Oh, this English language! Not a minute of rest - study grammar, don’t forget about the rules of pronunciation, and also work on your accent. Speaking of the last one!
What exactly is meant by this strange beast? Many times more people speak with an English accent than without it, but that doesn't mean you can relax. Beautiful speech is one of distinctive features an educated person and your ticket to the world of confident English.
How can you learn to speak without an accent or at least reduce it to a minimum level? Now let's make everything clear. Let's get started!
Under the accent ( accent) refers to a special manner of speech and sound. There are actually two definitions of this term.
- Firstly, accent refers to certain features of the native language that are typical for a certain group of the population belonging to one social group or living in a specific territory.
For example, residents of Texas have their own accent, which differs from the manner of pronunciation of residents of California.
- Secondly, a “foreign” accent. For example, a person speaks English language, while using some of the rules or sounds of Italian. If problems arise with pronunciation, a person simply replaces them with similar or similar sounds that are commonly used in their native language. As a rule, such speech sounds incorrect, funny, and sometimes offensive to native speakers.
Variations and features of the English accent
The main types of English accent primarily include British and American. Everywhere in cinema, the difference is so clearly visible that it is extremely difficult to make a mistake.
For example, in a fragment of the ancient world period, the characters speak with a British accent, even if they are in a place where no English is spoken at all.
British accent inextricably linked with classicism and theater (thank you, William Shakespeare). At the same time, the American accent is often associated with modernity, youth and a fresh outlook on life.
In Boston, for example, the influence of Irish settlers has led to a distinctly Boston accent, although the modern one does not sound exactly like Irish. It's a common joke when a Bostonian says "I lost my car keys", sounds more like "I lost my khakis"(khaki trousers).
In Hong Kong, exposure to Chinese and British culture has resulted in an accent that sounds almost British, although slightly different. The same thing happened with Australia and New Zealand.
Of course, all markers have different tastes and colors, which is why we like different accents. The English, with a distinct Spanish accent, is emotional and passionate. A Middle Eastern American accent sounds nice and friendly, while a Southern California surfer accent sounds cocky and cool. Perhaps among your circle of acquaintances there is someone who speaks with a sharp and ringing southern accent, or a native with a chic Cape Cod accent. This world is small!
Russian accent in English
As you may have already noticed, the melody of the Russian language is strikingly different from English. The Russian language is more uniform and smooth, while English is characterized by various types of intonation, which in a normal conversation with Russians seem inappropriate or overly expressive.
English consonants are softer than Russian ones. Also, the Russian language lacks some sounds found in English, for example the sounds [ θ ] And [ ð ] (hmm, who was that monarch who had obvious problems with teeth, or rather the lack thereof).
But jokes aside, and since the above mentioned sounds are not typical for us, we often replace them with the usual [s] or [z]. It turns out sad and wrong.
In addition, a feature of the Russian English accent includes difficulties with sounds [ w] And [ v], Russian speakers often use [v] instead of [w] and vice versa.
Many English students wonder, “Do natives understand our accent?” Many foreigners note that English with a Russian or Ukrainian accent is quite easy to understand and generally sounds quite attractive.
However, it is entirely possible for us to get rid of our accent through hard work and practice.
Most of us are typical perfectionists, especially when we're talking about about foreign languages. We constantly insist that we don't know the language, even if we understand and speak it.
However, if there are sometimes minor grammatical errors in the speech, then we consider them an excellent reason not to speak a foreign language at all, which leads to a language barrier (don’t do that!).
Why do we have an accent
- First, problems arise with certain sounds that simply do not exist in the native language. In fact, we have the ability to reproduce and perceive any sounds of human language. However, the older we get, the more difficult it is for us to learn sounds typical of foreign language. This is such a sad pattern.
- Secondly, it is not only individual sounds that make speech sound odd and odd, but also sound patterns that also vary dramatically across languages.
- And finally, each language has a specific sentence structure. In Russian, for example, there is no need to use a linking verb to be: "The dish is really disgusting." Therefore, a native can immediately recognize when a foreigner is in front of him.
