Hello Serena, First of all, the best way to practice is to get out and speak with as many people as possible. I lived in Australia for 2 years and I picked up the aussie accent!!(I am Irish) When you study, you should always try to read out loud after you listen to a reading/listening. You could do this with BBC 6 minute English for example. You can also try this with the book "How now brown cow"(How to improve British accent) You can find the video series on youtube. I hope that helps. Conor

I agree with Connor's advice - in fact, I pick up an Irish accent whenever I visit my friends in Wicklow. ;) You'll get your accent from the people you talk to. If you want to consciously work on sounding "less foreign" when speaking English, then find someone who can guide you and honestly tell you when you've got it right.

When I was learning French, I would speak the way I thought a stereotypical French person would speak. In my case, that meant exaggerating the nasal sounds and the cadence of the language. If I were learning a new accent / language, I would do the same. I would over-emphasize the distinguishing elements. I've done this in Spanish with the Argentine accent with limited effort and thus limited success. As a native speaker from the US, I've also tried this with posh British English. However, it's most important to do what Conor suggested and try speaking the language out loud with native speakers. I'm just starting to learn Mandarin, but I should probably get started on cultivating my accent. What's the Mandarin equivalent of "posh"? Edit: Added this YouTube video that teach the difference between some major English accents. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ouDcXRU-rs