Help me with my American Accent

[David I Hunt]

I don't know what your accent training says, but here's four things that would help you IMHO: (native of Florida) 1. Confidence. Many Americans have a bad habit of saying whatever we want whenever we want. If you want to have a convincing American accent, you must not be hesitant or reserved in your speech; even shy or soft spoken people have a certain tone of confidence in their speech compared to people from other countries. 2. Watch the vowels. I don't know about your native language, but vowels in an American accent do not often change tone over the course of their pronunciation. In other words, vowels do not generally have a rising or falling inflection. It's a very subtle detail, but can be rather annoying to a frustrated American with broken electronics. (you seem to be doing well in this area) 3. Informalness. American English is not very trim and proper. Use contractions (can't, don't, shouldn't, etc) a fair amount, not that you shouldn't ever say "should not". Be kinda lazy with you speech, only half pronouncing certain ending "g's" almost like "endin'" but not totally leaving off the "g". Learn a few word pairs that are often sorta joined together like "sort of -> sorta", "a lot -> alot" ("UHlot" instead of "ay-lot"). These are really cultural things more than accentual, but it goes a long way into tricking someone into thinking you are American. 4. Slang. Learn what common phases Americans use to say things. This is 60% of the difference between British English and American English. For example, we say "hold on" to mean "wait for a short period, but don't go away", and "chill out" to mean "calm yourself". Sporadic use of common slang makes you sound warmer and more friendly. My recommendation: watch American news broadcasts, and lots of it. It may turn your brain to mush, but you will learn to speak American in no time. :-D

I have nothing against VB or .NET; all Turing-complete languages are respectable. It just seems that some languages attract one echelon of programmers, and other languages attract an entirely different echelon of programmers. :P

[grgran]

You seem to be doing quite well with your accent. You need to remember that from teh American point of view there is no such thing as an "American accent". Just like in other countries the US has a large number of regional accents. In the US it's often hard for a native of NY, NY to speak with a native from Atlanta, GA. Your recording could be improved by using a pop filter (you can make one with a scrap of nylon hose and a loop). Your volume is low and it gives the effect of making you sound as if you are trying to hold your breath. Try to speak up (project), bringing the words from your chest rather than your throat (deep breath, relax the throat, and allow the breath to naturally flow as you speak), this will give you a more relaxed and casual sound. You might wish to listen to things like www.AmericanaPhonic.com and www.podiobooks.com. However, if you really want to impress Americans, then you should develop a posh British accent ;-)

[MrPlankton]

If you can speak english with a spanish accent then I think you would just about have it.

MrPlankton

(bad guy)"Fear is a hammer, and when the people are beaten finally to the conviction that their existence hangs by a frayed thread, they will be led where they need to go."

(good guy)"Which is where?"

(bad guy)"To a responsible future in a properly managed world."
Dean Koontz, The Good Guy

[Homncruse]

Maybe it's just the recording, but your speaking volume is fading in and out. When you're loud, you're pretty easy to understand (with a few exceptions, see below), but the first few seconds of the speech is difficult to hear, though that would be the case even with a native American speaker (not to be confused with Native American speaker :P You get the point.) That said, though most of it is easy to understand, it feels like you're making a considerable effort to do so. Don't get me wrong; I'd much rather hear a customer service rep actively trying to be understandable than not, but it doesn't feel natural. Again though, it could be because you're reading from a script. I think we'd get a better sample if you took away the script and gave us a short bio about yourself or something else that flows naturally (e.g., "Hello my name is Omegatron, I'm several hundred years old and my hobbies include being a sentient robot, doing acts of evil, and trying to take over the world.") Work on enunciating your "r"s a little more. It was fine in the words "staircase" and "easier", but in most other areas it was weak. Also, your long vowels (e.g., "on and on") are a little off. I would suggest opening your jaw a little more to practice the "proper" sound, but at this point I'm just being picky and judging based on my local speak (Washington State). All in all, I'd rate you 7.5/10 for a convincing accent. At worst, I'd suspect you were an easterner who grew up in the U.S. but whose parents spoke with heavy accents and thus you picked part of it up during your formative years.

[Jason Hanford Smith]

Hi Mawi, I listened to your recording. Overall it is really good. A little quiet and, as previously stated, the 't' or 'd' sounds are too soft. Consequently, if flows a little too well which makes individual words harder to pick out. Also, and this is fairly typical of "Asian English", some words are clipped. That said, you are totally understandable in the recording. Not sure how that would translate to a bad phone line though. My main advice is to speak up! ;) P.S. Don't worry about the negative comments. Some people don't actually like it when the world practices what America preaches and we end up with a global market where you pick the best value for money.

