As strange as it may seem, I hate my accent and want to speak like an American because I think it sounds cooler and more like how I want to sound.
I’ve more or less perfected my version of an American accent on my own, I think.
But whenever I’m with other people who know me, I revert back to my old accent instinctively because that’s how they know me to sound like. I’m unsure about how I can subtly transition without them noticing a sudden change, such as through gradual exposure to my accent changing more each time they hear it. That way I could argue that I don’t know how it happened and it was a slow progression if they eventually realise it’s different, rather than something forced that I started doing one day.
The biggest thing I think is changing the pronunciation of certain words with “a”, such as going from “fahst” to “faast” for the word ‘fast’, or “mahsk” to “maask” for ‘mask’. Because it’s really one or the other, there’s no in-between. I feel like for most other sounds, a gradual transition into more American sounds can be possible, but that one’s like, how can I make the plunge and will people notice it straight away and think it’s weird?
We sound stupid though…
What country are you from and what’s your original accent?
Maybe mention that you’re ‘taking lessons’ to change/Americanize your accent to the people you’re familiar with and then fairly rapidly incorporate your new dialect into your speech? This kinda changes something you may be embarrassed about into something more akin to learning a new language. I’m sure after a short bit, your new speech will just become normal sounding, and everyone will forget about the change.
My sibling in Christ, just relax and be yourself. You’ll pick up the accent more and more over time, that’s how it works. Forcing it is disingenuous. Imagine if my goofy midwestern ass moved to the UK and started to try to speak with Brits forcing their accent.
I had some friends in Munich who were brothers, just two or three years apart. They both grew up learning British English, but one eventually participated in an exchange program in Canada while the other participated in one in Australia. When they came back, their English accents were completely different from each other - no matter how hard they tried to sound similar to each other. In the end, everyone though it was unique and kind of fun since one brother would sometimes use slang the other didn’t understand.
Point being, OP, is to do what feels natural. Ultimately, it’s your voice, but you’ll pick up certain things here and there that naturally change your way of speaking over time.
I agree with the general sentiment here that please don’t, but, if you must, I think it would be cool to practice in secret until you get really, really fucking good at it, then just switch over all at once. Preferably with a large audience. Just be giving a presentation at work and go from Liverpool to Indianapolis, mid-sentence.
Don’t ease into it at all. Wait for a moment where it would be funny, then go whole hog with it. Treat it like a joke… but then just keep going. Never go back. Don’t even acknowledge there is a back. Pretend this is how you’ve always talked and they’re insane if they think otherwise.
Yes. This is the answer. Gaslighting.
As an American myself, I encourage you to keep your natural accent. We’re a nation of immigrants built from people who originated all over the world. So there’s not just one recognizable accent here. Nobody’s accent is superior to others. I’ve known people from other countries who are self conscious about their accents. In response, I tell them honestly that I appreciate the way they sound. Variety is the spice of life, as the saying goes.
OP doesn’t actually live in the US themselves, they just want to sound like an American.
Aza 'Merican maseff,… um, maybe try for mid-Atlantic.
Why American though?
Why not South African, or something like this? Then you can sound like a
mercenarysoldier of fortune. 😏Pretend to fall and hit your head some night out with friends. Not enough for them to force you to stay up and get a cat scan, but just enough. Just enough to leave some doubt. Then start talking American the next day
Good idea, that way, if your mates try to get you to go for the scan, you can baffle them by announcing that you “Can’t afford it” 😂
As an American this is GOLD and has me gutturally laughing as I stare at my $2,175/month bottle of pills.
There is not a slow enough change for that to unnoticed. People will notice.
Also … just why? Why American? There are so many nice accents to choose.
Disconnect yourself from absolutely everyone you know and everywhere you usually go; take a long vacation somewhere relatively close but isolated enough from where you live.
Then, pretend this is actually a trip to America. You can fake photos online, AI makes this very easy for you today. Return to your normal life and carry on with the American accent. Continue taking fake (or if you can, real) holidays to America to justify the accent.
You are never going to be able to do it so gradually that no one notices. There will always come a point at which they think “weird, @PlogLod sort of sounds American”.
For that reason I think you may as well just fully commit straight away and get it over with.
By “American accent”, do you mean the style of speaking that’s commonly used in American movies and TV? Because that’s an intentional neutral/ambiguous accent, based primarily on the styles used in the Midwest.
It doesn’t actually match any region, and it certainly doesn’t match all regions of the US. The accents in New York, California, Texas, and the Deep South all have stark contrasts to this, and to each other.
Although, thanks to that somewhat bland accent being so prevalent on TV and in movies, regional accents are shifting to sort of match it. Especially in younger generations.
a medical condition in which patients develop speech patterns that are perceived as a foreign accent[1] that is different from their native accent, without having acquired it in the perceived accent’s place of origin.
Foreign accent syndrome usually results from a stroke,[1] but can also develop from head trauma,[1] migraines[2] or developmental problems.[3] The condition might occur due to lesions in the speech production network of the brain, or may also be considered a neuropsychiatric condition.[4] The condition was first reported in 1907,[5] and between 1941 and 2009 there were 62 recorded cases.
Here’s to becoming number 63!
Life is too short, just do it and when people notice say you’re trying it out for fun for a bit.
This is probably something you’ll think was really silly in a few years but who cares, live a little.
