How to speak with an American accent

1. How to speak with an American accent • Remember: there is no “right” way to pronounce English, simply different accents. Let’s try a sample sentence: “I am going to go to the internet for some information on breakfast.”

2. PRONUNCIATION: What the scholars say… “...Traditionally, Filipino English is described as syllable timed with each syllable coming with even beats, rather than following the stress timing of American and British English where the stress is on nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.” --Roger Thompson, “Filipino English and Taglish” (2003)

3. PRONUNCIATION: Word Stress Filipino: even rhythm “I am going to go to the internet for some information on breakfast.” American: uneven rhythm

4. PRONUNCIATION “Instead of pronouncing unstressed vowels as a schwa, Filipinos pronounce each syllable with the full value indicated by the spelling.” -- Gonzales (1983)

5. PRONUNCIATION: The “Schwa” Filipino: ter American: tur “I am going to go to the internet for some information on breakfast.” Filipino: fast American: fust Say “Uhh”! In other words, Filipino speakers have more precise pronunciation than American speakers.

6. PRONUNCIATION: The “Schwa” In American pronunciation, the schwa, or “uhh” sound, is the most common vowel sound. Examples: • 'a' in about [əˈbaʊt] • 'e' in taken [ˈteɪkən] • 'i' in pencil [ˈpɛnsəl] • 'o' in eloquent [ˈɛləkwənt] • 'u' in supply [səˈplaɪ]

7. PRONUNCIATION: The “Schwa” Americans tend to omit medial posttonicsyllables.  Examples: • Sep(a)rate  “Seprate” • Choc(o)late  “Choclate” • Cam(e)ra “Camra” • Elab(o)rate  “Elabrate”

8. TRY TALKING LIKE AN AMERICAN tuh tuh I am going to go to the internet for some information on breakfast. tur fur fur fust