Accent Reduction by Elocution Solution

[ChristopherDone]

Live in Europe for a couple years, trust me, that reduces your accent quickly, you speak European English, or no one can understand you. :-)

[DeadlyShuriken11]

English is my first language and I find that it sounds quite ugly compared to the other languages out there. Women sound like men.

[carosaurus]

The woman in the middle has an accent.

[Wizzdum87]

They sound really fake and like they couldn't maintain that weird way of talking. Especially the one in the middle, that is one odd accent.

[jamesmacdonald605]

I find the tone and wording rather patronising.  Although this is rather common in America.

[FredericBayer]

Watching this video, and looking at the comments, is extremely funny to someone who speaks British English, like me. Conversely to the intended effect, it seems to me like the women in the video have strong accents and I speak English properly...lol

[nakedmambo]

Since the proliferation of American and American-style shopping channels this sort of accent has become so common in the media that it sounds like a comedy accent when you hear it in real life.

[MouYijian]

'The 'th' sound is uniquely English'... Hmm, interesting. What about 'z' in Castilian Spanish, and 'θ' in Greek, and Arabic ث?

[wilhelmschumann]

My accent is like Tarzan when I speak English, but I am very Fluent regarding English Language.

I think to have an accent is not any problem, but there are some people who are really reluctant to listen a foreigner who does not speak English.

[mathewanumate]

wow/// hot chiks ) 

[darpachief]

loool, The Russian lady now sounds like Arnold Shwarzznegger...Good Job Americans.

[CitySparrow]

For all those purists defending Queen's English: there are many more immigrants in the US then in England. And the last thing we need is British accent. For those who are interested there are plenty of tutorials on British pronunciation. These ladies are doing a great job so we don't have to drive to a school and spend two hours in a classroom after a day's work. Thank you.

[SD78]

I was waiting for a tutor to come on and start correcting their horrendous American accents.

[BlueBlighterTV]

These women need to do some work on reducing their American accents if they are to speak English correctly. Standard English is, of course the HM the Queen's English.

[josiah566]

Having an accent is a matter of perspective. This is just outright, nationalized imposing of American culture.

[Speechdocs]

@josiah566

Thank you for your comment. There's nothing wrong with any accent. We all have an accent to someone. The point is that you want to be understood in the country or city where you live and work.

[ne1l007]

@Speechdocs

Very informative. Personally, I failed to secure a job, due to myself not being articulate. Now I wish to learn elocution skills.

[TheMessianicManic]

@josiah566 I'd agree if their goal were to discourage any deviation from standard American English, and the condescending demeanor these chicks have is really off-putting, but if people are having trouble making themselves understood, I think that's a legitimate problem worthy of correction.

[AdamSeeb]

do americans expect peepl to americanise accent? codswollup. my advice: 'com' does not sound the same as 'calm'. how does american english have 46 six sounds since it lacks the 'o' vowel?! general american has fewer vowels than british english. anyway the accents in boston is diffrent to the won in georgia. sounds a bit like floggin a ded horse, this ain't it?!

[D0ug91]

@josiah566 No it's a matter of fluency in the native phonetics of a given language. There is little to no accent "perspective", unless we are referring to dialectical differences (British vs. American English, European vs Quebecois French). Ability to produce proper native speech in a convincing manner is an essential component of learning another language. Let alone the necessity of clear speech in daily speech.

-Doug

Anglophone living in Quebec

[josiah566]

@D0ug91 I think we were referring to the dialectical differences. Simply claiming that there is only one way to speak a language is ignorant. Just take English for example. We won't get anywhere if we claim that only American English is right, or if British English is right, or any other accent you can possibly think of.

Of course when discussing how to speak a language natively, that's a different story. It is indeed crucial to learn to speak a language correctly.

[kleg0202]

@josiah566 "When in Rome, do as the Romans do." Is there something wrong with assimilation? I learned French, and try very hard to replicate the Parisian accent. That's not "imposition of [French] culture," it is showing appropriate respect to American English.

Every language sounds best when spoken with the appropriate accent.

[josiah566]

@kleg0202 To refer to TheMessianicManic, I also believe that this video should only be insofar as helpful as it is to assist people to be understood, but the way the video is structured, I feel like the way a deviant accent is treated is rather unfair. To me the video reeks of condescension. However, again to refer to TheMessianicManic, if people genuinely have trouble being understood, help should be sought.

[druidboy76]

@josiah566 Oh shut up, you anti-American bitch.

[josiah566]

@druidboy76 I have an American accent myself, and I live in America at the moment. The only person who's anti-anything is you. Have an open mind.

[GordonCope]

To be on not to be accented? .. If you don't have an accent, then how come it is so clear to me that you are American? In fact, I would even suggest you are from the New York area? I am not having a personal dig because you still speak with clarity, but the accent is still there :) I'm from England just in case you wondered.

