Mastering the American Accent

by Lisa Mojsin

This combination book and audio instructional program is designed to diminish the accents of men and women who speak English as their second language. It will help them speak standard American English with clarity, confidence, and accuracy. Specific exercises concentrate on vowel sounds, problematic consonants such as V, W, B, TH, and the American R, employ correct syllable stress, link words for smoother speech flow, use common word contractions such as won't instead of will not, and more. Additional topics that often confuse ESL students are also discussed and explained. They include distinguishing between casual and formal speech, homophones (for instance, they're and there), recognizing words with silent letters (comb, receipt, and others), and avoiding embarrassing pronunciation mistakes, such as mixing up party and potty. Students are familiarized with many irregular English spelling rules and exceptions, and are shown how such irregularities can contribute to pronunciation errors. A native language guide references problematic accent issues of 13 different language backgrounds. Correct lip and tongue positions for all sounds are discussed in detail. Enclosed with the book are four compact discs that use male and female voices to coach correct American-style pronunciation.

Genres: Language, Education, Textbooks, Reference, Nonfiction

186 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2009

Reviews

[ZeV · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished my ESL education a long time ago, but getting rid of accents has been a huge challenge even after I have become comfortable using American English. Geared toward nonnative speakers, Mastering the American Accent is a great learning resource for people like myself who just want to concentrate on correcting quirky accents they have developed over the years of speaking good enough but nonetheless still second-language English.

The author Lisa Mojsin offers a comprehensive set of tips to get closer to how Americans really speak and also more specific advice for people of different ethnicities as to where they tend to get things wrong in relation to their mother tongues. Audio examples with plenty of practice words and phrases are well-chosen and do help in rehearsing the tips she offers.

The book (with the downloadable audio supplement) is highly recommended. Though my research has not been particularly thorough so far, at the moment I find this one to be the best study material for improving the American English accent.

[Cagne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informative book but sometimes it bothered me when, on the audio part, they compare words with similar sounds but have two different voice actors saying the practice sentences, instead of the same person, as I really need to catch the finest difference in sounds.

I was already doing the linking without really knowing it, but it was good to understand the rules behind it.

Sadly there are no tips at the end for Italians, but I'll suggest that chapter to my friends whose countries are covered.

[Frank · Rating 4 out of 5]

한국에서 영어 발음 가르치는 책은 내용이 부실한 경우가 많다. 영어 발음기호 읽을 줄만 알지 실제로 그걸 어떻게 발음해야 하는지 배운적 없다. Lisa Mojsin이 설명하는 방식이 어떤 것인지 맛보기로 볼 수 있는 유투브 영상이다.

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dasu... - American Accent: "heel" or "hill"? Pronunciation of English vowels

지금껏 수많은 영어 학원 다녔지만 장음 i와 단음 i가 발음상 어떻게 달라지는지 한번도 배운적 없다. 이런 유용한 정보가 가득하다. 부록으로 들어있는 CD에서 생생하게 원어민 발음도 들을 수 있다. 강추.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I most enjoyed the differences between British and American accents. Also interesting was the stops (consonants where airflow is not released), and the intonation. English is a neat language!

[Ahmed Radwan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most useful book for American English Accent Learning. (y)

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great resource for teaching the American accent.

[Anton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book does exactly what it says. Teaches you how to pronounce different sounds "correctly" (with American accent). Absolutely brilliant!

[Ling · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best book ever if you want to improve your English pronunciation! Strongly recommend!

[Mahmoud Ismail · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book it cover the american accent in many ways and full of examples to practice it helped me be more fluent in few months

[Aarif Qureshi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great exercise method

[Petr · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good summary of the pronunciation and it's great to have audio.

[Bao Le · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally.

[Wael Alhaj · Rating 5 out of 5]

GOOD

[Ali · Rating 5 out of 5]

I most certainly admired the audio, the examples, and the precision of the book. One could use it to teach pronunciation in class.

[Nevena Lukovic · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book. It helped a lot in addition to accent reduction classes I took at https://intonetic.com/

[Sasie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love it ^_^

[Michael Richard]

This book gives me great techniques to get Native American Accent.

[Marcelo · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a good book! The 'Word Pairs for Practice' and 'Practice Sentences' are the best part of the book!

[شيماء بدوى · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great