how you speak english

[Twomoles 8]

I mean, when you would consider you speak English good enough to look for decent job. I can type, I can take grammar tests in quite good level. I can watch movies and listen to lectures. But people still don't understand me. Talking and pronunciation is something so totally different here, especially on phone, I try to never call anyone, because no one understands me. Will I ever get rid of my accent?

[Shub 78]

I don't think you can ever get truly and completely rid of a foreign accent, but you can certainly get close. Americans have a hard time detecting that I'm foreign, but sometimes, some words or intonations give me away.

The best way is to listen to English a lot (movies or the TV is great for that, although the TV can be painful to watch), practice with your husband and try to imitate what you heard in movies. It's worked for me, but it took years.

[homesick_american 1]

I mean, when you would consider you speak English good enough to look for decent job. I can type, I can take grammar tests in quite good level. I can watch movies and listen to lectures. But people still don't understand me. Talking and pronunciation is something so totally different here, especially on phone, I try to never call anyone, because no one understands me. Will I ever get rid of my accent?

Probably not, but over time your pronunciation will improve. Have you ever considered taking some classes or working privately with someone? One of my good friends in the UK was from Chile and she had a heavy accent. I could understand her perfectly well, but the Brits couldn't; I guess they weren't used to South American accents of any variety. We worked and commuted together so I gently corrected her pronunciation and we worked together on the basics, i.e. vowels and consonants. Her pronunciation did improve over time but now that she's back in Chile and doesn't speak English as often, she has backslid.

A good speech therapist might be able to help you shed most of the accent. When I was growing up, half the kids in my classes seemed to be from New York City, and most of them were in speech therapy to get rid of their heavy NYC accents which would not do them any favors below the Mason-Dixon line. They did extremely well.

[Saddle Bronc 124]

I don't think you can ever get truly and completely rid of a foreign accent, but you can certainly get close. Americans have a hard time detecting that I'm foreign, but sometimes, some words or intonations give me away.

The best way is to listen to English a lot (movies or the TV is great for that, although the TV can be painful to watch), practice with your husband and try to imitate what you heard in movies. It's worked for me, but it took years.

If you immigrate as a child, you will usually lose the foreign accent rather quickly (the accent of this India-born poster is basically a "Western Canadian Prairie: Bow Valley")

[Twomoles 8]

People are too polite here, they don't correct me. They think they are nice, but they are doing harm. My hubby is ok with me, its like we have our own language already, so used, that he doesn't correct me either.

[homesick_american 1]

People are too polite here, they don't correct me. They think they are nice, but they are doing harm. My hubby is ok with me, its like we have our own language already, so used, that he doesn't correct me either.

I corrected my Chilean friend all the time. She did the same for me in Spanish; neither of us took it personally. We were just close friends doing each other a favor!

Find a friend who is a native speaker whose English is excellent, preferably no strong regional accent, and get him/her to work with you. Also, watch lots of news broadcasts...national news is better because there are fewer regional accents. The neutral ones are usually easier for non-native speakers to imitate.

[cellarlily 0]

The more you practice the easier it will be. Like someone suggested, watch American movies and try reading aloud or repeating lines when possible. Have your husband help you with pronounciation or see if there are any inexpensive tutors that could help you. Eventually it will get easier and people will be able to understand you better.

The problem with America is even though it's the "melting pot" and there's individuals with every type of accent imaginable here, we are very impatient and sometimes outright intolerant of people who do not speak our language perfectly and clearly. It's annoying because we as Americans rarely speak our own language perfectly and clearly, so how can we expect anyone else to do the same? My husband is English with a very clear London accent, yet almost none of my family understands 90% of what he says. I admit even I have trouble sometimes, but I'm definitely used to the common phrases now and feel I understand him better.

