How To Get Rid Of Accent?

Easy question, difficult answer - the best way is to spend as much time as possible with English native speakers and absorb their way of speaking.

But why do you want to hide your accent completely? I think they usually sound really cool.

I agree with Pemmican on both counts.

Accents are VERY COOL! Don't try to totally hide yours! Most Americans love accents, as long as the person speaking with one is easily understood. hehe, whenever I meet someone that speaks with a foreign accent, that person is immediately MUCH more interesting to me than they would be otherwise.

I have the same concern, and I try to watch lots of movies and catch the way they speak!

I wonder whether there are programs on the internet which would associate a letter with a sound, so you can practise..

cheers

Well you guys are raising a very good point there, I can tell that having an accent does attrack people because they find you more interesting than, well accent-free persons.

Yet there are two sides to this. On the one hand people find you "interesting" but on the other hand people tend to not see you as the person you are but rather as the foreigner you are.
So what I'm trying to point out is that you'll always be in the situation of having to prove yourself in lots a situations throughout your day b/c you're the guy with the accent hence you're the foreign person.

So, as already stated, go spend time with native speakers, watch movies, work on your intonation and pronunciation, and study colloquial expressions...there's always time to impress people with your story once they figured you're from abroad

The only people I've met who have managed a convicing native speaker accent are those who moved here as children. Everyone else seems to have just a slight accent at 'best' but I'd agree that most people find an accent attractive and interesting, and I don't think it stops you being taken seriously. As long as you are easily understood, that is the important thing.

Although, I suppose if you have an accent which seems to be connected with a negative racial stereotype, the situation might be different. You might want to reduce or disguise your accent a bit, but I think it is virtually impossible to completely irradicate it without serious professional voice coaching and lots of exposure to native speakers.

With English, you have the choice of learning one of several accents. You can learn British, American, Canadian, or Australian. It depends of where you will go - for example, if you are going to America, you might want to try and pick up an American accent (in my opinion, the best kind).

I can understand someone wanting to get rid of an accent. I think a lot of people who are really motivated about learning a language want to be "just like the native speakers". I'm learning Japanese and would love to be able to speak without an accent (a totally pointless goal since I'm caucasian and have zero chance of blending in).

However, I have to agree that a slight accent is not necessarily a problem as long as you're understood. If people don't hear your accent they won't know you're a foreigner and they won't be impressed by your command of the language.

In reply to the original query, it's possible to get rid of your accent by watching TV a lot. Try to mimic how they speak and sound in various English TV programs. If you work hard enough, you may get an authentic-sounding American accent in no time at all. But this may not work if your native language has a 'strong', 'heavy' or very pronounced accent, like say Indian, or Arabic. I believe that Indians in general have the best English grammar and the widest vocabulary among non-native English speakers in the world (even better than many Americans I know!). But the accent is just so distinct that it doesn't completely go away, even after some time in the US or UK.