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Are natives able to understand my accent?

Do I need to just tweak my accent or do I need a major shift?

What can I do to improve my accent?

My goal: I am trying to sound clear enough so that most people can understand me. I am not trying to approach any particular accent i.e British or American.

My recording: https://voca.ro/1oURFEycZybx

The excerpt from which I am reading: https://www.nku.edu/~ocallaghant/LingVariation/AccentParagraph.htm

​Thank you in advance

Crux
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  • Hello, and welcome to the ELL. If you take a look at the [tour](https://ell.stackexchange.com/tour) of this site, you'll understand which questions are off-topic here. You can ask questions on a particular issue of pronunciation though. – fev Jun 26 '21 at 11:08
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    I'm not sure this kind of question is On Topic here (but I'm not sure it's *Off* Topic either). I personally don't find your vocal pattern very easy to latch on to, but I don't think it's necessarily an "accent" problem. It's that *you speak the words too fast* (as in my experience do many "Indian English" speakers). You should try to emulate the ***pattern*** of native Anglophone speech rhythms more accurately. – FumbleFingers Jun 26 '21 at 11:10
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    Changing an accent when adulthood has been reached is incredibly difficult. Perhaps you meant **pronunciation**? EDIT: agree with Fumblefingers it's not so much the accent but the **delivery**, it sounds like *Indian* speech and for Anglophone speakers that takes time to get used to hearing and understanding. – Mari-Lou A Jun 26 '21 at 11:11
  • Can you recommend some speaker whose pattern of speech I could follow for better delivery? It would be great if he has produced enough content on th internet. – Crux Jun 26 '21 at 11:21
  • Listen to a guy called Babish, he speaks very clearly and (quite) slowly. The story is an American classic children tale called the **Velveteen Rabbit.** https://soundcloud.com/bedtimewithbabish/the-velveteen-rabbit Imitate his stress patterns and pronunciation you'll improve. Babish also has a cookery program on YouTube, if you're into cooking you'll probably enjoy it. – Mari-Lou A Jun 26 '21 at 11:22
  • Babish has a quite strong American accent. – Michael Harvey Jun 26 '21 at 13:06
  • A well received answer: https://ell.stackexchange.com/a/245231/19179 Also consider https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/26113/how-to-improve-intonation/26119#26119 –  Jun 26 '21 at 13:13
  • @MichaelHarvey It's a standard American pronunciation and accent. It's not jarring at the slightest, in fact I find his accent quite mellow, rich and soothing (it's also thanks to a fancy microphone he uses). – Mari-Lou A Jun 26 '21 at 14:40
  • @Mari-LouA - I didn't say it was 'jarring', just that it was very much American. – Michael Harvey Jun 26 '21 at 15:25
  • Yes, eventually, but as others have said, your speed and intonation patterns clue people in that they have to use their "Indian filter". Some people can do this better than others; some will tune you out completely (sad, but true). There's a lot of good speakers out there -- if you look up motivational speakers, you'll find a lot of them that have content out there. – FeliniusRex - gone Jun 26 '21 at 23:38

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