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ryan
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Joined: 20 Feb 2005
Posts: 999
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 Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2007 1:54 pm Post subject: Getting rid of an accent |
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Are there easy ways to, if not get rid of, slightly mute an accent? I just had a surreal call with someone at Ubisoft that reminded me of a meeting I had with a Russian developer at E3 - we couldn't understand each other, and they had a very hard time making it through my accent - that I would really prefer to not repeat.
A call after that one to another company got a "Wo! You got an accent!" response. He not being French made it easier though.
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duomo
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Joined: 25 Nov 2006
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| Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2007 2:09 pm Post subject: |
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| What accent do you have? |
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dhex
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Joined: 13 Dec 2004
Posts: 6319
Location: brooklyn, Nev Yiork
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| Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2007 2:18 pm Post subject: |
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1) buy tape or other recording of accent you want.
2) listen to it thousands of times, preferably while engaged in ritual sex magick against your enemies.
3) victory.
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ryan
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Joined: 20 Feb 2005
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| Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2007 3:32 pm Post subject: |
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Southern drawl - go go wikipedia! "The Southern American English dialects are often stigmatized (as are other American English dialects such as New York-New Jersey English). Therefore, speakers may code-switch or may eliminate more distinctive features from their personal idiolect in favor of "neutral-sounding" English (General American), though this involves more changes in phonetics than vocabulary."
It's becoming a pain. I also have a lazy tongue, which means that every word after the third tends to sound like one giant Voltron word. A Wordtron, if you will.
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dessgeega
loves your favorite videogame
Joined: 16 Jun 2005
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Location: bohan
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| Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2007 3:38 pm Post subject: |
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| ryan wrote: | | "The Southern American English dialects are often stigmatized (as are other American English dialects such as New York-New Jersey English) |
:(
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helicopterp
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Joined: 13 May 2006
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Location: Philadelphia
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| Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2007 10:11 pm Post subject: |
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People should just deal with it. I really like southern accents! I never have one except when I'm in south Georgia, and then it just happens naturally.
The vocabulary, though, keeps me honest the rest of the time. Y'all, fixin', Coke, and yonder all come out of my mouth with remarkable frequency.
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Fred
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Joined: 18 Apr 2006
Posts: 99
Location: Iowa
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| Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 1:01 am Post subject: |
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Just be conscious of your diction. It's all about--and let me channel my old speech coach here--your LIPS, TEETH, TIP OF THE TONGUE. Say that ten times fast, and don't drop any syllables. Anyway, diction is the difference between having an impenetrable patois and sounding like John Warner, and as long as you're not talking two hundred words a minute, it is the only difference. Pronounce every last vowel and consonant!
I remember hearing an interview with someone once--James Earl Jones, maybe?--who had problems with his diction as a kid, so he would tape the evening news broadcasts on his radio, then play them back and sort of talk along to the tape, trying to sound like the newscaster. I tried doing it in the car on the way to things while I was trying to get my radio voice down, and it helped--though my problem was with getting a feel for the right rhythm and cadence, so your results may vary.
Alternately, you could move to Nebraska.
But it's much easier to just be conscious of your speech and keep your lips, teeth and tongue moving, especially if all you're worried about is being understood by people for whom English is not a first language.
//edit -- names, names |
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ryan
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Joined: 20 Feb 2005
Posts: 999
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| Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 11:26 am Post subject: |
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| Fred wrote: | | But it's much easier to just be conscious of your speech and keep your lips, teeth and tongue moving, especially if all you're worried about is being understood by people for whom English is not a first language. |
Ah, thanks!
Well, the thing is, it kind of flares up. I was talking with someone from IC once and it happened, "Little bit of Louisiana, huh?" So I will double my efforts to watch out for the "Little bit of Louisiana."
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*christina*
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Joined: 17 Jan 2006
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Location: St. Louis, MO
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| Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 3:42 pm Post subject: |
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| Fred wrote: |
keep your lips, teeth and tongue moving
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This made me laugh because I'm a pervert. I think my friends in high school gave the same advice for oral sex.
