How do I sound?

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Chicken Sandwich

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This may be an odd place for this question, maybe I should have posted this under Pronunciation and Phonetics, but since English teachers hang out mostly here, I though this would be the appropriate place (and also this question is primarily aimed at teachers).

I've been trying to learn the "received pronunciation" for some time, and I'm curious to what degree I have succeeded. If you could attach a percentage to my accent, ranging from 0% to 100%, obviously 100% corresponding to the degree of proficienty to that of a native speaker.
If a native speaker (altough I welcome everyone to leave a response), preferably from England could listen to this audio clip and share his or her views, I would be very grateful.

Here's the text I read: Deductive reasoning - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

And here's the audio file: Download Deduction2.mp3 - Kiwi6.com Mp3 Upload

Thank you very much!
 

birdeen's call

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Could you perhaps post a sound file with you talking about something naturally? Reading a text for a first or second time, you can't produce the natural rhythm of speech, which makes the evaluation more difficult and less precise.
 

tzfujimino

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Wow... You have done a great job!:-D
I'm not sure about the accent or intonation...but your pronunciation is definitely British.
Without the 'Member Info," I would have thought you were British (or at least educated in the UK).
Keep up the good work!

I tried putting down your introduction ...for my listening practice.

Hi, uh...thank you for...uh... listening to this...uh... sound file.
Uh... the purpose of this, ?????? for me to find out to what degree I sound like a native speaker from England(s?).
I('m) very curious about that. So, I'm gonna read this...uh... text from Wikipedia.
Um...This entry is on deductive reasoning. So...uh...here it goes...

I couldn't catch '??????' part...:oops:
 
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Chicken Sandwich

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I tried putting down your introduction ...for my listening practice.

Hi, uh...thank you for...uh... listening to this...uh... sound file.
Uh... the purpose of this, audio clip for me to find out to what degree I sound like a native speaker from England[STRIKE](s?)[/STRIKE].
I('m) very curious about that. So, I'm gonna read this...uh...a text from Wikipedia.
Um...This entry is on deductive reasoning. So...uh...here [STRIKE]it[/STRIKE] goes...

I couldn't catch '??????' part...:oops:

I filled in the blanks. Thanks for your comment.

@ birdeen's call

I'll try to record a more spontaneous sample of my speech, though I don't think it's going to be much different from my reading voice.

Anyone from the UK care to comment, or should I really record a sample of my non-reading voice?
 

Tdol

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I agree that speaking naturally is better than reading- it can make a difference to the intonation and gives a clearer picture of natural speech with its hesitations, changes of thought, etc. Hearing it cold, I would guess that you had travelled around a bit- the rising intonation at the end of statements is more commonly associated with Australian English, though it is growing among younger BrE speakers. Some of your sounds remind me of Birmingham speakers- you say find almost as foind. Quite a lot of it does sound like BrE to me. I'd be interested to hear some unscripted speech.
 

Chicken Sandwich

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I'd be interested to hear some unscripted speech.

Thanks. I didn't know that the rising intonation is more commonly associated with AE, but I did notice that the way I pronounce the ou-sound, as in "sound file", is kind of reminiscent of Australian English.

Here's the unscripted recording. I'm looking forward to hearing from you.

Download Unscripted Recording.mp3 - Kiwi6.com Mp3 Upload

Thanks!
 

tzfujimino

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Hi!:-D
Again, I tried to put down everything you said (just for my listening practice) :


...Right. So, thank you for listening to my previous recording. This one is going to be different in that I'm just gonna talk about something spontaneously. So, I'm gonna talk about my experiences of learning English.
I began learning English ????? was about twelve years of age. Around that time I became familiar with the English language literature. However, I didn't start paying attention to the correct pronunciation until I was about sixteen, I guess. Um...
I really became fascinated by different kinds of accents because there's such a variety of English accents. And none of them are quite alike, so I really wanted to learn one, or several, but I think I have my hands full with just one. So..I chose the most neutral accent spoken in the United Kingdom, which is the...um...received pronunciation. Prior to...um..learni...um..prior to starting to learn English, I was already proficient in two.... our? different languages because I was raised bilingually, and so, I think this really gave me a head start. Right, so...that's all I wanted to say, and thank you for listening.


