michfr Posted July 29, 2004 at 07:38 PM Report Share Posted July 29, 2004 at 07:38 PM In U.S. and Australia, speakers of Engish as a second language often would like to get rid of their foreign accents, so people will think they're native-born Americans or Australians But as a Caucasian, no matter how much I practice to get rid of my American accent when speaking Chinese in China, people would just look at me and know I'm a foreigner. So why should I bother shedding my American accent? As long as I'm understood, should be good enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yuchi Posted July 29, 2004 at 10:26 PM Report Share Posted July 29, 2004 at 10:26 PM I don't know about other foreigners, but I got rid of my accent because I didn't want to sound like a moron, and so americans could understand me. They already distinguished me as a foreigner just by my looks, I'm not going to do DNA restructurization just for them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bunni87 Posted July 30, 2004 at 11:26 PM Report Share Posted July 30, 2004 at 11:26 PM I don't think it's so much trying to seem "native born" as to just be understood CLEARLY. I'm not sure if you've ever had a foreign-born teacher/professor who refused to shed his or her thick accent and causes the students great hardships as a result... So try your best to get as accurate a pronunciation as you can, even if you don't think you can perfect it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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