[Snowman58]

Mawi, Clearly you are getting less help than you hoped for. I suspect you would get more assistance from a site focused on language & translation. This is a site I might suggest as a starting point. http://forum.wordreference.com/index.php[^] Also you might find Rosetta Stone software useful if it is available to you. When you speak phrases, it shows you the correct wave form and allows you to practice until yours matches. You should look into finding some of the Americans living in the Philippines. I am sure they would be delighted in helping you improve your language skills and nothing works better than actually using a language. Good Luck PS for those of you upset about exporting jobs - get used to it. My company is one of those that has moved its work outside of the US. We had absolutely no choice. We still buy most material in the US, but even that has become too expensive. On a recent bid, the Chinese bid delivered to the customer was less than our cost of just the materials. The cost of doing business in the US has gotten out of control largely due to the welfare mentality combined with a general feeling of entitlement for the good things, i.e. SUV's instead of sedan, the latest electronics toys, oversize houses, etc. We give free medical care and full benefits to not only to millions that don't want to work; we give it to millions of illegal "immigrants". And who can blame them for coming to the US for a free ride? I would do it if I was in their place. Then we encourage people to buy houses and cars they can't afford with government mandated "affordable" housing loans. And guess who is going to pay for those loans when they turn out not to be so affordable? In the mean time those that do work and their employers are taxed to death and our products become too costly to compete. So instead to venting our anger at Mawi, I suggest we vent it at our politicians that seem to think the way to office is to promise more giveaways to the "poor" and taxes to the "rich". And for the record I don't think either candidate for president "gets it". OK, I will get off the soapbox now....

modified on Friday, October 31, 2008 1:26 PM

[DragonsRightWing]

mawi_ram wrote:

Hey big brothers and sisters (preferably Americans), could you help me in evaluating my American accent (not that I'm assuming I have one)? I'm trying to train myself to sound one so I could be a call center agent. So here it is. By the way, the script is from the American Accent Training book by Ann Cook. Thank you. Mawi

Political discussions aside, Mawi, your pronunciation and inflection are quite good - it is detectable that you are not a native English speaker, but I had no trouble understanding you. Your voice (as someone else noted) is a bit husky and low-volume - this occasionally led to very slight slurring (sliding from one letter to the next), but you kept that mostly under control. You have a slight tendency to pronounce the long "A" as a short "E" - I believe this is common among non-native English speakers, and can be very difficult to control - and it doesn't make you difficult to understand: practice will fix that in time. Keep up the good work, and best wishes for your "gainful employment". Grady

[goodideadave]

John Simmons / outlaw programmer wrote:

You need to start using "f*ck" every once in a while

Nah, that's mostly Americans from f*cking New Jersey. And you can get training on that by watching "The Sopranos". John does make a valid point. It's not only how you pronounce the words, it's the words themselves that make you American. Some pointers: 1. Use "dude" instead of the customer's name. "Dude, your account is 'way overdrawn." Or if the customer says he has already sent in a payment, just say, "Duuuude". 2. Use American sports metaphors. If your company made a mistake on the customer's order, just say the shipping department "fumbled" it, or "couldn't put it over the plate", or "your package is on the 50 yard line in our warehouse". 3. Slip in as many American pop culture references as you can. "I'm told we sold that same crockpot to Brangelina." "Mission accomplished." "I can see Russia from my house." 4. Use American slang. Instead of "yes, sir", say "you betcha". Instead of "you're welcome", say "no problemo". When the customer gives you their account number, say "BOO YAH!" real loud. And if your billing system made a mistake on the customer's statement, instead of apologizing say, "bite me". 5. Learn to sound offended, because even the simplest question is probably an attack on you personally. 6. Structure your questions to the customer so that they have to reply as if they are agreeing with you. "So, sir, we're going to close your credit card account, foreclose on your house, take away your birthday, and shoot your dog. OK?" And don't forget to do what I do. If the customer is not happy with your responses, and asks to speak to a supervisor, say "Yes, sir, I will transfer you immediately." Then hang up. BUWHAHAHAHA! :laugh:

Someone's gotta be the last to know, but why is it always me?

