How can I improve my accent in English?

englishpronunciationcourse.com
globalspeechacademy.com
My most frequently asked question, by far, is, "How can I improve my accent in English?"
In this video I walk you through my answer, starting with asking YOU, "What is your goal in changing your accent?"
If you live in the US or UK and want to fit in, then I have a different answer for you. But if you are a global citizen, communicating with people from all over the world - native and non-native speakers alike - then this video is for you.
I cover the three things you must do to be better understood by everyone, everywhere, every time:
1. Clear consonant sounds
All your consonant sounds must be unique. You can't mix up sounds like R and L or V and W. Every consonant sound must be articulated clearly. Additionally, "plosives" (p, k and t) at the beginnings of words should have a nice little burst of breath after them before you continue on to the next sound. Watch the video for an example.
2. Use consistent vowels of the correct length
The particular sound of your vowels isn't actually so important, as long as you are consistent. More important than the actual sound is how long you hold the sound. Vowels coming before voiced consonant endings should be held longer than vowels coming before unvoiced endings. Again, make sure to watch the full video for an example.
3. Chunking your messages and feeling the language
Everything really comes together with your English speech when you start to feel the rhythm and flow of the language. "Chunking" refers to where you choose to pause when you speak. How do you break up your messages? If you are pausing after every word, completely focused on every sound of every letter, no one will be able to understand your message, even though you pronounce the sounds clearly. You need to understand how to speak so others understand your full message, and that has to do with your pacing and timing as you speak.
I hope this video gives you a global perspective when you ask the question, "How can I improve my accent?"
Focus on your clarity and confidence and you can't go wrong.
Happy speaking!
Heather
www.globalspeechacademy.com
www.englishpronunciationcourse.com

[@5Ducklings]

This is fantastic! As a public speaker as well as an American living abroad, this is very helpful, not only for speaking English to non-native speakers, but speaking other languages as well. I will be having my kids listen to this, too. Thank you!

[@supritjaggi3106]

I love ur videos. genuinely the way u speak is so clear and precise. Every word is understood. God bless you

[@bazjapan]

Excellent presentation Heather - much appreciated.

[@salim777star]

Great tips to learn to communicate better in english. Thank you

[@MrAdrianoCBB]

Great video Heather! It's a pleasure following your channel, I have just know it and I'm loving it. Thanks for sharing the tips! ;)

[@josemanuelleyva8145]

Heater thank you for video, you has one of the clearest accents I've ever heard

[@V12509]

Apart from the purpose of this video, you're so satisfying to watch and hear

[@carlosrainett9789]

improving my accent is very easy through a great lesson like this. Thank you so much.

[@katepeters4901]

Your tips are great. Thanks for sharing them!

[@dawnmokmok5]

hi i am listening to your video, and you are a wonderful teacher, thank you for helping me improve my accent.

[@ezazahamad2605]

great video again, thank you very much, i love your videos.

[@lihpeuniverso6617]

good teacher

[@humaira11223]

I found this very informative. Thank you heaps! xx

[@nicolascabero8270]

Wow, so nice. Thanks for the tips.

[@jayvee2073]

Thank you for the tips... It really helped me in my life...

[@chaus7004]

I've been staying in Australia for 3 years. I've been trying to improving my accent a lot. But I think even I am living here 10 more years, it will be the same. I still have Vietnamese English accent. So hard for me :(

[@shawnz401]

Cher Tran You have to practice and it takes time. Open a movie and try to repeat each sentence.

[@hmingteirenthlei4911]

Your voice is so sweet and appreciate your speech a lot..

[@jaudeoliveira3478]

Hello teacher I'm fom brazil. I'm brazilian.I like your videos it is hapenned so much me thank you so much God bless you

[@TT-pu4hz]

i love your video. It's very useful.

[@ihsanbajwa4554]

Superb. Just loved the video.

[@alitrust68]

Thanks for video very useful

[@Butterflyneverlands]

Excellent tips even for fluent speakers!

[@MuhammadEgypt]

Great tips! Thanks, Heather!

[@abdulmallick8926]

Excellent tips for healthier 👌 Very good massage.

