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Source: Zhihu.
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The first stage: ignorance, building feelings.
At first, I refused English. Listening to the tape in the new concept class, you know, the old-fashioned RP sound from holding your throat may be a feature of the times. At that time, my English level was not enough, but I didn't like reading aloud because I felt awkward! What a tongue-tied! The teacher also complained that my spoken English was poor. Later, I accidentally formed a habit. Just because it was too quiet and boring when doing homework, I turned on the tape recorder to play the tapes of English texts (learning Oxford textbooks was a very standard modern RP at that time). After listening to it for countless times, my oral English is slowly improved unconsciously, at least when I read the text in class, I obviously feel more fluent, so the so-called virtuous circle begins: I like reading English → I find my own defects → I improve → I am more confident → I am more willing to read …
The second stage: interest and overall (intonation) transformation.
In junior high school, the burden of schoolwork was not heavy, which gave me a lot of spare time. In addition, at that time, my computer was not connected to the Internet, and when I had nothing to do (get) or do (hurt), I could only browse a limited number of movies on my hard disk. At that time, I didn't know the concepts of British accent and American accent. I just happened to watch a lot of English movies, eight Harry Potter movies, Sherlock Holmes (played by Downey and Jude Law) and so on ... I really watched the classic scenes in the movies countless times, and I was so familiar that I could almost recite the lines. I started to follow them because I wanted to imitate them. I admit I'm bored to death. . . ) Some people speak too fast, so slow down first and then continue reading at the original speed. Don't underestimate the way teachers teach texts since childhood! Intonation accounts for a large proportion in the development of accent. You have inadvertently begun to imitate that particular tone, and at the same time follow the original speed (because you have to keep up with others' speed). Over time, you will find that your pronunciation sounds a bit "right"! In fact, I personally think this process is like a slow version of children's babbling. Why is the local accent basically ingrained and handed down from generation to generation without external interference? It is precisely because children rely on pure imitation in the early stage of learning their mother tongue that parents, elders and the surrounding environment determine the only language materials in his/her language learning period, thus developing an extremely strong accent. Then when we learn English and want to cultivate our accent, we should put ourselves in a selected language environment. Compared with American accent, British accent has a cadence feeling. To put it bluntly, the tone changes more abundantly. This thing, I really can't quantify, I can only say mysteriously: I have to find my own feelings.
P.S. By the way, I personally suggest paying more attention to Hermione, the accent of emma watson, when watching Harry Potter. Among the three heroines, her accent should be the most standard (probably because she went to a private girls' school). It's really not a black egg, but his London accent is rather heavy, which doesn't conform to our theme RP. . Of course, if the topic is like a cockney mouth, don't hesitate to learn to talk to Danny!
Professor McGonagall (I'm really sorry, I have no choice. . Grandma maggie smith was a real beauty when she was young. When you are old, you will have temperament! ) the accent is also quite standard, a little old-fashioned ~
The third stage: Deliberate and carve out the details (pronunciation)
It is divided into several stages, but in fact it is a continuous process. After a little decent tone, I began to be dissatisfied again. Of course, something with such profound and wonderful language must be carefully crafted to deserve it! At this stage, the study of various media resources is more detailed, focusing on the pronunciation of a single phonetic symbol and the relationship between syllables. For example, I found that in English sounds/? The pronunciation of/is very rough, so you can start training this sound: remember the words with this sound yourself and look them up in the dictionary for verification (this is very important! Accept the correct information at the beginning, so as not to go further and further because of the later consolidation), then read these words repeatedly, find the feeling, and make sure that you have practiced this sound well. Every time I find a detail that I didn't notice, I will be ecstatic and correct it quickly. Every day when I ride my bike home from school, I practice for myself in the bustling traffic. Occasionally, someone will look back at this strange girl with a strange face after hearing it. Later, I saw some videos on the Internet to teach pronunciation, which were very practical, but they all instilled a lot into you, and in the end, they didn't absorb much. Instead, I found it myself, and the effect was surprisingly good.
That's beside the point . This kind of detail can be searched continuously, and everyone will practice according to my above method, and there will be great changes over time. I have a habit of reading and recording my favorite English articles several times (this is the same as taking a selfie when I feel well dressed today, and I feel good about myself). Every time I listen to the previous recording, I can obviously feel the details that I didn't notice at that time. Therefore, although this habit is a sign of narcissism, it is very useful!
P.S. recommended a great mobile phone recording software RecForge (unfortunately only Android), with great sound quality!
At this time, I began to pay attention to Dong Sen after the introduction of my classmates (a little embarrassed, introducing my male god for the first time), and posted a file about him before. Tomson's accent is impeccable, and he is an academic, very elegant and beautiful. Being sandwiched between a bunch of Americans is particularly special. Americans themselves often praise him with his accent. Paying attention to Tomson has two advantages. One is that he has a powerful subtitle group (Baidu's own "Tomson Translation Group"), and all film works, audio books and interviews can be downloaded (just idolized under the banner of learning English, haha, that's the truth). Go and listen! I basically used him as an accent model. Secondly, I began to pay attention to more English actors because Shakespeare fell in love with Shakespeare's plays and English classical literature. After watching many famous plays, TV dramas and film adaptations, excellent learning resources have risen geometrically!
This stage takes the longest time and the overall effect is the least obvious, but in fact, no matter in what field, the final cost of that little progress is the highest and necessary to reach the peak.
The fourth stage: practice, practice and practice again.
After all, English is not our mother tongue, no matter how well we learn it, it is only infinitely close to the level of our mother tongue, and so is oral English, so continuous training is essential. I enjoy people's compliments on my accent, and I know it very well: not for pretending, just for fun!
On the other hand, accent is only a small part of language, so it is better to lay a solid foundation of English and improve your listening, speaking, reading, writing and translation simultaneously. When the overall strength rises to a certain level, the subject will feel like a cloud when he looks at my answer again ~ (No matter how good the pronunciation is, it is not as important as a large vocabulary and accurate expression! ! ! )
Finally, briefly summarize my method:
Listen more and put yourself in an English sound environment.
Make use of resources and strengthen imitation
Recording, find fault with yourself
Never spoil your appetite, stay interested! !