Tuesday 4 October 2011

Intonation and accents

As you may have read in page 25 in your textbooks, in order to sound "English", not only pronunciation is important, but also intonation. The best way to achieve this is practicing by listening lots of English conversations, no matter if they are American or British English, Autralian or Irish. Here you are some links for you to practice at the same time you will have the opportunity to try some of the Internet audio sites suggested on the left corner of this blog.

http://www.trainyouraccent.com./  (some tips to sound "more American")
http://www.ezslang.com/ (with some sections dealing with tourism)
http://www.gazzaro.it/accents/files/accents2.html (different kind of accents)
http://members.multimania.co.uk/mdmorrissey/phonlinks.htm (some links on English dialects and accents)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/voices/yourvoice/feature2_4.shtml (a very good but not very updated resource on different kinds of British accents)
http://www.wikihow.com/Speak-in-a-British-Accent (How to sound British)

After having a look at all of this, comment here you experience. Have you learned anything new on intonation? Did you know about the importance of having a good intonation?

Now, remember, listen and learn as much as you can...(You can listen to some English radio station while reading this blog. Look at your right)

8 comments:

  1. Hi!! I've been trying these links. When I click the fourth one, a warning message appeared (I don't know if there is a virus).
    Anyway, I enjoyed the rest of the files. I tried with advanced level, but I don't understand almost anything. I have to practice more and more. Hearing is the most difficult part of English study for me.
    I liked the file "how to sound British". I work in a supermarket where a lot of tourists come, and I realised that British accent is very difficult to me to pronounce. Maybe I can understand British people, but I can not speak like them!!!
    I think I speak more in an "American style",...
    Well, thanks for these links! I've enjoyed them!

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  2. Hi Gisela,
    Thanks for your comments. You say LISTENING is the most difficult task for you but you will soon improve it just doing it, just by listening a little bit everyday, "practice makes perfect" they say! Your English is good so it will help you too. Find your level and go step by step until you reach higher ones.
    Cheers,
    Lucía.

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  3. Yes, intonation is important in every language, but apart from showing the region you are from it is to show emotions and feelings, that´s why I do not really think intonation is so important when learning a language, don´t get me wrong, I don´t mean it is not worth teaching or learning it, but only when we study the standard accent, for Example in English it should be learnt together with the RP, but apart from that it is a simple regional accent.
    What do you think? I look forward to hearing from you!

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  4. This is a very interesting point of view, Antonio. Let's see what you class mates think about it. Thanks for your comment,
    Lucía.

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  5. I agree in a part with Antonio, because there are a lot of regions, each one with its accent. But, as I have said, when I have to speak with a tourist, I often feel that I don't know how to speak, because my English accent is very different than British. So, I think it's very interesting know how to pronounce in British, and in American English too. The way you pronounce, often helps you to understand what they are saying.

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  6. You must not worry about the accent in the begining, just say what you want to say, try good communication with the other speaker and enjoy the conversation! :-)
    Lucía.

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  7. I´ve listened some tasks from "
    http://www.trainyouraccent.com./ (some tips to sound "more American")" and i was glad to discovered that it was very easy to understand and repeat after the listening.

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  8. I would like to recomend you this link http://www.rtve.es/alacarta/audios/emision-en-ingles/
    You can find many recorded radio programmes in English talking about politics in Spain, culture, art, etc. I do love them!

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