American accent

[Mango7]

Hi all! Does this guy sound like an American? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I91jLxrNhps
He insists that he can teach a person to speak like an American.
P.S. I'm sure he doesn't sound like a native speaker and I don't believe him. :-D

 

[Barb_D]

He is completely understandable but that's not an American accent. Again, I'd be thrilled to be so clear and fluent in a second language. But he sounds like Chekhov in Star Trek.

 

[Mango7]

I'd like to know what he is doing wrong (pronunciation) because I don't want to make the same mistakes when I speak English. Thank you for the reply!

 

[Tdol]

Some of his sounds are not quite right- when he says wonder, for example, it sounds more like wander. However, he is clear and fluent, as Barb says.

 

[Barb_D]

I wouldn't say he's doing anything at all wrong. The goal is to communicate, not adopt a disguise. He can communicate with complete fluency.

 

[Tdol]

What's his first language? I couldn't find it on his page.

 

[Mango7]

I couldn't find it either.

 

[riquecohen]

mango7, I agree with Barb. You should also be aware that there is no single American accent. We have many distinct, regional varieties.

 

[Amigos4]

What's his first language? I couldn't find it on his page.

His native language is Latvian. He moved to Ireland in 2002.

Cheers,
A4

 

[Mango7]

mango7, I agree with Barb. You should also be aware that there is no single American accent. We have many distinct, regional varieties.

How many American accents do you have? Thank you for the reply!

 

[emsr2d2]

On behalf of my American colleagues, I am going to predict that the answer to that is going to be "That's an impossible question to answer". The same goes for asking how many accents there are in British English too.

 

[PHenry1026]

Apart from the general American accent, there are some major ones (at least, well known) like: Southern, Boston, New York (Brooklyn) and Texas.

;-) Percy

 

[trietle]

Hi all! Does this guy sound like an American? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I91jLxrNhps
He insists that he can teach a person to speak like an American.
P.S. I'm sure he doesn't sound like a native speaker and I don't believe him. :-D

Hi Mango7, I totally agree with you. He definitely doesn't sound like an American.

I've checked his website out before while searching for some good American accent training sites. (Unfortunately, there aren't many online)

In fact, his spoken English is that excellent to teach others.

However, I do give him credits for having the confidence and the will to build his own American-accent learning website.