28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
It worked!, December 23, 2006
This review is from: Lose Your Accent in 28 Days (CD-ROM for Windows, Audio CD, and Workbook) (CD-ROM)
I was tired of being asked where I was from the moment I opened my mouth and of being treated as a tourist in what I consider my own country now. Then I found this toolkit and it did miracles - people no longer ask me where I'm from, I am at much more ease to express myself and I feel much happier and more accepted.
Here is how I used this material to achieve my results. I spend about 1.5 hours every day (now I'm down to about an hour) doing all the vowel exercises, where my geatest difficulties are. Each day I do ALL vowel exercises (takes less than an hour) and a few other exercises. I've been doing this for a couple months now, even though I got the desired results within a month. The tough part is that if I skip just one day my accent comes back - to a much lesser extent, but enough to be asked where I'm from. So, I guess it will take a while.
You may also want to buy "American Accent Training" by Ann Cook, which got tons of valuable tips on intonation patterns, while Judy Ravin's kit is focused mainly on pronunciation. Personally, I found it easier to work on my pronunciation first. Once I got the pronunciation down, I gained a lot more confidence to play with my intonation as well.
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55 of 65 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
BEST thing for pronunciation!!! Really Works., June 17, 2007
This review is from: Lose Your Accent in 28 Days (CD-ROM for Windows, Audio CD, and Workbook) (CD-ROM)
I actually ordered this book from amazon but it was gonna take forever to ship so i cancelled ordered from b&n instead. of course it's now on sale so now is the best time to get it.
I'm more like an advanced english speaker. I'm the kind who writes well and gets A+ in my college english comp classes. I have spoken english ever since i was 6 yrs old but of course i didn't live here and even when i came here, people said oh, your english is very good and they'll often ask how long i've spoken english. However, people could still tell i have an accent. And i do. Its always, the "where are you from?" or the "you have a lovely accent." for some it's more of "you have a LITTLE accent."
I got this book and i'll say i haven't been using it as recommended, i mean i practice a day or 2 and don't pick up again till 15days later. First of all, this book complements Ann cooks american accent training, which is great with the intonation.
Anyhow, when it comes to pronunciation, this book is the what you need. I mean you can listen to a tape and it will tell you to stretch the e in 'feel' and the feel sounds something like feeyel-uh (as i heard from the AAT). The thing is if you learn the pronunciation techniques, you would not necessarily need to put in the y and add the uh. Why? because after you learn how to place your mouth to make the 'e' sound and the final 'l' sound, it come natural.
To be honest i started with Ann cooks and i really got lost when she mentions voiced and voiceless consonants. By learning the techniques in this book, i know which sounds i make by just pushing air out of my mouth and which ones i do by using my voice. That way, i don't need to memorize what voiced or voiceless consonant is cuz it's natural to me now.
I started to use the CD version and i've only listened to it once. Well, laziness is not a virtue when it comes to modifying your accent. I've found that with practice, i've been able to make the sounds that used to frustrate me when i started. i just started to follow the author's advice of practicing the sound and also reading a newspaper that targets the sound. i actually read a book cuz i don't care much about the news. One reviewer said the video is too short. I totally disagree.
One HINT is that you can pause it to see a exactly where the placement is - u just have to be good on the timing. i had a problem with saying two consecutive words that have th sound. what i do is that i say the first word with a th but the second with a 'd' like i usually do. On the video, she says something like these things blah blah... First, these and things are 2 different sounds. the first is voiced, the 2nd is not voiced. By pausing the video when she made the second sound, i figured out what she does when she has to make the second th sound in things. well, she doesn't bring the tongue out completely like u do for the first one (these) but it still comes between the teeth enough to make the th sound for the 2nd sound (things) and now i mastered it!
This book is definately worth the money!!! Will you hire a speech pathologist for 100 bucks an hour to help you make the sounds or will you speand 50bucks and sit in the comfort of you home and learn the same thing the pathologist will teach you?
I will also suggest getting a pocket dictionary such as m-w. Loose your accent teaches you to make the sounds. Once you get that down, you can always look in the dictionary to know the correct pronunciation for a word. It can be a common word you say everyday. Chances are you're prolly using sounds of your language and have been saying it the wrong way with the wrong intonation.
Also, One thing you would need to help you with your accent is to fine tune your ear. You prolly never paid attention to what americans say because you understand them when they speak and you've told yourself you speak english. record your voice and as painful as it might be for you, it'll help realize you really don't speak the english Americans speak. Try to listen to the intonation patterns as well as the pronunciation.
IF YOU DON'T FINE TUNE YOUR EAR, YOU'LL NOT SEE THE DIFFERENCE IN THE ENGLISH YOU SPEAK AND WHAT AMERICAN'S SPEAK. YOU'LL THINK YOU ALREADY KNOW HOW TO PRONOUNCE THE SOUNDS. IF people tell you "you have a accent" truth is YOU DON'T know how to make the sounds. You THINK you do - you don't.
So, get this book, practice the pronunciation techniques and when you get frustrated, just remember practice makes perfect. Trust me, when i was having difficulty with a sound, i'll get frustrated, stop and then come back to it and oh, after practice, i get it right. It's really easy and fun to change your accent. I actually love using the CD-rom. Sometimes i get into the book soo much i don't wanna stop.
Fine tune your ears. Listen to how americans pronounce words and how they stress words. Personally, now that i have the sounds mastered, i can tell which sounds are used in a particular word when a native says it so i don't have to look it up in the dictionary. i just say it back with the sounds i heard them use and it's amazing what a difference that makes.
when you are watch tv, listen to how you can hear the same sentence said with 2 different intonation to mean to completely different things. it really helps you with your accent training. And sometimes, think of the sentence said and think of how you would have said it with your accent. and then practice the different way. The next time you say it, you're likely to say it the right way. You can not memorize a set of rules to help with your intonation. Well, there a few but english is not math with fomulas to memorize - it's fluid and so you really need to understand it, the cultural indoctrination and whatever else comes with it. So fine tuning will help you understand it.
And oh, like the Judy Ravin suggests, practice the sound you learn in conversation settings.
This book really works. Some people can't tell i have an accent and some can. i've not used this book for 28days yet. i've done 10 days or so even though i've own it for a over 2months. But it's still made a difference and i'm gonna devote more time to it now.
So one last suggestion: Accent modification is not for the lazy!!! Hopefully, you are much better than me and practice every day. Trust me, you will note a big difference. My philosophy teacher thinks i was from one of the states in the midwest. I'm surprised she didn't pick up i have an accent - i mean i argue a LOT in class. Of course i started the class after i'd nailed down my sounds from THIS BOOK and practiced basic intonation from the Ann cook's book.
It doesn't matter what your country of origin is. Most accent books try to target countries with most immigrants like china or india. I'm African, speak english,french , spanish, among others, and this worked fine.
And oh, why didn't write a review earlier? cuz i wanted to make sure the book and software works. I'm a amazed at how my english sounds now even thought i'm not halfway through the programme. The more you practice the cd, the more you hear the subtleties of the sounds, and see the difference in how you said it wrong the first 3 times you practiced and how you said it right, say the fifth time. And then you think of what you did that fifth time to say it exactly right and repeat it till it becomes 2nd nature to you.
Also, Research shows it takes about THREE MONTHS to develop strong mouth muscles for speaking a new language. So don't start, master the sounds and stop. You will go back to saying them the way you used to. Keep practicing. it will seem stupid practicing something you are good at but the thing is, it makes your mouth used to saying it the right way so that when you talk in regular conversations, you naturally say it the right way without focusing on how to make the sounds.
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