How to get rid of an accent in English
It is important to remember that pronunciation is an integral component, which, in fact, is the charm of a foreign language. So it's time to sort it out useful tips that will help you say goodbye to your English accent once and for all:
- Think about what kind of accent you like, based on this, select the necessary material.
- Make a list of sounds (vowels and consonants), examples of stress or intonation patterns that cause the most difficulty and focus attention on these points. If you are interested in American English, be sure to read the article on reading rules.
- Be prepared that you may have to retrain yourself to pronounce this or that sound. To make the process go faster, study the articulation process itself and practice in front of a mirror. Then you will be able to understand which position is typical for a particular case.
- Practice as much as possible. Regular listening and live communication with a native speaker will help identify those areas in which the accent of the native language comes to the fore. Also, communicating in a foreign language will allow you to apply the acquired knowledge in practice.
- Pay attention to intonation, study variations, patterns and rules, where it falls and where, on the contrary, it rises. If the natives look at you with bewilderment, then most likely you placed the emphasis incorrectly. When you learn new words and expand your vocabulary, do not forget to also clarify which syllables are unstressed and which are stressed.
Conclusion
Today we found out what this mysterious accent is, discussed its types and features, found out the reason for the difficulties that arise when learning a foreign language, and, finally, sorted out effective methods getting rid of the accent in English.
What accent do you like? We wish you success and beautiful English! And don't forget your car keys ;)
Big and friendly EnglishDom family
The desire to master the English language perfectly often goes hand in hand with the dream of getting rid of the Russian accent and speaking like a native speaker. To achieve this goal, you need to know how the Russian accent manifests itself, what it takes to speak like a native speaker, what methods and aids to use, how much time it will take - all this will be discussed in today’s article. Our teachers (Russian-speaking and native English speakers) will give answers to all these questions.
What is the Russian accent?
Lyudmila Mariner: Russian accent is a number of features of speech in English that do not coincide with what is considered the norm of English pronunciation. Most often, a Russian accent manifests itself in the replacement of English sounds with similar (and sometimes completely different) Russian sounds. Typical mistakes are replacing interdental ones with Russian /с/ and /з/, replacing /w/ with /в/, rolling /р/ instead of /r/, non-observance of vowel length. In addition, a very important component of accent is intonation. In fact, perhaps even more important than pronunciation.
Natalya Aronson: For a Russian-speaking person, the greatest difficulty is caused by sounds and linguistic phenomena that do not exist in their native language. In phonetics, these are interdental sounds. First of all, you should pay attention to them. They form an accent, can distort the meaning of a statement and give rise to jokes. Sentence structure is also important (but that's grammar).
Jamie: Russian people tend to have problems with both ‘th’ sounds, ‘th’is and ‘th’ink as well as with ‘w’ sounds. These are called fossilized problems as the Russian speaker grows up without using these sounds and the y are hard for the student to find. 
Nathaniel:Russians have problems with ‘v’ and ‘w’ – ‘wery’ instead of ‘very’. Russians often roll their ‘r’s. Like any accent it can be strong or weak depending on the person. It is as distinctive as any other.
John Rice:
Intonation is most noticeably different in the two languages and using your own in any other language will show where you are from. However, forcing intonation can result in an equally un-English accent, with changes in tone in the wrong places.
Also noticeable is a general lack of the schwa. Russians often speak with equal vowel sounds, when the vowels are pronounced the same wherever they occur. Intonation is most noticeably different in the two languages and using your own in any other language will show where you are from. However, forcing intonation can result in an equally un-English accent, with changes in tone in the wrong places.
Kate: From my Russian experiences have difficulty expressing the ‘w’ and the ‘v’ consonants in English, often getting them mixed around. Russians will also say the ‘s’ sound when speaking words with a ‘th’ sound in English. For example 'think' becomes 'sink'
Thus, if you want to get rid of the Russian accent, then:
- Learn typical intonation options for different types of sentences. Practice copying intonations after native speakers. While listening to texts, draw diagrams depicting the rise and fall of intonation.
- Never speak monotonously, as we speak Russian. To the “ear” of a native English speaker, this sounds rude - as if you are not interested in the interlocutor or the topic of conversation.
