American English Does NOT Have a Specific “Neutral” Accent + How to Sound Neutral in an Easier Way

[@filolinguista5576]

As a non native English speaker this content is highly useful. Since I've become very fussy trying to perfect my pronunciation as much as possible, now I realize that pronunciation is relative on what kind of English you choose to speak. That's a good question provided that I live in Mexico and not always speak to people coming from USA. I rather use English as a Lingua Franca.

[@konstantinsamoilov8962]

Most underrated channel Thank you

[@iiAbdullah635]

2:47 - /ˌekˈsetərə/ I thought It was just used by a few speakers, but now it is so clear that many native speakers use it every day! by the way, I think you use both pronunciations interchangeably.

[@NativeEnglishHacks]

Yes, this word has two pronunciations, though one is technically "wrong" (the K one) and a few people get upset about it. They're perfectly interchangeable

[@gibbone1970]

Best american english tutoring channel I've ever seen on youtube! Thank you!

[@phillipcordiet2525]

No BS, absolutely easy to follow, on point,great teacher! Keep it up

[@ivomoreira42]

I've been studying English by myself for years now and what I can say as a foreigner is: there are some accents that were and are, so to say, portrayed as dialectal or belonging to a very specific socioeconomic group or region, for example: the "Mafia accent" in Martin Scorsese movies, the "laid back and dumb" Southern accent (Woody Woodpecker is a worldwide spread cartoon and show country people somehow like that) or even the valley girl or Southern California one over exaggerated from the SNL, the "cuoffee from New Yoahk" etc. So, as you said, that's due to the media. But I have to say that now for me it's normal to perceive certain accents as the "neutral ones" that if I come across a foreigner speaking with a thick Bostonian accent, a I'd be very surprised, because it's just not usual at all and also because it's a non-rhotic one. Anyway, I talked a lot, hahaha, but great video as always!

[@6154aman]

Great Video Josh, Basically to me, Standard means something that cannot be pointed to a specific region. I think each country and language has it’s own standard version of it, being from India, I can tell the way people speak hindi if they are from south, east, west, north part of India as they will have some what dialect in their accent which makes it non standard. But there are people who speaks in a way which makes it difficult to obviously point it out which region this person is from, that would be standard accent.

[@Mirador2]

Great, can you recommend any online dictionary with standard or ideal pronunciations or other similar resource with good phonetic transcriptions (in IPA or other system)?

[@NativeEnglishHacks]

Unfortunately no. I plan to create one in the future if the channel ever makes enough money

[@calincucuietu8220]

It such a wonderful lecture. But where are located those general american standard variants?

[@NativeEnglishHacks]

Thanks. I roughly outlined the areas in the thumbnail. Each color has slight variations in the neutral accent. But it also isn't really regionally-specific. I've met people from the south who sounded completely neutral, and that's one major region where we expect people not to sound neutral. So although any area not circled in the thumbnail is an area where we expect people to have an accent, it just generally applies to Americans overall (and Canadians overall) and the little variations don't matter. Also note that there are small regions inside the circled areas that do have accents, like the stereotypical California/surfer accent (though most Californians don't sound like that).

[@Qprovessional]

Of courrse I 'm surprining about this info, respect to you Josh.

[@tarasart8974]

Thank you so much!That's really great content ever. and not only of this video but it's about all your channel.Keep making these videos pleeaasse!

[@tarasart8974]

Hi Josh! Resently I came across an accent on you tube here, that kind of sounds different to me .A guy that speaks in this accent was born and grew up in California (as I learned later ) but I'v heard a lot of people speaking from California and they sound different. I 'm trying to figer out what is spacial in conecting words and pronounciation and what is wrong whith this accent. I don't live in the US and I thought may be you can help me whith that. I would be really grateful to you.HIs name is Rick Warren and here's the link kzbin.info/www/bejne/jmGWmIxtfbWlbbM. Thank you.

