Doing accents any advice?

[mrk2010]

Hey guys,

I have an Italian speaking exam tomorrow and I'm a little worried about my accent as I can't do them any, and anything I do kind of sounds like a northern English mix. I've listened to many Italian tapes and I've tried to emulate them exactly, rolling my r's and getting all those Italian sounds right. My friend says I sound more Italian than most of the practice tapes but when I listen to myself I'm hearing a lot of northern English in it.

Anybody who can speak different languages any advice?

[princealbertofb]

I wouldn't worry hon.... You're trying your best to sound Italian and hopefully the accent is not as important as getting the stress of the words right... I mean putting the stress on the right syllable, which is not easy as Italian does not write the stresses on words. I think you'll be fine. As I tell my students, sometimes a person with a strong French accent can make themselves better understood than someone who tries to emulate English badly... It may sound more like English but the words come out all wrong and badly stressed. It's what I call 'yoghurt'! (a mish-mash)... Be aware of articulating, add a few hand gestures maybe, and you'll sound Italian.

[princealbertofb]

Did I say Good Luck!! ??? Buona Fortuna!

[mrk2010]

I wouldn't worry hon.... You're trying your best to sound Italian and hopefully the accent is not as important as getting the stress of the words right... I mean putting the stress on the right syllable, which is not easy as Italian does not write the stresses on words. I think you'll be fine. As I tell my students, sometimes a person with a strong French accent can make themselves better understood than someone who tries to emulate English badly... It may sound more like English but the words come out all wrong and badly stressed. It's what I call 'yoghurt'! (a mish-mash)... Be aware of articulating, add a few hand gestures maybe, and you'll sound Italian.

Thanks PA I'm sure it will go ok, one of the marking criteria is for the accent and one of the higher criteria is "very few errors made, uses appropriate intonation and sounds like a native speaker". I think this is a bit unfair as its only a 7-8 month course lol