American Accent-URGENT

Friends,
I made an initiative in learning English language by joining an American Accent Training Institute. Classes will probably start from couple of days from now. Trainers are the native speakers. They stretch for 15 days.

Could you please suggest me the ways to get most out of my classes and how to keep going with neutralizing my accent other than classes?

Give me a piece of advice. Please...

My advice to you is based on my own experience in learning some languages other than my native English: the most effective way to attain a near-native accent is by doing what babies do. Children learn language by mimicking their parents--that is, they HEAR what the parent says, listening first to the sounds of the language, before they ever focus on the meanings of words or what part they play in a sentence. Children learn to REPEAT words accurately and clearly by a process of careful listening, regular practice (the babble that children often do is believed to play a significant role in this process), and by gentle, helpful correction from an adult native-speaker. Find someone who is a primary English speaker to help correct things, and work at hearing well and repeating accurately. It's quite possible to become so proficient at a foreign language accent that you'll be mistaken for a native speaker, as happens more times that not with me in German.

Just my opinion, but I hope it helps. Best of luck!

Which American accent? There are 17 US accents, according to prof. Labov.

Meera is prob'ly going to be taught the midland accent.
As far as I know, the midland accent is considered to be the most neutral English accent.

Are there audiotapes in the course?

I'd suggest shadowing the speakers. Sentence by sentence, speak along with the speaker until you hear a perfect match. It works wonderfully.

Of course, if the instruction is done in person, this technique won't work.

''As far as I know, the midland accent is considered to be the most neutral English accent.''

But it's become nearly impossible to hear it in American movies or Tv series (where Californian and NYC/NJ accents predominate). To acquire a midland accent you have to live in Columbus Ohio or Omaha Nebraska for some time...Furthermore, both these accents have low back merger so one might object its neutrality...

I think General American - the standard dialect that's adhered to by dictionaries and speech synthesizers - is a sort of distillation or hypothetical neutral point derived the American English dialectal continuum. There probably isn't a single region in the US where most of the people adhere to it perfectly, but various dialects approach it to some extent.

And I think our conception of General American - as a standard media dialect - may be evolving to include, as options, some widespread features like the low-back merger and the pen-pin merger.

Watch a lot of American Television if you can and talk to American friends if you have them.
Immerse yourself in it.
Get it in you and it will come out of you the same way!

>>But it's become nearly impossible to hear it in American movies or Tv series (where Californian and NYC/NJ accents predominate). To acquire a midland accent you have to live in Columbus Ohio or Omaha Nebraska for some time...Furthermore, both these accents have low back merger so one might object its neutrality...<<

And the matter is that you generally do not hear much of the vast interior of the US and Canada outside North America...

>>I think General American - the standard dialect that's adhered to by dictionaries and speech synthesizers - is a sort of distillation or hypothetical neutral point derived the American English dialectal continuum. There probably isn't a single region in the US where most of the people adhere to it perfectly, but various dialects approach it to some extent.<<

The other thing, though, is that, at least in the popular conception, GA is not RP - it is just an overall average perceived as relatively "accentless" by the average English-speaking North American rather than a really fixed standard that one is truly expected to exactly emulate at all.

I myself, though, do tend to treat GA as a more strict idea than the average American or Canadian, but that is because treating it more strictly allows it to be used more effectively as a reference point to which other dialects can be compared. However, I often make reference to conservative GA rather than GA in general for such purposes (with some notable differences being present, such as lacking a fully Mary-merry-marry merger and lacking a whales-Wales merger), even though not a whole lot of people speak such these days.

>>And I think our conception of General American - as a standard media dialect - may be evolving to include, as options, some widespread features like the low-back merger and the pen-pin merger.<<

And don't forget Canadian Raising, which seems to have acquired such a status today as well.

<<To acquire a midland accent you have to live in Columbus Ohio or Omaha Nebraska for some time...Furthermore, both these accents have low back merger so one might object its neutrality...>>

Dunno about Columbus; from what I've heard, Ohioans have that Midwestern vowel raising.

You've got it right about Omaha, though.

I'd like to participate here and ask about the way to learn the American accents, especially of Texas state, which I like!

Sarah, I have to chuckle; a whole lot of General American speakers consider Texas-speech unpleasant to hear.

To be fair, a lot of people think General American is unpleasant, too!

They will teach him/her General American Accent.
Columbus doesn't have a GA, it's sort of Southern OH accent.
AS far as I know you can hear GA in Northeren OH or on news TV station.

Actually, people in Northern Ohio speak in a Great Lakes dialect.

Hey Guys, I have successfully completed my accent training program.
They told that it is a neutral American English accent.

Jasper, they provided audio tapes and asked to repeat the same sounds uttered in the tapes...

American teachers told that they are all from Oklahoma State.

Anyway, It is a nice experience.