessons and all the exercises step by step. Everything is explained, and a complete Answer Key may be found in the back of the text.
What is Accent?
Accent is combination of three main components: intonation (speech music), liaisons (word connections), and pronunciation (the spoken sound of vowels, consonants, and combinations). As you go along, you?ll notice that you?re being asked to look at accent in a different way. You?ll also realize that the grammar you studied before and this accent you?re studying now are completely different.
Được roman_king sửa chữa / chuyển vào 18:39 ngày 31/10/2004

Part of the different is that grammar and vocabulary are systematic and structured ?" the letter of the language. Accent, on the other hand, is free form, intuitive and creative ?" more the spirit of the language. So, thinking of music, feeling and flow, let your mouth relax in to the American accent.
Can I Learn a New Accent?
Can a person actually learn a new accent? Many people feel that after a certain age, it?s just not possible. Can classical musicians play jazz? If they practice, of course they can. For your American accent, it?s just a matter of learning and practicing techniques this book and CD set will teach you. It is up to you to use them or not. How well you do depends mainly on how open and willing you are to sounding the different from the way you have sounded all your life.
A very important thing you need to remember is that you can use your accent to say what you mean and how you mean it. Word stress conveys meaning through tone or feeling, which can be much more important than the actual words that you use. Wê?ll cover the expression of these feelings through intonation in the first lesson.
You may have noticed that I talk fast and often run my words together. You?ve probably heard enough ?oEnglish-teacher English?- where everything is pronounced without having to listen too carefully. That?s why on the CDs wê?re going to talk just like the native people that we are, in a normal conversational tone.
Native speakers may often tell people who are learning English to ?oslow down? and to ?ospeak clearly?. This is meant with the best of intentions, but it is exactly the opposite of what a student really needs to do. To illustrate this point, you?ll hear a Vietnamese student first trying to speak slowly and carefully and then repeating the same words quickly and with strong intonation. Studying, this exercise took her only about two minutes to practice, but the difference makes her sound as if she had been in America for many years
(On the CD, a Vietnamese student spoke twice these words: Hello, my name is Mùi. I?m taking American Accent Training. - Roman_king).
You may have to listen to this CD a couple of time to catch everything. To help you, every word on the CD is also written in the book. By seeing and hearing simultaneously, you?ll learn to reconcile the differences between the appearance of English (spelling) and the sound of English (pronunciation and the other aspects of accent).
?

Accent versus Pronunciation
Many people equate accent with pronunciation. I don"t feel this to be true at all. America is big country, and while the pronunciation varies from the East Coast to the West Coast, from the southern to the northern states, two components that are uniquely American stay basically the same õ?" the speech music, or intonation, and the word connections or liaisons. Throughout this program, we will focus on themõ?Ư.
"Which Accent is Correct?"
American Accent Training was created to help people "sound American" for lectures, interviews, teaching, business situations, and general daily communication. Although America has many regional pronunciation differences, the accent you will learn is that of standard American English as spoken and understood by the majority of educated native speakers in the United States. Don"t worry that you will sound slangy or too casual because you most definitely won"t. This is the way a professor lectures to a class, the way a national newscaster broadcasts, the way that is most comfortable and familiar to the majority of native speakers.
"Why Is My Accent So Bad?"
Learners can be seriously hampered by a negative outlook, so I"ll address this very important point early. First, your accent is not bad; it is nonstandard to the American earõ?Ư
Every language is equally valid or good, so every accent is good. The average American, however, truly does have a hard time understanding a nonstandard accent. George Bernard Shaw said the English and the Americans are two people divided by the same language!
Some students learn to overprounce English because they naturally want to say the word as it is written. Too often an English teacher may allow this, perhaps thinking that colloquial American English is unsophisticated, unrefined, or even incorrect. Not so at all! Just as you don"t say the T in listen, the TT in better is pronounced D, bedder. Any other pronunciation will sound foreign, strange, wrong, or different to a native speaker.
and much more - roman_kingõ?Ư.

What are you doing? = guát-chờ-đu-ưn?
Kilometer = cờ-lá-mờ-đờ
One at a time = wăn-nờ-đờ-tai-hm
Let''s go = x-kơu
Did you eat? = djeet?
and much more...
Interesting enough? Let''s try more!

Hi Roman_King,
Thanks a lot for the helpful information you provided. Pronunciation is one of the most difficults parts for English learners since it is not only merely structured but has free forms and many exceptions also. The book you introduced might be so useful for learners, helping them to discover wonderful and variable English pronunciation which is also a horrible nightmare for learners.
I donâ?Tt want to discuss English and American accent, just want to mention a little bit about the way to speak English like a native speakers.
That way just includes 2 words: study and practise. However, practise is much much more important.
Regarding to studying, it comprises how to transcribe, phonetics, intonation, word-stress, liaison and some other theories. Thatâ?Ts just learn and learn by heart, remember to be careful with word-stress.
On the other hand, practise is the key way leading *****ccess. The more you practise, the more you perfect your accent. Try to take every advantage of speaking English: speak with native speakers and imitate their voices as much as possible, read loudly an article or whatever in English with an effort to make your accent like American or English, record your voice and listen to it and you will find the weak points needed to be improved easily.
At last, with your strong interest in English and your wonderful patience, you are assured *****cceed.
Very simple!
--
Roman_King, you must have attempted to practice accent a lot and you might possess a native accent, donâ?Tt you? Hope to learn from you more.
Bro TDHung, Taolao, howâ?Tve you been? Keep discussing, everybody!
Cheers.

Hi dirosemimi,
Thank you very much for you compliments. Well, I think most of our learners are being reasonlessly threatened with English accent. In fact, it requires almost nothing but some little attention to it, day by day, for one to speak it better and better. So there will unnecessarily be any nightmares as you said. It''s not that horrible. The book is, to the best of my knowledge, an excellent one that helps you perfect your speaking skill in terms of accent. I''ve known it since I was in the second year at university and it''s been helping me a lot. Of course, it''s just a matter of taste, you may prefer British accent, and I don''t say that you must speak with some particular accent.

Yeah, exactly, practice makes perfect. I appreciate your superb understanding of learning a foreign language. Thank you very much. So please discuss more to share with us your exprerience and knowledge.

Well, the reason for me to propose this topic is that I''m worrying to much about my worse and worse accent . It''s true that I''ve got a reasonably good American one. On the first day I stood up in my new class and introduced myself to my professor and classmates, indeed, my accent made such a nice surprise to my professor that he asked if I had been taught English by native teachers. But my thought was that before meeting me, he probably had met a few Vietnamese students who had spoken English with fairly bad accents. (Email = i-mên, California = Ka-li-phoọc-nha, etc. ). Am I a Turkey-****?
You know, it''s really a big unpleasant thing for me to listen to, everyday, a vast number of accents from almost all regions of the world. Because it''s here an International school in Italy for people from Africa, Asia (Vietnam, China, Indonesia, India, Parkistan, Iran), Europe and south America. Hmm, I hate those strange accents because they are so annoying .
Hush! I?Tm kind of "protecting" myself from those annoying things everyday by watching movies, online TV, or listening to radio for my accent not to be "contaminated". Your understanding and sympathy are most appreciated.
Anyway, it''s up to you to like it or not. Just do it, and you''ll love it.
I''m so happy that we have friends living now in the native English speaking countries. They are here with us, thuyenxaxu and other friends. Please help us with your very good experience?

Hi all,
Why is it so quiet arround here?
Did you have a nice weekend?
Được roman_king sửa chữa / chuyển vào 23:14 ngày 06/11/2004