- Achieve correct pronunciation of all English sounds. It is imperative that your pronunciation be appreciated by a native speaker. Since Russian-speaking teachers often do not notice such nuances as, for example, students pronouncing English sounds [s], [t], [d], [l], [n] as Russian [c], [t], [d], [ l], [n]
- Work regularly on your pronunciation and intonation.
What do English speakers think about the Russian accent?
John Rice:Perhaps I have become used to it, but I think I have always found it quite pleasant. Russian can sound rather flat and monotonous to English ears, but when speaking English most try to adapt and their accent can be quite musical.
Jamie: I am very used to Russian friends and do not have any real view of the accent as it is something I am used to but many people find it hard.
Nathaniel:Generally I’ve been hugely impressed by my Russian students. Compared to other nationalities their pronunciation is often very good. It is usually very clear. As with all students problems persist. Particularly with syllable stress, but on the whole Russians have much better pronunciation than other nations – particularly regarding clarity.
Kate: I personally think the Russian accent is very pleasing to the English ear. Most of my students have good pronunciation, only struggling when introduced to new words. Often they will get the consonant pronunciation wrong as in question 1 or they will produce a rolled ‘g’ sound equal to the Afrikaans ‘g’ sound when saying the ‘h’ consonant in English. Sometimes they will also pronounce the ‘ed’ sound in words such as ‘watched’ and this is because of the struggle of placing a ch+t sound at the end of these words in English.
The Russian accent is perceived differently by speakers. However, there is some general opinion about it.
Common features of the Russian accent:
- monotony in intonation
- clarity in articulation
- not always correct accent in words and sentences
- the pronunciation of consonants [h], [r] and interdental sounds th (like [z]) is greatly distorted,
- replacing [w] with [v]
- pronunciation [t], [d], [l], [n] as in teeth (but should be pronounced on the alveoli)
- absence of articles and the particle to before verbs in the infinitive...
You might be interested in watching the following videos:
Colin Farrell talks about the Russian accent:
Amy Walker parodies Russian accent:
Beyonce tries to speak with a Russian accent:
Should I get rid of my accent?
Lyudmila Mariner: First of all, a Russian accent is just as good (or bad) as any other accent. Secondly, I think that at a certain stage of language learning, the presence of an accent is natural and inevitable, especially at the beginning. In general, I believe that an accent is just an accent, it is only a very small part of your knowledge and skills in English, and it is very important to give it as much importance as it deserves. In 20 years of work, I have never encountered a situation where communication “failed” only because of the presence of an accent. If your accent bothers you, you need to get rid of it. At the same time, you need to remember that your accent does not necessarily interfere with your interlocutors, including native speakers. By the way, most of them speak with an accent: Scottish, American, Australian, New Zealand, and even London! How do you like the opinion of the great Bernard Shaw: “It is impossible for an Englishman to open his mouth without making some other Englishman hate or despise him”?
Alina: I think that an accent is not scary. Competent speech is much more important. Of course, you need to practice pronunciation: listening to texts, watching films in the original, communicating with native speakers, teaching aids - all this certainly helps.
John Rice: No. There is absolutely nothing wrong with having a Russian accent. Everyone has their own accent and this helps distinguish them from everyone else. English-speaking countries are quite polyglot and we are used to a variety of accents, but a Russian accent is perhaps unusual to most people and can be a point of interest. Most Russian I have known are proud of where they are from and this should include their accent.
Kate: I think it is only necessary to rid yourself of the Russian accent (or any accent) when it changes the meaning of the word or makes the word difficult for a native speaker to understand. In these cases the correct pronunciation should be used. When there is just slight accent on the words I personally don’t think this is problematic.
Jamie:I do not think that we should ever try to get rid of an accent, it is important to be clearly understood so we often need to change aspects of our accent but we should be proud of who we are and happy to keep our own identity.
Nathaniel: Certainly not. People totally miss the point when they place importance on accent in regard to pronunciation. Pronunciation is about being understood. To try and mimic a British or American accent is an impossible goal and waste of time. All that is important is your English is clear and the words you use are pronounced correctly. What foreign students consider ‘British’ is only one style of accent. It is a neutral accent. In reality someone from Liverpool sounds very different from someone from London. Neither person is right or wrong. If you are from Liverpool you will always have a Liverpudlian accent. If you are Russian and speak English you will always have a Russian accent. This is not important. Language is about communication. Pronunciation is about being understood so that communication is possible.