P.S. I might have caught some of the words in the wrong way...:oops:
 

CarloSsS

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Thanks. I didn't know that the rising intonation is more commonly associated with AE, but I did notice that the way I pronounce the ou-sound, as in "sound file", is kind of reminiscent of Australian English.

Here's the unscripted recording. I'm looking forward to hearing from you.

Download Unscripted Recording.mp3 - Kiwi6.com Mp3 Upload

Thanks!

Kudos on your perfect pronunciation and accent. If asked, I wouldn't be able to tell you from a native speaker. That makes me wonder, would the native speakers here recognize that English is not Chicken Sandwich's mother tongue?

Hi!:-D
Again, I tried to put down everything you said (just for my listening practice) :


...Right. So, thank you for listening to my previous recording. This one is going to be different in that I'm just gonna talk about something spontaneously. So, I'm gonna talk about my experiences of learning English.
I began learning English ????? was about twelve years of age. Around that time I became familiar with the English language literature. However, I didn't start paying attention to the correct pronunciation until I was about sixteen, I guess. Um...
I really became fascinated by different kinds of accents because there's such a variety of English accents. And none of them are quite alike, so I really wanted to learn one, or several, but I think I have my hands full with just one. So..I chose the most neutral accent spoken in the United Kingdom, which is the...um...received pronunciation. Prior to...um..learni...um..prior to starting to learn English, I was already proficient in two.... our? different languages because I was raised bilingually, and so, I think this really gave me a head start. Right, so...that's all I wanted to say, and thank you for listening.


P.S. I might have caught some of the words in the wrong way...:oops:

The words you couldn't catch is "when I (was)". I played the record over twice, I didn't find any words that you might have caught in the wrong way. Well done!
 

Tdol

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It sounds more Brummie/Midlands than RP to me, but even knowing beforehand that Chicken's a non-native speaker, he didn't sound like a non-native. If you played this to native speakers, there might be some discussion about where he's from, but it would be which part of Britain and not which country IMO. Kudos to Chicken Sandwich, who shows it can be done. :up:
 

birdeen's call

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I agree completely with Tdol. I would never have guessed you weren't from Great Britain if I didn't already know that. I would be unable to place you in a particular place in Britain though. I agree that this is not RP.

PS: I actually spent some time in West Midlands myself, and your accent is indeed quite similar to that, but I would hesitate to call it Brummie. One clear difference in my opinion is that the Brummies I met often used [ʊ] instead of /ʌ/. You don't do it as far as I can tell.
 
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CarloSsS

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I never doubted whether or not something like this can be done. However, I sometimes doubt if the effort and time invested is worth it. I mean it's nice to sound like a native, but to what purpose? Unless my pronunciation was hard to understand for natives and non-natives alike. Then not only would it be worth the effort and time, it would be necessary to invest them into making myself sound better. In my view, I'd rather try to master the other aspects of language (mainly vocabulary) and if I felt nothing more can be done about them, then I'd start trying to make my accent sound native-like.
 
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Chicken Sandwich

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It sounds more Brummie/Midlands than RP to me, but even knowing beforehand that Chicken's a non-native speaker, he didn't sound like a non-native. If you played this to native speakers, there might be some discussion about where he's from, but it would be which part of Britain and not which country IMO. Kudos to Chicken Sandwich, who shows it can be done. :up:


I agree completely with Tdol. I would never have guessed you weren't from Great Britain if I didn't already know that. I would be unable to place you in a particular place in Britain though. I agree that this is not RP.


Awesome, thanks! It's really nice to hear that I've succeeded :-D, considering that I've never been to the UK in my entire life.

I never doubted whether or not something like this can be done. However, I sometimes doubt if the effort and time invested is worth it. I mean it's nice to sound like a native, but to what purpose? In my view, I'd rather try to master the other aspects of language (mainly vocabulary) and if I felt nothing more can be done about them, then I'd start trying to make my accent sound native-like. On the condition that my pronunciation was accurate enough for other native and non-native speakers to understand me.