[@lihpeuniverso6617]

hello teacher! i'm from brazil i loved your video i am study english and need to improve my pronunciation sorry,my english is very bad

[@HI-cd8lz]

I want to learn more from you 😍💕 your are so kind 💓

[@nathaliesabbagh3810]

wonderful.thx

[@watvid1]

I'm an English speaker but subscribed to your videos because I think your tips can be applied to other languages too. Will share your channel with my correspondants since you explain why things are a certain way a million times better than me. Glad you're back :)

[@heatherhansen]

Thanks for your comments! Yes, the tips definitely span languages. A lot of what I share is based on linguistic research that has been done on the way English is being used as a global language, so the specifics maybe aren't so easily transferable (although they can't hurt!). The general concepts for building confidence when speaking and having a confident mindset are true for every language and I actually draw them from my own experience speaking foreign languages. So happy to hear the videos are useful for you. Thanks for watching and sharing! :-)

[@watvid1]

***** Thanks for your reply :) Exactly, plus there are MANY native speakers who could really do with following your tips too. I love how passionate you are about all this, makes me want to have graduated in linguistics instead :p

[@heatherhansen]

watvid1 oh, how I wish more native speakers would listen to me! That's the flip side of my work - getting the native speakers to become more aware of their role in global communication. Those programs are a LOT harder to sell. What kind of work are you in? Who are these "correspondents" you share these videos with?

[@watvid1]

***** I'm in finance, 23 year old accountant B). Haha sorry I was giving it the French meaning, I meant penpals. I'm learning French and do French-English language exchanges with people and they always need help with their pronunciation/accent. And your videos are really helpful!

[@dkique7]

are you learning Spanish we can exchange language

[@imtiazshigri8476]

really good you make me speake well and confidently i really love you.

[@aliabid8614]

Very good

[@jesselangel4939]

Awesome content, Heather. You’re raising the bar.

[@heatherhansen]

Thanks, Jesse!

[@paulovicente9004]

Excellent video. Congratulation.

[@loydsevilla146]

Thanks.

[@ilsediaz8083]

I've been introduced to the english language at a very young age not because of relatives or where I lived, but due to my parents wanting me to learn it since it automatically opens doors for you. Thing is after being in a 7 year middle school in Mexico (born and raised) where we weren't allowed to speak spanish, native speakers could understand what I spoke and I could understand them as well. Everything came down hill when I entered a high school with a low english program. It was like going back to basics; numbers, colors, greeting phrases, etc. I began my search for alternative things to keep practicing my english. I realized my passion for that language is and will always be strong. Kept on watching movies with no subtitles, listenting to music, even made foreign friends online that could help my fluency grow. Currently I can't help but hate on my accent and how I get lost everytime I try to explain something. I want to be able to just speak english as I do spanish. I want to be able to talk for hours and not mess up. Any tips?

[@Jamie-zl6mw]

Ilse Diaz all I can say is listen to native speakers a lot. Immerse your self in the language. Immersion is the only true way to learn a language. If you can go study abroad in an English speaking country

[@rosiloverosilove9512]

Thanks for video

[@mvandradez]

I agree on that too. However, I would say the musicality of your speech has a 60% of importance in the way you pronounce words, the rhythm and stress you put on them it is like a 30% and the 10% left is a proper feature you have

[@universeandbeyond3576]

very helpful vedio Ms teacher

[@NeerajShardul]

Awesome video. Learned some new things. Thanks.

[@MythicalFactory]

Great video

[@Tushinho]

Than kyou!

[@omarbrazbraz5729]

lovely

[@Danniurupad]

I want to sound like an america speaker💛 like your video.thank u

[@ranaum7r]

Perfect..

[@rajkumar512]

i love u r english

[@ghanemq5561]

Thx for all that

[@ghanemq5561]

Thx

[@tezetanishan8866]

Thank you 😊 yes when I moved in the USA 🇺🇸 20 years a go my brother sent me this is Cole is called Job Corp. so I was confused because there is two English one is slang one is real English I don’t even know which one to learn !that mess me up ! my accent I am trying so hard now I’m getting better but not really!

[@user-jr2bu6hz4q]

your listen is very good but do you mind if you give us more example .

[@YevtishenkovIgor]

Hi Heather, would you mind my placing a link on my web-site to you video? Is it OK to do that? And, of course, many-many thanks for your help! You are very helpful, indeed.

[@jarrellreyes8761]

I have a question. What would be more understood by many people, water pronounced as wa-rer or literally wa-ter and with other t's that are pronounced as r by some speakers?

[@nadiralii9641]

good

[@englishbest]

I like this global aspect very much because trying to sound British, American, Australian, Irish or Canadian really isn't the goal for most people who speak English as a second language.

