Accent check

[prono]

Hello everybody,

I am working on my accent and was just wondering if any of you would be so kind to listen to it and give me some feedback. I just read a random paragraph from a book and recorded myself (its less than a minute long). Can you immediately tell that English is not my native language? Any other advice or tips about stress or intonation...?

Cheers guys

https://soundcloud.com/languageguy/test

 

[Raymott]

Yes, you can tell immediately that it is probably not native, primarily from the intonation. Also, some of words' normal time values are shortened a little - 'week' (wik), 'same' (sam/sem). But it is easily understandable. I would have guessed northern European.

 

[prono]

Yes, you can tell immediately that it is probably not native, primarily from the intonation. Also, some of words' normal time values are shortened a little - 'week' (wik), 'same' (sam/sem). But it is easily understandable. I would have guessed northern European.

Thanks for that Raymott. It's more central European than Northern. Any tips on how to work on my intonation? Also, would you mind telling me if I speak to slow or to fast.

Cheers

 

[Raymott]

Your accent doesn't need any major changes, since it is understandable. Your sound file is somewhat artificial because when you talk normally, you are not reading. So the intonation and pace might be (and probably is) different if you spoke spontaneously. If no one else can identify anything specific, your accent should normalise to whatever English influences surround you. There are many difference English accents these days; yours is OK.
One thing you could do, though, is to take note of words that trouble English listeners when you speak to them. If you have to repeat words, those are the elements you need to work on.

 

[prono]

You are probably right. If I was to speak normaly, that is not reading, I would probably sound a bit different. I will make an audio on that in a few days and I hope you will find the time for a quick feedback.

And thanks for the advice...

 

[prono]

Your accent doesn't need any major changes, since it is understandable. Your sound file is somewhat artificial because when you talk normally, you are not reading. So the intonation and pace might be (and probably is) different if you spoke spontaneously. If no one else can identify anything specific, your accent should normalise to whatever English influences surround you. There are many difference English accents these days; yours is OK.
One thing you could do, though, is to take note of words that trouble English listeners when you speak to them. If you have to repeat words, those are the elements you need to work on.

Hey there,

I made an audio of me speaking in a "normal" voice. I was not reading but was just talking normally as I would during a conversation. Would you guys mind giving me a feedback on my accent. Does it sound more natural compared to the one I uploaded in this thread, where I was reading a paragraph from a book?

Would just like to know if you can immediately tell that English is not my native language and if yes, why? Is it the prononciation, stress and rhytms, am I speaking to slow...?

Cheers.

https://soundcloud.com/languageguy/test2

 

[Raymott]

Yes, it's still immediately apparent that you are non-native. Your vowel lengths are often wrong; too short in "goal" - sounds like 'gol'; too long in 'ten'. I'm afraid I have no new comments that I haven't made above.

Some other opinions might help.