As strange as it may seem, I hate my accent and want to speak like an American because I think it sounds cooler and more like how I want to sound.
I’ve more or less perfected my version of an American accent on my own, I think.
But whenever I’m with other people who know me, I revert back to my old accent instinctively because that’s how they know me to sound like. I’m unsure about how I can subtly transition without them noticing a sudden change, such as through gradual exposure to my accent changing more each time they hear it. That way I could argue that I don’t know how it happened and it was a slow progression if they eventually realise it’s different, rather than something forced that I started doing one day.
The biggest thing I think is changing the pronunciation of certain words with “a”, such as going from “fahst” to “faast” for the word ‘fast’, or “mahsk” to “maask” for ‘mask’. Because it’s really one or the other, there’s no in-between. I feel like for most other sounds, a gradual transition into more American sounds can be possible, but that one’s like, how can I make the plunge and will people notice it straight away and think it’s weird?
I won’t delve into the reasons you shouldn’t based on ‘coolness’, but…
There are half-ways between the pronunciation you’re mentioning: the short ‘a’ sound can be used (common in British English), and wouldn’t seem so jarring to me.
You can drop your Ts for weak Ds in things like ‘water’, so the tip of your tongue gently taps the roof of your mouth instead of pronouncing the typical British hard T (a lot of us don’t pronounce it like that, mind you).
However, “speak like an American” doesn’t necessarily mean one accent, as there are many in the US. Choose one, I suppose.
My sibling in Christ, just relax and be yourself. You’ll pick up the accent more and more over time, that’s how it works. Forcing it is disingenuous. Imagine if my goofy midwestern ass moved to the UK and started to try to speak with Brits forcing their accent.
This reminded me of my first year at uni when a guy decided to speak in a fake British accent, I guess to sound cooler. Unfortunately for him, we could all tell it was fake and that made him decidedly uncool (and the butt of a lot of jokes). I think he gave it up after a couple of weeks.
The fact is, the coolest thing you can do is be confident in yourself (including how you sound when speaking naturally).
I had some friends in Munich who were brothers, just two or three years apart. They both grew up learning British English, but one eventually participated in an exchange program in Canada while the other participated in one in Australia. When they came back, their English accents were completely different from each other - no matter how hard they tried to sound similar to each other. In the end, everyone though it was unique and kind of fun since one brother would sometimes use slang the other didn’t understand.
Point being, OP, is to do what feels natural. Ultimately, it’s your voice, but you’ll pick up certain things here and there that naturally change your way of speaking over time.
Mate, I don’t think he’s even moved.
So this is like if you started talking in a British accent in your midwestern location.
How truly fucking bizarre OP is.
OP sounds young. Kids are weird, but this is harmless and they’re clearly embarrassed about it.
I think they just wanna fit in, which is a totally relatable feeling. But I promise, this is not the way you want to fit in.
Actors usually pay for professional dialect coaching. Before the practice became common place it was amusing to watch British actors play Americans using terrible accents. I know it applies the other way around, but I’d have a harder time noticing it.
There are still people who have terrible American accents in media. Lucifer’s twin, for example, was so ridiculously bad. The only person without an American accent who I’ve ever seen pull one off in media was Hugh Laurie in later seasons of House. I still find most attempts amusing, even with coaching.
They might notice, but does it really matter if they do? It’s nice of you to think of how your actions impact other people but in this case it seems like you’re focusing too much on that aspect of it. If you want to speak with an American accent then you should do it.
I really don’t think anyone will make more than a passing comment about it. You can say “I’m working on speaking more clearly” or something like that. If people don’t accept that answer then that is their problem to deal with.
I have a friend who moved to America for a short time then when they returned, they had an American accent. But people didn’t believe it and mocked them saying “that’s not your real accent”. I’m kind of worried the same will happen for me…
Mine became Americanised after living in the US a short time (less than a year) and having American friends in general, no one has said it’s not my real accent, but friends have made fun (in good humour) of my accent and vocabulary after returning to the UK, it’s a funny one. I don’t really pronounce the ‘t’ in water, toilet is often bathroom for me now, and yeah, it’s a bit unique.
What’s a “real” accent? Plenty of people have multiple accents that they code-switch between depending on who they’re talking to.
An Englishman from Newcastle might talk to his childhood friends in Geordie, talk to his colleagues in RP, and meet some family from Leeds and talk to them in a Yorkshire accent.
Accents aren’t this big static monolith.
I think you should just own it. Say, “hey folks, I got a new voice! Deal!”
If they try to mock you, turn it around in them. “Damn, you’re really hung up on this huh? That’s a shame, you should really work on that.”
My last name is Gross, and people sometimes ask me if I got teased growing up. And the answer is no. There’s not much you can do with my name. There’s nothing to embarrass me with. You wanna call me gross? Go ahead. That’s my name. What now?
I moved from India to America 5 years ago and I’ve picked up an American accent now. When I was in India, I frequently saw Indians correcting the pronunciation of other people when they tried speaking Indian languages.
So if that’s acceptable, why is it not okay for someone to try and correct their pronunciation of English? (Ofc there are multiple native English speaking countries, but you get my point)
Put it another way, I don’t speak hindi and I assume there might be accents in Hindi. So if I was taught Hindi by someone who had a particular accent, I would probably adopt the same accent. Does that mean that I’m faking this accent? Or is it just a matter of what we’re taught ?
Maybe mention that you’re ‘taking lessons’ to change/Americanize your accent to the people you’re familiar with and then fairly rapidly incorporate your new dialect into your speech? This kinda changes something you may be embarrassed about into something more akin to learning a new language. I’m sure after a short bit, your new speech will just become normal sounding, and everyone will forget about the change.
As an American myself, I encourage you to keep your natural accent. We’re a nation of immigrants built from people who originated all over the world. So there’s not just one recognizable accent here. Nobody’s accent is superior to others. I’ve known people from other countries who are self conscious about their accents. In response, I tell them honestly that I appreciate the way they sound. Variety is the spice of life, as the saying goes.
