IMPROVE YOUR ENGLISH

Many deserving candidates lose out on job opportunities because of their vernacular accent. Can I 'neutralize' my accent?
Yes, you can. All you need to do is train yourself to speak English as comfortably and perfectly as you speak your mother tongue.
How do you train yourself?
By inculcating certain practices in your daily lifestyle. These will get you closer to sounding like a native English speaker and equip you with a global accent -- and you will speak not American or British English, but correct English.
This is the first step to learn any other accent, be it American or British or Australian.
Lisa Mojsin, head trainer, director and founder of the Accurate English Training Company in Los Angeles, offers these tips to help 'neutralize' your accent or rather do away with the local twang, as you speak.
i. Observe the mouth movements of those who speak English well and try to imitate them.
When you are watching television, observe the mouth movements of the speakers. Repeat what they are saying, while imitating the intonation and rhythm of their speech.
ii. Until you learn the correct intonation and rhythm of English, slow your speech down.
If you speak too quickly, and with the wrong intonation and rhythm, native speakers will have a hard time understanding you.
Don't worry about your listener getting impatient with your slow speech -- it is more important that everything you say be understood.

iii. Listen to the 'music' of English.

Do not use the 'music' of your native language when you speak English. Each language has its own way of 'singing'.
iv. Use the dictionary.
Try and familiarize yourself with the phonetic symbols of your dictionary. Look up the correct pronunciation of words that are hard for you to say.
v. Make a list of frequently used words that you find difficult to pronounce and ask someone who speaks the language well to pronounce them for you.
Record these words, listen to them and practise saying them. Listen and read at the same time.
vi. Buy books on tape.
Record yourself reading some sections of the book. Compare the sound of your English with that of the person reading the book on the tape.
vii. Pronounce the ending of each word.
Pay special attention to 'S' and 'ED' endings. This will help you strengthen the mouth muscles that you use when you speak English.

viii. Read aloud in English for 15-20 minutes every day.

Research has shown it takes about three months of daily practice to develop strong mouth muscles for speaking a new language.
ix. Record your own voice and listen for pronunciation mistakes.
Many people hate to hear the sound of their voice and avoid listening to themselves speak. However, this is a very important exercise because doing it will help you become conscious of the mistakes you are making.
x. Be patient.
You can change the way you speak but it won't happen overnight. People often expect instant results and give up too soon. You can change the way you sound if you are willing to put some effort into it.
Quick tips
Various versions of the English language exist. Begin by identifying the category you fall into and start by improving the clarity of your speech.

Focus on removing the mother tongue influence and the 'Indianisms' that creep into your English conversations.
Watch the English news on television channels like Star World, CNN, BBC and English movies on Star Movies and HBO.
Listen to and sing English songs. We'd recommend Westlife, Robbie Williams, Abba, Skeeter Davis and Connie Francis among others.
Books to help you improve your English

Essential English Grammar by Murphy (Cambridge)
Spoken English by R K Bansal and J B Harrison
Pronounce It Perfectly In English (book and three audio cassettes) by Jean Yates, Barrons Educational Series
English Pronunciation For International Students by Paulette Wainless Dale, Lillian Poms
Want to 'neutralize' your accent?
How would you describe the term communication?
Is it merely the 'act' of sending or receiving a message, or is it the 'process' of sending a message?
Actually, it is both the act of sending and receiving a message as well as the process of doing it. The process of communication also involves getting the desired response.
Heard of accent neutralization?
~ He has got a strong Malayalam accent.
~ She is Bengali but speaks with an impeccable English accent.
~ He speaks with a broad/ heavy/ strong/ thick Bihari accent.
~ I thought I could detect a slight south Indian accent.
~ He spoke in heavily accented English.
What exactly do we mean by the above statements? An accent is the peculiar style and rhythm of speaking a particular language; we also call it 'speech music'.
Factors like mother tongue, socio-economic background and medium of education influence one's accent.
Which brings us to accent neutralisation. It means removing all traces of the mother tongue rhythm and adopting the native rhythm of the language you are trying to learn -- English in this case.
With the onset of BPO and international job opportunities in the Indian market, there is a demand for candidates who can speak English without their local accent creeping in.
Your English, influenced by your Hindi?
Many speakers do not realize they are incorporating English words in Hindi sentences or Hindi words in English sentences.
Take for example:
"Pitaji, time kya hua hai (Father, what is the time right now)?"
"I have hazaar things on my mind right now (I have thousands of things on my mind right now)."

Today, 'Indian English' is widespread and well-known for its many eccentricities. For this reason, its 'grammar' must be taken with a pinch of salt.
Indian accents vary greatly from those who lean towards a purist British language to those who lean more towards speech that is tinted with the 'vernacular' (Indian language).
~ The most common instance of modified sounds is the changing of the sounds of English letters like 'D', 'T' and 'R'.
~ South Indians tend to curl the tongue more for the 'L' and 'N' sounds.
~ Bengalis (from both India and Bangladesh) and Biharis often substitute 'J' for 'Z' (as in 'jero' instead of 'zero').
~ People, especially from the Sindh (this pertains to both Indians and Pakistanis) have the habit of changing the 'W' sound to 'V' (as in 'ven' instead of 'when'). The rule to follow to overcome this habit is to 'kiss' your 'Ws' and bite your 'Vs'.
What we are striving for is the ability to communicate effectively, especially in the English language, which has the reputation of being one of the most complex languages to learn. I reiterate -- not difficult, but complex.
The intricacies of English
First, let's understand some of the intricacies of the English language through these two verses from a very popular poem titled Poem of English (author unknown).
Liberty, library, heave and heaven,
Rachel, ache, moustache, eleven.
We say hallowed, but allowed,
People, leopard, towed, but vowed.
Mark the differences, moreover,
Between mover, cover, clover.
Leeches, breeches, wise, precise,
Chalice, but police and lice.
Camel, constable, unstable,
Principle, disciple, label.
Petal, panel and canal,
Wait, surprise, plait, promise, pal.
Worm and storm, chaise, chaos, chair,
Senator, spectator, mayor.
Tour, but our and succour, four,
Gas, alas and Arkansas.
Sea, idea, Korea, area,
Psalm, Maria, but malaria.
Youth, south, southern, cleanse and clean,
Doctrine, turpentine, marine.
What's special about this verse? Words spelt differently have similar pronunciations.
For example, turpentine is pronounced as tur + pen + tien, where as marine, which also ends with 'ine' is pronounced as mar + een. Words spelt similarly have different pronunciations, not to mention the ones that sound nowhere near to the way they are written.
For example, you have psalm (pronounced as Saam) and ache (pronounced as ake as in bake).
Once you are aware of these intricacies, you will find that your pronunciation improves dramatically.