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Being able to speak English like a
native speaker is the dream of many people, the world over. This
entails not only knowledge of a sizeable number of words, correct
use of English grammar and finally mastering pronunciation. From
day 1 on, foreign students realize that there are few rules of
pronunciation in English. There are no diacritic marks to indicate
the pronunciation of specific vowels or consonants. A good accent
requires no less than frequent repetition and rote
memorization.
The goal of this program is to teach you to
pronounce English according to the American Standard Accent, which
is the prestige accent in the United States. Though there are
several regional accents (such as Texan, New Jersey, Appalachian,
Georgian, Boston, New York City, etc) these are often regarded as
provincial if not down right uneducated by people outside these
particular regions. The speaker who employs American Standard does
not reveal his state of origin – or among foreign speakers, his
country of origin. Without a doubt national television has been the
#1 factor behind the expansion of the accent. High rates of
migration of people from one state to another (principally for
economic reasons) and the resulting intermixing of people has also
been responsible for the decline of regional pronunciations.
Very few foreigners are able to totally
remove their native traits from spoken English. But with practice,
many are able to reduce their "foreign accent" to a point where it is
minimal or barely noticeable. Foreigners who speak English well
with minimal foreign accent are taken more seriously and treated
with less suspicion than those foreigners who make little attempt to
conform to American norms. As always hard work has its rewards.
This program makes use of 26 key
words. Each contains a different and distinct vowel sound.
Exhaustive word lists follow, each word demonstrating that
particular vowel sound. Nearly every commonly used word is included
in one or more of the lists.
For every one of these 26 vowel
sounds, you will see the multiple (2 to 6) ways that this sound is
spelled. Thus, one need not individually memorize the pronunciation
of the 3000 or so base words of the vocabulary of American English.
One only needs to recognize the pronunciation of certain spelling
patterns. The rather antiquated spelling conventions of modern
English lead to the production of many homonyms, which frequently
cause spelling mistakes for native speakers. In a rush, an American
might type
“weak” instead of “week”
since both words contain the same vowel sound, spelled /i/ by
linguists. But the good news is that there are only 2 ways to spell
the /i/ sound: ee or ea.
The speakers are a man and a woman in their
late 30’s. Both are native speakers of the American Standard
accent. Both are university educated. Odd tracks on the recording
are male. Even tracks are female. Each word is pronounced twice by
each speaker.
Toward the end of the program, specialized
vocabulary lists (such as Biology, Arts, the Supermarket, etc) are
presented and pronounced by the male speaker.
With the tools presented in this program, a
reduction of foreign accent is a certainty for all foreign
students. The amount of reduction will, of course, be directly
related to the amount of time put into the effort. In America we
have the proverb “Practice makes perfect
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