Thread: What to do to speak like a native speaker?

Originally Posted by Remyisme

i think loosing the accent is the first thing..

I agree, but I think accents are cool.

Originally Posted by Анатолий

Originally Posted by Doldonius

Originally Posted by kwatts59

It is better to make a mistake and learn from that mistake, than to keep silent and learn nothing.

My guess is that in the land of Victorious Proletariat it was the main task of the schools, to never let nobody learn no nothing...

What does your remark mean, Doldonius? Does it help you if you slander your country and what does it have to do with the topic in question?

If it is the way he feels... Just a little off-topic. I only feel pain in his expression.

Originally Posted by Remyisme

i think loosing the accent is the first thing..

I respectifully disagree. It's almost impossible to achive for most.
I am with Biancca on this. Grammar, grammar, grammar!

I agree that Grammar is important, but i think that if a foreigner talkes with a strong accent he will never sound like a natural speaker.

Originally Posted by kwatts59

Originally Posted by Remyisme

i think loosing the accent is the first thing..

I agree, but I think accents are cool.

I heare that alot about you Americans I see that in your movies too.

Originally Posted by Анатолий

I learned English by songs, when you sing it's easier to get rid of the accent. I mastered my German and English accent in the age of 16-17, almost adult. I still have some slight accent when I speak both of them but but it's barely noticeable.
When you sing you imitate everything - sounds, intonation. Of course, singing is different from normal speaking but you can improve your accent greatly. Sing even if you can't sing, it's much more fun than reading along with a tape/CD, which is also very efficient.

It's my advice for learners of all languages, not just English.

This is exactly how I think, and that's why I've posted here so many Russian songs with audio.

Originally Posted by Remyisme

I agree that Grammar is important, but i think that if a foreigner talkes with a strong accent he will never sound like a natural speaker.

Такова селяви.

I don't see the purpose of an English learner trying to lose their accent, it's a an excersise in futility. Even natives are likely to spend much of their lives speaking with a different accent to those around them, apart from those very few who never ever leave the town they were born in, and never ever meet anyone from outside that town, which doesn't seem to be something you'd want to aspire to.

What is considered 'accent-free' in one part of the English-speaking world will sound strange/ foreign absolutely everywhere else. The most well-spoken American will always sound like a foreigner in Britain, the most neutrally-accented Brit (not that there is really such a thing anyway) will always be immediately identifiable as a Brit when visiting Australia, and so on and so on.

The closest thing to 'accent-free' you can ever hope for is a sort of vague, mid-Atlantic cludge, and all that means is that you'll sound foreign everywhere, instead of virtually everywhere, which is a pretty meaningless distinction.

In fact, so long as you can be understood, your accent is often the best ice-breaker you could ask for.

So, I'd say, since you are almost always going to sound like an outsider anyway (in common with most native English speakers, with the aforementioned exceptions), you'd be better off learning to appreciate your accent, to cherish it, rather than to lose it or minimise it. It's part of you, it's part of who you are and where you come from, so be proud of it.

Originally Posted by scotcher

So, I'd say, since you are almost always going to sound like an outsider anyway (in common with most native English speakers, with the aforementioned exceptions), you'd be better off learning to appreciate your accent, to cherish it, rather than to lose it or minimise it. It's part of you, it's part of who you are and where you come from, so be proud of it.

Анекдот:
-- Ты чего грустный такой?
-- Знаешь, у меня энурез.
-- ??
-- Ну ссусь я (писаю в кровать) с детства. И так это меня достало...
-- А сxоди к псиxотерапевту, сейчас это лечат.

Через месяц.
-- О, ты весёлый такой! Сxодил к врачу? Помогло? Не ссышься больше?
-- Ссусь. Но знаешь как я теперь этим горжусь!!!