As strange as it may seem, I hate my accent and want to speak like an American because I think it sounds cooler and more like how I want to sound.
I’ve more or less perfected my version of an American accent on my own, I think.
But whenever I’m with other people who know me, I revert back to my old accent instinctively because that’s how they know me to sound like. I’m unsure about how I can subtly transition without them noticing a sudden change, such as through gradual exposure to my accent changing more each time they hear it. That way I could argue that I don’t know how it happened and it was a slow progression if they eventually realise it’s different, rather than something forced that I started doing one day.
The biggest thing I think is changing the pronunciation of certain words with “a”, such as going from “fahst” to “faast” for the word ‘fast’, or “mahsk” to “maask” for ‘mask’. Because it’s really one or the other, there’s no in-between. I feel like for most other sounds, a gradual transition into more American sounds can be possible, but that one’s like, how can I make the plunge and will people notice it straight away and think it’s weird?
I agree with the general sentiment here that please don’t, but, if you must, I think it would be cool to practice in secret until you get really, really fucking good at it, then just switch over all at once. Preferably with a large audience. Just be giving a presentation at work and go from Liverpool to Indianapolis, mid-sentence.
Life is too short, just do it and when people notice say you’re trying it out for fun for a bit.
This is probably something you’ll think was really silly in a few years but who cares, live a little.
What country are you from and what’s your original accent?
As an American myself, I encourage you to keep your natural accent. We’re a nation of immigrants built from people who originated all over the world. So there’s not just one recognizable accent here. Nobody’s accent is superior to others. I’ve known people from other countries who are self conscious about their accents. In response, I tell them honestly that I appreciate the way they sound. Variety is the spice of life, as the saying goes.
Aza 'Merican maseff,… um, maybe try for mid-Atlantic.
OP doesn’t actually live in the US themselves, they just want to sound like an American.
Two options, just tell them that you want to practice your American accent, or use it when you quote your friends. The second one works best if it’s close friends who enjoy making fun of each other a bit.
Step 1: Buy a gun
Step 2: If anyone looks at you funny while speaking, just pull your gun out, aim it at the ceiling and go “Yeehaw!” Fire a half a dozen shots, and do a little jig before reholstering your gun
I can almost guarantee know one will press you further about the speech issue.
Step 3: Wear a cowboy hat and refer to people as pardner.
Why are you talking about me
Howdy pardner. Nice ass
Thanks kindly cowpoke but that’s just Eddie Murphy
Nevermind. I thought it was mister T.
I won’t delve into the reasons you shouldn’t based on ‘coolness’, but…
There are half-ways between the pronunciation you’re mentioning: the short ‘a’ sound can be used (common in British English), and wouldn’t seem so jarring to me.
You can drop your Ts for weak Ds in things like ‘water’, so the tip of your tongue gently taps the roof of your mouth instead of pronouncing the typical British hard T (a lot of us don’t pronounce it like that, mind you).
However, “speak like an American” doesn’t necessarily mean one accent, as there are many in the US. Choose one, I suppose.
When you see them next, immediately greet them in a heavy Brooklyn accent. When they ask you what that’s all about, apologize profuse in a thick Nawleans cajun accent. When this is met with blank stares from your friends, immediately rush into another apology, this time with your best MinneSEWta flavor. After they finally come out of their stunned silence, revert to a generic American accent. They’ll never notice.
Your approach is defeating your purpose. Muricans would be loud and outspoken so everyone around knows
>ahm chayngin’ mAh acceent
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- American*
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a medical condition in which patients develop speech patterns that are perceived as a foreign accent[1] that is different from their native accent, without having acquired it in the perceived accent’s place of origin.
Foreign accent syndrome usually results from a stroke,[1] but can also develop from head trauma,[1] migraines[2] or developmental problems.[3] The condition might occur due to lesions in the speech production network of the brain, or may also be considered a neuropsychiatric condition.[4] The condition was first reported in 1907,[5] and between 1941 and 2009 there were 62 recorded cases.
Here’s to becoming number 63!
My sibling in Christ, just relax and be yourself. You’ll pick up the accent more and more over time, that’s how it works. Forcing it is disingenuous. Imagine if my goofy midwestern ass moved to the UK and started to try to speak with Brits forcing their accent.
This reminded me of my first year at uni when a guy decided to speak in a fake British accent, I guess to sound cooler. Unfortunately for him, we could all tell it was fake and that made him decidedly uncool (and the butt of a lot of jokes). I think he gave it up after a couple of weeks.
The fact is, the coolest thing you can do is be confident in yourself (including how you sound when speaking naturally).
Mate, I don’t think he’s even moved.
So this is like if you started talking in a British accent in your midwestern location.
