What is "Accent Reduction" ?

(also sometimes called "accent modification" or "accent neutralization")

Believe it or not, this can be a controversial topic for some. The term is quite simple to explain. It's the act of "reducing" or "weakening" your accent.

It's mostly a term used for foreigners (like myself - and probably yourself as well).

Depending on your goals, you may want to simply speak more clearly and more confidently or you may want to completely get rid of your foreign accent (like I did when I first started the process of "accent reduction).

Since you're reading this on my website, you should know that I'll be talking about accent reduction in reference to getting closer to an American accent. (rather than a "Standard British" accent)

What exactly does this entail? How do people "reduce" their accents?

The way I changed my accent completely was by using the same methods actors use to prepare for big roles.

Think Christian Bale or Meryl Streep taking on a completely different way of speaking. For example, Christian Bale did a phenomenal job of taking on a "general" American accent for his role in 'American Psycho'.

Broadly speaking, these are the steps you need to follow:

• identify which sounds and concepts (e.g. rhythm, intonation, etc) in your speech don't match what American native speakers are doing

• understand how Americans are producing those sounds

• lots of diligent, consistent and intentional practice to re-train yourself to use those new sounds/concepts in your own speech

• rinse and repeat this process until you've covered either the most important sounds/concepts (thus having overcome what I call the "accent barrier") or don't stop there and keep going until you can match those American sounds/concepts perfectly across the board (which would then be called "speaking like a native")

So in principle, the idea of accent reduction is simple.

All right. I think I understand the concept. But what are we "reducing" towards?

Good question.

The goal most of my clients have is clarity above all else and speaking with the same confidence & authenticity as in their native language(s). (overcoming the "accent barrier")

How exactly do we define clarity here? It's not as clear of a term as we like to think.

In the context of accent reduction, I like to describe clarity as familiarity.

You see, clarity will be different to a Brit, Australian or an American. To them, clarity is speech that sounds the most similar to their own.

This means that clarity can be subjective.

This also means that if you're living in the United States or if you're actively working / negotiating with Americans, becoming more clear means getting closer to a "general" or "neutral" American Accent.

(If you live and work in the UK, it would make more sense to work towards a "Standard British Accent", for example)

That makes sense. But what the hell is a "General" or "Neutral" American Accent ?

Another good question. And this is where some of the "controversy" can come from. If you check out the comment sections on videos/posts about accent reduction, inevitably, there will be someone that says:

"Everybody has an accent. There's no such thing as "neutral"."

Sure. That is true.

Technically, no American has a truly "neutral" accent. Technically, everyone has an accent. There are so many accents even within certain regions that it's impossible to keep track of. Just within the city of New York, you'll find lots and lots of different accents.

"General" or "Neutral" American is as the name implies, a general umbrella accent that encompasses the way most Americans speak. Since it is very general, it makes you sound generally American as opposed to placing you in a very specific geographical region of the United States.

Most actors, TV show hosts and public speakers will speak with a very "neutral" American accent. This is not just because it's the most "neutral" but also because it's the easiest to understand.

It's worth mentioning that, some people will view the "general American accent" as a white American accent.

This is a generalization but, on the flip-side, if you've ever heard an African-American person described as "speaking white", it's most likely because they are speaking with is largely viewed as a "neutral" or "general" American accent.

When people say someone "sounds black", it often seems to reference influences of Southern accents in the speech of many (but definitely not all) African-Americans.

There's even a phenomenon called "code switching". This describes the act of switching up the way you speak, mostly because you think it'll be advantageous to do so.

But... we're getting off track. As you can tell, this topic can get pretty deep.

The real question is though... for us as non-native speakers looking to reduce our accents? Not that important to think about.

When I personally worked on reducing and changing my own foreign accent (I'm German), I went for the General/Neutral American Accent. When I work with my clients, everything we work on is always in reference to this.

If you're looking to learn a specific regional accent (let's say a Boston accent for example), you'll be better off working with a Dialect Coach rather than myself. Just so you know.

Okay... but you said this was only part of the controversy?

I don't even know if "controversy" is the right word, honestly.

The second reason why some people will get very triggered by the topic of accent reduction is because, in their eyes, their foreign accent is part of their identity.

From what I see online, specifically from the other coaches in the space, they always agree. My thinking is that they say this because most of the coaches are all Americans. And I'm guessing they don't want to upset their potential customers.

Since I'm not a native speaker myself, it's safe for me to say that I wholeheartedly disagree.

To keep things brief, in my experience, having a strong accent, sounding unclear, struggling to communicate well, getting made fun of because of my accent... it was all very much not part of my identity.

If anything, my strong accent was in the way of actually showcasing my identity and personality to the people around me.

And... I know this may be mind blowing but ... changing my accent didn't make me any less German.

Want to know more about that ? I wrote an entire blog post about that exact topic: Your Foreign Accent ≠ Your Identity

PS - want to get started with the accent reduction process? You need to know what mistakes you're making. I'm currently offering free accent assessments (Value $200) for clients that might be a good fit. All you have to do is fill out a quick application.