Teacher Discussion Forums

My boss has asked me to research accent removal or reduction for ESL business students. I have a lot of experience teaching business ESL classes but none in trying to rid students of there native accents when speaking english. Anyone have any info on this topic or know where I could get some?? Thanks

Two things first: you should search through this site and read what's already been said. And try a google search with "reduction accent".

This yields:

http://www.google.com.mx/search?q=accen ... l=es&meta=
http://www.accurateenglish.com/HTML/tips.htm
http://www.professional-business-commun ... tips5.html
http://members.tripod.com/jrmeads_515/qmar.htm

Iain

I think it's not realistic to get rid of the accent alltogether. Especially with adults... Some people may be better at faking foreign accents than others, but accent will always stay with you if you are learning a language in a post-puberty age. Sad but true.

However, on a more optimistic note, I believe that the best chance to maximally recreate the sound of a foreign language is if you keep your ears open. It's something like when you hear the music and later can yourself try to sing the same tune. So similarly the sound of another language is a kind of music, which you can later try to recreate. However, I am not so sure if all the people are capable of doing this. It's no problem with me, but well... everyone is different. The only thing I refuse to believe is that you have to have this "good ear" by birth. If this were the case, then all the gifted muscians and singers would speak other languages without the slightest accent. However, this is not the case. I think it's more the matter of your own conscious/unconscous effort to open your ears from the inside and to actually HEAR others' speech. I don't know if I was clear enough, but hope this helps...