Accent(uate) the Positive （口音的积极一面）

Accent(uate) the Positive—口音的积极作用

oneof our listeners by the name of chou chung has contacted me from shanghai toask for advice on how to reduce the sound of his chinese accent when usingenglish. He knows that I worked in china for fifteen years giving voicetraining to on air staff in the english services of china radio internationalknown as c r I china central television that cctv and the xinhua news agency'senglish tv channel c n c world. Many of the chinese staff i've trained havestrong english accents, but others are so good. You might not know that englishwasn't their mother tongue.

我们的一位名叫周聪的听众，从上海联系我，询问我如何在使用英语时降低他的中国口音。他知道我在中国工作了15年，为中国国际广播电台(中国中央电视台)和新华社英语电视频道CNCd的英语频道的工作人员进行语音培训。我培训过的许多中国员工都有很重的英语口音，但其他人都很好。你可能不知道英语不是他们的母语。

Well, I became very familiar with speakingpatterns of chinese broadcast journalists speaking english and how theychallenge themselves to improve. Imentioned early on in the pod cast series accents should not be a barrier toclear natural speech, no matter which language you use. But as these pod cast,so in english, we're talking mainly about using english to enhance our oralcommunication while respectfully acknowledging it may not be your mothertongue. One thing is certain accents of very subjective what someone thinks isappealing. Another will describe as grating or irritating for many people fromdifferent countries and backgrounds. After moving to a mainly english speakingcountry, they can find that their accent is a barrier to being understoodeasily by native speakers, whether in school, university or out on theworkforce. The challenge to achieve clear and natural speech is certainly anoption as distinct from a compulsion.

嗯，我非常熟悉中国广播记者说英语的模式，以及他们如何挑战自我提高。我在播客系列中提到过，口音不应该成为清晰自然语言的障碍，无论你使用哪种语言。但是就像这些播客一样，在英语中，我们主要谈论的是使用英语来加强我们的口语交流，同时也要尊重地承认它可能不是你的母语。一件事是某些非常主观的口音，人们认为什么是吸引人的。另一种说法是，对于来自不同国家和背景的许多人来说，这是一种刺耳或令人恼火的说法。在搬到一个以英语为主要语言的国家后，他们会发现，无论在学校、大学还是外出工作，他们的口音都是让以英语为母语的人容易听懂的一大障碍。挑战达到清晰自然的语言当然是一种不同于强迫的选择。

Personally someone's accent doesn't worryme as long as I can understand and communicate with them. I do hear someaccents which are preferred by my own ear, but as I say, my likes or dislikesmay be quite different from what appeals to you. Growing up in new zealand, Ididn't realize a strong new zealand accent could be a problem until I moved toaustralia and started to work there at a newspaper in a regional town in thestate of new south wales. One day Iasked a colleague if I could borrow his pen, he had more than one on his desk.But he didn't offer either, saying he didn't have any puzzled by his reply. Ipointed to the pins and he laughed, oh, I thought you said you wanted to borrowa pin.

就我个人而言，只要我能听懂别人的口音，并能和他们交流，我就不会担心别人的口音。我确实听到了一些自己喜欢的口音，但正如我所说，我的好恶可能与你喜欢的很不一样。我在新西兰长大，直到我搬到澳大利亚，在新南威尔士州的一个地方小镇的一家报社工作，我才意识到浓重的新西兰口音可能是个问题。一天，我问一位同事是否可以借用他的钢笔，他的桌子上不止有一支。但他也没有给出答案，说他对自己的回答没有任何困惑。我指了指别针，他笑了，哦，我记得你说过你想借用别针。

More new Zealanders have a tendency to useshorter Vowel sounds by that t incident brought my attention to the differencecompared with the australian speech patterns where vowel sounds are brought up.As a young journalist I had hopes of becoming a radio announcer and so I striveto open or stretch my vows more in tune with the australian way of speaking.Like many neighboring countries, people sometimes joke about how theirneighbour speak. It's been true of australians and new zealanders often sparkedby their rivalry on the football and other sporting field. Or these were jokethat their kiwi cousins sounded like they were saying sucks instead of six. Andwhen I wanted an order of fish and chips it sounded more like fashion chaps allthe key ways. On the other hand can't id the ridicule by saying Ozs calledtheir biggest city sydney sydney and on it would go these days. New zealandersspeak more like australians and some even say there is the reverse effect whereyou can't distinguish between the two.

