Why it is a Daunting Task to Learn American English Accent for Indian Speakers?

English can be crowned as the second most popular language spoken by the people of India. Moreover, English is been transforming as a language of the millennium.

Generally, it is amused that it is a daunting task for people with an Indian accent to speak and understand the American accent or vice versa. The reason behind this is simply the massive difference between the pronunciation and sounds of both the language.

Indeed, this makes a really complicated task for the folks to hold control on both the languages, in terms of correct accent without having an influence of the other. So, may find difficult to develop an American accent living in India.

You must have heard an American say that they can’t understand the Indian Accent. Despite having excellent English language skills, many speakers of Indian English experience face difficulty with American Listeners, especially over calls or in person. Well, this can be really challenging for people, who are associated with sales, marketing or International marketing.

Let’s explore some tips to make your speech easier to understand by Americans:

Pay Attention towards the Consonants “t” and “d”

Well, the Indian speaker, who speaks English, has a retroflex pronunciation of these consonants. This means they use a different part of their tongue in a distinct location in their sounds in comparison to American English Speakers. You can try using the tip of your tongue on the bumpy ridge behind your front teeth for producing better American voices “t.”

When it comes to the technical aspect, Americans also aspirate the “t” at the starting of a word, meaning they allow the air to escape. Whereas, the Indian English speakers often grasp in the air, making the “t” sound more like American “d.”

Indian Learners seem to Substitute the Long Vowel /ɔ:/ with /ɑ/

Rather than moving the lips to the front in a square shape, they keep the lips sort of idle and open the jaw slightly wider than it should be open which causes the tongue to go down too low.

The focus here should be on the lips moving forward in a square shape with the jaw slightly open.

Since vowel /ɔ:/ is generally pronounced as /ɑ:/ in American English, but when it is followed with an /r/, this is not counted to be a massive error.

Words like: Order, Born, Sword, Court, Source, Dormitory, etc.

Error Type: /eɪ/

There is a quite common problem among all English learners, especially Indians. When it comes to pronouncing vowel /eɪ/ accurately, the learners have to move smoothly their tongue from one position to another. The tongue sets off from a close-mid (jaw a little open, tongue high) position with /e/ to close (jaw closed, tongue very high) with /j/.

Words: Date, great, name, wage and many more.

Error Type: /oʊ/

Similar /eɪ/, this vowel is confidential as a diphthong. This implies that the learners have to craft two different sounds at the same time, a vowel /ɔ/ or /o/ and a consonant /w/. There are various Indian speakers, who only pronounce vowel /ɔ/ and abscond consonant /w/ out.

Words: boat; old; showed mode; coat; road; etc.

Voicing and De-voicing

Just like Arabic speakers, it is generally seen that Indian learners mispronounce certain complicated words and sounds that include /p/ at the starting of words by voicing it, like a /b/.

Just like, /t/ and /k/ may sound like /d/ and /g/ correspondingly at the beginning of words.

Learning a new language can be a really complex and daunting task, but there are certain aspects that an individual needs to take care of. Language barriers are a major aspect that can’t be overlooked because it breaks the connecting string between the societies. Therefore, there are experts, who offer hacks and tricks to make accent reduction a piece of cake.

Feel free to contact LocalMasters, to find the best Accent Reduction Coach.