[@alaaelemary4082]

the mailing list is not currently active at your site ,, i can't download your audio program , what should i do ? :)

[@StephenAndersontheCanadian]

I grew up in the Maritimes and used to puncuate every sentence with "you know, eh". I moved to Alberta in the 80's and westerners beat it outta me. 😀

[@yasminapd95]

My native language is Spanish. When I speak Spanish I do it really fast and I don't vocalize really well, it is like that where I grown up. Because of that, when I learnt English it happened the same, speak fast, don't vocalize plus my Spanish accent. A lot of people doesn't understand me just because of these things that I mentioned. I need to change that.

[@bagamnerd137]

I needd help miss, can u answer me?

[@mohammadkashef1586]

If I will take IELTS , Do I need to learn British or American accent?

[@Babett_B]

Just recently I watched one of my English videos from 8 years ago. I was 100000% sure my accent has changed since then. NOT ONE BIT AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH, hahahaha. I think clarity is more important than accent.

[@natalya6091]

Good afternoon.You did it.We really appreciate it.🇷🇺

[@Agushalimah-pz3fj]

Bergairah selalu

[@MiracleDiengdoh]

I am from India and my accent is not good,but i don't have Indian accent too coz my languge has a very different accent from hindi and other Indian languages. But I believe in speaking any language with their respective accents. Like hindi with that accent and English maybe british or american accent or like how u just taught us.

[@hugojonson9015]

Im a swedish speaker, I dont have any English relatives or friends i just know it, i understand english and can speak it fluently but i think my accent is to Robotic like i dunno Can you please tell me how to change my accent

[@rosiloverosilove9512]

Hi

[@jayabrataroy9115]

i have some prob.... is that i know eng as well but when i speak my toung is complicate nd that's why i can't speak well.

[@rachidsellak6570]

how i can to make my tonge easy to pronunce

[@Jamie-zl6mw]

rachid sellak *tongue *pronounce from a native English speaker

[@azul7012]

why you have stoped making videos

[@imdadhussain9553]

Certain way a million times better than me.

[@chantinoire]

I keep mixing British English and American English. For example, I say dance or laugh the way Americans say it but can't the way the British say it. Is this bad? Or does it annoy natives in any kind of way?

[@Jamie-zl6mw]

Chantal S no, as long as you can be understood you should be fine.

[@minchantilly7577]

Chantal S, this is so irrelevant but my initials are the same as yours (My name is Chantalle S.) and we are both kpoppers (By the looks of it) so *highfives*

[@hassankhalil1083]

i'm from Egypt i want learn english please

[@whatever9515]

Hi, you didn't follow the chunking in your video, at all. I still like it.

[@carlitoxb110]

Yes she did, her speech is clear and easy to understand, she is a great example of how english most sound

[@nanjr9320]

0:21

[@madalynwestlake5382]

serious questions: do other country’s think canadians have an accent? cause i feel like canadians sound the same as most americans

[@Agushalimah-pz3fj]

Saya membutuhkan untuk gairah

[@shahabalinoor2814]

When I listen to alot, I can pronounce well, IF not nothing I can deliever.

[@Agushalimah-pz3fj]

Cukup

[@tejoteard4131]

Native English speakers, they link words together when they talk, it’s different from writing

[@tfeg2279]

What is your accent?

[@solatiumz]

American

[@MohammedAhmed-nz4xj]

i can really speak good english but i have an arabic accent

[@Agushalimah-pz3fj]

Saya pribadi

[@maureensantiago4255]

American

[@Agushalimah-pz3fj]

Biar maco

[@Agushalimah-pz3fj]

Putarkan

[@graciedorman150]

I really hate my southern accent I keep slipping up and sounding very stereotypical I wish people would always know I'm from Oklahoma it's always very obvious

[@adelarsen9776]

You should be proud of your southern accent. Nothing worse than listening to east or west coast drivel.

[@tavomart9871]

Gracie Dorman. I wish i had an american accent not matter from where because i work with customers in the united states but they're very kind but i auto criticize myself for the way i pronounce!

[@shawnz401]

EverythingInSight I really understand you

[@geraldhgiles]

If you Don't like the way I talk I don't care and who MADE you God

[@hassantalazouga2128]

i want to sound like americans.

[@Agushalimah-pz3fj]

Suka

[@pizzapunt55]

sss sss sss sss, my friggin ears are bleeding

[@clarencer.constantakis4541]

Heather, Your rate of utterance needs hard work. You run your words together at times and mangle them to where they become indistinguishable and sound like jibber. Don't feel bad. It took me two years to learn to talk when I joined the intercollegiate debating team at what is now known as Central Michigan University.

[@leahwinningham9281]

How can I stop saying Y'all. And all that Southern stuff.