[cplas]

Mawi, very good accent. Practice so it sounds more natural, but it is good. There are many different accents in the US and Canada so don't stress over this too much. WHATEVER YOU DO DON'T PICK UP A SOUTHERN US TWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!!!!!!! IT'S SOOOOOOO ANNOYING (especially when badly done)! ha ha I prefer to deal with companies that don't offshore their work but that's not your problem. Also, if you have the opportunity, let your employer know what it is dishonest and VERY ANNOYING when obviously foreign call centers assign western sounding names to people that are obviously not western. Sorry, Babasweet, but you don't sound like a "Patrick Johnson" or "John Smith".

[T Mac Oz]

Fabio Franco wrote:

Also many american companies that settles in poor foreign countries to explore exploit low pay employees have americans in management and high pay positions.

It's not just Americans, unscrupulous people come from all over the world. A couple of years ago I went to the Philippines to on-site train staff in the software I was developing at the time & the experience was a real eye-opener. In developed countries, things look bad when you reach 10% unemployment. As I understand it the Philippines has an estimated employment rate of between 10 & 20%, generating a culture of fear in those who do have a job & a willingness to accept poor pay & conditions out of sheer necessity. One employed person will most likely be supporting an entire extended family, so job loss has extreme consequences. By greasing the right palms & structuring their companies the right way (a local is usually nominated as the "owner" of the company but somehow left with no executive power & little more job security than a regular employee), "rich" foreign employers get to live like kings in gated compounds alongside the corrupt officials who allow it to happen. I'm no economist but I can see it's a tricky situation. With the exploitation & corruption so entrenched, cleaning it all up would likely do more harm than good (to employment figures) in the short to medium term & the long term (possibly even generations away) is hard to see while worrying about how to feed a family right now.

T-Mac-Oz "When I'm ruler of the universe ... I'm working on it, I'm working on it. I'm just as frustrated as you are. It turns out to be a non-trivial problem." - Linus Torvalds

[T Mac Oz]

leckey wrote:

I understand that, but when someone who has much less training that you gets your job for a fraction of the salary, you will understand my position.

But direct your rage appropriately, it's the bean-counters who under-value your worth who are to blame, not the poor girl who is just trying to get/keep a job. When a job goes out to tender & some cowboy outfit/contractor quotes low, wins it, then botches it, you blame the company/govt. department for it's poor decision, not the cowboy(s) trying to earn some money. Same principle applies.

T-Mac-Oz "When I'm ruler of the universe ... I'm working on it, I'm working on it. I'm just as frustrated as you are. It turns out to be a non-trivial problem." - Linus Torvalds

[T Mac Oz]

Trollslayer wrote:

My suggestion - look for something better!

Estimated employment rate in the Philippines is between 10 & 20%, there is nothing better.

T-Mac-Oz "When I'm ruler of the universe ... I'm working on it, I'm working on it. I'm just as frustrated as you are. It turns out to be a non-trivial problem." - Linus Torvalds

[tuckermark]

Hi Mawi, The thing that made it hardest to understand was the microphone. Your english sounds good, but a bit nasally. It's especially noticeable with words like "too". Where are you from? It is easy to tell that you practice since your accent is hard to place. The general way that you use intonation is good, although it doesn't always follow the sentences. "Hi my name is Mawi, and I am taking accent training". Even this sounds a little awkward. It's hard to describe in text, and there is no single correct way to say it, but certain things just stick out, "TRAINing" for example. You're right -- just listen to a ton of American news (preferably (I know it's painful)) if you want to get it right. News casters generally have very neutral accents. Overall, you are easy to understand, but you definitely don't sound like a native speaker. Don't be discouraged, though, since I know people who have lived in America for 20+ years who sound a lot worse! -Mark

[Mawil Ramos]

Thanks :) This may be too late but I really appreciate your evaluation and I think you're right, I'm not that confident in speaking in American accent that's why I sound shy. I'll try harder and remember your advice :)

mawi_ram

[Mawil Ramos]

Thank you very much for this one. You're an informative adviser and I really appreciate it :-D

mawi_ram

[Mawil Ramos]

Cool. ;) Thanks for the advice.

mawi_ram

modified on Sunday, November 2, 2008 9:10 PM

[Mawil Ramos]

Thanks. You're very kind ;-) That gave me a boost of confidence. :rose:

mawi_ram

[Mawil Ramos]

Thanks :) I'd definitely work on those parts.

mawi_ram

[Mawil Ramos]

Thanks for the link :)

mawi_ram

[Mawil Ramos]

:laugh: I'd tell my boss about that but to tell you the truth, a lot of Filipinos really do have western-sounding names and I think 'Mawi' is one of them ;)

mawi_ram