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?
You approach is defeating your purpose. Muricans would be loud and outspoken so everyone around knows
Life is too short, just do it and when people notice say you’re trying it out for fun for a bit.
This is probably something you’ll think was really silly in a few years but who cares, live a little.
Disconnect yourself from absolutely everyone you know and everywhere you usually go; take a long vacation somewhere relatively close but isolated enough from where you live.
Then, pretend this is actually a trip to America. You can fake photos online, AI makes this very easy for you today. Return to your normal life and carry on with the American accent. Continue taking fake (or if you can, real) holidays to America to justify the accent.
Don’t ease into it at all. Wait for a moment where it would be funny, then go whole hog with it. Treat it like a joke… but then just keep going. Never go back. Don’t even acknowledge there is a back. Pretend this is how you’ve always talked and they’re insane if they think otherwise.
Yes. This is the answer. Gaslighting.
Why American though?
Why not South African, or something like this? Then you can sound like a mercenary. 😏
I won’t go into the reasons why you’re doing that. Instead, I’ll just focus on your plans, because I don’t think a gradual change of accent will go unnoticed. Just do it. Embrace the American accent you love so much and live it to the fullest. And if anyone asks you what happened, just say you’re tired of your own accent and are trying something new. Explain it clearly to others and own up to it. This will make you feel good because you’re being honest by telling others why you have decided to change.
What country are you from and what’s your original accent?
You are never going to be able to do it so gradually that no one notices. There will always come a point at which they think “weird, @PlogLod sort of sounds American”.
For that reason I think you may as well just fully commit straight away and get it over with.
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.
By “American accent”, do you mean the style of speaking that’s commonly used in American movies and TV? Because that’s an intentional neutral/ambiguous accent, based primarily on the styles used in the Midwest.
It doesn’t actually match any region, and it certainly doesn’t match all regions of the US. The accents in New York, California, Texas, and the Deep South all have stark contrasts to this, and to each other.
Although, thanks to that somewhat bland accent being so prevalent on TV and in movies, regional accents are shifting to sort of match it. Especially in younger generations.
Don’t make the same mistake that Ross from Friends did!
We sound stupid though…
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.
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.
OP doesn’t actually live in the US themselves, they just want to sound like an American.
Aza 'Merican maseff,… um, maybe try for mid-Atlantic.
There is not a slow enough change for that to unnoticed. People will notice.
Also … just why? Why American? There are so many nice accents to choose.
