Singapore Expats

I'm not sure whether I have expressed what I desired correctly in the one liner allowed as the title for this thread.

I am a local 26 years old Chinese Singaporean and I will be heading to the states within a year from now for hopefully 3 to 6 months of leisure [length of time unknown, it depends on whether it is what I hope it would be or how safe I feel when I am there [I am aware that this is state dependent along with a whole lot of complications]].

I would, hopefully, be visiting the stellar observatory [featured in K-Pax the movie], COMIC CON, Star Trek Conventions, Science Conventions, Electronic Circuit Design Competitions and various other factors of the Nerd/Geek Culture that I am hopelessly deranged in ;p

I will be going there alone, with no one with me, with no tour guide and the last time I check, my Tricorder is not working so no help there ;p

Hence the reason for this thread.

I would like to know a few good Americans that would be willing to spare a few hours of their time having conversations with me every now and then, not so much for the content, but for the accent [but of course, if we have something that we could share and laugh about, it would be more Human].

I would appreciate that during our conversation [either face to face or just the phones], you would not hesitate to stop me along my track and correct my vocal amplitudes/melody structure, sentences and MOST IMPORTANTLY, the way I go about pronouncing words.

The intent is to be able to go there and “fit in”

[quote="Toddler1"]I'm not sure whether I have expressed what I desired correctly in the one liner allowed as the title for this thread.

I am a local 26 years old Chinese Singaporean and I will be heading to the states within a year from now for hopefully 3 to 6 months of leisure [length of time unknown, it depends on whether it is what I hope it would be or how safe I feel when I am there ].

I would, hopefully, be visiting the stellar observatory [featured in K-Pax the movie], COMIC CON, Star Trek Conventions, Science Conventions, Electronic Circuit Design Competitions and various other factors of the Nerd/Geek Culture that I am hopelessly deranged in ;p

I will be going there alone, with no one with me, with no tour guide and the last time I check, my Tricorder is not working so no help there ;p

Hence the reason for this thread.

I would like to know a few good Americans that would be willing to spare a few hours of their time having conversations with me every now and then, not so much for the content, but for the accent [but of course, if we have something that we could share and laugh about, it would be more Human].

I would appreciate that during our conversation [either face to face or just the phones], you would not hesitate to stop me along my track and correct my vocal amplitudes/melody structure, sentences and MOST IMPORTANTLY, the way I go about pronouncing words.

The intent is to be able to go there and “fit in”

nakatago wrote: That said, I think I got my accent from watching too much TV. One thing I did notice is that, you need to get rid of this mind set: thinking in your local language and then translating it into English (some even do it word-per-word). From the get go, construct your thoughts into your target language.

Your mileage may vary. Long live and prosper.

I've noticed many Philipinos speak with American accents. I chalked it up to being taught the "American" way in the Philippines since it was occupied (is that the appropriate word?) by the USA in the not to distant past. Similarly, if you take away the Chinese syntax and quirky adopted meanings of certain words (ie. already, etc) many Singaporeans will sound vaguely British. I don't think pronunciation will the OP's biggest challenge in fitting in. If he can get the hang of American sentence structure it will be his biggest boon. I think adopting an "American" accent (let's face it, there are too many regional accents to choose from) will be going a little too far-people will find it strange/inauthentic.

My friend runs a free English language website that offers many short tutorials on N. American English, from basic to advanced styles, you might find some help there in honing your skills.
http://www.engvid.com

Yes it has come to my attention that most Filipinos speaks with an over exaggerated "R" sound when they speak.

I remember asking one of the ladies why do they speak like that and I was given a rather harsh "I am SPEAKING AMERICAN" reply like she was trying to protect something.

I mean no disrespect to her, merely a question out of curiosity, ever since then, I have distant myself from Filipinos because I am afraid that they will mistake my curiosity for an attack, a phenomenon I have yet to comprehend.

I would gladly appreciate any help on your end nakatago if you can truly duplicate the American Accent as long as you don't comprehend my questions as any form of unknown attack.

Hello poodlek, I appreciate that link you sent me, your friend's video has been helpful, however, I am not looking for English lessons per say, because I have a couple of American friends that told me most Americans don't speak English correctly anyway.

Hence I am after the "essence" which is the way it "sounds".
The Accent.

And the only way to acquire it is to listen to it, speak to individuals that speak it and be corrected by said personnel until one is at least at 80.63% duplication efficiency.

So, back to the original request, I am hoping to be in contact with people that speaks the accent so that I may be able to work on it.

Thank you.

Just go on a 5 day 4 night tour like most Singaporeans do. They come back from the UK with received pronunciation! It lasts for a week until they go to the hawker center and try to buy their kopi-C or kopi-O and have to keep repeating it cause the drinks auntie cannot understand. Then they revert back to Singlish real quick.

I would prefer not to go there, come back and then "actually" go there for real this time for a 6 month tour cause, you know, Plane Ticket ain't cheap ;p

But thank you for your suggestion, I would still prefer to meet up with Americans and learn their Accent and Speech Patterns :)

I do agree with you though, it's quick to lost what you have gain accent wise because the mind tend to force you to establish commonality in everyway possibly with the person you are talking to.

For three to six months stay, you will have a hard time trying to emulate or understand how the American speak or in your words the accents of it.
Try to speak normally and then on you will grasp the flow of it. It took me years to speak normal English and knocking off the Bahasa out of me even though I have been living overseas for years

Yeah, I've been in Singapore for 29 years and I still can't speak singlish! Of course, I'm not really trying either.

With due respects to all native American speakers, may I know how important to learn the American accent? They are not as tongue twisting as the Scots or the Irish speakers. I feel it is more important to learn the American slang or the American way of life in America that one can hold a conversation with Americans living in the States ( anywhere for that matter )

local lad wrote:With due respects to all native American speakers, may I know how important to learn the American accent? They are not as tongue twisting as the Scots or the Irish speakers. I feel it is more important to learn the American slang or the American way of life in America that one can hold a conversation with Americans living in the States ( anywhere for that matter )

+1

Which is why I forwarded you the link. Not to learn English, since it's obvious you know it well, for the lessons on slang and jargon, of which there are many on the site. Did you have a look?

Toddler1 wrote:Yes it has come to my attention that most Filipinos speaks with an over exaggerated "R" sound when they speak.

this.

AngelJoy wrote:

Toddler1 wrote:Yes it has come to my attention that most Filipinos speaks with an over exaggerated "R" sound when they speak.

this.

FWIW, some Indonesians do too. Some Indonesians and Filipinos have similar speech patterns. However, a distinct 'r' can also be nice--like how Eartha Kitt does it, for example.

I don't but only because i have a problem pronouncing the letter. I think it's called rhotacism.

Back to OP: just from reading your post, it seems that your 'thoughts' are ok so at least in writing, you can 'hide' your origin. About pronunciation, if you're like most Singaporeans, your accent's probably between a staccato speech mixed in with some British twang. To get a neutral accent, try to ease from one syllable to another. Avoid putting a distinct stress (or stop) at the end of syllables, especially if said syllable is in the middle of a word. Also, try to get the proper sounds of consecutive consonants, e.g. th, nt, ct, etc.

This is fantastic.
It seems I am not the only one that feel that it is important to get "into the zone" to fit in.

We should get together over a drink and have an exchange in what we have learned.

Toddler1 wrote:
We should get together over a drink and have an exchange in what we have learned.

No thanks !!

Mad Scientist wrote: No thanks !!

I don't suppose I should ask what's going on in your mind that causes you to react so violently ;p