It may surprise you, but most English speakers believe that it is not necessary to get rid of a foreign accent as long as you are understood. There are many accents in English and among native speakers. Perhaps this explains their patient attitude towards foreign accents. However, the more I watch videos of ordinary people on YouTube and actors trying to parody a Russian accent, the more I am convinced that the Russian accent is not so bad. Many native English speakers even find it attractive!
Is it possible to get rid of the Russian accent?
Alina: Many of my friends got rid of their Russian accent by living for many years in America, as they studied at American colleges and then got jobs in a purely American environment. It is even difficult for them to formulate thoughts in Russian, and they speak Russian with an American accent.
John Rice: I have had a student begin a 100-hour course saying they wanted to a) learn every word in the textbook and b) speak like me at the end of it. Neither is possible nor necessary for ordinary humans. We speak our own language from before we remember and do so naturally, without really learning. The accent builds itself. Later changing to another language, which we then have to actively learn, is a different process. A native accent is only truly possible if you learn a language as a native. Beyond the age of perhaps seven years I suspect it is already too late, though there are cases where someone moved from one country to another as a child with a complete change of language and ended up sounding almost completely English. This did usually involve being completely separated from their native language, which they then entirely forgot.
Kate: I think it is possible but it would take a lot of practice and many hours of phonetic memorisation. It is also important to note here that a foreign language speaker would have to choose what native English accent they would like to sound like and focus on that. Native English speakers from around the world all have different variations of the English accent.
Jamie: I think that everyone has an accent, even me. It is possible to sound like a native speaker (with a soft accent) but I do not see the need. Your accent is part of who you are, just like your face. Something you should be proud of. As long as you make an effort to be clearly spoken which, in effect, will soften your accent. British people stress words differently and as a Russian person learns to stress the words like a native speaker, in order to be understood clearly, the Russian person will change their accent.
Nathaniel: It is only possible very rarely when you have lived in an English speaking country for very many years and even then your native accent will usually persist on some level.
You can get rid of an accent, but to do this you need to choose a specific pronunciation that you want to stick to. Remember that there is no American or British pronunciation– each region and even city of these countries has its own unique pronunciation and intonation features. If you want to speak like a native speaker, then you need to strictly adhere to one pronunciation option.
What should you do to get rid of your Russian accent?
Tips from Natalia Aronson: 
1. “Th” should not sound like “s” (in the word think - to think, otherwise it will turn out to be “sink” - washbasin), and “th” in the word then-then should not turn into “z” and give “zen” .
2.Longitude and brevity of sounds. This is not in Russian. A harmless “sheet” turns into God knows what (ask your teacher).
3. Don't pronounce W like V.
4. Please note that the sound “r” more often gives the “taste of the sound r” than the sound itself, which is NOT pronounced loudly.
5. The short sound “i” should not turn into a long sound and make the pronunciation of the consonant in front of it soft. More like "pyg" than "piig" in the word "pig".
6. Pronounce the sound “h” as an exhalation, not like the Russian “kh”.
7.The English language has a melody, unlike Russian, listen to it and “sing.”
John Rice: If a person wants to speak like a native he should be born here. (in the UK)
Jamie: The only way to become more like a native speaker is to practice with native speakers, preferably by spending time in an English speaking country. The more time spent practicing the better.
Nathaniel: To speak like a native English speaker a student should concentrate on informal English such as phrasal verbs and idioms.
Kate: Memorize the phonetic table of the accent which they choose to master and practice speaking words using a dictionary as a reference for the correct phonetics of the words. Listening to native speakers on the TV or radio would also benefit, plus speaking to a native speaker of which accent they want to master on a daily basis would also be beneficial.
So, according to our native teachers, to speak like a native speaker you need to:
- be born or live since childhood in an English-speaking country
- constantly communicate with native speakers and/or live in an English-speaking country
- pay attention to phraseological units and stable colloquial expressions
- learn the transcription and constantly check the dictionary if you don’t know how to pronounce a particular word
- surround yourself with English - watch films in English, listen to the radio
- communicate with native English speakers of the dialect you want to acquire
How long will it take to acquire authentic pronunciation?
