• Home
  • My Story
  • Membership
  • Courses
  • Contact

Speech is Beautiful

The First 3 Steps to Acquiring an Accent

Education· Tips

28 Sep

In addition to spending my whole life with my Australian dad, I spent 10 days in Australia this spring to remember my dad and see all my family. It was an emotional and deeply meaningful trip for me, but it was also the first time I’ve been back to Australia since becoming a speech pathologist. As most speech paths know, it’s hard to turn “being a speechie” off.

You should know that I’ve never been successful at making an authentic Australian accent, even though I’ve grown up with it. But during this trip, I finally figured out how I could start working my way towards a convincing Aussie accent.

I believe that although I was trying to learn the Aussie accent, the tips I’m sharing here would be applicable to anyone learning an accent:

  1. Learn Filler Words — It’s extremely obvious if you say “um” (from the American accent) in Australia. Australians say “mm,” instead of “um.” I picked it up within one day. When you travel, you do a lot of listening so it’s important to nail down your filler words right away to blend in.
  2. Know Prosody/Intonation Rules — Every language has its own musical intonation when it’s spoken. And each dialect has its own intonation as well. Prosody/intonation is laid down early — within the first 18 months of life. I have a head start on learning the Australian accent I guess, because I left to move to the US around 18 months of age. It goes without saying that Australia speaks English with a different musical intonation than American English. If you can’t travel to another country, watch YouTube videos of the target dialect spoken. Try to listen only to the melody of the language, the up and down overall tones of sentences, and then try to imitate it. It’s much easier when you are in country because you reflect the speech of those you interact with. Have you ever been to the south, and slowly adopted a slight drawl? It invades your speech because we are at heart extremely empathetic people. If you work on it, you will start to pick it up pretty quickly.
  3. Adopt Slang/Idiomatic Expressions — Australians are known for the use of slang and idiomatic expressions. I don’t know of any studies done, but I believe that Australians use more expressions and slang than any culture I know. They are masters of the turn of phrase. When I got there in the spring, I had to learn on the fly. For example, my cousins used the word “bogan” all the time. I tried to absorb it through context, but ultimately I had to ask. “Bogan” is a cross between “basic” and “redneck” and it’s a derogatory term. Google the phrase “slang of XYZ country” and print out all of the expressions they use.

All speech paths know that language comprehension is higher than language expression. What that means is that you know more than you express. For example, you can read a book and know a lot more vocabulary words than you would actually ever use expressively. Take that knowledge and build your comprehension of the dialect faster than you start expressing yourself. But don’t let that stop you from taking risks when speaking because that also gives you feedback about what you need to do to perfect your accent.

After you start learning fillers, intonation, and slang, you can continue learning vowel and consonant differences between the accent you have and the one you want to learn. That’s where working with a speech pathologist who specializes in accent modification would be helpful.

Learning consonant (and especially vowel) differences will take a lot of practice and drill, but knowing filler words, prosody, and some idiomatic expressions will make you sound like a local more quickly. I wish you all the luck in the world and I know you can do it!

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

Related

« 5 Myths about Bilingual Speech-Language Pathologists
5 Reasons to Subscribe to My Email List »
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Categories

Latest on Pinterest

  • The color cards and games are for you to laminate and use over and over in the therapy room. The black and white can be used in therapy and then sent home for continued practice at home. PRODUCT CONTENTS: -L INITIAL -L MEDIAL -L FINAL -INITIAL L- BLENDS -MEDIAL L- BLENDS
  • Get hundreds of trials by having students say their target words and then coloring one square per word! These grids take multiple sessions to complete and you will end up with a beautiful mosaic of colors and patterns customized by the student. They can choose the colors or their favorite team. All you need are colored pencils! PRODUCT CONTENTS: 1) TINY GRIDS 2) MEDIUM GRIDS 3) LARGE GRIDS 4) PLAID PATTERN GRIDS EACH PACK INCLUDES ONE PAGE PER SOUND AND ONE PAGE OF STIMULUS WORDS
  • The color cards and games are for you to laminate and use over and over in the therapy room. The black and white can be used in therapy and then sent home for continued practice at home. PRODUCT CONTENTS: -L INITIAL -L MEDIAL -L FINAL -INITIAL L- BLENDS -MEDIAL L- BLENDS
  • Using classic fables and nursery rhymes in speech therapy is a great way to teach story retell skills to young children, while continuing the tradition of oral story telling from our culture. 15 STORIES EACH CONTAIN: -Story Printable -Story Cards -Drawing to Describe -Writing to Describe PRODUCT CONTENTS Pg 3-6 – TARJETAS PARA CONTAR LOS CUENTOS Pg 7-12 – HICKORY DICKORY DOCK Pgs 13-17 – HUMPTY DUMPTY Pgs 18-24 – LA ARAÑA PEQUEÑITA Pg 25-30 – JUAN Y JUANITA and more!
  • Olivia is a classic book adored by kids and also enjoyed by educators. Olivia covers the basic life skills PRODUCT CONTENTS: Pg 3-5 – El resumen del cuento y ¿Qué pasó? Pgs 6-16 – Las acciones (Tarjetas, Escritura, Comparamos & Contrastamos) Pgs 17-28 –La ropa (Tarjetas, Escritura, Comparamos & Contrastamos) Pgs 29-41 – La rutina de la mañana (Tarjetas, Secuencias, Dibujando y Escribiendo) Pgs 42-52 –Vocabulario de la playa (Plurales, Coloreando, Comparamos & Contrastamos)
  • Get hundreds of trials by having students say their target words and then coloring one square per word! These grids take multiple sessions to complete and you will end up with a beautiful mosaic of colors and patterns customized by the student. They can choose the colors or their favorite team. All you need are colored pencils! PRODUCT CONTENTS: 1) TINY GRIDS 2) MEDIUM GRIDS 3) LARGE GRIDS 4) PLAID PATTERN GRIDS EACH PACK INCLUDES ONE PAGE PER SOUND AND ONE PAGE OF STIMULUS WORDS
  • Olivia is a classic book adored by kids and also enjoyed by educators. Olivia covers the basic life skills PRODUCT CONTENTS: Pg 3-5 – El resumen del cuento Pgs 6-16 – Las acciones (Tarjetas, Escritura, Comparamos & Contrastamos) Pgs 17-28 –La ropa (Tarjetas, Escritura, Comparamos & Contrastamos) Pgs 29-41 – La rutina de la mañana (Tarjetas, Secuencias, Dibujando y Escribiendo) Pgs 42-52 –Vocabulario de la playa (Plurales, Coloreando, Comparamos & Contrastamos) All pages are black and white
  • If you are treating phonological processes in Spanish, these flashcards are unique and ones you will refer to over and over again! CONTENTS (Color and Black & White): -14 pairs of cards for Velar Fronting -14 pairs Final Consonant Deletion -12 pairs Weak Syllable Deletion -10 pairs Cluster Reduction -12 pairs Initial Consonant Deletion -12 pairs Voicing TWO VERSIONS: 50 pgs color and 50 pages BW flashcards (quarter page size) 30 pgs color and 30 pgs BWflashcards (six per page)
  • The book If you give a mouse a cookie is practically a classic in elementary schools. Read the book in your speech therapy session and then extend the lesson and increase skills gained, including: CONTENTS Pages 2-12: Retelling pictures and aides Page 13: Question cards Pages 14-23: The future tense Pages 24-25: Discussion of what happened in the book Pages 26-29: Compare & Contrast Pages 30-32: Following directions coloring pages Buy now and use year after year!

Copyright © 2022 · Website Design By Jumping Jax Designs

 

Loading Comments...