Help with International Accents, Page 4
- 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.
Using IDEA - International Dialects of English Archive
Let's say I want to get practice listening to an Iranian accent.
- First I go to the IDEA home page.
- In the menu at the top, I click on "Dialects and Accents".
- I look for the region that contains Iran: "Middle East" and click on it.
- On the Middle East page, in the menu on the right, I look for "Iran" and click on it.
- On the Iran page, there is a list of speakers, with country name and a number (Iran 1, Iran 2, Iran 3, etc). I click on Iran 1.
- At the top is a button marked "Play". I can click this to listen to the audio.
- Below is biographical information about the speaker (age, gender, life history etc) and transcripts or links to what the speaker says.
- I click "Play". IDEA has speakers do at least 2 things: first they read a standardized passage like "Comma gets a Cure" or "The Rainbow Passage"; then they talk about themselves and their knowledge of English. Sometimes the speaker will finish with a a short sample of their mother tongue.
- Below the biographical information, there is a link to the standardized stories. Further down is a transcript of what speaker says about themselves.
- I read the text as the speakers speaks, so that I really understand, and I become more familiar with their accent.
- To become more familiar with the Iranian accent, I go back to the country page for Iran, click on another speaker and listen to them too.
Summary
IDEA's website & organization was updated in 2012 and is more user-friendly now.
In my short testing (using Iran as an example), the content is great. They have many speakers for the country, they used a long standardized passage and it's followed by a personal story (in case you get bored of hearing the same standardized passage over and over again).
I just wish they had the audio and all the text on the same page.
In my short testing (using Iran as an example), the content is great. They have many speakers for the country, they used a long standardized passage and it's followed by a personal story (in case you get bored of hearing the same standardized passage over and over again).
I just wish they had the audio and all the text on the same page.
Next, I discuss using a similar site, the Speech Accent Archive.
Go to Page 5: Using online accent resources: the Speech Accent Arhjchive >>>>