How to learn an accent?

[kchyly]

If this helps at all, which it might not, but here you go anyways. When you speak, force your lower jaw bone out slightly, which should help you round out and lift your vowel sounds to the breathy, regal, native tone. When you have that mastered, practice in a mirror so it doesn't look so awkward.
Posture could also be a factor. Notice how they carry themselves, and try to copy. If you have a musical ear, it should just come to you. No worries, just keep practicing and people-watching.
Ask a native friend to help you. If they think it is silly, find someone else, or do it on your own. Sometimes the natives find it offending if you try too hard and it comes out funny, especially if you've been speaking a different accent when you met them. <- Of course this is not always the case, I only put it there for courtesy's sake.

Good luck!
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[kata1207]

Oh my God!! (I was close to writing OMG as I always do then I managed to remember the rules) I am pretty much in the same situation! I'm so glad that I'm not the only one worrying about this everyday.

As you can see above, I came from Korea when I was 12, five 1/2 years ago. I really am so fed up and frustrated with my accents and proununciation. I literally want to run away when people say: "sorry?" "pardon?" "what did you say?" "what was it?" and so on.

It is very confusing for me as half of native speakers don't have problems with my English accents but the other half!!.... It drives me mad and my confidence is shattered. Now I have issues speaking English confidently yet I didn't (and I CAN'T) tell this to anyone because everyone's reaction will be: "Why? You have been living in this country for quite a long time!" or something along these lines.

Here's some advice which may help you if you like reading books. So far I tried reading out books aloud and fixing my pronunciation word by word but I still have a long way to go.... I am proud to speak Korean fluently but sometimes I wish I came here when I was younger so that I wouldn't have such issues.

 

[Keswick]

I have been living in the UK for a while now and I also find it quite hard to get rid of my German accent. Especially when it comes to the pronunciation of the "r" and the "s". However my boyfriend said that whenever I say something, for example a word or phrase, which I picked ip in England (not learned in school) I have no accent at all. Even the intonation of the sentence is right. So I assume that it indeed might be better to learn for example English in an English speaking country, either from scratch or from a very young age. If you learn English in a German school you automatically pick up the German pronunciation. That's nobody's fault of course. Another thing I do is: I ask my boyfriend or friends to say a certain sentence and I try to repeat it the way they said it. With some exercise you do adopt the accent. Seems I have a long way to go though.

 

[Selena19950712]

I am chinese too and I came here when I was about nine. I don't speak with a chinese accent - and some how i just don't get how my parents can speak in a chinese accent.
Well, because I lives in Nottingham - and honestly, people from Nottingham doesn't have the best of accents, so when I started secondary school, I picked up an American accent (from no where) because I noticed I was speaking in a slight Nottingham accent - and it stuck.
Now I am trying very to get rid of the American accent - it's not a heavy one, but no matter how much bbc news I watch, and people I talk to - I just can't get a pure british one - like some of mine chinese friend that came to England when they were about 4 or 5 - whereas I came to England when I was around ten....
anyone?

 

[realxandspeak]

The Chinese and British have a similar "soft r" sound. Depending on which part of China you come from. Southern china usually has a softer 'r', than it's Northern counterpart. This can work to your advantage. Practice ending words with a soft 'R' and try not to add any coloration or hardening of the sound er, ar, ir, ur etc..., at the end. This should help you blend in a bit more. Good Luck!
Accent reduction, American pronunciation, American accent training classes.

 

[realxandspeak]

The accent will come faster with practice. Start by focusing on one sound correction at a time. For example, every changing the "ai" as in buy to "oi" as in boy, and all other sounds will keep you consistent. Consistency is the most important part of learning an accent. You must work on targetting the weekly sound before moving on to a new sound. Then by attrition, you will begin to build up all the sounds correctly. Sounding british is not the same as speaking with a British accent. Keeping a journal of the sound for the week you are working on can also speed up the learing curve, and memorizing specific trigger words that get you into the accent. Good Luck! Accent reduction, American pronunciation, American accent training classes.

 

[TheOneNOnly]

Hey... why are you so worried about your accent? I dont think its really a serious problem.. Let the people say whatever they want to.... Your mixed Chinese and English accent differentiates you in a way, and being different is being special!