The #1 Secret Ingredient You Need to Reduce Your Accent

If you're a non-native English speaker, you know how challenging it can be to reduce your accent and speak English fluently and with confidence.

Whether you're taking accent reduction classes or trying to improve your English pronunciation on your own, it can be frustrating to feel like your accent is holding you back.

But fear not, because I'm here to share with you the number one secret to reducing your accent when speaking English!

What Is Accent Reduction?

Before we dive in, let's clarify some terms. Accent reduction, also known as accent modification, is the process of changing the way you speak to sound more like a native speaker does.

It's not about getting rid of your accent entirely – that's virtually impossible – but rather about making your accent easier for others to understand.

It’s a great feeling when someone focuses 100% on what you say, rather than how you say it. I know firsthand, since I reduced my own accent in my second language, Spanish.

If you come across other accent coaches who promise that “You’ll sound JUST like a native speaker!” – RUN! That’s not the goal, nor the promise, of accent reduction.

Sure, you may have seen a Hollywood actor play a part that required them to use a totally different accent – there are so many examples of this. Aside from working one-on-one with amazing accent coaches for a very long time to achieve that new accent, actors also work from a script.

Actors know what they’re going to have to say ahead of time, and they can rehearse and practice it. Regular people like you and me simply can’t do that!

A good accent coach will make sure to share realistic goals with you before you begin a coaching program. But, the good news is that it’s totally possible to greatly improve your speech so you can feel understood and confident when speaking English.

Working with an accent coach 1-on-1 is the best way to get targeted feedback and guidance on your pronunciation so you can make improvements to your clarity, how well others understand you, and how confident you feel when speaking English…

…and those are the real goals of accent reduction!

Now that we have that out of the way… what’s the secret ingredient?!

So – What Do I Need to Reduce My Accent?

Now, without further delay, the number one secret to reducing your accent when speaking English is…drumroll please…listening!

That's right – listening is the key to improving your English pronunciation and reducing your accent.

Here are 3 reasons why:

1. Listening helps you identify sounds and patterns.

English has a lot of sounds that don't exist in other languages, and some sounds are pronounced differently depending on the context.

For example, did you know that the /TH/ sound (as in “then,” “within,” or “bath”) simply doesn’t exist in most other languages? That’s why it’s so hard for non-native speakers to pronounce!

There are also two versions of the /TH/ sound, which makes it one of the sounds that is pronounced differently depending on the context. There is a “voiced /TH/” and a “voiceless /TH/”!

By listening to native English speakers, you can train your ear to identify these sounds and patterns, which will help you produce them more accurately in your own speech.

Of course, when working with a professional accent coach (like me!), you will be guided through specific listening exercises to make sure you can clearly hear the targeted sounds of American English.

Making sure you can hear a certain sound is the very first step before you can learn to produce it!

2. Listening helps you develop a natural rhythm and intonation.

English has a distinctive rhythm and intonation pattern that can be challenging for non-native speakers to master.

By listening to how native speakers stress certain words, pause between phrases, and rise and fall in pitch, you can start to internalize this rhythm and intonation and incorporate it into your own speech.

Many people assume that accent reduction classes are all about pronunciation. But, there is so much more to an accent. A core part of a strong accent coaching program is working on rhythm and intonation.

American English speakers – just like native speakers of any other language – are used to a certain rhythm and patterns of intonation when listening to their language.

When a different rhythm or different intonations are used than those that American ears have come to expect, that can make your English much harder to understand and can really affect your message.

Every student is different, so one student’s rhythm and intonation goal can be very different from another’s. Some. students. put. a. pause. between. every. word. This is something we just don’t do in American English.

Instead, we like to connect our words together, string them together in a sentence, rush through some of them, and stretch out others to emphasize them or increase the clarity of our message.

Sometimes, speaking American English can feel a little like singing!

Another aspect of rhythm and intonation that I work on with some students who need it is controlling rising intonation at the end of a sentence. Just like what we do to indicate that we are asking a question:

• Is Sam having lunch with us today?

• The project will be finished on time, right?

• Can we meet to make sure we’re on the same page?

We rise in pitch at the end of each of the questions above to indicate to the listener that we are unsure of the answer – which is why we’re asking the question!

