Korean Job Discussion Forums

[byunhosa]

I am writing to find out whether any advanced English pronunciation classes are available for non-native speakers in Seoul. My friend is a very strong speaker (basically fluent) but she of courses speaks with a strong accent. She is anxious to improve her pronunciation but cannot do so merely by independent study or conversation with a largely non-native speaking population locally.

Does anyone know if there is a speech/pronunciation coach available in Seoul to train non-native speakers? Any helpful suggestions would be appreciated.

tks

[JAWINSEOUL]

The best think for her sounds like a language exchange. I currently speak enlgish with my Korean teacher about 2 hours per week.

[dulouz]

You are getting into an area beyond language lessons and you are heading into speech therapy. Accent nullification is difficult because its a physical trait , you really can't think or learn your way out of it. I know we can imitate accents, I like toi make fun of Texans, Brits etc but generally you are stuck.

Accents come much more from muscle development than thought although accents are originally come from thought.

However, there are usually about a half dozen accent heavy mistakes/things you do that can make a big difference.

This happens frequently in the USA in our immigrant community esp the with the professionally employed.

Call a speech therapist and see what they say about this. After that, I think you'll need some private tutoring due to the individual nature of accents.

Good luck!

[dulouz]

This is a website for people that are ashamed to sound British. See what they have to say.

http://www.americanaccent.com/faq.html

[Big Mac]

I don't think it's true that you can't change an accent.

I've heard of courses in Quebec for French people who want to lose their French accent when they speak English. After taking the course, there was a dramatic improvement and you wouldn't even know they were French.

Even within English, accents can be lost. When I worked in radio in Newfoundland, I noticed many of the hosts would speak with a Newfie accent off-air, but as soon as they sat in front of a microphone they changed their speech. Many Newfoundlanders who go to the mainland also lose their accent quite quickly.

I don't know of any such courses in Seoul though. Sorry.