John Rice: A good accent, with no more possibilities for misunderstanding than a native speaker, is perfectly possible within a few years. If the student is a good mimic, they can (sometimes) sound more English than the English, though this will mark them as a bit different in itself.
Kate: This is dependent on how many hours a foreign speaker would be willing to put into the practice and memorisation.
Jamie: How long does it take to learn something is individual. It also depends on how good the student wants to be in order to consider themselves good enough.
Nathaniel: To have excellent pronunciation (not to sound like a native English speaker but to be clearly understood) varies massively from student to student. Huge progress can be made if the student has regular lessons over a period of six months to a year. By then most students will have no problems being understood.
A lot depends on the student himself - how much time he can and is willing to devote to this, the speed of learning and what result you want to achieve. This may take from a year to several years.
Natalya Aronson:“If you want to improve your pronunciation, follow the path of Eliza Doolittle, i.e. by repeated repetition sound samples. Read aloud more, watch TV in English and repeat your favorite phrases after the announcers or characters
- To work on a British accent, you can take:
- To work on your American accent, you can watch and listen to:
”
John Rice: Any courses that involve native speakers. Most professionally produced material from Anglophone countries can be depended on to give good examples to follow. If the teacher is not a native speaker, the listening material becomes much more important. Beware the Internet: anyone can, and does, post anything there and sites like YouTube and any chat room will give many examples of how to sound terrible. Listen to the BBC. They no longer speak only “BBC English” and include regional accents now, but the language is always clear and copying from it will certainly produce no problems in accent.
It is important to note that there is no single, correct, universal native English accent. We come from many different parts of the globe and the differences are noticeable even to non-native speakers. Even within Britain, regional accents are diverse and, at times, mutually incomprehensible. Standard English, which is taught in almost all courses, has no accent of its own because it doesn’t come from anywhere. If anyone, native or not, uses standard grammar and vocabulary their accent is quite unimportant. English speakers have few problems with this among themselves, so there is no reason why Russians using English should have many.
Nathaniel: I would recommend being taught by a native English speaker. Course books can only do so much. Learning the phonemic script is a useful skill. Any good dictionary will have all words written in phonetics. But ultimately a student must practice, practice and practice with a native English teacher who CORRECTS them!!! Being taught by a non-native teacher can be problematic in regard to pronunciation because their bad habits will often be passed down to their students.
Kate: There are many online audio pronunciation guides available that are free, but of course a foreign language speaker would first have to choose which accent they desire and then go from there.
So, to practice pronunciation, you need to take only native speakers as a model. It is desirable that these are educated speakers. Not the most best idea there will be an imitation of someone from a youtube video or a movie, since there is a possibility that their accent may sound to the native speakers like village or street, etc., which is not always clear to a student of English. It's best to imitate the pronunciation of radio announcers, such as BBC (if you want to stick to British English) or VOA (if you want to learn American English). And, without a doubt, it is extremely useful to study English with a native professional teacher who can point out your pronunciation mistakes or nuances that will help you reduce your Russian accent, which is not always possible for Russian-speaking teachers.
Accent is the manner of pronunciation of words that belongs to a particular person. We always pick up on the accent when communicating with a foreigner. And, in turn, foreigners also hear that you speak English with an accent. When communicating with native speakers, two scenarios are possible: the foreigner smiles sweetly at you and says that you have a rather interesting accent. If your pronunciation does not hurt his ears and, most importantly, does not distort the meaning of what was said, everything is not so bad. Many may even think your accent is quite cute. But if you see a grimace of pain and misunderstanding on the face of your foreign interlocutor, try not to torment his hearing and analyze the situation. Is it possible to improve your pronunciation and get rid of the accent?
Different accents in English
It is worth noting that since English is the language of international communication, people all over the world speak it - and each with some kind of accent. Want to make sure of this?