[szymonwoj1]

hi Speechdocs, perhaps you could help me by telling me how to make that American voice sound? what do you mean by 'buzzing a voice'? I have a perfect pronunciation, at least on separate words, but I dont sound American because I dont have that strange quality in my voice, what on earth is it and how to do it? please help ;))

[Speechdocs]

Hi szymonwoj1,

The buzzing we refer to is the vibrations of the vocal cords on the voiced sounds. You can feel this if you put your hand on your throat, for example say the sound s-s-s, this is a voiceless sound. You shouldn't hear any buzzing or feel any vibrations. If you say z-z-z you will feel the vibrations and hear a buzzing sound because this is a voiced sound. I hope this helps you.

[samypalaces]

Well, it sounds academic, but again if you are teaching you should search for more information about the sounds you are mentioning, TH is not unique of English. Ask a linguist.

[dynamite60065]

TH is uniquely English? really? these women need to be educated themself. there are older langanges than English such as Arabic which has far more sounds than english. by the sound of TH is also in arabic.

[Speechdocs]

Thank you for your input. Someone else already made us aware of that.

[ReduceYourAccentLA]

Nice and professional video.

[HigherPlanes]

Lilia is HOTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

[20545578]

im 19 years old.. thanks for helping me, im studying English... you are amazing. beautifull, great... wow without words!

[Zaidmolina]

that russian lilia is hot

[Bombasticgirlish]

Ladies you sound  knowledgeable. Great.

[Forsure3333]

Americans really seem to strain their voice. I don't know if they develop throat problems later on in life.

[Shekie2000]

sily comment.

[keithwattsjr]

interesting movie.

i hate to say that the asian guy sounded almost the same though ...

[BRIGSTOCK]

I was expecting them to sound like upper class Brits/ English people- like David Niven or Alec Guiness, but they have ugly American accents. It would be better to speak with a Russian accent than a north American accent- it is SO ugly the way these women speak... uggh (imagine them reading Shakespeare with that accent)

[faro0485]

Accents like Pavel Chekov on Star trek?

[smebudar]

Native-English accents are great. It is a shame that their prevalence is being reduced due to people's moving around and bigotry.

Everyone has an accent, even if it is a generic American accent. Generic American and Canadian accents are almost identical.

There are some accents which I hate. Ohio people think they don't have an accent but they do: thee-at (that), mee-an (man), jaahhhb (job). However, I wouldn't insult them over it the way some people insult New Englanders or Southerners.

[stayjit1]

Many parts of Canada have lost da 'th' soun' eh? An sometimnes dey lose da last 'd' soun' too eh? But dey still speak English good as da nex' guy eh? Why is dat, eh?

[peteredwardjacobson]

Very Interesting

[RamonAllnightlong]

I can't understand anything that these yanks are saying with their yank drawls as if they were talking with big blobs of chewing gum in their mouths.

[U24536]

British-accent sounds kind of Gay.

[kaschax]

your both stupid, they're speakin very clearly. They're easy to understand.

I'm not american or English. But i am british as i am from northern ireland. If both countries have speakers that speak the the dialect well then there should be no communication issues

[INIGUEZELI]

leia i love u!! =)  would you marry with a young boy?! i'm 20... =) =)

see you girls 'nd i hope to watch more videos from u!=)

greetings from Argentina*-*-*-*-*

[newmann83]

U're welcome! Yeah, "th" as in think and "th" as in that. Both sound the same in Arabic as in English. Same pronunciation.

[newmann83]

Thanks for the video! (Remark: The 'th' sound exists in Arabic as well).

[Speechdocs]

Thanks for the information. I'm assuming it sounds the same in Arabic as in English?

[tndowns1122]

16 vowel sounds? I only count fifteen--only fourteen pure vowel sounds. Here is what I count:

(1) 6 front vowels: i: (as in "She"), I (as in "is"), e (as in "let"), E (as in the first element of the falling diphthong "air"), æ (as in "pat"), and a (as in "pass")

2) 3 mid-vowels: 3: (as in "stir"), ∂ (the shwa as "suprise"), ^ (as in "hut")

3) Six back-vowel sounds: u: (as in "who"), U (as in "would"), o (as in "poetic"), aw: (as in "talk"), D (as in "honest")

Which vowel am I not counting?

[tndowns1122]

oops, left out lowest back-vowel sound in the word "father." But that still only makes 15.

[Speechdocs]

Hi tndowns,

Thanks for your comment. And how timely! Please check out out next video as it is on vowels. By the way we didn't count schwa because it is just an unstressed version of /uh/ as in hut or /a/ as in pass and the D a in honest because they are theatrical pronunciations and not part of standard American English. Let us know what you think of our vowel count.

Speechdocs

[leshark]

nice vid only way you could probly make it better is if you show more lelia :D