However, some of my students use this rising intonation at the end of every sentence. This causes everything they say to sound unsure, like a question.

Imagine how this sounds:

• I have some feedback to give you about the last project?

• I think overall it went well?

• There were some areas that I think you could improve?

• It’s important to prioritize your tasks and time better in the future?

Unfortunately, adding upward intonation to all of the statements above affects the strength of your message.

Using downward intonation for statements, like those above about feedback on a project, adds authority and clarity to your message, rather than making you sound unsure or insecure about what you’re saying.

3. Listening helps you learn new vocabulary and idioms.

Listening – and also reading – are the ways we gain exposure to new vocabulary and structures of language in context.

Linguists have long known that exposure to lots of language input in context (through reading and listening, for example) is how we add to and improve our language skills.

When you listen to native English speakers, you're exposed to a wide range of vocabulary and idiomatic expressions that might not be covered in traditional language classes.

The trick is to find something that you can understand at your level – the more easily you understand what you read or listen to, the more likely it is that you’ll learn – or acquire – those words and structures. There’s no point listening to or reading something that you can hardly understand.

These days, the internet is FULL of free reading and listening resources for every level – especially for anyone looking to learn or improve their English!

So, find one good source of English that you can listen to, such as:

• a podcast

• a TV show

• a YouTube channel

And find one good source of English close to your level that you can read, such as:

• a blog

• a website with leveled readings for language learners

• a book (if your English is not yet advanced, consider reading books written for young adults, since the language can be slightly simplified)

• or any website you like and can easily understand

Exposing yourself to lots of English in context that you actually enjoy listening to or reading is the key to expanding your vocabulary!

By incorporating the words and phrases that you hear or read into your own speech, you can sound more natural and fluent when you speak English.

How You Can Incorporate Listening into Your Accent Reduction Journey

Now that you know why listening is the #1 secret ingredient to reducing your accent, what are some more ways that you can incorporate it into your life?

Here are a few tips:

1. Immerse yourself in English media.

The more you expose yourself to English, the more you'll be able to pick up on the nuances of the language. It’s a matter of hours – of time on task.

During my long career as a teacher, I worked for a few years at a private school where we would take a group of students to Mexico every year to attend a high school there for a week.

This was part of a student exchange program for my students – who were native English speakers that were learning Spanish with me – and the students in Mexico – who were native Spanish speakers learning English in school.

But there was a big difference between my students’ Spanish skills and the local students’ English skills whenever we went to Mexico.

And… my students’ skills were lower, unfortunately.

Now, you may think I’m to blame, since I was their Spanish teacher, but there was a very obvious reason why the Mexican students’ second language skills were so much stronger.

All the music they listened to was in English.

Most of the movies and shows they watched were in English.

They followed American social media accounts that posted content in English.

They consumed SO MUCH MEDIA every day in English.

I explained this to my students. I asked them to start consuming media in Spanish so that they, too, could make big gains in their second language.

So I suggest that you do the same. Immerse yourself in English media.

Imagine how much you’ll learn!

2. Focus on active listening.

When you're listening to English, try to actively engage with the material when you have a chance.

Here are some options of what you can choose to focus on when actively listening to anything or anyone in English – try to switch it up!

• Listen for specific sounds that you’re struggling with (such as the /TH/ sound!) – listen closely to how they pronounce it

• Listen for how native speakers use intonation to convey meaning – listen to how they make their questions sound different from their statements

• Listen for words or phrases that you want to “lift” from their speech and incorporate into your own! – this could be slang, an idiom, or just a new vocabulary word

As I mentioned before, the more you listen, the more you’ll learn.

Actively listening takes you from a passive learning activity – just letting the words wash over you – and provides an active learning opportunity that can really improve the way you sound.

Any new habit or change to your speech is going to take a lot of repetition to stick and become automatic.

That’s why, between accent training sessions, I give all of my students an independent practice schedule with 10-15 minutes a day of tasks to really help solidify their learning and their new speech and pronunciation habits.

One technique that combines repetition with the goal of helping you incorporate what you listen to into your own speech is the shadowing technique.

