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How to sound like a native speaker

How to sound like a native speaker

Date: Sep 12 2010

Topic: Speaking

Author: andylu2

Lesson

A lot of people want to learn a native American or English accent. 

It's not really necessary to do that, but it's kind of a fun goal.  To be honest, with the right techniques it is possible to get pretty close.

There are really 2 things you need to do.  Listen to native speakers and record your own voice.

1.  Listening to Native Speakers

If you want to sing your favorite song you would listen to it often and try to copy it.  You wouldn't just read the words to the song.  You would listen and copy, listen and copy.  Even if your song isn't exactly like the professional, it will get better and better.  It's obvious that this is what to do when singing.  For some reason, this is not how people study English.  If you want to sound like a native speaker, just listen to them a lot.  This is exactly how they learn.  British people have a perfect British accent.  They have no choice.  Americans have a perfect American accent.  They never learned it.  They just listened and copied.  It's as simple as that.

2.  Record your voice and listen to it.

Sometimes how you think you sound and how you actually sound are quite different.  It's a weird feeling to record your own voice and listen to it, but the weird feeling goes away quite quickly.  I did this with Chinese and it worked quite well.  You need to hear yourself so you can correct your own mistakes.  Alternate between listening to native speakers and yourself.  Compare and practice saying the words and sentences that give you trouble. You'll notice that some words are better than others.  Work on your weaknesses.  

Most people don't study this way and as a result have a poor accent.  Follow these two steps and you'll improve a lot in a short time.

You should also read How to improve Spoken English 

for general tips on speaking. 

For a great deal on a really cool cheap learning product, check out

How to Speak English Fluently

Comments

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sidra ali

Palestinian Territory, Occupied

its really my goal but please who can help me

09:02 PM Sep 30 2010 |

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