Do you want to be able to change your accent to sound more like American?
Did watching a lot of American dramas and TV shows help? Maybe it did, maybe it didn’t.
In fact, there are English learners, despite having immigrated and lived in a native speaking country for many years, still struggle to speak like a native speaker
Why is that?
That’s because “accent” is not strictly about language acquisition. Did that surprise you?
“Accent” is more closely related to singing and muscle memory.
It’s about learning to use your tongue and jaw to produce the sound that’s similar to a native speaker’s.
Sometimes, you just need a coach to show you exactly how to train your mouth and control your intonation.
Here are my recommended online accent trainers who can help reduce your accent and speak with clarity.
Who Is the Best Online American Accent Trainer?
Often times we’re so tempted to compare and cast our judgment upon what or who we think is the best.
“What is the best English textbook?” “Who is the best English teacher?”
Well, at the end of the day, the best English teacher is someone whose teaching style matches your taste.
Do you like a teacher who speaks directly? Or, do you prefer someone who is more encouraging?
Only you can decide.
The same goes for accent trainers.
It’s the mechanics of your mouth movement and the way you produce sound that affect your pronunciation and accent.
There’s no magic in that.
It’s like trying to lose weight. Eat less, exercise more, and get better sleep. It’s just the mechanics.
What good teachers can do is to motivate you to take what you’ve learned and put them into action.
They will explain in a way that makes you want to learn more, and become better at the skill you’re developing.
They might make you do unique exercises and drills that they’ve researched and come up with.
In other words, the best teacher is someone you want to follow and emulate.
The best teacher is someone you want to learn from, simply because you like their personality, approach, or style. To each his own.
These qualified teachers will help you get the results you want in their own way.
Having said that, in no particular order, here’s a list of online American accent trainers that I like and recommend.
Hadar Shemesh of The Accents Way
Hadar is an Israeli actress turned accent teacher. You’d be surprised when you hear her speak English, because she has does not have her native-Israeli accent at all.
She as an online training program for both English learners and English teachers looking into incorporating accent training in their curriculum.
Annie Ruden
Annie is an American accent trainer.
She has a course called “Pronunciation Pro” where she teaches her students to speak with the American pronunciation.
Although it’s not strictly accent, having a good, clear pronunciation is a necessary basis you’d want to cover in order to speak like American.
Check out her LinkedIn page and you’ll find a lot of student testimonials.
Shayna of Espresso English
Shayna has one of the clearest speakers that I have ever come across online.
Her enunciation is very clear, and she is an excellent all-round English teacher.
She has a course called Shadowing with Shayna (alliteration with the SH sound, clever naming!) where she guides and has you repeat after or shadow her so that you can train yourself to speak smoothly.
Katherine Beck
Katherine is a trained actress is a dialect coach who helps actors with their accent for stage performances.
If there’s a performing aspect in your profession, you should check out her guide on the American accent.
One-on-one coaching is available through her website.
Rachel’s English
Rachel has been teaching the American pronunciation on YouTube since 2008!
She has an exhaustive list of tricks and tips to speak more clearly and sound more American.
Her course, Rachel’s English Academy comes with the daily plan to practice your speaking skills.
Jill Tarnoff
Jill is a professional voice artist and voice coach.
She is an excellent voice artist, as you can hear from some of her work she did with her corporate clients.
I also got a chance to talk to her about the importance of having a clear pronunciation, which you can listen below.
You’d also be surprised to hear that even Americans come to her for help with reducing their regional accent.
Depending on the availability, she does one-on-one client coaching.
Part 1: Are pronunciation and accent important?
Part 2: Is there such thing as an American accent? — Words Americans pronounce differently
That’s all!
It’s interesting that many of these teachers have had some background in performance arts, such as acting and singing.
Once again, training for pronunciation improvement and accent reduction are more closely related to muscle training and singing practice than rote memorization of vocabulary.
So, who do you like the most?
Who did I miss that I should include in the list? Let me know in the comment section below.