[rob&ana 0]

I learned English as a child, because my dad came to Louisiana and Mississippi to do an MBA, I was around 9 or 10 years old, when we went back to Venezuela and never used English again (at school we took classes, but I guess it was good enough that I passed), but then when I was around 16, this Brittish lady moved to my apartment building. And my Mom told her that I spoke English and that if she wanted someone to talk to, she could talk to me. So, this lady came to my house one day and started talking in English with me. I did not only have a heavily Latino accent, but my English was southern, and according to this lady it was HORRENDOUS! (Maybe she was Simon Cowell’s long lost sister), she was quite rude and said I needed to polish my English. Of course, at that age, you are pretty sensitive to criticism and I didn’t want to speak English ever again.

When I started to College, I had a couple of native speaking professors, and they recommended reading out loud, and also watching lots of TV in English, which I did. But I went a step ahead, and I taped Friend’s episodes, and I would listen, stop the tape and repeat the phrases, until I sounded just like them. I get praised a lot of times because I don’t have much of an accent, and some people even think that my vocabulary is pretty solid (I read lots – that totally helps). (I don’t want to sound like ConsoleMaster! … Im sorry).

I met a girl from the Ukraine this weekend, she is actually working as a manicurist and she has an International Business Degree, she thought her English was not good to get a job in her field, she does have an accent, but her English is fluid. I told her she should start looking for a job in her area, and just give it a try, you’d be surprised at how many people actually make an effort to understand others that have an accent. Don’t be afraid, you might think your English is not good, but you might be surprised.

Good luck…

[homesick_american 1]

I learned English as a child, because my dad came to Louisiana and Mississippi to do an MBA, I was around 9 or 10 years old, when we went back to Venezuela and never used English again (at school we took classes, but I guess it was good enough that I passed), but then when I was around 16, this Brittish lady moved to my apartment building. And my Mom told her that I spoke English and that if she wanted someone to talk to, she could talk to me. So, this lady came to my house one day and started talking in English with me. I did not only have a heavily Latino accent, but my English was southern, and according to this lady it was HORRENDOUS! (Maybe she was Simon Cowell’s long lost sister), she was quite rude and said I needed to polish my English. Of course, at that age, you are pretty sensitive to criticism and I didn’t want to speak English ever again.

When I started to College, I had a couple of native speaking professors, and they recommended reading out loud, and also watching lots of TV in English, which I did. But I went a step ahead, and I taped Friend’s episodes, and I would listen, stop the tape and repeat the phrases, until I sounded just like them. I get praised a lot of times because I don’t have much of an accent, and some people even think that my vocabulary is pretty solid (I read lots – that totally helps). (I don’t want to sound like ConsoleMaster! … Im sorry).

I met a girl from the Ukraine this weekend, she is actually working as a manicurist and she has an International Business Degree, she thought her English was not good to get a job in her field, she does have an accent, but her English is fluid. I told her she should start looking for a job in her area, and just give it a try, you’d be surprised at how many people actually make an effort to understand others that have an accent. Don’t be afraid, you might think your English is not good, but you might be surprised.

Good luck…

You don't sound like Consolemaster, don't worry!

Your English is excellent...a few mistakes here and there but nothing that cannot be polished. Watching TV is great, but reading is equally good.

Don't worry and don't let anyone tell you your English isn't good. If they dump on it, just ask them how their Spanish is.

[Twomoles 8]

I always put subtitles when I watch, its good way.

But the funny thing is if you not English speaker take TV as your teacher, you learn so much slang, that I was already in shame situations. How me to know word is rude or slang.

[Twomoles 8]

The more you practice the easier it will be. Like someone suggested, watch American movies and try reading aloud or repeating lines when possible. Have your husband help you with pronounciation or see if there are any inexpensive tutors that could help you. Eventually it will get easier and people will be able to understand you better.

The problem with America is even though it's the "melting pot" and there's individuals with every type of accent imaginable here, we are very impatient and sometimes outright intolerant of people who do not speak our language perfectly and clearly. It's annoying because we as Americans rarely speak our own language perfectly and clearly, so how can we expect anyone else to do the same? My husband is English with a very clear London accent, yet almost none of my family understands 90% of what he says. I admit even I have trouble sometimes, but I'm definitely used to the common phrases now and feel I understand him better.

