[General] Please rate and give tips about my accent

[johnnyjp]

Hello.

I'm originally from Poland, but I moved to London last year. I've always loved english and I'm really glad that it's becoming my second language. Of course, I still miss a lot, but I'm trying my best to learn more and more.

I'd like to ask you to judge my accent: I know it's not that good but I'm hoping it's not that bad either. Because I speak english since I was a kid, I think i have developed 'my own' accent, which is a mix of american, polish and probably a bit british.

As much as I'd wish to speak with no foreign accent, I know it takes a lot of time and work, and even then I might not be able to completely get rid of my 'own' sound. But for now my goal is to not sound polish.

Also, I'm more keen on american english than british (even though I live in England), so you might want to take that into account.

In this recording I'm reading a part (last three paragraphs) of article about Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The text:

 What else? Schwarzenegger cracked a joke or two about his Austrian  heritage on the show, telling Leno that the reason he did not endorse  Jerry Brown or Meg Whitman for governor of California was that “I  couldn’t understand their accents.” The second reason was because he  “just wanted to stay out of it,” and added, after much prodding from  Leno about who he voted for, “the person I vote for is between myself  and the person Maria tells me to vote for.”


 
 Of course, there were a few questions about the recent midterm  elections, which Schwarzenegger summed up as “wacky.” “There were people  who were against having sex with themselves, and then there were people  who want to have sex with everybody. All these extreme things, it was  wacky,” he said.


 
 As his days of Governator are coming to a close, Leno asked if he was  relieved to be getting out of the hot seat, to which Schwarzenegger  answered “I wish it was not over. I remember seven years ago, I was  right here announcing my candidacy, and I tell you it was one of the  greatest decisions I ever made.”

Somehow I can't post links, so I'm sorry to cause you trouble but if you will replace hxxp--- with normal prefix, you should be able to download the file.

hxxp---sendspace.com/file/l097n4

It's about a minute long.

Thank you for your time spent listening to me hurting your ears,
John

 

[johnnyjp]

Can anyone help me with this one, please?

 

[kamalmuo]

HELLO
Nice American accent you have, but I think you are talking so fast in the recording. just be aware of the vowels in your pronunciation to make it better.
well done my friend:up:

 

[Tdol]

One problem with reading texts aloud is that the intonation becomes artificial, and it would give a clearer view of your speaking if you just recorded yourself talking. Generally, though it's clear and readily comprehensible, though the are some individual words like prodding, which should be /prɒdɪŋ/ but you say /prəʊdɪŋ/, which can throw the listener, and the stress can fall in the wrong place. I'd say there's a greater influence of AmE than BrE, but a few months in London may well change things.

You can only post links when you have posted ten times- it's an anti-spam precaution.