Your accent can tell you which country or region you come from. Moreover, if you decide to get rid of the Russian accent in your English speech, you need to determine which pronunciation you want to learn. Indeed, in addition to the traditional British version There is an American version of the English language (with differences in pronunciation in each state), an Australian version, etc. The American version differs from British English, so it is better to choose which style of pronunciation you want to master, otherwise you risk getting completely confused.
How to get rid of an accent?
To make it easier for you to decide on ways to get rid of your accent, we offer several of the most common difficulties in pronunciation English words with options for their solution.
1. Incorrect pronunciation of sounds that are not in the native language
Difficulties arise, first of all, when pronouncing sounds that do not exist in the Russian language. For example:
- interdental sounds [ ð, θ ]: [ θin ] thin - thin, [ ðei ] they - they
- labiolabial sound[w]:[wi:] we - we, [wai] why - why
- nasal sound [ŋ]:[sɔŋ] song - song
- sound [ə:]: [ə:li] early - early
Solution to the problem:
It’s simple: to learn to pronounce sounds, you need to pronounce sounds. Listen to the pronunciation of these sounds in films, try to repeat the words. If you find a patient native speaker and get him to communicate with you, great. Spend at least 10-20 minutes a day listening to English-language audio materials, and most importantly, repeat what you hear. Record your speech on a voice recorder and listen to it. Yes, this offer is not for the faint of heart, but you and I do not shy away from difficulties. Learning to pronounce English sounds correctly is your first step to getting rid of your accent.
2. Incorrect pronunciation of sounds that perform a meaningful function:
The pronunciation of certain sounds is very important for understanding the meaning of what is said. For example, the pronunciation of voiced-voiceless sounds performs a semantic distinguishing function: bad (bad) – bat ( bat). And your interlocutor will not always understand what you meant from the context. The same can be applied to the pronunciation of long - short sounds: live - leave.
Solution to the problem:
Pay attention to details, understand the importance of the problem. For you there is a difference between the words corner - coal, spruce - spruce? Even some! Just as in the Russian language, soft-hard sounds perform a meaningful function; in English it is important to pronounce words with voiced-voiceless consonants, long-short vowels differently.
3. Pronunciation of consonants without aspiration
This is one of the main features of the Russian accent. English speakers pronounce voiceless consonants with aspiration:
Solution to the problem: try speaking Russian with an English “aspirated” accent. Repeat the words after the characters of your favorite films. You can also practice your pronunciation with Google's Spell Up game. Tongue twisters in English will also help you develop pronunciation.
4. Monotonous speech intonation
We speak our native language emotionally, placing accents and making pauses. Often we may not notice that we speak English in a monotone, thinking only about grammatical rules.
Solution to the problem: practice, practice and more practice. Pay attention to the language every day, try to pronounce the bottom of the same sentence, intonating it differently, visit speaking clubs. Live communication will help you get rid of this drawback.
We have described only some of the most common difficulties in pronouncing words in the English language. But we can say that only live communication in English will help you solve most problems with pronunciation. Some people get rid of their accent in a matter of weeks, without even moving abroad, while others continue to speak with an accent after many years of living in the country of native English speakers. If you want to improve your pronunciation, improve it every day.
An accent is a scourge for any person who wants to learn a foreign language. The purity of your pronunciation is very important for your interlocutor, because even if you know how to construct a sentence grammatically correctly, you can make a completely different impression on your opponent than you would like.
Learn with expression. No one forces you to memorize entire passages from books; you just need to choose a monologue of a character from a TV series or your favorite movie and memorize it. The main thing here is not just to learn the words, but the intonation. If we are talking about the English language, then the intonation will be more intense compared to Russian. It is necessary to express your mood correctly so as not to seem monotonous to your interlocutor. Start from scratch. Having enrolled in advanced language learning courses, you are unlikely to be taught pronunciation, because at this stage much attention is paid to tenses and various subtleties of professional vocabulary. Courses for beginners are the most suitable option for people who want to get the correct pronunciation. Here they focus on the pronunciation of individual sounds and the alphabet.
Thanks to such simple methods, you will quickly get rid of your accent, and it will be difficult to distinguish you from a native speaker.
Oh, this English language! Not a minute of rest - study grammar, don’t forget about the rules of pronunciation, and also work on your accent. By the way, about the last one. What exactly should we understand by it?
