# 1: The First Step...!

Say it in English...!

Standard dialects of English and other dialects around the world.

Hi. My name is Enrique Guerra Medina. I am the creator of Say it in English...!

This is the first podcast of a series that will discuss topics related to American English Pronunciation.

Today’s podcast is about accents. Many students of English believe that the standard form of American English learned in the classrooms is the only form of American English they can learn, so they usually ask: “Why do I not understand some American native speakers? What’s wrong with me?”

The truth is that the formal English that we learn in the classrooms is most of the time so different from the way native speakers talk. Among other reasons, it is due to the existence of what it is called dialects.

A dialect is not a minor form of language. It is the way certain community uses the official language, the standard language. Communities from different regions can speak the same language, but differently. The difference can be based on pronunciation, vocabulary and even grammar. There are more than 60 dialects in the USA territory. Among them, the northern and southern dialects, the Boston dialect, the New York dialect, the Texas dialect, and the African American Vernacular English dialect.

As you see the list is long. We didn’t mention the dialects from all over the world, but they are more than one hundred, including the more than 30 British dialects, the Australian dialect, the Canadian dialect and other non native speaking countries where English language is spoken.

Every single community has its own dialect and, of course, its own accent. English as a Second Language students need to understand this and not to feel overwhelmed or uncomfortable when they face the shocking experience of talking to a native English speaker who has an accent that makes his English a language almost impossible to understand.

When such situation occurs, it is the encounter of the two accents that creates the conflict, the interference. Yours and the other’s.

Our mother tongue sounds and intonation patterns interfere constantly the way we speak other languages. We tend to speak with an accent. Native English speakers are able to identify almost immediately the particular way you pronounce their language, in spite of hours of intensive and exhausting exercises under the supervision of speech trainers. To get rid of our own accent is the most difficult thing to do. We can try hard for years, but we will never speak like a native English speaker. Our mother tongue will be affecting, in one way or another, our pronunciation.

It is not the objective of learning a new language to speak like native speakers do. Some students have the ability to produce an accent very similar, almost identical, to native speakers of English, but this is just a plus in their learning. The purpose in learning a new language is not to have a perfect English accent; but to communicate our thoughts and feelings efficiently. Such proficiency is possible to be reached without sacrificing our own accents.

I remember have been part of a multinational meeting. We were 5 persons from different nationalities who tried to arrive to an agreement about a task given during a conversation class. There were two young men from Japan, a woman from India, a Chinese man and a Peruvian guy. I was the last one. We needed to discuss certain information from two small cards. We literally could not understand each other not even a word on our first try, but after a few minutes we could. That day, we had a long discussion about a crucial ethical topic. It was one of the most incredible experiences I ever had.

As I said before, accents can interfere our communication, but if we are able to control efficiently the proper sounds of English, I mean vowels and consonants, we will overcome any communication problem. So, for awhile, we will concentrate on the sounds of English as our main concern.

The next podcasts will cover progressively information related to vowels, consonants, diphthongs and tripthtongs and the way they have to be articulated in English words. Future works will include topics in intonation patterns and English rhythm as well as the natural speech phenomena, important topic to get fluency and confidence in Spoken English.

I hope to help you get a deep understanding of all subjects that will be cover along the next podcasts.

Good luck and keep in touch with our weekly podcasts available at iTunes store for free. This is a Say it in English...! podcast. Your improved pronunciation is just waiting for you…