American accent training by ann cook cd download

Although it's very hard to master the American accent esp if you are not living in the US , but for me cover to cover reading equips me to pick up the intonation and musical pattern inherent in the American accent and this book does provide the tools that equip your ear to trace the nuances of vowel and consonant sounds while watching Tv or listening to music. Nov 30, Aarif Qureshi rated it really liked it. Great book. Aug 01, Jo Selle added it. This really helpful.

Dec 28, Jack Chin rated it it was amazing. Nice book I have never met before! It made me know that I had made so many mistakes before,it's unbelievalbe. Jul 08, Andre Widiartanto marked it as to-read Shelves: punya-n-bangga , nggak-kelar2. Example: The dogs should have eaten the bones. Do you know how to read it? You'll found it in this book. Dec 06, Mo rated it really liked it.

I studied this book for a number of times. Even I've taught parts of it! It's awesmoe! Mar 28, Amade rated it it was amazing Shelves: english-language-coursebooks , studying. The most important English language coursebook in my life.

Damein rated it really liked it Mar 23, Essam rated it it was amazing Nov 23, Sara rated it it was ok Dec 15, Maged Rezkalla rated it it was amazing Feb 10, Irisli rated it liked it Aug 10, Amir Javadi rated it liked it May 13, Yun Zhang rated it did not like it Dec 13, Nc rated it really liked it Nov 05, Muhammad Riaz rated it it was amazing Jan 19, Ryn rated it it was amazing Apr 17, Abi rated it did not like it May 13, Nhu rated it it was amazing Jul 16, Shuihankey rated it did not like it Jun 11, Raynel rated it it was amazing Jun 13, There are no discussion topics on this book yet.

Be the first to start one ». Read first across, then down. ABC 2. Dogs eat bones. They eat bones. They eat them. Give me one.

What do Americans do? We go up and down staircases. We start high and end low. That sounds simple enough, but when and where do you start a new staircase?

Statement Intonation with Nouns Intonation or pitch change is primarily used to introduce new information. This means that when you are making a statement for the first time, you will stress the nouns. Add your own examples. Jerry makes music.

Mike likes bikes. Jean sells some apples. Elsa wants a book. Carol paints the car. Adam plays pool. Bill and I fix the bikes. Bobby needs some money. Ann and Ed call the kids. Susie combs her hair. The kids like the candy. John lives in France.

The girls have a choice. Nelly teaches French. The boys need some help. Ben writes articles. Keys open locks. V Practice the patterns five more times on your own, using your rubber band. In a nutshell, these are the two basic intonation patterns: Dogs bones.

In the second column, stress the verb. Fill in your own examples at the bottom. Bob sees Betty. He sees her. Betty knows Bob.

She knows him. They call them. Jan sells some apples. She sells some. Jean sells cars. She sells them. We fix them. Carl hears Bob and me. He hears us. They have one. They like it. They need something. Ellen should call her sister. She should call someone. The murderer killed the plumber. He killed a man. The tourists went shopping. They bought stuff. They do, but usually a question will step upward until the very end, where it takes one quick little downward step.

A question rises a little higher than a statement with the same intonation pattern. As your feelings rise in an emotional situation, your intonation rises up along with them. Is it gone? Check Answer Key, beginning on page Sam sees Bill. He sees him. She wants one. Mary wants a car. Betty likes English. She likes it. They play with them. They eat some. Children play with toys. Len and Joe eat some pizza. Bob and I call you and Bill. We call you. You and Bill read the news.

You read it. It tells one. The news tells a story. Bernard works in a restaurant. Mark lived in France. He works in one. He lived there. New Information It sounds like rain. Rain is the new information. It's the most important word in that sentence and you could replace everything else with duh-duh-duh. Duh-duh-duh rain will still let you get your point across. V Repeat: Duh-duh-duh rain I It sounds like rain. Opinion It sounds like rain, but I don't think it is.

It smells like Chanel, but at that price, it's a knock-off. It feels like It tastes like These examples all give the impression that you mean the opposite of what your senses tell you.