更多的新西兰人倾向于使用更短元音，这些事引起了我的注意，与澳大利亚的语音模式相比的差异。作为一名年轻的记者，我曾希望成为一名电台播音员，因此我努力使自己的誓言更符合澳大利亚人的说话方式。像许多邻国一样，人们有时会拿邻居的说话方式开玩笑。澳大利亚人和新西兰人经常因为足球和其他运动场上的竞争而起争执。或者他们开玩笑说，他们的新西兰表兄弟听起来像是在说“sucks”，而不是“six”。当我想要一份炸鱼薯条时，它听起来更像是时尚的家伙。另一方面，说他们最大的城市是悉尼的话，也没能识别这些嘲笑。新西兰人说的话更像澳大利亚人，有些人甚至说有相反的效果，你无法区分两者。

But of course, the extremes of open andclosed vowels can still be heard in various parts of the countries. For me, Ifind it a compliment. When someone tries to guess the origins of my own accentto find out where i'm from. Well, they're not always sure you're not british. Theysay and definitely not american, but itsounds more british than american. They then think I must be from australiaalthough adding they really don't think my accent is australian either. So theysettled for me having a neutral accent which is what I like proving I have lostthe short vowel sounds from my upbringing in new zealand training chinesebroadcasters using english. One key element emerged when the vowel sounds a e Io u are clearly mastered. A key barrier has been crossed.

但是，当然，在这些国家的不同地方仍然可以听到发音的极端情况。对我来说，这是一种赞美。当有人试图猜测我的口音的来源，以找出我来自哪里。他们并不总是确定你不是英国人。他们肯定不是美国人，但听起来更像英国人而不是美国人。然后他们认为我一定是来自澳大利亚，尽管他们也不认为我的口音是澳大利亚口音。所以他们让我有一个中性的口音，这是我想要证明的，因为我在新西兰长大，一直在训练中国播音员使用英语，所以我已经失去了短元音的发音。当元音a e I o u被清晰地掌握时，一个关键元素就出现了。一个关键的障碍已经被跨越。

Solet's get straight into this. Check yourself after me and let's go through themtogether. I'll pause after each vowel so you can repeat a e I oh, you thosevowel sounds work their way through the english language, either on their ownor in combination with others. But they are the building blocks to getting notjust the sounds but the muscles of the mouth and face working in the directionof producing the basic sounds. Clearly in spoken english this time say themwith those muscles really moving for a full facial workout.

我们直接进入正题。跟着我检查一下，我们一起检查一下。我会在每个元音之后暂停，这样你就可以重复e了哦，你这些元音在英语中是自己发出来的，或者和其他元音一起发出来的。但它们不仅是发声的基础，也是嘴部和面部肌肉发出基本声音的基础。很明显，这次用英语口语说这些话的时候，你的肌肉真的在动，整个面部肌肉都在动。

Let'sdo it. Opening the mouth wide and moving the eyes as well. Check yourself inthe mirror and try not to be too self conscious. This will give you and youraccent reduction efforts are really boost. Come on. Here we go a big a e I oh,you keep practicing this routine because you'll eventually have those soundsunder your belt for under your hat. And you know how to say them clearly withall the effort that goes into moving those facial muscles as well. Trying nowuh, a series of short words to expand your more neutral accent, for example,choose a combination of words with the a sound.

让我们做它。张大嘴巴，转动眼睛。照照镜子，不要太在意自己。这将给你和你的口音减少努力真的促进。来吧。我们来做个大练习哦，你继续练习这个动作，因为你最终会把那些声音从你的腰带下变成你的帽子下。你也知道如何通过面部肌肉的运动来清晰地表达它们。现在试着用一系列的短词来扩展你的中性口音，例如，选择一个带a音的单词组合。

Followme：A: Bay, day gay. hay, lay, may, tie, ray, say way.

E: beast east feast least. easy easily equal each.