Accent refers to a special way of speaking and sounding. There are actually two definitions of this term.
Firstly, accent refers to certain features of the native language that are typical for a certain group of the population belonging to one social group or living in a specific territory. For example, residents of Texas have their own accent, which differs from the manner of pronunciation of residents of California.
Secondly, there is the “foreign” accent. For example, a person speaks English, but uses some of the rules or sounds of Italian. If problems arise with pronunciation, a person simply replaces them with similar or similar sounds typical of their native language. Such speech sounds incorrect, funny, and sometimes even offensive to native speakers.
Variations and features of the English accent
The main types of English accent primarily include British and American. In cinema, this difference is very noticeable. For example, in a fragment of the ancient world period, the characters speak with a British accent, even if they are in a place where no English is spoken at all. The British accent is inextricably linked to classicism and theater (thank you, William Shakespeare). The American accent is often associated with modernity, youth and a fresh outlook on life.
In Boston, for example, the influence of Irish settlers has led to a distinctly Boston accent, although the modern one does not sound exactly like Irish. A common joke is that when a Bostonian says “I lost my car keys,” it sounds more like “I lost my khakis.”
In Hong Kong, exposure to Chinese and British culture has resulted in an accent that sounds almost British, although slightly different. The same thing happened with Australia and New Zealand.
The English with a clear Spanish accent sounds emotional and passionate. A Middle Eastern American accent sounds nice and friendly, while a Southern California accent sounds sassy and cool. Perhaps you know someone who speaks with a thick, ringing Southern accent, or a native speaker with a posh Cape Cod accent.
Russian accent in English
The melody of the Russian language is strikingly different from English. The Russian language is intonationally more uniform and smooth, while English is characterized by various types of intonation, which in ordinary conversation seem inappropriate or overly expressive to a Russian person.
English consonants are softer than Russian ones. Russian lacks some sounds found in English, such as the sounds [θ] and [ð]. Since these sounds are atypical for ours, we often replace them with the familiar [s] or [z]. It turns out sad and wrong.
In addition, a feature of the Russian English accent can be attributed to difficulties with the sounds [w] and [v] - Russian speakers often use [v] instead of [w] and vice versa.
Many English students wonder, “Do native speakers understand our accent?” Foreigners often note that English with a Russian or Ukrainian accent is quite easy to understand and generally sounds quite attractive. However, it is entirely possible for us to get rid of our accent through hard work and practice.
Why do we have an accent
As mentioned above, problems arise with certain sounds that do not exist in the native language. In fact, we have the ability to reproduce and perceive any sounds of human language. However, the older we get, the more difficult it is for us to learn sounds that are alien to our speech.
Secondly, it is not only individual sounds that make speech sound odd and odd, but also sound patterns that also vary dramatically across languages.
And finally, each language has a specific sentence structure. In Russian, for example, there is no need to use the linking verb to be: “The dish is really disgusting” (This dish is disgusting). Based on these signs, a native speaker immediately recognizes a foreigner.
How to get rid of an accent in English
It's time to look at some useful tips that will help you say goodbye to your English accent once and for all:
- Make a list of sounds (vowels and consonants), examples of stress or intonation patterns that cause the most difficulty and focus attention on these points. If you are interested in American English, read the article on reading rules.
Think about what kind of accent you like, and select the necessary material based on this.
Be prepared that you may have to retrain yourself to pronounce this or that sound. To make the process go faster, study the articulation process itself and practice in front of a mirror. Then you will be able to understand which position of the lips, tongue and ligaments is typical for a particular case.
Practice as much as possible. Regular listening and live communication with a native speaker will help identify those areas in which the accent of the native language comes to the fore.
Pay attention to intonation, study variations, patterns and rules, where it falls and where, on the contrary, it rises. If native speakers look at you with bewilderment, most likely you placed the emphasis incorrectly. When you learn new words and expand your vocabulary, do not forget to also clarify which syllables are unstressed and which are stressed.
Summary
We found out what this mysterious accent is, discussed its types and features, found out the reason for the difficulties that arise when learning a foreign language, and examined the principles of getting rid of an accent in English.
What accent do you like? And don't forget your car keys!