V Practice the intonation difference between new information and opinion: It sounds like rain. It's rain. It sounds like rain, but it's not. Contrast He likes rain, but he hates snow. Like and hate are contrasted and are the stronger words in the sentence. Can't It can't rain when there're no clouds. Contractions shouldn't, wouldn't and negatives no, not, never are important words since they totally negate the meaning of a sentence, but they are not usually stressed.

Can't is the exception. Pay close attention to the changes in pitch that you must make to convey the different meanings intended. The words to be stressed are indicated in bold face.

It sounds like rain. He likes rain, but he hates snow. It can't rain on my parade! He can't do it. See also Ex. You will be given only a short time in which to reply so that you won't have the leisure to overthink. Start speaking as soon as you hear the tone because I'll be saying the sentence only a few seconds later. Convey the information that it really does sound as if rain is falling. Convey the opinion that although it has the sound of rain, it may be something else.

Convey the different feelings that someone has about rain and snow. Convey the fact that rain is an impossibility right now. V Practice the four sentences on your own ten times. Exercise Meaning of "Pretty" CD 1 Track 15 Native speakers make a clear distinction between pretty easily easily and pretty easily a little difficult. Repeat the answers after me paying close attention to your stress.

Question: How did you like the movie? Answer: 1. It was pretty good. She liked it. She didn't like it much.

I didn't say he stole the money. Someone else said it. That's not true at all. I only suggested the possibility. I think someone else took it.

Maybe he just borrowed it. I didn't say he stole the money, but rather some other money. He may have taken some jewelry. I I didn't say he stole the money. It's true that somebody said it, but I wasn't that person. Didn't I didn't say he stole the money. Someone has accused me and I'm protesting my innocence. Say I didn't say he stole the money. Maybe I hinted it. Maybe I wrote it. In some way, I indicated that he stole the money, but I didn't say it. He I didn't say he stole the money.

I think someone stole the money, only not the person you suspect did it. Stole I didn't say he stole the money. I agree that he took it, but I think his motive was different.

The I didn't say he stole the money, but rather some other money. We agree that he stole some money, but I don't think it's this money. Money I didn't say he stole the money. We agree that he's a thief, but we think he stole different things. Notice that in the first half of these sentences nothing changes but the intonation.

V Repeat after me. I'll tell you which meaning to express. To test your ear, I'm going to repeat the sentences in random order. Try to determine which word I'm stressing. The answers are given in parentheses, but don't look unless you really have to.

Here we go. Indicate that he borrowed the money and didn't steal it. Indicate that you are denying having said that he stole it. Indicate that you think he stole something besides money. Indicate that you were not the person to say it. Indicate that you don't think that he was the person who stole it. Indicate that you didn't say it outright, but did suggest it in some way. Indicate that he many have stolen a different amount of money. In the beginning, you're going to feel that this is ridiculous.

Nobody stresses this hard! Nobody talks like this! People are going to laugh at me! Yet as much as you may stress, you're probably only going to be stressing about half as much as you should. Another reason you must overexaggerate is because when you get tired, emotional, or relaxed, you will stop paying attention.

When this happens, like a rubber band, you're going to snap back to the way you originally were sounding 10 percent. For practice, then, stretch yourself far beyond the normal range of intonation percent , so when you relax, you relax back to a standard American sound percent. We All Do It Possibly about this time you're thinking, Well, maybe you do this in English, but in my language, I just really don't think that we do this. I'd like you to try a little exercise.

Exercise Translation CD 1 Track 18 Take the sentence I didn't say he stole the money and translate it into your native language. Write it down below, using whatever letters or characters you use in your language.

Don't try to put on a 11 particularly American or other accent; just concentrate on stressing a different word in the sentence each time you say it. If you translated it into French, you would say, Je n'ai pas dit qu'il a vole l'argent, or Je n' pas dit qu'il a vole l'argent.

In Japanese, many people think that there are no intonation changes, but if you hear someone say, wakkanai, you'll realize that it has similarities to every other language. Watashi wa kare ga okane o nusunda to wa iimasen deshita. No matter how strange it may sound to you, stress each different word several times in your language. You may notice that with some words it sounds perfectly normal, but with other words it sounds very strange. Or you may find that in your language, rather than stressing a word, you prefer to change the word order or substitute another word.

