If you ever took speech lessons to eliminate a regional accent, how long did it take you to get

[raccoon]

proficient?


(No, I'm not going to do that. I don't want to spend the money. I'm just asking.)

[Shell Beau]

1. I don't have a clue, but I bet it differs from person to person.

And probably depends on the accent.

[dannofoot]

5. Just a few months...

...of course, that was in acting school with Speech class four days a week, with a teacher who made me recite sonnets with a 3" cork wedged between my teeth.

Cruel perhaps, but this is how good she was: The first day of class, she had each student read two lines. When I was finished, she asked, "Dannofoot, where in the East did your parents grow up?" I told her Cleveland and New York. Next she asked, "And what part of Illinois are you from?" When I named my town, she actually said, "Next time you speak to your parents, thank them for raising you with very little accent."

[blogslut]

2. Not long

It helps to listen to your recorded voice. It also helps to understand how your regional accent differs from the "norm". For example, Texans speak with a lateral spread. They open their mouths wide when they talk. Texans also love to add extra vowels.

[Pacifist Patriot]

13. I once had a southern accent explained to me as...

"they monopthongize their dipthongs and dipthongize their monopthongs." I just love that. Don't know why.

[Aristus]

3. I never took lessons. My Texas accent just gradually disappeared over the years.

It still comes back when I'm tired, though.

And I'll say "y'all" till I die... B-)

[Heidi]

4. It wore off. When I was younger, I worried about my Oklahoma/Arkansas accent,

and after about five years in/after college I took classes to develop a very well-dulled, well-rounded midwestern,broadcast voice. However, I'm back to how I naturally am, and it's okay. Non-native English speakers understand me, and I like being who I naturally am. :shrug:

[geardaddy]

6. There's sort of classist mentality to those classes

I think. x(

[ogneopasno]

7. I am very much a verbal (vocal?) chameleon. I can pick up any accent I want within minutes. When I

talk to people, I often mimic their speaking patterns and accents unconsciously. Not in an obnoxious way -- I don't think they notice -- but it's hard to know what my real speaking style is like. It helps when I'm interviewing people (I'm a freelance reporter and editor) -- when I use my "rural" voice when talking to rural people, I get them to open up a lot quicker than if I'm using my "town" voice. It's kind of odd, and I don't know why I'm so good at it. I'm excellent with foreign languages too; maybe that has something to do with it.

[geardaddy]

8. Is that you Zelig?

:D

[NMDemDist2]

10. i do that too. I often wonder if it was the fact I went to 14 schools in 11 years

in all different parts of the country

I have parts of all those areas in my speech pattern and I tend to 'fall into' whatever pattern I'm hearing.

I used to laugh that when I got on an airplane in California, if the stewardess was from Dallas, I'd sound like I never left Texas within 3.2 seconds

:hide:

[Pacifist Patriot]

11. I do the same and sometimes it can be a hinderance.

When I am in England I don't even realize that I've started picking up a more British cadance to my speech until my husband points it out. He also knows when I've spoken to one of my relatives over the telephone because I have a "cute little southern belle" accent for about half an hour. Whenever I screw up my courage to speak a little Spanish, I'm met with a torrent of Spanish and have to slow the speaker down and assure them I really am not all that fluent even though I have a competent accent.

I often worry people will think I am making fun of them or putting on affectations. Speech or gestures, I am a natural mimic.

[ogneopasno]

14. Hee!

He also knows when I've spoken to one of my relatives over the telephone because I have a "cute little southern belle" accent for about half an hour.

That's exactly what happens with me. I'll get off the phone and say, "That was --" and Mr. Ogneopasno will know who it is just by how I was talking.

I worry, too, that people think I'm making fun of them. But they never seem to notice -- consciously, anyway. I like to think it makes me approachable and a good listener, to their subconsciousness. Like I said, I think it certainly helps to get people to talk when I'm interviewing them.

[NMDemDist2]

9. just buy a cheap tape recorder and listen to yourself

then practice every day

rinse repeat

it take 3 months to make or break a habit, so in 6 months if you practice daily you should sound like a new person

:hi:

[Pacifist Patriot]

12. I would think it depends upon the individual.

Some people just have better "ears" than others. Look at professional actors. Some can nail any accent they attempt and others couldn't change their speech if you paid them a million bucks. Oh wait, sometimes we do. See, they still can't change their speech.

[Wapsie B]

16. I've seen Maria Bamford nail that in one of her routines.

She could slip in and out of a score of regional accents. Hilarious!


http://www.mariabamford.com/com_clips.shtml

Not the best clip of hers but it shows her talent.

[Pharlo]

15. It's not an accent, but I had a lisp as a child and had speech

classes to correct it. It took about a month and a half. But, I was in second grade. And, I do notice that even now (about three and a half decades later) that when I'm real tired, I have to concentrate on my speech or the lisp returns.

[MrSlayer]

17. You don't need to take lessons.

Just mimic national news anchors.

I find it quite easy to dial my Philly accent up and down. I like to lay it on thick when I'm out of town.