I: my fly sign lie try tie why apply

O: flow go low mo, no. So ,throw, blow

U: film june tune unify

There are varieties ofwords to locate the vowel sounds that I would like you to be able to sayclearly and confidently. And as you search online and elsewhere, you'll notonly be speaking naturally, but increasing your vocabulary. At the same time.

I want to emphasize again that accentreduction is a choice, because, as I mentioned, accents and not necessarily abarrier to clear natural speech. In many cases, accents can give you anadvantage, depending on your communication environment. For example, maybe youhave a french speaking background. Well, you could do why is listen to thefrench president emmanuel macron speaking in english. The trace of a frenchaccent gives his delivery a distinctive sound which is really quite delightful.I recently watched an interview on the bbc s hard talk program with Greece isformer finance minister yang is very focus and found his english deliverytinged with his greek accent most appealing and easy to understand.

我想再次强调，减少口音是一种选择，因为正如我所提到的，口音并不一定是清除自然语音的障碍。在很多情况下，口音会给你带来优势，这取决于你的交流环境。例如，也许你有说法语的背景。你可以听听法国总统埃马纽埃尔·马克龙是怎么说英语的。他的法国口音给了他独特的声音，真的很令人愉快。我最近在英国广播公司的《Hard Talk》节目中看到了对前财政部长杨的采访，杨非常专注，发现他带着希腊口音的英语演讲最吸引人，也最容易理解。

Unlike president macron he has more rangeof depth in his voice and if you listen to episode three tune in your voice youcan follow the steps to try to expand yours. By the way, I have included a linkto the hard talk interview with mr. Very focus in the pod cast description ofthis episode. You can judge his english speaking ability for yourself and donotice the resonance, the warm sound of his voice. In reality, everyone has anaccent no matter which language community where from and where we live.

不像马克龙总统，他的声音更有深度，如果你听第三集的课程，你可以按照步骤来扩展你的声音。你可以自己判断他的英语口语能力，并注意到他的共鸣，温暖的声音。事实上，无论我们生活在哪个语言社区，来自哪里，我们每个人都有口音。

Don'tworry by following me on my suggestions. You won't automatically end up with anaustralian or new zealand accent. Things could be worse. You might even want tocopy or maybe avoid the Donald Trump style of delivery. There's a thought andhere's another tip as well as improving the clarity of the vowel sounds. Startreading aloud. Anything will do this next step is important. Underline the keywords of the text either printed or online without getting into the rules andterms of grammar. Any word other than the joining words like ah, the butt twoand with for example are going to give the most meaning names a key words. So apeople places times numbers, anything other than those which joined thesentences read slowly at first, making sure the sounds are natural and clear,bringing them to the front of your mouth.

别担心，听我的建议吧。你不会自然而然地带有澳大利亚或新西兰口音。事情可能会更糟。你甚至可能想要复制或避免唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)的演讲风格。这是一个想法，这是另一个技巧，它可以提高元音发音的清晰度。开始朗读。只要能做到这一点，下一步就很重要。在打印或在线的文本关键字下面划线，不要涉及规则和语法术语。除了像and, but, to和with这样的连词外，任何其他的词都会给最有意义的词起一个关键词的名字。因此，除了那些连接句子的数字外，其他的数字一开始读得很慢，确保发音自然清晰，把它们放到嘴边。

Don't swallow your words down your throat.If you do, you might end up with vocal indigestion and so much your listeners.Well there be more on this topic in a future episode, but let me know how yougo. My email address is in the general pod cast description and do check outthe former greek finance ministers interview on bbc s hard talk. Rememberyou'll find that link in the description of this episode. I don't know whetheryou've ever heard the nineteen forties pop song accentuate the positive.Eliminate the negative. Well, you can adapt that title to accentuate thepositive in your accent and eliminate the negative aspects.

不要吞下你的口音。如果你这样做，你可能会以声音消化不良和你的听众太多而告终。在以后的节目中会有更多关于这个话题的内容，但是请让我知道你的进展。我的电子邮件地址是在一般的播客描述和检查前希腊财政部长采访bbc的Hard Talk。记住，你会在本集的描述中找到这个链接。我不知道你是否听过十九世纪四十年代的流行歌曲强调积极的一面。消除消极的。你可以用这个标题来强调你口音中的积极因素，消除消极因素。