I just did if for fun. Also, I wanted to prove people wrong, because most people say that if you don't learn a language prior to the age of 10-12, you wil always have a foreign accent. I wanted to show that this is in fact not true. It depends, everyone is different. It's not impossible, I think.

I really haven't spend that much time practicing, but I do listen a lot to podcasts, tv shows and movies. I never use subtitles (occasionally I do use English subtitles if the audio is of poor quality). Listening has been for me the the way to learn all aspects of English, including grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary. I do read a lot, but nothing beats listening, because that is how children learn languages as well. I don't know how I would have learnt English without the Internet.
 
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CarloSsS

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In that case, I guess you just have a natural aptitude for mastering accents and pronunciation. Do you have a musical ear? I hear that people who have a fine ear for music can do better at learning things like these. Although I've been trying to sound as native-like as possible, I'm nowhere near as good as you are.
 
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Tdol

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Awesome, thanks! It's really nice to hear that I've succeeded :-D, considering that I've never been to the UK in my entire life.

A few decades ago, I met a speaker I was sure was a native speaker until they mis-pronounced one word. They too had never set foot in an English-speaking country. It's interesting given the age you started, so there may be something in your bilingual background, but congratulations however you did it. I'm learning a language where ng can come at the beginning of a word- being comprehensible will be enough. ;-)
 

birdeen's call

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I don't know how I would have learnt English without the Internet.

It really is a whole new quality, isn't it? I started learning English when I was eleven, which was more than forty years ago. Some fifteen years later, I thought I knew as much English as any regular native. I could read any book! Well, it turned out this isn't exactly how it works. I think I've learned as much English during the last ten years as during the previous thirty.
 
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5jj

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I never doubted whether or not something like this can be done. However, I sometimes doubt if the effort and time invested is worth it. I mean it's nice to sound like a native, but to what purpose?
I think too many people worry too much about sounding like a native, but if that's what you are interested in, then go for it. All credit to Chicken Sandwich for managing it.
I'd rather try to master the other aspects of language (mainly vocabulary)
Apart from the accent, which I, like the others who have posted here, could not distinguish from that of a native speaker, the vocabulary and structure were those of a native speaker.
 

Chicken Sandwich

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Apart from the accent, which I, like the others who have posted here, could not distinguish from that of a native speaker, the vocabulary and structure were those of a native speaker.

Awesome, thanks :-D

Do you have a musical ear?

Yes, in fact in my free time I play the piano, but mostly I work on composition. I do a lot of solfège ( Solfège - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ). I definitely see the similarities. In order to be good at solfège, you need to be able to "imagine" the sounds in your head. The same goes for composing. A good composer can "imagine" music in his or her head, and translate it to paper, without the aid of a musical instrument. The same goes for language production. When you have a handle on the correct pronunciation, you know exactly how a word sounds, without actually sounding the word.

A few decades ago, I met a speaker I was sure was a native speaker until they mis-pronounced one word. They too had never set foot in an English-speaking country. It's interesting given the age you started, so there may be something in your bilingual background, but congratulations however you did it. I'm learning a language where ng can come at the beginning of a word- being comprehensible will be enough.

Two weeks ago you would have
definitely "caught" me, if I were to say the word privacy. In fact, I only recently found out, while watching a movie, that privacy is pronounced "/ ˈprɪvəsi " in the UK. I always, incorrectly assumed that the American and the British pronunciations were the same.
I'm assuming you're learning Filipino? Must be tough. Completely different from English.

It really is a whole new quality, isn't it? I started learning English when was eleven, which was more than forty years ago. Some fifteen years later, I thought I knew as much English as any regular native. I could read any book! Well, it turned out it isn't exactly how this works. I think I've learned as much English during the last ten years as during the previous thirty.

Yes it is. When I got into learning English, I already had a broadband internet connection. Checking out podcasts was really benificial, because when I listened to English, I learnt (everyday) Enlgish on a much deeper level. Within no time, I could actually actively use all the new expressions and words I learnt, something I never managed to do by just reading Dickens.
 
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