Without a clear pronunciation, you will not be well understood in an oral setting, so I deem it an essential skill. Although I am a non-native speaker, after 30 years in English, I consider myself a native speaker. In fact, in Taiwan I had a lady coming up to me saying that she didn't believe that I am originally from Germany because I didn't have a German accent. The trick to a clear pronunciation is the fact that we use muscles to form sounds and muscles want to be exercised. Whenever I heard someone pronouncing the language the way I liked i.e. clear and without a distracting accent, I would do my best to imitate them and exercise my 'pronunciation tools' if need be before a mirror or recording myself until I had mastered the skill.

First off, as a teacher in this field, the term 'native' is absolutely fine. To address your original question, to me, it is one of degree. Firstly, it is very very difficult to ever speak English with a perfect accent. Most native speakers understand this and have no issue when a learner's pronunciation is not perfect. However, obviously, if pronunciation impacts understanding then it becomes an issue. My biggest piece of advice is make sure your pronunciation is clear enough to be understood, but don't worry about being perfect ... perfection takes a lot of work, so just focus on doing your best and improving.

Sorry, I'm really not sure what you want to know. Do you personally want to know if you should focus on your own accent? I'm sure you'd want to present yourself as best you can, so that might be your answer. Some "foreign accents" come about because of mispronunciation. To be honest, any pronunciation can be learnt, so I can't accept habitual mispronunciation as an acceptable accent. If you say one thing and listeners think you've said something different, then that's an error, not an accent. English speakers are pretty tolerant when listening to non-native speakers use our language, so in the bigger picture, it isn't a major issue. However, this still depends on the situation - for example, if you represent a company, your language skills need to be of a high level. What are your thoughts when you hear a non-native Greek speaker? How important is their accent to you? :)

Hi Maria, I find foreign accents charming. It depends how well you want to fit in, your accent will always identify you as being non-native. Also, the better your pronunciation is, the easier it will be to understand you quickly. Good luck and keep talking!

I have no problem being called a native speaker but being called a "native" just sounds weird :-) A "foreign accent" is nothing to worry about, however if you pronounce a word so it is incomprehensible then you will fail to communicate. Think of it as a game of tennis, if it gets over the net you are still playing, but if it hits the net then no communication took place If it bothers you then as Vera suggest use those voice muscles and practise.