The language learning market is huge, however 91% of those learners are concentrated on just one language: English. Unfortunately, simply learning English is not enough on it’s own to be heard, understood and to be able to thrive in an English speaking environment. This is because when we come from our native language, the pronunciation and intonation patterns of that language impact signficantly on our accent. In many cases, and paritcularly for relatively new learners of English, that accent can be so strong that it impacts negatively on our spoken English.
So how do you learn English accents and soften your own accent?
Well, the first question must be which English accent to focus on when learning English? SpeechSchool.TV is the largest provider of video based English accent training online. The School has offered many different courses over the years, from Standard English (British), American English to Australasian Engilsh. They have found that 90% of students, including those in the US where an American accent is the norm, choose to learn the Standard English accent.
Why learners choose the Standard English accent?
When it comes to learning English accents and speaking and presenting like a native speaker, the main aim first is to soften your own accent. Accent softening, requires a structured course whereby you study;
1. The correct tonal pronunciation of all phonetic sounds.
2. The inflection pattern of speech.
3 The rhythm, flow and intonation pattern through sentences.
With Standard English, this is based on Oxford English, and covers 50 phonetic sounds and standardised rules of English pronunciation. American English in comparison only has about 44 phonetic sounds, uses slang and has variance across different regions.
Students around the world therefore choose Standard English in order to learn all sounds clearly and correctly, which forms the best platform for them to go about softening their own accents.
Accent softening and the learn English accent program from Speech School
SpeechSchool.TV has worked with thousands of students worldwide with its award-winning video based training and as a result has the leading ‘learn English accent’ program for internet learning.
Students generally experience a reduction in accent strength of 20% over a 3 month period and a much larger reduction over months and years, whereby their spoken English becomes like an educated native speaker, considerably improving speech and presentation outcomes for them.