[@NativeEnglishHacks]

This is an absolutely perfect example of why the term "General American" is an umbrella term that refers to multiple neutral-sounding accents that are slightly different in insignificant ways rather than just the one that's taught as standard. Listening to this guy closely, yes, there are some interesting little things here and there, but in no way would it even occur to me that he has any kind of "accent". He just sounds American. He definitely doesn't have the stereotypical California accent and personally, I would have no idea where he's from in the US (or Canada). That's what the "General" in "General American" really means 🙂 In other words, unless you have a specific reason to care about the way this guy sounds (like maybe you want to sound like him), it doesn't matter and you can ignore it

[@tarasart8974]

Hi.Thank you so much for writing back.Realy apritiate it. Yeah, you're right, I'm definitely looking for some accent to pick for imitating. as I'm not a native and much less not living in America it's kind of difficult to me to figer it out. And I don't want to sound wierd. So,if you don't find this guy sound strange than people wont make fun of me if I speak the same way. But I'm accualy not sure that want sound exactly like him. I'm in research yet.😊 While searching I'v run into a story on subject. on Quora. I would like to share it with you may be you'll find it enteresting because it blue my mind. (Texan's written); ''While I was studying as an exchange student in Meppen, Germany, I met a German who had a perfect West Texas accent. To put this into context, this is an accent that many Americans would not be able to talk in (most people over exaggerate the drawl and over enunciate regional words), much less people from other countries. I swear to God, when I closed my eyes I could not tell the difference between his accent and the accents back home. The interesting part was that this individual had never been to the US, much less Texas. As far as we could figure it out, he had picked up the accent by listening very closely to movie Westerns. This was rather bizarre, as Fake Texan Accent is often attempted, but almost never done in a convincing manner. To add to the difficulty, the most common German accents in English can be identified as German accents by the precise enunciation of each word and syllable, while one of the main characteristics of West Texas is the more relaxed pronunciation. Somehow he managed to learn an accent that is similar to Cockney in how often it is attempted unsuccessfully, while simultaneously avoiding all the very common accent markers of most English speakers from Germany. Speaking as a native born Texan, his accent was flawless. Bless my heart, if my orientation had been different, I would have swooned and asked him for some sweat tea. It was that perfect. So this does happen, even in foreign countries with people who speak English as a second or third language, and who have never been to America''... I appreciate your taking the time.Thanks a lot.

[@hashbuilder]

very clean and knowledgeable ！ love love u coach！

[@GG-fy5hm]

best accent teacher no cap

[@stefane2153]

First, Thanks for giving us such an insightful video like this but can you clarify about the RP part? So the "standard American English" is just an adaptation of the British phonology? Thanks Again, loving so far the material!

[@NativeEnglishHacks]

See the start of this live: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oHPbfK1jqM2raJI

[@stefane2153]

@@NativeEnglishHacks thanks!

[@ter2710]

wonderful

[@cecilsproject6796]

Thank you. Why so many Sure?

[@NativeEnglishHacks]

Lol. It's just a word with a lot of variation. It doesn't really matter why

[@44nina44]

for or& oi-more rounded lips instead of the IPA "aw" ; for Ih+ nasal n-use /eeh/; for ing-use n instead of nasal n is this correct/ (based on those examples at the end)

[@NativeEnglishHacks]

1) yes; 2) ?; 3) N is nasal. There is no non-nasal N. Are you referring to the NG as "nasal N"?

[@44nina44]

@@NativeEnglishHacks yes I was, thanks for the reply! I meant the NG, using N instead of NG in "Doing", and for "sing" using the "long" ih (as in seat), instead of the "Short" one (as in sit) -

[@NativeEnglishHacks]

Basically, yes. Learn more here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eZW7madngqt8i8U

[@am123lr]

If you compare the speech of three middle-class people from California, Texas and New York, they're going to sound more similar to one another than each of them does to their respective great-grandparents. Therefore, General American is the accent that everyone else's accents have been converging on.

[@switchfoot19802000]

My birth family hails from Iowa and Nebraska. Theyre English and welsh of origin. I was born in Texas, but adopted and raised in ks. On occasion people would bring to my attention, that I dont sound like Im from Kansas. But yet, they cannot place where I do sound like Im from. Some have guessed, that I sound like an ozzie. 🤣

[@jacksonamaral329]

interesting.

[@chriskarsseboom2200]

What I never understood is how people can't tell they have an accent.

[@ImperfectDreamsWays]

Waw finnaly something useful

[@seniorsenior]

NO.1