Could you please judge my accent?

[Jabut]

Thanks!

Voice recording

 

[teechar]

Please post the text below.

 

[Amigos4]

Jabut, I had difficulty understanding some of your words. Please follow teechar's direction and post the text of your recording. This will be helpful for us.

 

[Tarheel]

The only things I heard clearly were "Hi", " I was wondering" and "Thank you". The rest was barely audible or unclear.

 

[Barque]

I could follow almost all of it, except for a few words here and there.

Hi, good morning, or good evening. I'm going to read, umm, this sample paragraph "Please call Stella" (I had to listen to it a couple of times to make out the words in quotes).

Ask her to bring these things with her from the store. Six [unclear] of fresh snow peas, five big [slab? unclear] of blue cheese and maybe a snack for her brother Bob. We also need a small plastic snake and a big [unclear] frog for the kids. You can scoop these thing into three red bags and would go meet her Wednesday at the train [or "tram"? It sounded like "tran" to me.] station. (The last sentence doesn't fit with what was said earlier.)

About me, I lived in a few different countries over the years and I was wondering how that experience affected my accent. So I'm asking you guys, uhh who don't know me, your objective uhh feedback. Thank you.

1. You sounded much clearer when you were speaking your own words, as compared to the ones you seemed to be reading out.
2. You enunciated "Please call Stella" as if it's the title of the passage but I get the impression they might have been the opening words of the passage.
3. As you can see I couldn't make a few words out.
4. Also, I noticed you tended to draw out certain vowel sounds, "thees" and "leeved" for instance, and shortened others, like "Bub".
5. The "Please call Stella" part was the only one that I made multiple attempts to understand. I didn't try as hard with the rest of the speech.
6. On the whole, you sounded more continental European to me than Japanese.

 

[Amigos4]

I agree with Barque. "You sounded much clearer when you were speaking your own words, as compared to the ones you seemed to be reading out."

It might be productive if you tried to speak from memory rather than reading from the paper. I'd like to hear the differences.

 

[Tarheel]

I could understand it better the second time. (Barque's post was a big help.)

Since it is in fact part of a conversation what you want is for it to sound conversational, with pauses where they would naturally be.

If you would like me to I will compose a brief text for you to read.

 

[Amigos4]

If you would like me to I will compose a brief text for you to read.

Great idea, @Tarheel.

 

[Barque]

I just googled some of the words from the passage and I found the passage here: http://accent.gmu.edu/browse_language.php?function=detail&speakerid=145

Jabut, it seemed to me that you pronounced "slabs", "slab", and "things", "thing".
The "toy" sounded like "toe".
I'm afraid the "She can" got a little swallowed up and sounded like "You can".
And "we will" sounded like "would".

"Spoons" does sound much clearer now that I know that's the word. But I wasn't expecting it because you don't normally buy peas by the spoonful.

 

[Amigos4]

Great detective work, Barque! You win the Gold Star for today!

While you still have time to edit your last post, you might want to correct the typo in your last sentence.

 

[Tarheel]

You definitely don't buy peas by the spoonful. You eat them that way, yes.

 

[Amigos4]

You definitely don't buy peas by the spoonful. You eat them that way, yes.

@Tarheel: North Carolinians may eat their peas by the spoonful, but Arizonans prefer to use a knife and fork to corral the tiny green legumes. Personally, I like my green peas uncooked.

 

[Jabut]

Thanks to all of you! I realised I was a bit far from my phone when I was talking so it was not the best way of recording it. I’m uploading a new one (and I’m not reading anything this time).

Let me know if you need me to say some specific sentences in order to check some particular sounds for example.

Thanks again! By the way can you guess where I’m from? (Japan/Japanese is a mistake on my profile!)

Recording 2

 

[5jj]

(Japan/Japanese is a mistake on my profile!)

Then please correct it.

 

[Amigos4]

Thanks again! By the way can you guess where I’m from? (Japan/Japanese is a mistake on my profile!)

Recording 2

When your plane lands in the correct country we'll listen to Recording 2.

 

[Jabut]

kind of defeats the purpose of my question if I tell you where I’m from

The idea of my question was to know what country or countries my accent is closest to, without you having a bias.

I can obviously change my profile later but one issue is that I cannot input 2 languages on my profile for some reason (I have 2 mother tongues)

For the hometown, which is required info too, having followed my family every 3 years until my teens I don’t really have one. Though Japan is where I stayed the longest.

 

[Tarheel]

@Jabut Only one person (as far as I know) could have made that mistake.

If you're not in Japan where are you?

What I have in mind for the text would be similar but different.

 

[Barque]

I realised I was a bit far from my phone when I was talking so it was not the best way of recording it.

I had no problems hearing you. I had problems understanding you. You were NOT too far away from your mike. Please, don't mess around. We aren't here to put up with that.

By the way can you guess where I’m from?

We aren't here to play guessing games. If you want to tell us, tell us. If you don't, nothing you ask will be taken seriously. (Maybe I sound rude but this isn't a kids' playground.)

 

[5jj]

kind of defeats the purpose of my question if I tell you where I’m from

It also means that you gave us untrue information about yourself. We act on the belief that members don't lie to us, Correct the information if you wish to remain a member.

Toss a coin for your mother tongue

Pick a town that you feel closest to as your hometown.