Cover up my accent

Question

I am going to visit a English speaking country this summer and I do not want them to know where I am from. I am trying to cover up my accent as much as possible. Have I done a good enough job or is it still possible to tell where I am from? I do not want to sound like I am "from" anywhere. Please suggest ways in which I can improve it and to increase inteligibility. Which features should I change? Also you can try to guess where I am from--but I hope you won't be able to.

http://ax6.org/freeupload/4407.wav

Kooyeen · Accepted Answer

Hi,
I listened to your clip. I'm not used to many kinds of accents, and I'm learning American English, so everything that doesn't sound American sounds strange to me.
Listening to that clip, I heard a strong accent. I don't know if it is completely foreign or if it could be similar to some other accents in the UK, or Australia for example, but it doesn't sound American at all to me.
If I had to guess, I would say you are not from Europe, Africa or Americas. Maybe you're Asian, but you could also be from the Middle East. But I really don't know how to distinguish foreign accents in English, especially if they are not strong. But I can do that in Italian...
That said, a quick look at your post:

>> and I do not want them to know where I am from. <<
Why not? What if someone asks you? Having an accent in not bad, as long as it is not unpleasant.

>>I do not want to sound like I am "from" anywhere.<<
This is not possible. You can reduce your foreign accent, you can also sound 100% American, but you'll still have a particular accent, your accent. In other words, you can't go to a little town in, say, Alabama, and think no one will notice your accent because you think you speak the same way as the people there, like you've always lived there... But you can sound American to them, American, but from somewhere else.

CalifJim · Answer

Well, not to be unkind about it, but you've certainly succeeded in sounding like you're not "from" anywhere. It sounds like you're from Mars. Frankly, I was only able to make out a few words of what you said. It sounded like it could be English from the 12th century.

You have way too many syllables in many words because you are pronouncing e's that are supposed to be silent.

You say name as nah-muh when it should be naym, for example. And I believe I heard the word lived as li-vid instead of livd. Wednesday is said Wenz-day, only two syllables. I didn't understand the rest of it well enough to advise any further. Sorry.

The best you can do at this late date is to imitate the English speaking people you meet this summer when you visit. Best of luck to you.

CJ

Anonymous · Answer

Hey, Ive lived in Canada for 3 years and I'd say you're from Austria/Germany or northern europe (Sweden?)
Anyway, it's rly difficult to understand you.

Mosca · Answer

it´s gotta be sweden! <img class='emoticon' style='Width:19px;Height:19px;' data-delaysrc='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' src='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' alt='Emotion: smile'/>

Keyser_Soze · Answer

Definitely NOT European! I tend to agree with another poster, I'll put you somewhere in Asia, though I'm not sure... The Far East sounds more possible, (Korea? Japan? China?) but there's an off-chance you're from an Arabic-speaking country, or Iran, though, to be honest, most Arabs have clearer pronunciation.

In terms of your accent, I think you've got it all wrong: You must master correct English pronunciation before you even start thinking about your accent. And, I'm sad to say, you haven't. Lay more stress on getting the individual sounds of words right, so people will be able to figure out what you are saying, and maybe then you can start worrying about whether they'll be able to place your ethnic background.

Then again, why bother? I'm not a native speaker myself, just a teacher, but I can surely say I love listening to people of different ethnic backgrounds speaking English in their respective accents, be they German, French, Italian, or what have you.

I do have a hint if you want to sound very British, though: Just make sure you dont let your upper lip move at all when you speak. If you're finding this hard, ask a dentist friend to give you two shots of novocaine, one on either side of your upper lip. You'll sound just right!

Anonymous · Answer

No, the dude is NOT from Sweden, nor Europe. Sounds more like Asia to me. Either way, I suck at accents, but you certainly don't sound American/English etc. I could hardly hear what you were saying, but you already received some feedback on that so I won't say anything else on that matter.

Nona the brit · Answer

I can't open that page but why do you want to hide where you come from anyway? It is not really possible to have no accent at all. Everyone, even a native speaker, has an accent of some sort. You would be able to tell that I'm from the UK, not the USA, and if you had a good idea of accents, which part of the UK I come from.

Mosca · Answer

Hey, it was a joke! <img class='emoticon' style='Width:19px;Height:19px;' data-delaysrc='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' src='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' alt='Emotion: smile'/>

Cover up my accent

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