How truly fucking bizarre OP is.
OP sounds young. Kids are weird, but this is harmless and they’re clearly embarrassed about it.
I think they just wanna fit in, which is a totally relatable feeling. But I promise, this is not the way you want to fit in.
No, it’s not how to fit in. I don’t think calling them bizarre is going to help the situation though. They’re not bizarre, they’re just looking for approval the wrong way.
I think it’s probably more to stand out in a cool way, but it’s still not going to happen like this. The problem with “cool” is that it’s nebulous and there’s no formula for it. I would not be able to be cool while obviously faking an accent, but someone who’s really cool might still be able to pull it off. Hell, I have a genuine American accent in another country (a pretty light one) and I can’t embrace it enough for it to be cool.
What’s really hard to learn is that OP’s not going to be cool until OP is cool with themselves, and that’s difficult to do when surrounded by people who don’t think you’re cool. That’s why most people get cooler when they leave high school, and that’s also why people tend to get nicer.
Please accept one Reddit silver I have leftover from when I still used Reddit. Very good insights here.
Thank you, that’s really sweet!
Actors do this shit all the time. It’s absolutely doable with practice.
Actors usually pay for professional dialect coaching. Before the practice became common place it was amusing to watch British actors play Americans using terrible accents. I know it applies the other way around, but I’d have a harder time noticing it.
You would notice if you watched Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins
There are still people who have terrible American accents in media. Lucifer’s twin, for example, was so ridiculously bad. The only person without an American accent who I’ve ever seen pull one off in media was Hugh Laurie in later seasons of House. I still find most attempts amusing, even with coaching.
Not forcing things is generally pretty good life advice. It’s like a fart: if you have to force it it’s probably shit.
I had some friends in Munich who were brothers, just two or three years apart. They both grew up learning British English, but one eventually participated in an exchange program in Canada while the other participated in one in Australia. When they came back, their English accents were completely different from each other - no matter how hard they tried to sound similar to each other. In the end, everyone though it was unique and kind of fun since one brother would sometimes use slang the other didn’t understand.
Point being, OP, is to do what feels natural. Ultimately, it’s your voice, but you’ll pick up certain things here and there that naturally change your way of speaking over time.
Scorched earth method. You are now John Black, you have no friends or family. You are an American with nothing but a pack of bubblegum and a desire to take names (of your brand new friends)
So first of all, which American accent? There’s no single accent.
Secondly, if you try to transition slowly, odds are you’re going to get made fun of a whole lot along the way for nearly every single American pronunciation you make, because each individual change will stick out more in context. so we’re talking about months or years of people thinking you’re weird, stupid, or have some kind of speech impediment instead of getting it all out of the way in one go. I have a fairly strong Philadelphian accent, and even here in my home turf I’ve had the odd person try to make fun of my pronunciation of things like “water” (wooder,) generally it’s pretty good-natured fun, but once in a while you get some asshole with a stick up their ass about proper pronunciation. You’re setting yourself up for a long time of that, and it will only get worse up until you’re actually able to pass as an American.
Third, don’t try to be cool, it never works. The coolest thing out there really is just having the right amount of confidence. Trying to change your accent because it sounds cooler kind reeks of trying too hard, like weebs sprinkling way too much Japanese into their conversations for no good reason, or people using big words to sound smarter, or whatever the fuck Elizabeth Holmes does with her voice. It’s basically the verbal of equivalent of a neckbeard wearing a fedora (is that still a thing or am I dating myself?)
If you’re actually dead-set on changing your accent, the best way is to just live in America and immerse yourself in it and come into it naturally, and you’ll pick it up, and then it gives you a solid reason to say how/why you picked it up. You’re going to need to spend some significant time here though, months at a minimum, probably years, otherwise at best people will just think you’re an obnoxious, maybe naive weirdo who’s huffing their own farts about how well-traveled they are, or at worse think you’re some sort of weeaboo type obsessive nutjob about America (Google “Rawhide Kobayashi” and you’d get a pretty good sense of how people might think of you)
Last thoughts on the matter, if there’s American slang you like, go ahead and use it, but do it naturally, don’t force it. I sprinkle all kinds of weird shit into my speech that I’ve picked up from all over the place, things I’ve read, heard others say, movies, tv, the internet, but it’s never been a conscious choice, it just happens naturally, trying to force it never makes it feel natural. “Stop trying to make fetch happen.”
Now explain “jawn” to him.
Stop trying to make fetch happen
FU I swear I will make fetch happen, I just need my dog to understand how that they need to bring the ball back.
I used to have a southern accent because I grew up in North Carolina. Then I lived in Wisconsin for five years and developed a midwestern accent more or less.
It just happened naturally, just from being in a different environment.
