How to improve your accent with audio books

Here is a great way to work on improving your American accent:

Buy a book on audio. I suggest a non-fiction topic because the speech is generally better suited for this type of practice.

Listen to a sentence or a phrase, then pause it and repeat what the speaker said. At the same time, record this so that you can listen back and compare how you sound versus the speaker on the audio. Keep in mind that this is not a memory test. If you don't remember things word for word once in a while, just keep going. Some phrases will be longer than others.

It's a good idea to also have the hard copy of the book so that you can sometimes just play it while reading the text. This is especially valuable if you read the text first, only a few pages for example, and underline the difficult or new words. That way you can later pay close attention to how these words sound in context. Also try to listen to the intonation and word stress. Do this often. It will help you a lot!

I DON"T recommend Amazon's product, Kindle, which seems to be a computer generated voice and not an actual human reading. The speech sounds artificial without any rhythm nor melody.

S or Z?

Alex asks:

Hello Lisa,

You say in your book that the final "s" in the words "is" and "has" is pronounced as /z/. Then what if when "it is" and "it has" are contracted to "it's", does the "s" remain /z/ sound?

Many thanks,
Alex

Hi Alex,

When "it is" is contracted to "it's" the S sounds like /s/, not /z/. This is because it comes after the "t", which is a voiceless consonant. (Rule #1 on page 59 of my book, "Mastering the American Accent.") Good observation Alex. Make sure you memorize that list (on page 60) of common words that end in /s/ which is pronounced as a /z/. I regularly have students that make this mistake. Even today I was correcting my Italian student who was saying "wasss" instead of "wazzz."
I wish it were simpler. In most other languages these kinds of changes don't occur.

Accent Reduction Practice with Singing

Paolo asks:

Is singing songs a good way to improve my pronunciaton or not? I'm just asking because sometimes rappers or singers tend to pronounce words with a different "cadence" just to make them rhyme with one another, what do you think?

Yes, singing is a great for improving your accent. Just be careful not to pick up the bad grammar and the over-use of slang is many songs, especially rap. I remember the Rolling Stones song "Satisfaction." They sing, "I can't get no satisfaction." That's a double negative. Some of my students end up talking that way.

I have reminded you in the past, but it's worth repeating: BE CAREFUL ABOUT WHO YOUR ROLE MODELS OF SPEECH ARE!!" Obama... yes, Rock 'n' roll and rap... NO!

Good question Paolo.

how to pronounce "WORLD" and other similar words

Take a look at my new video that will teach you how to correctly pronounce the word "world." Almost all of my students have a hard time with this word. It consists of combinations of sounds that don't exist in other languages.

Celebrities Talking About their Accents

Here are some interesting quotes from some famous people discussing how their accents have affected their lives:

I learned to change my accent; in England, your accent identifies you very strongly with a class, and I did not want to be held back.
Sting

I guess when I first started speaking with an American accent, there's a tendency to create a caricature of the accent because you just exaggerate the pieces that stand out to you.
Radha Mitchell

I am trying to make my accent so it won't bother anyone, but I am not going to drive myself crazy trying to pretend I am an American girl when I am from Colombia.
Shakira

I think it's sort of a rite of passage for a British actor to try and get the American accent and have a good crack at doing that.
Orlando Bloom


I used to say that whenever people heard my Southern accent, they always wanted to deduct 100 IQ points.
Jeff Foxworthy

I will buy any creme, cosmetic, or elixir from a woman with a European accent.
Erma Bombeck My accent depends on whom I'm around.


My accent remained terrible. It was very hard for me to initiate any conversation with someone I didn't know.
Lawrence Welk

My own dreams fortunately came true in this great state. I became Mr. Universe; I became a successful businessman. And even though some people say I still speak with a slight accent, I have reached the top of the acting profession.
Arnold Schwarzenegger

No, no, no. Your accent is so beautiful.
Maya Rudolph

Only very rarely are foreigners or first-generation immigrants allowed to be nice people in American films. Those with an accent are bad guys.
Max von Sydow

You know what? I'm really attracted to British women, there's something innately proper about them. However badly they behave their accent is so cute that it makes up for everything!
Josh Hartnett

DVDs and YouTube videos

Nouman from India wrote:

I dont find your Course DVD's in India. Is there a way I can order them?
Thank you and wish to see more of your videos in Youtube
- Nouman

Hi Nouman,
I will be making more YouTube videos soon. You can buy the DVDs "Mastering the American Accent" - (over 4 hours of instructional video) by going to the website: accurateenglish.com. You can pay by credit card and they will be sent to you on the following day. However, if you don't have a credit card, you can send a check to the following address:

Accurate English
13101 Washington Blvd, suite 231
Los Angeles, CA 90066
USA

"warm" and "worm"

I often get asked how to pronounce these two words. Are they the same or different?

They are different. Here is how to pronounce them:

For "worm" say "were" and then add a "m" sound at the end.

for "warm" say "wore" (past tense of wear) and then add an "m" at the end.

So "warm" actually has an "o" sound in it, but "worm" has an "er" sound like the words "her" or " "bird."