American Accent Training (Book and Audio CD, 2nd Edition) (Audio CD)

~ (Author) "One of the main differences between the way an American talks and the way the rest of the world talks is that we don't really..." (more)
Key Phrases: reduced sounds, set phrase, sentence stress, Review Exercise, American Accent Training, American English (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The second edition of the highly acclaimed American Accent Training, now on 5 audio CDs, is for foreign-born students and business people working, traveling or studying in the United States and Canada. Through extensive intonation and pronunciation exercises, students learn how to speak with a standard American Accent. At the same time, listening comprehension improves dramatically. Supplementary materials included detailed nationality guides for eight languages (Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Spanish, French, German, Russian and Korean), access to a comprehensive website, and referral to a qualified telephone analyst for an individual diagnostic speech analysis. Also included are colored markers for written exercises, and a mirror to practice accurate pronunciation.

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Barron's Educational Series; 2 edition (September 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764173693
• ISBN-13: 978-0764173691
• Product Dimensions: 12.5 x 10.2 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (99 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #4,767 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #1 in	Books > Reference > Foreign Languages > Instruction > English as a Foreign Language > Pronunciation & Conversational English
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

89 of 90 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars very good; get a computer program to record yourself, January 2, 2005

By	+++ (CA, United States) - See all my reviews

I do agree with the other reviewers that it is an excellent book written by a professional with extensive experience. It comes with 6 CD and almost 200-page book with detailed explanations of intonation patterns and sounds. Additionally, in the appendix Ann Cook discusses in detail what are the typical accents of native speakers of common languages, and what specifically the native speakers of these languages should work on.

The chief difficulty with working with a course like this is that the learner should not only repeat after the speaker, but should also be able to hear his/her own words to make the necessary corrections. If you keep on repeating the same mistake, but do not hear it and cannot correct yourself - what's the point of practicing? My solution is to practice with a computer. I tried a simple sound recorder on a computer as well as a tape recorder, and it did not work - too complicated, invoves too much button pressing. You need a program which plays a phrase, then records you repeating it, then repeats the native speaker, then plays your recording, and does it all over again in a loop until you are satisfied. It turned out that it is not easy to find a program like this; after a long search, I found a shareware program called FollowMe, its trial version can be downloaded from tarsoft's site or shareware servers (perhaps there are other programs like this which I did not come across, I am talking about the learning concept here). For me personally working with a computer and using a program like described above made a tremendous difference, I really feel that I am getting the most from this book. I can hear my mistakes and I feel that I am correcting them.

While with a course like this the price is much less important than the result and productivity of learning, this book (in my opinion) satisfies both, good quality and reasonable price. Recommended.

168 of 179 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best book from all books on the market that I've seen, May 20, 2001

By	reader (MI) - See all my reviews

This is a fantastic book. HIGHLY recommended. It even moved me to write my first review on Amazon. I had no idea that improving my accent would be so much fun and so interesting. The main strengh of the book is in the system. The first one third of the course is devoted to the intonation training, which builds a good foundation for the individual sound training that is to come later. Instead of focusing on particular sounds from the beginning, you learn to think large and change your actual speech flow.

There are a couple of books on the market with a price tag of $100+ that get good reviews - I am not familiar with them, they might be good too - but in the price leage of this book ($30+) you can't get anything better for the money.

Of course, what matters the most is how committed you are and how much actual time you spend practicing. I think this book provides a good foundation for my work on my accent reduction. If I need more excersises on particular sounds in the future, I might think about getting some other books as additional study aids, but to pick just one book for $40, nothing can beat Ann Cook's book.

Plus, the course includes CDs, not tapes, which is of tremendous convenience. I tend to repeat each exercise lots of times until I feel I am ready to move on to the next one. You can't do it so easily with the tapes.

The only drawback is the packaging. When I got the book, some of the CDs where scratched and not playable. I had to exchande them not even once, but twice. So, maybe buying it online isn't such a good idea - be warned! At least, my local book store could order 3 new sets for me and let me open them and pick the good CDs. If you buy online, the last think you want to do is to deal with returns and exchanges.

Overall, great book! I am recommending it to all my friends and family members.

If you are like me and sick of being asked all the time where you are from as soon as you open your mouth, this book is for you. Hope you'll benefit from it too. Good luck to you all!

63 of 67 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great program!, March 23, 2002

By	Jmark2001 (Florida) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Ann Cook has put together the clearest, most insightful program for acquiring an American accent that I have found. You get 5 very useful CD's all cued to the manual, a small mirror, markers, and an excellent manual. Quite a value! She understands the American accent perfectly and masterfully explains the ingredients that make up that accent. I am a native speaker/speech therapist and I learned a good deal from this package. I do have one small reservation: a few of her examples of American speech which she considers standard (spoken by educated speakers) sound, to my ears, like mumbling and non-standard speech (ex: "didee" for "did he", "wooden knee" for "wouldn't he"). I prefer a bit more clarity where consonants are concerned. Dropping consonants has always been a sign of low socio-economic American speech, not standard American speech. This is a minor complaint about an otherwise excellent package.