Actually, I can say that 90 % people is very nice and treat me nice. No complains, except maybe few accidents, but bad people are everywhere. Hubby says i speak Latvian English. English words in Latvian pronunciation.

I believe that my spelling is better then most here, but lol, some sounds are close, I really don't see difference, and cant make my tongue to say them. It doesn't matter - Spanish or German or whatever, If you don't listen to words, ytou might think this person talks in his own language.

[Yodrak 7]

ieva & carl,

You would be an ideal candidate for a customer-service call center - it's been years since I could understand any of them. I wouldn't consider that to be a decent job, however.

Seriously, it may be a problem for some jobs but there should be plenty of good jobs out there where your written English and listening comprehension will be most important, and your accent will improve with time. My wife has found several low-cost courses to help her improve her spoken English - one at a local university and another at the town library. The one at the library utilized a book and a set of CDs that we were able to find at Barnes & Noble - if I can remember I will look for it and post the name of it.

Yodrak

I mean, when you would consider you speak English good enough to look for decent job. I can type, I can take grammar tests in quite good level. I can watch movies and listen to lectures. But people still don't understand me. Talking and pronunciation is something so totally different here, especially on phone, I try to never call anyone, because no one understands me. Will I ever get rid of my accent?

Edited June 8, 2007 by Yodrak

[athena_ny 1]

People are too polite here, they don't correct me. They think they are nice, but they are doing harm. My hubby is ok with me, its like we have our own language already, so used, that he doesn't correct me either.

You need to tell them to correct you, then. I would not have corrected my husband had he not told me specifically to do so, because if I couldn't understand him, how he worded things was not important to me. He came to America about 3 years before we met, so he had a solid English background, but his English has improved ten fold since we started living together.

So when he pronounces a word wrong or incorrectly, I correct him (but I have a NY accent - not the city, I'm from upstate but I'm definitely northeastern) and I kind of have to modify the way I tell him how to pronounce the word, but not correcting him only harms him. But you can't expect people to just correct you, you need to tell your family, etc to do so.

Homesick is right, a speech language pathologist (not therapist technically, therapists work under doctors, SLPs can diagnose their own patients with speech disorders within limits) can perform accent reduction therapy if you so desire. You MUST explicitly tell them this is what you want, they are not allowed to do accent reduction without someone's permission.

Being understood in English is very important, as I'm sure you know, as far as functioning in the US and eventually getting a job. So try to get people correcting you, and try to talk as much as you can, and listen. It helps a lot. And speaking usually comes before reading and writing, so try to get your writing at a good level as well, because it's essential.

[kitkat1 5]

You can also use accent reduction tapes or take pronunciation classes.

[~krakatoa~ 27]

I mean, when you would consider you speak English good enough to look for decent job. I can type, I can take grammar tests in quite good level. I can watch movies and listen to lectures. But people still don't understand me. Talking and pronunciation is something so totally different here, especially on phone, I try to never call anyone, because no one understands me. Will I ever get rid of my accent?

Hi fellow May-filer,

Try to enroll for ESL classes in your area. I enrolled in one, they will give you placement tests to see what type of program is best for you. It depends on your area but at the school I am enrolled in, there is an option for distant learning, they lend me DVDs and a workbook to answer. I meet up with my instructor on some days. Initially, the assessor would not accept my application since they think my conversational English is good and my test scores were above average. But I insisted, I need to be exposed to real-life situations (like lessons on job applications/interviews, conversing with people like opening a bank account without my husband, calling USCIS number and talking to the live person, etc.). So they gave me a specific program. Sometimes I dread to speak with my instructor over the phone because there are days when I just want to "think Filipino."

The best way to learn English they said is to "think English". Good luck with your new life here in the US. And give it time.

Edited June 8, 2007 by mysticbluerose