Having a southern accent isn't a bad thing unless you allow it to make you sound uneducated. I think that's the major difference. There's a sweet guy down our street from Georgia whose accent is adorable (it would be hot if I were not engaged and my fiance did not read this forum). He is smart and fun to talk to and his accent is just a bonus. However, when I visit my parents in Alabama I run into people who are not so attractively southern. This could have something to do with the inbreeding. I think it's harder to tone down the drawl when you're surrounded by people who use it. It's easier to lose it when you live in the "North." My mom grew up in Louisiana and only talks southern when she's drunk (so that's only like 40% of the day). I was raised without an accent and only acquire one with I'm yelling at people (also like 40% of the day) so it can work both ways. If I were you I'd listen to NPR a lot and just make sure you use a broad vocabulary. And don't say fixin' to or warsh or y'all all (one y'all is enough) because those make my brain hurt.
~christina |
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Fred
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Joined: 18 Apr 2006
Posts: 99
Location: Iowa
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| Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2007 12:06 am Post subject: |
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| ryan wrote: | | Well, the thing is, it kind of flares up. I was talking with someone from IC once and it happened, "Little bit of Louisiana, huh?" So I will double my efforts to watch out for the "Little bit of Louisiana." |
Yeah, totally! I've developed a habit of "speaking radio" when I'm on-air, or giving a talk, or speaking with people who don't know me and my particular "forty-ninth parallel" sort of accent very well. Basically, whenever I'm at work. Or as Chuck D put it in a speech once, "I may talk good and proper English when I'm in front of you like this, as a businessman, but when I'm back in the hood I talk street." You just sort of watch out for it when it's important, I think.
That's my observations on it. Speech and language fascinate me, I love to talk about talking. I bet your accent isn't as bad as you think it is, though.
Oh, and one other thing since it came up just now--when you're in radio you get used to doing the same thing over and over, for a long time, and maybe that's all I need to say. |
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helicopterp
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Joined: 13 May 2006
Posts: 1435
Location: Philadelphia
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| Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2007 6:07 am Post subject: |
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| *christina* wrote: | | y'all all (one y'all is enough) |
Amen.
Semi-related: the first time I used "y'all" in front of some friends in England, they laughed really, really hard. And the second time. And the third time.
I thought it was funny how tickled they were by it.
They then made me say 'herb' a lot.
"Fixin' to" was also a mild disaster for me there.
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Dracko
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Joined: 10 Oct 2005
Posts: 2613
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| Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2007 6:09 am Post subject: |
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I have trouble pronouncing "th". I tend to pronounce it as an "f". :(
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dhex
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Joined: 13 Dec 2004
Posts: 6319
Location: brooklyn, Nev Yiork
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| Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2007 7:33 am Post subject: |
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i say y'all and i'm from jersey.
stereotyping hurts.
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Shapermc
Hot Sake!
Joined: 14 Oct 2004
Posts: 6279
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| Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2007 7:55 am Post subject: |
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| Fred wrote: | | I remember hearing an interview with someone once--James Earl Jones, maybe?--who had problems with his diction as a kid, so he would tape the evening news broadcasts on his radio, then play them back and sort of talk along to the tape, trying to sound like the newscaster. |
Interesting side note: James Earl Jones has a huge stuttering problem. When he records any kind of work he has to rerecord them a lot of times. When he does a half hour documentary it will take up to a week to record because of stuttering.
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Joe
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Joined: 27 Nov 2006
Posts: 179
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| Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2007 2:15 pm Post subject: |
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Man, just streamline the ugly out of that drawl and you will come out 100% Southern Gentleman.
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seryogin
JRPG Kommissar
Joined: 14 Oct 2004
Posts: 886
Location: Occupied Stalingrad
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| Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2007 10:30 pm Post subject: |
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I recall a funny exchange I had with Shaper a year ago while getting hammered over the phone (this was a five hour conversation or so).
Shaper: "Man, do you know you sound more and more Russian the drunker you get?"
Me: "Are you saying I de-evolve or something."
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