Whatever you do is fine, as long as you realize where your language patterns are similar to and different from the American English intonation patterns. Then, when you do it again, in English, it will be much easier. Note An excellent exercise is to practice speaking your native language with an American accent.

If you can sound like an American speaking your native language, imagine how easy it would be to speak English with an American accent. X Pause the CD and practice shifting the stressed words in your native language. Intonation Contrast Below are two sentences—the first is stressed on the most common, everyday word, book.

Nine times out of ten, people will stress the sentence in this way. The second sentence has a less common, but perfectly acceptable intonation, since we are making a distinction between two possible locations.

Normal intonation Where's the book? It's on the table. Changed intonation Is the book on the table or under it? X Pause the CD and repeat the sentences. Then, change the meaning of the sentence slightly and change the intonation accordingly. You should be starting to feel in control of your sentences now. What would you like? This is the most common version of the sentence, and it is just a simple request for information. This is to single out an individual from a group.

You've been discussing the kinds of things he might like and you want to determine his specific desires: "Now that you mention it, what would you like? You didn't hear and you would like the speaker to repeat herself. Write a normal, everyday sentence with at least seven words and put it through as many changes as possible. Try to make a pitch change for each word in the sentence and think about how it changes the meaning of the entire sentence.

Look at the paragraph in Exercise Take a pencil and mark every word that you think should be stressed or sound stronger than the words around it. I'd like you to make just an accent mark ' to indicate a word you think should sound stronger than others around it. Reminder The three ways to change your voice for intonation are: 1 Volume speak louder , 2 Length stretch out a word , and 3 Pitch change your tone.

Exercise 1 Application of Stress CD 1 Track 23 Mark every word or syllable with ' where you think that the sound is stressed. Use the first sentence as your example. Pause the CD. I use the up and down, or peaks and valleys, intonation more than I used to.

I've been paying attention to pitch, too. It's like walking down a staircase. I've been talking to a lot of Americans lately, and they tell me that I'm easier to understand.

Anyway, I could go on and on, but the important thing is to listen well and sound good. Well, what do you think? V Listen and re-mark the stressed words with your marker. After you've put in the accent marks where you think they belong, take one of the colored translucent markers and as I read very slowly, mark the words that I stress.

I am going to exaggerate the words far more than you'd normally hear in a normal reading of the paragraph. You can mark either the whole word or just the strong syllable, whichever you prefer, so that you have a bright spot of color for where the stress should fall.

Note If you do the exercise only in pencil, your eye and mind will tend to skip over the accent marks. The spots of color, however, will register as "different" and thereby encourage your pitch change. This may strike you as unusual, but trust me, it works. There is no absolute right or wrong in regard to intonation because a case can be made for stressing just about any word or syllable, but you actually reveal a lot about yourself by the elements you choose to emphasize.

For example, if you say, Hello, this intonation would indicate doubt. This is why you say, Hello? Or when you go into a house and you don't know who's there because you don't see anyone. But if you're giving a speech or making a presentation and you stand up in front of a crowd and say, Hello, the people would probably laugh because it sounds so uncertain.

This is where you'd confidently want to say Hello, my name is So-and-so. A second example is, my name is—as opposed to my name is. If you stress name, it sounds as if you are going to continue with more personal information: My name is So-and-so, my address is such- and-such, my blood type is O. Since it may not be your intention to give all that information, stay with the standard—Hello, my name is So-and-so. Try it: I'm taking American Accent Training.

I think I'm quite wonderful. An earnest, hard-working person might emphasize words this way: I'm taking American Accent Training Can I learn this stuff? I hope to make it as enjoyable as possible I'll force myself to enjoy it if I have to. Although the only way to get it is to practice all the time 24 hours a day. A Doubting Thomas would show up with: I should pick up on but I might not the American intonation pattern pretty easily, but it looks pretty hard, too.

I've been talking to a lot of Americans lately, and they tell me that I'm easier to understand but I think they're just being polite. Use your rubber band, give a clear pitch change to the highlighted words, and think about the meaning that the pitch is conveying.

