Jason
Any resources to improve English accent? 如何改善英语口音?
Hello everyone. My name is Yajun, and I am currently living in the U.S. and teaching Business Analytics at a University. Though I can communicate well with my students, I have an accent. One of my friends recommend me to use "google voice"; his argument is that if Google can recognize my English, others can also do. I tried, but it seems that Google uses machine learning algorithms to learn my accent and get used to it. So, even though I have an accent, Google can still recognize it.

Could you please recommend some resources/tools/websites to help me improve my accent? I really appreciate it.

By the way, I am also seeking a native English speaker for English/Chinese language exchange. Please message me if you are interested. I look forward to hearing from you.
Jun 8, 2020 3:28 AM
Comments · 4
4
There are a lot of factors that go into acquiring a good accent: Consonants, vowels, stress, rhythm, intonation, etc., so it’s impossible to give you specific recommendations without hearing you speak. The University of Iowa’s “Sounds of Speech” app is very useful for consonants and vowels.


A good exercise is “shadowing”. Actually, I have been using several variations on “shadowing” for decades before it became fashionable. You can use your favorite browser to learn the basics, although I would strongly recommend you also familiarize yourself with the theory of English phonology, because the “listen and repeat method” has limited usefulness if you don’t know specifically what to listen for.

If you message me (inbox) with some details, I’ll give you some more specific suggestions.
June 8, 2020
2
<a href="https://youglish.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://youglish.com/</a>; lets hear the words in authentic context, great for ear training
June 8, 2020
1
Thank you very much, Olga and Phil. I will follow your suggestions and practice.
June 8, 2020
1
Correction: I meant "search engine", but my fingers typed "browser" for some odd reason.
June 8, 2020