Customer Reviews

Improve Your American English Accent : Overcoming Major Obstacles to Understanding

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

As an ESL teacher, I have found this to be the most affordable and effective program I have ever used with my university students and with private students as well. I do find that there are not enough practices as the booklet accompanying the CDs is just a narrow volume but the practice sections, though limited in quantity, are of excellent quality. I have found that I can supplement the practice sections with other texts. The narrator has a friendly quality to her voice and I have been repeatedly listening to the CDs with numerous students yet I am still not tired of hearing her voice. In one or two places on the CDs the narrator demonstrates "close" vowel sounds, and I cannot hear the difference because of poor production quality in a couple of spots. But, as I am following along in the text, I stop the CD and go over those few sounds with my students. In spite of this failing in one or two places on the CD, I would highly recommend this well organized and otherwise well presented program above all the others that I have used. My students have demonstrated noticeable improvement in a very short period of time and they all have mentioned that they enjoy the program and find it "very useful," easy to understand, and reasonably priced.

Hi!
The first good surprise was Charlsie's voice, it almost sounds like music to your ears. Then the way each lesson is structured, 30 min not too long not too short, in which most essential north American English sounds, intonations, pitches etc... are being thoroughly examined. I've also liked the fact that you don't really need to read the booklet, you can just sit back and listen first. On the down side, but for 2 or 3 words only (!), the sound is poor indeed. Also few slight volume variations occasionally take place but this is not an issue whatsoever.
So, 3 CD's, 6 lessons, I studied 1 lesson a week, took me one and a half month then, and I do feel I have improved several aspects already. The real difficulty consists in applying Chelsea's tips to each new situation you face in life, and I know I'll need to review the CD's again and again, as repetition allows you ...not to forget what you've learnt!
I do recommend this course.
Ph

The whole package, manual and three CD's, comes in a sleek plastic case. If you're a visual learner,however, you might find the manual pretty stark: there is no glossy paper , no lip and mouth pictures, no stylish layout. Despite this initial turn-off, the listening material is simply captivating! The author's soothing and reassuring voice leads you all the way into the subtleties of English sounds. Those pronunciations that can give a headache to non-native speakers are explained simply and with very little linguistic terminology. Highlights? Check the ingenious explanation of ed - endings in session three: regular verbs are repeated many times in full sentences with extensive practice of blendings and vowel reduction (the manual presents symbols for glottal stops, d or t flaps and schwa in case you cannot reproduce the sounds on the CD). Vowels are numbered and contrasted in groups, so that the student can become aware of their distinctive features. It's the perfect course to take in the peace of your car, during rush hour. And it's umbelievably cheap compared to the other accent reduction courses on the market. Definitely a great bargain.

The CD set does not meet the expectations. It starts with some basic vowel lessons which are technically and quality-wise absolutely horrible. It is very annoying to have like patched little sequences with abrupt transitions. Unfortunately also the content itself and the spelling are not as clear as necessary so it is very hard to distinguish the pronounciation of similar vowels.
I can not recommend this CD's. The ranking is zero stars.

This is a great product to shun the foreign inveterate accent. To deal with the complete program, you must need a plethora of patience, because is really demanding. However, when you finish; you will feel great, more confident and less belligerent about your accent, because it is gone.

This is one of the easier to follow books on the subject which keeps things simple enough so that you don't feel bored. The audio is organized as 6 sessions of half an hour each. Each session introduces a few new concepts and has pronunciation examples and practice sessions.

The accompanying text is a transcript of the program on CD. It is not as comprehensive as it should be. However if you are looking for a program you can carry around on your CD/mp3 player this is certainly it.

Overall a great program !

I found this book very useful. it covers most of the basic issues. However, the introductory chapter could be little elaborate, espcially, explaining the toungue positions.

There are plenty of practice sessions. If anyone gives adequate time, he/she can learn the american accent just using the CDs and the book. Especially, in terms of cost, this could be the best book in the market.

this awesome kit with its contents materials helps pronounce American English clearly, correctly and confidently.
It teaches you correct American English pronunciations, intonations and expressions so that others can easily understand you.
i do find this product very useful to those who wants to speak english like a native American accent speaker.

I have all CDS of English Pronunciations, and it seems a lot of people think that American English Training by Ann Cook is the best. That's not really true, though, because in my opinion Ann Cook more focuses on Intonation rather than teaching how to say and find the differences among words correctly. I still do like an Improve Your American English Accent by Charlie Child is better.

Great stuff, helped me a lot. I used it everythere- home, car... The result was - no questions "what did you say?" any more. Just after 2-3 month. I was so impressed that I bought one to my friend and reccomend to everyone who need.
Thank you very much