my accent -- is it understanable?

Guest   Wed Dec 19, 2007 10:28 am GMT
http://www.zshare.net/audio/5742024ba034ab/


Can you tell me how it sounds like and how can I improve it further? Any pros and cons?
Thanks for any feedback in advance.
Ocean   Thu Dec 20, 2007 5:18 pm GMT
Hi there,

well, I'm not a native English speaker but you sound good. However, try not to speak so fast. I think you are from East Asia, and I believe it's hard for you to pronounce some sounds. My advice as a fellow second language learner is to practice all the time. You are doing well.. Good luck!
Brian   Thu Dec 20, 2007 10:56 pm GMT
Your grammar and all that was very good, but you're trying to talk too fast. You seem to be having trouble with some of the sounds and you're trying too hard to speak quickly, so your words sound slurred. Just slow down a bit. Overall, you were understandable and not too bad.
Guest   Thu Dec 20, 2007 10:57 pm GMT
It's bad. You need to improve .
Guest   Thu Dec 20, 2007 10:59 pm GMT
For example, you lisp too much. I think that you don't use the TH sound properly.
Brian   Thu Dec 20, 2007 11:12 pm GMT
<<For example, you lisp too much. I think that you don't use the TH sound properly.>>

To tell the truth, he doesn't say nearly half of the sounds correctly. He even drops some of them out ("suggestions" sounded like "su'stions" almost). He's trying to talk to fast and he's not ready for it.
Guest   Fri Dec 21, 2007 9:41 am GMT
Thanks for your honest opinions. Yup. there is a problem with my accent and I need to fix it. I need to slow down a bit. What tips would you like me to follow apart from slowing down? Well, I did not say half of the sounds correctly then what exactly would you like me to do? Should I go back to learning phonetic transcription?

I am sure there are some ways that I can follow in order to improve my accent.

Ocean, your accent sounds awesome. What exactly are you doing?
Guest   Fri Dec 21, 2007 12:24 pm GMT
I usally do the following to improve my English, I download the lyrics of English songs, print them and after listening to them carefully, I underline the difficult words and write down the phonetic symbols . If I'm not sure, I take a look at the Collins dictionary. Later I memorize the songs and specially the sounds of the difficult words.
Guest   Fri Dec 21, 2007 1:05 pm GMT
To Guest, thanks for your advice.
Guest   Fri Dec 21, 2007 1:27 pm GMT
Oh and I forgot to add, after I've done all that I then sing the songs in the shower at the top of my voice.