My voice sample

Jasper,

Thank you for your explanation.

Could anyone please post a few link to websites with audio good for shadowing? I looked but couldnt find anything :(

Thank you

Well, Paul, if you want to shadow just for a few minutes, to see if the method meets you needs, you could shadow this website owner's voice. He was born in Poland but he speaks with a nearly-native voice. (Tomasz, if you're reading this, this might help sell your software!)

http://antimoon.com/sound/tom_cradle.mp3

Paul,

If you like American English you can go to this page: http://www.eslpod.com

I sometimes download their podcasts for listening practice. Interesting content, lots of useful, colloquial phrases plus explanations.

Roger

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Hi there Roger, I was born in northern North America so I am naturally a native american English speaker. I could easily understand what you were saying but the way you pronounce was a little odd from time to time, and there was sort of.. delay between putting the syllables of the same word together, like you were not saying word quite quickly enough. I'm not sure if that makes sense or not.

Shane,

Thank you for your comment and feedback.

What is odd about the way I pronounce? Can you please be more specific on that? And delay between putting the syllables of the same word together? Is this perhaps that I'm unnecessarily splitting the words from time to time. Is that what you mean?

Will you get back to me?

Roger

It's hard to describe in written form, but I will try.

Some words were spoken just a little to slowly which made the word sound like it was longer than it is. Which made it sound a little different. Mostly with words with r's in them. And the R sounds themselves were the part of the word you lingered on a bit too long. I can't really think of a better way to describe it I am sorry. They just sounded a little labored. Once you get more comfortable speaking the words it'll probably no longer be an issue. Hope this helps.

Shane,

Again, thank you so much for your help and advice.

I listened to the tape a couple of times with your comment in mind. And yes, you may be right. There must be something wrong with those words with r's in them. They do not sound natural. I need to work on them. I think it's a matter of practice to master a more native-like flow of speech.

Hi everyone!
I just found this forum by searching info about Boston accent. I think it is really interesting and this topic really fits me since I have an oral exam next week.
I'm Spanish native speaker but I'm doing English at Uni and all my lessons are tought in English. My teachers really focus on R.P but, sincerely, I find it very difficult to imitate (and I'm supposed to imitate it, it's not because I wanna).

Do you have any tips? Because I know I can't improve a lot in a week. All of my teachers tell me I have good pronounciation but the thing is that my entonation isn't as good as it should...

Thanks and congratulations, it's a REALLY interesting forum :)


See ya!

Ellen, please read the whole thread, especially the part about shadowing; it's very effective.

Jasper,

What do you think about this guy. I mean his approach to shadowing method. This is Alexander Arguelles a polyglot who demonstrates his technique of shadowing Chinese. I pasted a link for you to see his video.

http://video.aol.com/video-detail/shadowing-a-foreign-language-chinese/3953513326

Roger

Roger, it's hard to see exactly what he's doing in that video, but it does not qualify as shadowing, from what little bit I see.

Shadowing, as I know it, consists of speaking along with the speaker on a tape, sentence by sentence.

I cannot tell what he's doing on that video.

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