Help with International Accents, Page 3
- Introduction and Short Answer.
- Ask them to speak more slowly.
- Get to know Other Accents; Use online accent resources: Single-word sites, and Intro to Story Reading Sites
- Using online accent resources: IDEA
- Using online accent resources: The Speech Accent Archive
- Using online accent resources: Map Your Voice
- COMING SOON: Use general media.
- COMING SOON: Use your clients as a learning resource.
- COMING SOON: MAYBE practice copying their accent.
- COMING SOON: Ask them to spell it out.
- COMING SOON: Don't lie! Don't pretend!
- COMING SOON: Final advice. List of useful links. Comments.
Get to Know Different Accents
Accents are only difficult to understand if they are unfamiliar to you. They are clear to people who have heard them before many times.
For example, some of my students from China have difficulty understanding Indian accents. But I grew up in Britain where it's common to hear Indian accents. So I can understand them more easily.
I suspect people in India have difficulty understanding Chinese accents as well. It all depends on how familar we are with an accent.
So, to get familiar with different accents I'll discuss some online resources dedicated to accents and pronunciation of English around the world.
For example, some of my students from China have difficulty understanding Indian accents. But I grew up in Britain where it's common to hear Indian accents. So I can understand them more easily.
I suspect people in India have difficulty understanding Chinese accents as well. It all depends on how familar we are with an accent.
So, to get familiar with different accents I'll discuss some online resources dedicated to accents and pronunciation of English around the world.
Use online accent resources to get to know other accents
There are many sites that try to teach you how you should pronounce words, but not so many teach you how others pronounce words.
Single Word Pronunciation
Of sites that that show you how others pronounce words, some focus on invidual words. For example, on Forvo you can hear people from different places around the world pronounce individual words or compound words. E.g.:
Unfortunately Forvo is less useful for trying to understand international, non-native accents for global business, for two reasons:
- Firstly. People. Don't. Speak. In. Single. Words. ;)
- Secondly, most of the words have been recorded by native speakers.
Story Reading Pronunciation
It's better to hear someone speak complete sentences, especially a chain of sentences like a story, to become familiar with an accent. There are three main sites I'll compare for this:
They have recordings of people from around the world, who tell a short story. These stories are often designed to include many (if not all) different sounds in the English language, so they are useful for hearing how each sound is pronounced in a specific accent.
Here are some of the stories online, so you can read and compare as you listen:
It's better to hear someone speak complete sentences, especially a chain of sentences like a story, to become familiar with an accent. There are three main sites I'll compare for this:
- The International Dialects of English Archive, University of Kansas
- The Speech Accent Archive, George Mason University
- Map Your Voice, the British Library
They have recordings of people from around the world, who tell a short story. These stories are often designed to include many (if not all) different sounds in the English language, so they are useful for hearing how each sound is pronounced in a specific accent.
Here are some of the stories online, so you can read and compare as you listen:
And here's a collection in PDF format of several of the stories (The Rainbow Passage, Comma Gets a Cure, The North Wind and the Sun, Arthur the Rat, The Grandfather Passage) so you can access them offline:The British Library uses a longer passage, the short children's story, Mr. Tickle.
On the following pages, I'll discuss each of these story reading sites. Next, IDEA: the Internet Dialects of English Archive.