Back in the 1950s, the only accent you would hear on the TV or radio in the UK would be a clipped 'BBC English' voice. It wasn't even received pronunciation, it was more like the Queen's English - national or regional accents were ruled out acceptable for national broadcast.
Fortunately this is not the case - all English accents are considered appropriate nowadays, and we hear a broad variety of local accents daily.
Something of the past continues to be, however. Rightly or wrongly, individuals STILL draw conclusions about you from your voice, making assumptions about where you originate from, the level of your education and even how rich you are and what your capacity in life might be.
It lots of not be reasonable, however as SOON as you begin to speak, you are stating a lot about yourself ... and not just in the material of your speech. Your intonation and your accent - the very WAY in which you speak - is producing an impression with the listener.
On one hand, this might not be a problem: when you get to know somebody you will certainly have the chance to reveal yourself and show who you actually are. You would hope that the majority of people are open minded enough to pay attention to you and to begin to comprehend who you truly are.
On the other hand, however, there are times when you simply do not get a second opportunity making an impression. An interview, for example, or a spoken English exam; a telephone sales conversation, where all you have is your voice to work with: in circumstances like these it is VITAL that you develop a strong impression with a clear accent and an excellent voice. If the listener needs to make too much effort to understand you, they will merely stop listening.
LEARNING AN ENGLISH ACCENT
However, I hear you ask there are so many English accents - which should I aim to find out?
When discovering any language, I 'd advise discovering the 'neutral' accent of the capital city. In the UK, that would be a neutral British accent, or received pronunciation.
Why? First, because it is the most quickly comprehended English accent outside the UK.
A local UK accent blended with a non-English accent can be really tough to understand.
So how DO you find out a neutral British English accent? The essential thing is, obviously, to pay attention to native speakers.
There is, though, another crucial factor which most teachers of English either do not, can't or will not tell you. Altering your accent needs MORE than listening. It requires observation too. Why? Due to the fact that occasionally you have to look carefully at what the mouth of a native speaker is doing before you can completely comprehend HOW to produce an English vowel or and English consonant noise in the right, neutral English method.
The majority of non-native speakers of English can HEAR that there is a difference in between their own accent when speaking English, and a native English accent. Exactly what they have no idea is the best ways to change the method they talk to produce 'English' sounds.
This takes cautious observation and a little concentration, BUT, by focusing on the way individual sounds are produced, even strong accents can be lowered.
Think about the 'f' sound. Lots of Indian speakers discover this challenging, and will either make a soft blowing noise, or will make a 'p' sound instead, so that 'quick buddy' becomes 'previous prend'.
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Paying attention to a native speaker might inform them that this isn't really fairly ideal ... however viewing carefully will reveal them the best ways to make that noise (Bite your lower lip lightly with your top teeth, and blow out. There it is! Put some noise into it, and it ends up being the voiced V sound, which numerous Indians pronounce as a 'w').
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