Start a new staircase for every stressed word. There usually is more than one staircase in a sentence. New sentences don't have to start new staircases; they can continue from the previous sentence until you come to a stressed word. I'll read the beginning sentences. Check the first sentence against the example. Then put the words of the second sentence on a staircase, based on the way I read it.

Remember, I'm exaggerating to make a point. V Write out the rest of the staircases. Exercise Spelling and Numbers CD 1 Track 28 Just as there is stress in words or phrases, there is intonation in spelling and numbers. Americans seem to spell things out much more than other people. In any bureaucratic situation, you'll be asked to spell names and give all kinds of numbers—your phone number, your birth date, and so on. There is a distinct stress and rhythm pattern to both spelling and numbers—usually in groups of three or four letters or numbers, with the stress falling on the last member of the group.

Just listen to the words as I say them, then repeat the spelling after me. It can change meaning and pronunciation. Here you will get the chance to play with the sounds. Remember, in the beginning, the meaning isn't that important—just work on getting control of your pitch changes. Use your rubber band for each stressed word. I have, too. I have to. How many kids do you have? I have two. I've been to Europe.

Why do you work so hard? Some longer words that are stressed on the first syllable squeeze weak syllables right out. Cover up the regular columns and read the words between the brackets. At this point, we won't be concerned with why we are stressing a particular syllable— that understanding will come later.

Exercise Syllable Patterns CD 1 Track 32 In order to practice accurate pitch change, repeat the following column. Each syllable will count as one musical note.

Remember that words that end in a vowel or a voiced consonant will be longer than ones ending in an unvoiced consonant. A B C 1 Syllable Pattern 1a la!

Joe has three. Bob's hot dog Inchworms inch. Bob has eight. Bob won't know. Pets need care. Al jumped up. Sam's the boss. Ed's too late.

Glen sat down. Susie's nice. Paul threw up. Tom made lunch. Bill went home. Wool can itch. Kids should play. Birds sing songs. Mom said, "No!

Spot has fleas. Mars is red. School is fun. Nick's a punk. Ned sells cars. Pattern 3b la-la-la Make a cake. IBM a hot dog He forgot. Take a bath. Use your head! He's the boss. We're too late. How are you? We cleaned up. I love you. We came home. How's your job? She fell down. We don't care. How'd it go? They called back. It's in March. Who'd you meet? You goofed up. It's starting. They're leaving. Jim killed it. Let's try it.

Dale planned it. Don't touch it. Pattern 3d la-la-la alphabet phone number hot dog stand possible think about I don't know. Show me one. Max wants to know. Spot's a hot dog. Ed took my car. Al's kitchen floor Jim killed a snake. Jill ate a steak. Bill's halfway there. Joe doesn't know. Spain's really far. Roses are red, Nate bought a book. Jake's in the lake. Violets are blue, Al brought some ice.

Sam's in a bar. Candy is sweet, and so are you. Pattern 4b la-la-la-la She asked for help. I want to know. It's a hot dog. We took my car. We need a break. We watched TV. He doesn't know. It's really far. Any additional comments? They should have put in clear terms the kind of book this is. You have to buy the audiobook and then you need USD to start using it. Never after this. The audio book is giving you directions to follow a visual guide that apparently is not in the market.

I feel furious with Audible. What is the use of recommending a guide that has been rejected by Amazon? I didn't realize it at the beginning -the title is the same as the one sold along with 5 CDs. Misleading title, misled reader.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Ann Cook and Marcus Harwell? Narrators are ok, though most of the recording is chaotic and there are very few and short exercises.

It looks like it is recommending you to make an effort in improving your accent while not giving you the proper stuff to do it. Anger and disappointment. Please, do the same a Amazon has done. The book is not been sold because of serious quality problems, according to the web. This is my personal trainer to improve my speaking. I used it on a weekly basis. Segments get cut off or run into each other, it's like an unedited book with Infos randomly lump together.

Lots of stuff completely missing. Messages I got from the author: 1. Your weird, pagan, outlandish name is too inferior for us superior white Americans to even bother to learn and pronounce. Go get a proper Christian name like a real white American do so we won't laugh at you. Add to Cart failed.