How do you get rid of an accent? (fit in, home) - City-Data Forum

BSL63087 · 08-13-2007, 05:27 PM

I'm from southern Indiana right next to Louisville, KY. My family is all from Kentucky and none of us are country people at all but we have a little bit of that country southern accent. A lot of people around here have it. I was wondering how you can get rid of it? I would guess working with some kind of speech therapist would probably do it but is there any way to do it on your own? I don't like having a southern accent although I don't think it is a very deep accent but I think it is notacible. I have been told before that I sound like a cross between a midwest and south accent when I talk which sounds right since I live right on the "boarder" of the south and midwest.

Thanks.

IBrakeforTailgaters · 08-13-2007, 05:30 PM

Hey, don't knock those Southern accents! I was born and raised in the Carolinas, still live here, and people love to hear me talk (but my accent is not by any means the deepest Southern one around either)...I don't know about anyone else in here, but I lost a bit of my accent when I went off to college. I guess being around people who talked differently kinda caused me to lose some of the molasses that were stuck in my throat! To be honest, I didn't even know I had a distinguishable accent until I went off to one of those summer programs back in high school and everyone circled around me and wanted to hear me talk. I thought I was normal :-P

SashaBlue · 08-13-2007, 05:32 PM

It's tough to get rid of an accent, but it can be done. People repeat what they hear and is why accents are passed down from generation to generation. Try listening to audio books. The readers are usually very articulate and speak clearly and distrinctly without a distinguishable accent. Take a voice, diction, and phoenetics class at your local college. I took this type of class once and it was very helpful. The teacher had us read outloud into a voice recorder in the privacy of our home and play it back to hear how we sounded. We worked prouncing words phoenetically, and amazing, after a few weeks when we recorded ourselves we sounded much different. Good luck!

BSL63087 · 08-13-2007, 05:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by manofbess

Hey, don't knock those Southern accents! I was born and raised in the Carolinas, still live here, and people love to hear me talk (but my accent is not by any means the deepest Southern one around either)...I don't know about anyone else in here, but I lost a bit of my accent when I went off to college. I guess being around people who talked differently kinda caused me to lose some of the molasses that were stuck in my throat! To be honest, I didn't even know I had a distinguishable accent until I went off to one of those summer programs back in high school and everyone circled around me and wanted to hear me talk. I thought I was normal :-P

I don't have a problem with southern accents or people who have them but I just don't like having it personally. I wish I just had no accent at all.

BSL63087 · 08-13-2007, 05:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SashaBlue

It's tough to get rid of an accent, but it can be done. People repeat what they hear and is why accents are passed down from generation to generation. Try listening to audio books. The readers are usually very articulate and speak clearly and distrinctly without a distinguishable accent. Take a voice, diction, and phoenetics class at your local college. I took this type of class once and it was very helpful. The teacher had us read outloud into a voice recorder in the privacy of our home and play it back to hear how we sounded. We worked prouncing words phoenetically, and amazing, after a few weeks when we recorded ourselves we sounded much different. Good luck!

Thanks. I'll look into that.

Katiana · 08-13-2007, 05:54 PM

I lost most of my Pittsburgh accent by very conscious decision-making. I also didn't have a very strong accent to begin with, so I suppose that helped. Now, once in a rare while, someone asks me if I'm from "back east".

IBrakeforTailgaters · 08-13-2007, 06:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BSL63087

I don't have a problem with southern accents or people who have them but I just don't like having it personally. I wish I just had no accent at all.

Oh, I see. No offense taken or anything like that. I've just noticed that Southern accents can be charming. I could've gotten quite a bit of phone numbers, just from folks who thought my accent was cute back in the day

CTownNative · 08-13-2007, 06:10 PM

People in Colorado think I have a Southern accent.Im from Northeast Ohio,and my anncestors had no ties to the south.No one back in Ohio ever siad I had a southern accent.Maybe I get my dads western Pennsylvania accent.I don't think you lose an accent,everyone has one,and I think everyone sounds different.

lammius · 08-13-2007, 06:24 PM

I'm from NJ by way of VA. People have guessed by my accent that I'm from:
Boston
Philadelphia
Alabama
Michigan
Australia!!!!

I've made no conscious effort to get rid of my accent or to obtain any type of accent to begin with. It just grows over time. When I first moved to NJ many people thought I sounded southern. Now when I go back to VA people tell me I sound like a damn yankee. I JUST DON'T FIT IN ANYWHERE!!!!! (boo hoo hoo hoo!!!!)

Katiana · 08-13-2007, 07:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CTownNative

People in Colorado think I have a Southern accent.Im from Northeast Ohio,and my anncestors had no ties to the south.No one back in Ohio ever siad I had a southern accent.Maybe I get my dads western Pennsylvania accent.I don't think you lose an accent,everyone has one,and I think everyone sounds different.

The western PA accent does have some southern undertones. My DD is a native Coloradan and she has been told by some that she has a southern accent. I don't hear it, to tell you the truth.