Neutral Accent

'Neutral accent' A 'neutral accent' can be defined as a way of speaking (tone, intonation etc) where people from any geographical location is able to understand you, provided they know the language themselves! The 'neutral accent', in speech training refers to the module in which the participant is taught how to get rid of his/her MTI (Mother Tongue Influence). This kind of training is mostly used in businesses where interaction with over-seas customers/clients is a prerequisite. What is Accent Neutralization? 1. The main cause of this trend towards accent neutralization / reduction is the demand created by outsourcing. 2. The problem that arises is that many customers have difficulties understanding accents other than their own; hence accent neutralization or reduction becomes important for customer satisfaction. 3. I think neutral accent is a good idea. Thank you... How to speak with neutral accent? 1. Frequently listen to English spoken by native speakers and repeat them. 2. Watch English movies, listen to music, audio clips, BBC news and presentations. 3. Control your rate of speech to get the correct intonation and rhythm of English. 4. Use your dictionary. Familiarize yourself with the phonetic symbols used for different words in the dictionary and look up the correct pronunciation. This method helps in neutralizing an accent tremendously. 5. Make a list of commonly used words that are difficult to pronounce. 6. Record your own voice and listen for pronunciation mistakes. 7. Read English newspaper regularly. 8. Work on how to pronounce the vowel and consonant sounds. Mostly vowel sounds play vital role for accent variation. Hence pronounce the vowels clearly. 8. Practice English sincerely. Don't feel shy to speak English as a beginner. 9. Try imitating BBC news readers, or the queen. They are all speakers of RP (Received Pronunciation). 10. The method of picking up the accent varies wildly, and speech therapists can pick up what you are doing wrong and explain how to change. Ref: www.neutralaccent.com