Shadowing is simple, but powerful. To practice shadowing an English speaker, find a source of audio spoken by a speaker with your goal accent and play the audio, pausing to “shadow” what they just said exactly how they just said it.

The key to shadowing is mimicking everything – the speaker’s pronunciation, stress pattern, intonation – EVERYTHING.

3. Practice speaking with native speakers.

Once you've started to internalize the sounds and patterns of English, it's important to practice speaking with native speakers to get feedback on your pronunciation.

This could be as simple as striking up a conversation with a colleague or friend.

However… one thing I’ve learned is that, unfortunately… most people won’t correct your pronunciation or language for fear of being rude or unkind. I’ve run into this problem myself when I was working to reduce my accent in my second language, Spanish.

I was living in Spain at the time. I had made Spanish friends. I made plans to hang out with them. And we’d chat the night away at a restaurant or walking in a park but… they’d never correct me. Even if we were spending time together one-on-one.

Most people are just too polite to correct another adult!

Which is exactly why a dedicated speech and accent coach is essential to making big progress – simply put, they will correct you! In the moment, every time, until the new aspect of your speech that you’re working on becomes an automatic habit.

In this way, we accent coaches provide a service that just can’t be provided by other people or a YouTube tutorial.

4. Be patient and persistent.

Reducing your accent takes time and practice, so don't get discouraged if you don't see results right away.

Working with an accent coach can help you form a new bilingual identity that is essential to using your second language naturally and with confidence. Understandably, this takes time!

Allow me to explain by telling you a story…

People often wonder how I got into accent reduction and helping others improve their pronunciation and speech.

As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve been through this process myself. I worked with one of my professors in college – a linguistics professor – to go through the same kind of exercises I do with my students to reduce my own accent in my second language of Spanish.

Years after he helped me so much with my accent, I reached out to have a coffee with my old professor. I thanked him for what he did to help me with my accent because it really helped me find success in life, personally and professionally.

This particular professor was a big deal in his field. During his career, he traveled the world giving talks to others in the field of linguistics. He told me that on one trip abroad, he sat next to a very successful businessman from China on the plane.

They started talking and, once the man found out that my professor was a linguist, he started asking him about how he could reduce his accent in English.

He explained that, unfortunately, he knew that he was missing out on millions of dollars a day in deals because of how others reacted to his spoken English. Apparently, potential US-based clients and companies had a hard time understanding him on the phone, on video calls, or at in-person business meetings.

Of course, the businessman told my former professor that he would pay him any price he set for his accent reduction services!

But… he declined to teach him.

I asked my professor why. Especially since he had helped me reduce my accent so much.

He told me that, over the years, he figured out that one of the biggest barriers to reducing one’s accent is… creating a new identity.

Since he couldn’t be sure which potential students he could work with would be successful in forging a new, bilingual identity, he chose not to offer accent reduction services. (Plus, he already had a full work calendar of speaking engagements, publishing, and teaching, so he wasn’t really looking for work!)

This is why I talk to my students about their identity.

At some point, a student of a specific accent needs to put any shame aside that they might feel when speaking and approach their speech through the lens of their new – bilingual – identity.

They need to get comfortable playing a new part – that of someone who can travel seamlessly between two languages, but feeling natural and confident within either one – until that part merges with their true, authentic self.

This is when it really helps to commit… to go all-in.

My professor is right.

Working one-on-one with an accent coach is the perfect rehearsal space to do this. I create a safe space with my students where they can try new ways of moving their mouth, new words and informal phrases, new ways of using intonation to change the meaning of what they say… and the list goes on.

Working with an accent coach creates that space where shame and shyness can step aside and you can work on feeling confident and natural when speaking English.

Ready to Get Started With american accent training?

Here are a few ways you can start now!

1. Subscribe to get EK Accent Coaching content! You’ll get a free accent training lesson (PDF & audio) sent straight to your inbox, as well as free content with more awesome tips and strategies related to accent & communication improvement!

2. Feel free to contact me or comment on this blog post if you have any questions about accent reduction.

3. You can also book a free 15 minute consultation with me so we can discuss your goals and how I can help you improve your communication.

4. Ready to get some expert guidance as you work to improve your speech? Enroll now in one of my courses or a 1-on-1 coaching package so we can get right to work on improving your speech & communication!