My One Big Goal for 2014 is Accent reduction or Neutralization. This weakness in my game has been pointed out by some very seasoned Players on the forum and I take their opinion seriously. 350Zguy mentioned it , Giovonny mentioned it ever so politely to try not to hurt my feelings and finally message driven home by Fisto.

My spoken and written english is great and I attended Toastmaters at the Local Uni and was killing my competition. I had no problem holding the atttention of the room, looking them in the eye and got rid of um and ahhs but Toastmasters wasn't helping with Accent reduction.

I am half way through Voice Power , It is a very nice book written by a Vocal Coach. I will follow the recommendations and will report back.



The Only Solid program I have found for accent reduction is English By the Hour thinking about buying the self study guide and or 1-1 consultantion online. What do you guys think ?

I also checked into Verbal Advantage Program but it seems like a program for verbal proficiency etc not necessarily help with accent. I even called them and they agreed with me.

Any one has used english by the hour or any other programs ?

All suggestions are welcome ........

Bitches be retarded. Just tell the you are Romanian and problem solved. They won't know.

^^^ Exactly , I tell dem chicas I am from Nepal (courtesy e-mech) and they have no clue where Nepal is

On a more serious note I'm dead serious about correcting my accent , Nepal or Romania wherever I am from.

How's the Nepal thing working out?

Quote: (02-05-2014 02:14 PM)Lothario Wrote:  

^^^ Exactly , I tell dem chicas I am from Nepal (courtesy e-mech) and they have no clue where Nepal is

On a more serious note I'm dead serious about correcting my accent , Nepal or Romania wherever I am from.

What accent do you have?

^ The worst one possible, North Carolina

Why do you want to change your accent? Is it difficult for people to understand you? Or, do you feel you have an "unfashionable" accent?

Either way, maybe research what actors and actresses do. I remember hearing that Charlize Theron did quite a lot of work on her accent before making it big in Hollywood. She basically was coached to acquire a "Standard American Accent" much loved in the movie industry. She uses this as her base.

Also, I wouldn't listen too much to people who claim there is no "Standard American Accent". Pretty much every country has a standard (don't necessarily mean majority users) accent used by the vast majority of Upper Middle Class and above people, especially in the capital and/or financial centre of the country. Essentially an accent of the lower ruling class. Also used by people moving up or aspiring to. In that process people lose their regional accents. No I'm not being "elitist", just pointing out something that was pointed out to me years ago, incidentally by an extremely smart guy with a lifetime's work in linguistics and languages.

So if you're going to go to an immense amount of work to change your accent I'd look carefully what you're changing it to. Choose the "Standard X language" of the country you will spend most of your time. In your case likely Standard American English. If you want to be edgy you could try "Received Pronunciation", which is essentially Standard British English, but this would be quite risky. American girls do tend to like British accents though...

Work on a British or Aussie accent. Chicks here love that. Don't waste time trying to sound American. That's your optimum DHV with a proper back story. Call me later and I'll zero you in. I forgot what you sound like.

Quote: (02-05-2014 02:26 PM)el mechanico Wrote:  

^ The worst one possible, North Carolina

Isn't Dash from North Cackalacka?

I met a guy almost just like you from Nepal. He had lived in both the U.K. and U.S. and his accent was light and muddled. Girls never questioned it. He might be a distant relative cause he has your alcohol tolerance and approach skill. I'd suck up the tab and buy him 3-4 pints and sic him on groups of chicks. Dude was like a wind up toy and feared no rejection. He was a hell of a wing.

edit-Was hanging with this dude in London.

http://thepiratebay.se/search/accent/0/7/0

Lothario, I remember how you sound. I would just try to make it easier for people to understand but not completely erase it.

Accents are a finicky affair in the U.S. Other anglophone accents(Irish, Uk, Aussie) are well-received though the South African can be undecipherable lol. Euro accents like French, German,etc..are neutral. On the other hand...Indian, East Asian and Spanish accents are usually a DLV. I wouldn't bother changing it unless you're in the later category.

I agree with Ali. A British accent would do you VERY well.

I remember this dude from my high school, black guy, could do a perfect British accent. No one could tell he wasn't. I actually ran into him some years later while hanging out at a bar and just for kicks asked him to try it out on some girls. It was hilarious. Girls ate it up. It's like your IQ rises by 20 points in the eyes of the average American when you speak with a British accent.

Quote: (02-05-2014 04:43 PM)MaleDefined Wrote:  

I agree with Ali. A British accent would do you VERY well.

Unless you have it down solid, be careful there aren't any Brits around...people from the UK are very good at sensing when an accent's faked.

Spanish accents are good, but mexican accents are not.

I will confess to basically acting like James Bond crossed with Hugh Grant when in the US.. aloof, cocky, but with a slightly 'embarrassed that you're so excited by my accent' vulnerability. Used correctly it's like crack. Most effective on the west coast from experience.

If i was American i would definitely play about with learning a fake British accent for fucking around.
Although i'm fairly well spoken with a pretty neutral English accent. Some of the stronger regional UK accents would probably have the girls wondering if they're even speaking the same language!

Quote: (02-05-2014 06:25 PM)J.J. Wrote:  

Spanish accents are good, but mexican accents are not.

Really? When I went to Argentina the girls loved my Mexican accent. They loved imitating it and they would say "Oh thats so cool, you're Mexican? Thats awesome" Everybody down there loved it.

@OP: What accent do you want to try to imitate? Because really if you want to sound white, then my advice is to hang out with a lot of white people. If you want to sound like a black guy from the US, then hang out with more black people. If you want to sound Argentinian, move to Argentina. You'll be surprised how much your accent changes just by hanging out with a certain group or race.

Quote: (02-05-2014 05:00 PM)Saga Wrote:  

Quote: (02-05-2014 04:43 PM)MaleDefined Wrote:  

I agree with Ali. A British accent would do you VERY well.

Unless you have it down solid, be careful there aren't any Brits around...people from the UK are very good at sensing when an accent's faked.

Faking a British accent is easy.

Quote: (02-05-2014 05:00 PM)Saga Wrote:  

Quote: (02-05-2014 04:43 PM)MaleDefined Wrote:  

I agree with Ali. A British accent would do you VERY well.

Unless you have it down solid, be careful there aren't any Brits around...people from the UK are very good at sensing when an accent's faked.

That's because most Americans have the erroneous notion that Brits speak the Queen's English and so when they try to put on the accent it sounds fake posh. Maybe 1-2% of brits have an RP accent, the rest speak a mix of regional and estuary. It's very difficult to imitate if you didn't grow up there, you wouldn't know the slang.

American sluts love the british accent but do british sluts love the american accent?

Get a speech therapist.

That would be much easier than trying to do that by yourself.

Quote: (02-05-2014 09:20 PM)Beginner Wrote:  

American sluts love the british accent but do british sluts love the american accent?

Those manky little tarts tried to wear off me bell-end due to my southern accent. The further north I went, the worse it got. Newcastle is the promised land of tea towel holders.